Dog Crate Size Calculator

How to measure a dog for a crate

Stand the dog square on a hard floor, ideally with someone holding a treat at nose height so it stays put. You need two figures, both in centimetres.

• Length: from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail, where the tail joins the body. Not the tip of the tail, which would put every kelpie in a crate a size too big.
• Height:from the floor to the top of the head, or to the tips of the ears if they stand up. A German shepherd’s ears add the best part of 10 cm.

Add 5 to 10 cm to each. Five is the minimum and ten is comfortable, and the crate’s inside length and height both need to clear those figures. Length decides the size most of the time; height only takes over for tall, upright breeds like standard poodles, Dobermanns and shepherds. Width sorts itself out, because the shops proportion width to length and a dog lying on its side takes up its own height.

Weigh the dog as well. The weight guides on the box are not limits, but they catch the short, heavy breeds: a staffy or a British bulldog fits a 30 in on length and is well over its weight guide, and the next size up gets it the headroom and the heavier wire it needs. A soft tape measure is easiest; a piece of string laid against a builder’s tape works fine.

Measure the dog in front of you, not the breed standard. Working-line and show-line dogs of the same breed can be a size apart, and a cross takes after whichever parent it likes.

Buy the adult size and use a divider for a puppy

A puppy grows into an adult in under a year, and a crate that fits at eight weeks is money wasted by six months. Buy the size the adult will need, from the breed table or from the bigger parent of a cross, and fit the divider panel that comes with most wire crates.

The divider matters because a crate is a house-training tool first. Dogs avoid soiling the place they sleep, so a pup shut into a space just big enough to stand, turn and lie down learns to hold on and ask to go out. Give it a crate with spare floor and it will toilet at one end and sleep at the other, cheerfully, for months. Set the divider so the pup has a little room to spare, and move it back every few weeks. If the crate you like does not include a divider, they are sold separately in the same inch sizes.

The exception is a giant breed. A Great Dane puppy at four months is already a 36 in dog, and the 54 in it will need is a serious piece of furniture. Some owners cover the first year with a secondhand 36 in or 42 in and sell it on, which is the one case where buying twice makes sense.

Wire, plastic, soft and furniture crates in an Australian summer

Heat is what decides the type of crate here. A dog cools itself by panting, which only works if the air around it is moving and cooler than the dog. Any crate in a room that hits 35 degrees, or in the sun on a verandah, is a problem, and an enclosed one is worse.

• Wire crates have the best airflow, fold flat, come in all six sizes and usually include the divider. They are the default for a house. A cover on three sides makes a den without stopping the air moving; a cover on all four sides in summer does stop it.
• Plastic crates (the airline style) are enclosed, with vents along the sides. They are good in the car and for a flight, and a nervous dog often settles better in one, but they hold heat. Keep them out of direct sun and never in a closed car, and be doubly careful with a flat-faced breed like a pug, a Frenchie or a bulldog, which cannot pant efficiently even when it is cool.
• Soft crates are mesh over a frame, light enough to carry to a campsite. The mesh breathes well. They are for a calm dog that is already crate trained; a chewer or a dog that panics will be out through the side in minutes.
• Furniture crates are the timber-look ones sold as side tables. They use the same inch sizes with slatted or wire sides, but the frame eats space, so check the inside dimensions rather than the outside ones, and think about where the afternoon sun lands in the room.

Whatever the type, put it in the coolest room in the house, out of the sun, with a bowl that clips to the side so it cannot be tipped. A cooling mat on the floor of the crate does more good than a padded bed in January, and a fan across the crate does more still. On a hot day a dog left at home is safer in a pen or a tiled laundry with the door open than in any crate.

What the RSPCA says about crate use

The RSPCA’s crate-training guidance is that a crate should be big enough for the dog to stand up, turn around and lie down, that it is used for short periods to help with training or to give the dog a safe space, and that a dog should not spend all day in one, because too much time in a crate affects a young dog’s muscle development and condition. For a young puppy it puts the limit at two to three hours without a toilet break, and it recommends working with a reward-based trainer to introduce the crate, so the dog chooses to go in rather than being shut in.

Behind that sits the RSPCA Australia Knowledgebase’s housing policy, which says companion animals should not be confined to a space that significantly restricts their movement and ability to socialise for prolonged periods, and that where temporary confinement is needed the animal must have food, water and bedding and be let out for exercise at least daily. In plain words: a crate is a den and a training tool, not a place to leave a dog for the working day. Never use it as a punishment, and if a dog shows distress in it, whining, drooling, chewing the bars or hurting itself trying to get out, stop using the crate and get help from a trainer rather than buying a bigger or heavier one.