Finding a Crate

With our camping trip to Door County, Wisconsin in the works, G and I realized there wasn't much room in our two person tent to hold two TALL people and a 60lb dog and all our camping gear. So I went on a search through local craigslist ads to find something cheap for Mr. P. 

All I could find were the typical open metal or plastic crates. Considering the giant mosquitos known to invade the woods of Wisconsin, I knew Mr. P would be covered in bites. Plus many of the options I found didn't break down and would be hard to squeeze into the tiny trunk of our PT cruiser convertible.  


My next step was to search Amazon and that's where I found the Firstrax Port-A-Crate E2 Indoor/Outdoor Pet Home. The price was right at less than $50 (most of the used crates on craigslist were not much less than this). This crate zips up just like a tent and has vented windows made out of a mesh screen material. It also folds down nice and slim, so it could easily fit in the jam packed car. I ordered the biggest size (36") because Mr. P likes his space. 


Mr. P has never before used a crate, so when it arrived 2 days later (thank you Amazon Prime), I started working with P immediately. I threw treats in the crate to get him used to the idea of going in but he would gobble them down and immediately run back out. After a while, I put his bed inside and made him dig around for the treats. While he was doing this I sat in front of the door blocking his way out. I never made him stay inside (because I knew he would freak out). Instead I just pet him and told him to sit (he'll do anything for another treat). Soon I was able to to get him to lay down and stay (that's how I got this pic).

For two nights at home, I put the crate next to our bed (where Mr. P usually sleeps) and just said the routine "time for bed," and Mr. P crawled inside. I didn't zip the crate closed, because I wanted P to feel safe. This was a new thing for him, but didn't seem to mind.

Just a day later was our trip. Our tent has two doors, so once it was set up, we just placed the crate up close to one of the doors. At night we let Mr. P into the tent through the door on the right side. He crawled across our sleeping bags and we unzipped the door on the left and unzipped his crate. All it took was the routine "time for bed," and Mr. P crawled into his crate.

Where does your dog sleep when you camp?