How to Measure a Dog for a Crate?

Why is it Necessary to Choose a Perfect-Sized Crate?

Dogs are nest creatures, and owning a crate in your house provides them with a comfortable place to retreat to when they have to get off from everything. Crates are also useful for potty training your pet, keeping him secure while you are unable to oversee him, sleeping in at night, and retreating to when the outside becomes noisy or frightening.

Crates are proven very useful to dog owners who keep on traveling frequently, not only to frequent travelers, and crates are proven beneficial even for house trainers. Using a crate while training the dog for the disciplines he has to maintain in the house has worked very well.

Such as, when you notice that your dog has been over-excited and is moving here and there in the house, you want to control his movement. You can get him to the crate to control his excessive movements, and it can also be beneficial in canine potty training.

Now, as you are going to use the crate regularly for properly training your dog, it becomes necessary to use a properly sized crate. If you go for a crate smaller than your dog’s size, it can cause severe scratches to your pet’s skin.

If you use a crate of a larger size, then your intention of restricting the movements of the canine while it becomes anxious will not be fulfilled. Hence it is important to choose a perfect-sized crate for the dog.

Why Does the Dog Owner Face Difficulties in Choosing a Crate for their Canine?

Just like human beings, dogs also keep on growing over time. The canine might also get healthy as time passes, and depending upon your dog’s breed, it can also get huge.

These are factors that always cause lots of confusion for the dog owners while buying a crate for the dog. Also, the dogs are sometimes not used to a very small crate size. They often want a little more space for their free movements.

But when you take the pet on a journey, the size should be confined to restrict the dog’s movement in the journey to avoid the pet from getting hurt. This all creates confusion for the dog owner while buying a crate.

How to Measure a Dog for a Crate?

Now as we have discussed the difficulties, dog owners face while choosing a crate for their dog and why it is necessary to choose a perfect-sized crate. It’s time to discuss how you can properly measure the dog for buying a perfect size crate.

The steps a dog owner can follow for measuring the dog are discussed below.

Measure the Length of the Dog

Measuring the dog’s length will help you get the proper length of the crate. Make sure you buy a crate a few inches more than the actual length of your dog so that your dog can fit perfectly in it. The steps to follow for measuring the dog’s length are discussed below.

Make Them Stand on the Floor

The first step you have to follow for measuring the length is to make the canine stand straight on the ground. This is necessary because when the canine stands straight, you can only get a perfect measurement of its length.

Measure from the Tip of the Nose to the Tail

The next step you have to follow is to place one end of the measuring tape on the tip of the nose and stretch it to the canine’s tail. Make sure you are holding the pet straight with one of your hands, and you can also take help from anyone in the shop to hold your dog straight.

After stretching the measuring tape from the nose to the canine’s tail, mark the inches on a note.

Measure with a Curved Tail

It is a point to remember that whenever you are measuring the length of the dog, you should measure it with a curved tail.

This is because if you measure by stretching the dog’s tail, it will get you an extremely larger crate than your dog’s size, as most of the time, the dog keeps its tail curved. So measuring the pet with a curved tail is important.

Add Two to Four Inches of Extra

Now, if you will go for the exact measurement of length you have taken of the dog, then definitely the movement of the dog will get more confined, and the dog will also get difficulties in sitting in the crate due to a narrow space.

Therefore it is suggested that you should always go for a few inches larger than the actual measurement.

Measure the Height of the Dog

Now, after measuring the length of the canine, you also have to measure the dog’s height to get a perfect-sized crate. The steps you can follow to measure the crate’s height are discussed below.

Make the Dog Sit Straight

For measuring the height of the dog, the first step you have to follow is to make the dog sit straight on the ground. The dog might not sit rapidly after hearing your command, and if you are facing difficulties in making the canine sit, you can also use some treats.

It is also necessary that the dog keep its head straight during the measurement, so here you can also take the help of anyone in the crate shop to hold the head of the dog straight.

Measure from the Paws to the Ears of the Canine

Now, after making the dog sit straight, all you can do is just put one end of the measuring tape on your dog’s paws, then extend it up to the ears of the canine. Always remember to note down the inches on the measuring tape while measuring the canine’s height.

Add Two to Four Inches of Extra

It doesn’t matter if you are measuring the height or length. You should always go for two to four inches extra while buying the crate to get the best fit.

Measure the Width of the Crate

It is one of the easiest steps that you have to follow while measuring a dog for a crate. This is because you don’t need to measure the width of a dog as it can be simply determined by the height and length of the dog you have measured.

Weight Limit of the Crate

This is the most important step in the entire process. If you do not compare your dog’s weight with the weight that the crate you have chosen can carry, then the crate might break within a few days of usage.

That’s why it is very important to first measure the canine’s weight and then compare it with the weight limit of the crate to go with the crate you have chosen.

All the above-discussed steps are experimentally proven to work best for dog owners while measuring a dog for a crate. So dog owners can go with these steps without hesitation to choose the best.

Table to Help You in Choosing a Crate for Your Dog

Now we have come up with a table you can prefer when buying a dog crate. The information in the table includes the most found sizes of dogs, crate dimensions, and height. So you can completely refer to this table if your dog is of the size mentioned in the table.

Certainly! Here’s the information presented in a more structured format:

Certainly! Here’s the information presented in a properly formatted table:

“`
| Size of Dogs | Dimensions of Crate (Length x Width x Height) | Max Height | Max Length | Recommended Breeds |
|————–|———————————————-|————|————|—————————|
| 18 | 18L x 12W x 14H inches | 10 | 14 | Chihuahua, Pomeranian |
| 22 | 22L x 13W x 15.5H inches | 11.5 | 18 | Yorkshire Terrier, Poodle |
| 24 | 24L x 18W x 19.5H inches | 15.25 | 20 | Havanese, Pug |
| 30 | 30L x 19W x 21H inches | 17 | 26 | French Bulldog, Pinscher |
| 36 | 36L x 23W x 25H inches | 21 | 32 | Beagle, Bulldog |
| 42 | 42L x 28W x 30H inches | 26 | 38 | Golden Retriever, Pitbull |
| 48 | 48L x 30W x 32.5H inches | 28.5 | 46 | German Shepherd, Doberman |
“`

Feel free to copy and paste this table directly into your article. Let me know if you need any further assistance!

This table presents the size of dogs, the corresponding crate dimensions, maximum height and length allowed, and recommended breeds for each crate size.

A dog owner can go through the table mentioned above and the steps discussed above while learning how to measure a dog for a crate.

Cause dog owners who haven’t used a crate before will be unable to properly measure the canine for the crate without following any proper guide.

For sure, these measurements will yield the best results.