Best Dog Crates

For most dogs, the MidWest iCrate Double Door is the answer at around $45 — it ranks first overall on Gavler's list with a 9.1, and it is the crate rescues, trainers, and vets recommend first. It is a folding steel-wire box with two doors, a slide-out tray, and a divider panel that grows with a puppy so you buy one crate instead of three. Wirecutter, GearJunkie, Reviewed, and People all recommend it. Spend more only if you have a specific job the iCrate cannot do: a determined escape artist (the Impact aluminum crate), a dog that travels in a truck (the crash-tested Gunner G1), a dog that flies (the airline-compliant Petmate Sky Kennel), or a crate that has to look like furniture in your living room (the Diggs Revol or a furniture crate).

Buy the crate sized for your puppy's adult weight, then use a divider panel to shrink the interior while they are small. A crate should give a dog enough room to stand up, turn around, and lie down fully stretched — but no more during house-training, because a too-large crate lets a puppy soil one end and sleep in the other, which defeats the whole purpose. This is exactly why the MidWest iCrate and MidWest Ovation Trainer ship with a divider that moves as the dog grows: you buy the 42-inch crate for your Labrador puppy on day one and adjust the panel forward, so you never have to buy a second crate. For breed-specific sizing, measure your dog from nose to tail base and add four inches, and from floor to the top of the head (sitting) and add four inches.

For a dog that regularly rides in a vehicle, yes — and the Gunner G1 is the one to buy. In a crash, an uncrated or soft-crated dog becomes a projectile, a danger to itself and everyone in the cabin. The Gunner G1 is the only dog crate certified by the Center for Pet Safety to crash-test standards equivalent to the federal FMVSS 302 protocol, with its double-wall rotomolded shell — the same construction as premium coolers — independently crash-tested and backed by a strong structural guarantee. At around $500 it is overkill for a dog that crates calmly in a bedroom and never leaves the house. But for hunting dogs, dogs that ride in truck beds, or any owner who treats their dog as cargo worth protecting, the crash data is the differentiator, not marketing. No folding wire or soft crate offers anything comparable in a collision.

The Impact Collapsible Dog Crate at around $350 is the pick for the dog that has already bent, bitten, or escaped a wire crate. Its aircraft-grade aluminum frame is welded and riveted into a box that high-drive and separation-anxiety dogs struggle to defeat, yet it still folds flat for storage and weighs a fraction of a hard rotomolded kennel. The aluminum will not rust, which helps for dogs that travel wet. The trade-off versus a Gunner G1 is crash protection — the Impact's more open design protects less in a collision. But for pure escape resistance and chew durability in a crate you can still move and fold, the Impact is the crate that finally holds when a budget wire crate has failed. Heavy-gauge welded-wire crates like the MidWest LifeStages are a middle option for dogs that test a crate but have not actually broken out.

Match the type to the job. A folding wire crate (MidWest iCrate, Frisco Fold & Carry) is the default for home crate-training and everyday use — it breathes well, folds flat, includes a divider, and costs the least. A hard plastic kennel (Petmate Sky Kennel) is the choice for air travel because it meets airline IATA cargo rules, and it makes a darker, den-like space some anxious dogs prefer. A rotomolded or aluminum crate (Gunner G1, Impact) is for car-crash safety, escape artists, and serious durability. A furniture crate (Frisco Double Door Furniture, Richell End Table) is for a settled adult dog in a room where you care how the crate looks — wrong for a puppy or chewer, right for a calm dog whose crate doubles as an end table. A soft-sided crate (EliteField) is the lightest, most packable option, but only for a calm, crate-trained dog that will not claw or chew through mesh.

Only for the right dog. Furniture crates like the Frisco Double Door Furniture (around $130) and the upmarket Richell Wooden End Table (around $220) trade ruggedness for living-room acceptance — a slatted wood enclosure with a flat top that works as a real side table. They are the option that does not make your living room look like a kennel. But they have one hard limit: they are no match for a determined chewer, who can scratch or gnaw the wood slats, and the wood is harder to deep-clean than plastic or wire. Buy a furniture crate for a house-trained adult dog that uses the crate as a calm den. Do not buy one for a puppy in the middle of house-training or any dog that chews when anxious — you will be replacing it.