Dog Crates for Huskies and Sled Dogs
A dog crate can be a good investment if you own a husky or sled dog. Crates have many uses, including:
- Toilet Training
- Dogs are generally reluctant to soil their own bed area. With regular opportunities to relieve themselves elsewhere (i.e. outdoors), crates can help greatly in encouraging puppies and dogs in training to 'go' indoors.
- Feeding Time
- Crates can give individual dogs the extra space and security they may need when food is on offer. For a variety of reasons some dogs may be better suited to being fed in a crate, or owners may simply consider it a preferred solution, particularly in households with more than one dog.
- Safety
- A crate can provide an ideal solution at times when you need to leave your husky unattended. A properly 'crate-trained' husky should be quite content to spend a couple of hours (never more than 4) in a crate every now and then. In this case, crating a husky can keep them safe from hazards in the home, and your home safe from the hazards of your husky!
- Transport
- We find small and medium crates fit well in the back of our cars, and have also used crates as 'Dog Boxes' in various incarnations of our 'Dog Van'. Specially designed Car Crates are also available, and their sloping designs may well be more suitable for many cars than regular-shaped crates.
- General Comfort
- Our Huskies, particularly the older ones, soon come to see their crates as a sanctuary from the activity of the house.
They all tend to sleep in their crates, which we fit with vetbeds and cover over with blankets.
One important point to make is that you must cover the top of the crate with some hardboard or other rigid material if you are going to cover the crate with a throw. This is because huskies will often jump up on to the top of a crate. Due to the "cage" type construction, their paws will fit through the spaces between the bars and they may injure their legs by getting them caught if the top of the crate is only covered with a blanket.