The Crate I Bought Before Tupelo Came Home

I ordered the MidWest Homes for Pets 30-inch double door iCrate the week before Tupelo came home. That sentence makes me sound calmer than I was. What I actually did was measure the corner of my living room three times, move a lamp, and read the listing aloud to my daughter on the phone. I am 61, I live alone in Brunswick, and I had been without a dog since 2014, when my old Lab mix Duke died and I gave his things away. I wanted the house ready before he walked into it, because I did not want his first night to be a pile of cardboard and my own second thoughts.

Tupelo is a Boykin Spaniel from a regional rescue. He came home on a Saturday in mid March 2026, about fourteen months old, thirty two pounds, with a docked tail and a coat that already had a little wave. He is not quite two now. He was sweet from the start and anxious for his first few weeks, and he was a chewer as a youngster. I am not a trainer and I am not a vet. I am a retired school librarian who reads labels, keeps notes, and calls the vet when the notes stop making sense.

The crate arrived before he did. The listing says it measures 30.67 inches long by 19.3 inches wide by 21.46 inches high, and that it has a leak proof tray, rubber feet, a carry handle and tool free assembly. It also has a divider panel, which I never used. Tupelo was already full size, so the divider went into the closet and has stayed there. I set the crate in the corner of the living room, near the sofa, where I could see him from the kitchen and he could see me.

Inside the crate I put the removable tray and a folded blanket. That was all. The Bedsure bed stayed by the sliding door to the back yard, and it has never been inside the crate. I wanted the crate to feel like a plain, quiet place, not a second living room. I also wanted it easy to clean, because I had a fourteen month old rescue and no illusions about my first week.

MidWest Homes for Pets is a family owned business based in Indiana, and the listing says the company has been making pet products for over a hundred years. I cannot vouch for a hundred years. I can vouch for the week I spent looking at that crate in my living room before Tupelo came home, and for the fact that it was still standing, still square, and still easy to open when he walked in.

By the second week, Tupelo was walking into the crate on his own at night while I was still in the kitchen. I did not teach him that. I just left the door open and stopped making a production of bedtime.

The first night, he fussed for a few minutes and then slept. I slept on the sofa nearby, which was not necessary and not dignified, but it was what I did. For his first months, the door was shut at night. He napped in the crate by day with the door open. Since late summer 2026, the door stays open most nights, and he still chooses the crate. He is in it now, with one paw hanging out the open door.

What I did not expect was how much the two doors would matter. The crate sits near the sofa, so I can open the door closest to me without leaning over him. The rubber feet keep it from sliding on the wood floor. The carry handle has been used once, to move the crate two feet and vacuum under it. The fold is there if I ever need it.

The tray has been the unglamorous hero. It is removable and the listing calls it leak proof. I have wiped it, washed the blanket, and put everything back. The metal frame has a one year manufacturer warranty according to the listing, and the crate is lockable, adjustable and foldable. I am not going to pretend I test those features daily. I open a door, shut a door, and wipe a tray.

The crate is still in the same corner. It is still the first thing I see when I come down the hall in the morning, and most mornings there is a brown head already looking back at me. I did not expect a metal crate to become part of the furniture. I expected it to be a tool I used until he was settled. It worked for us, and it stayed.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

I would tell you to set the crate up before the dog comes home, not after. I would tell you to put it where the family actually is, not in a back bedroom where the dog is alone with his first night. I would tell you to keep the inside simple: the tray, a blanket, no mountain of toys. I would tell you to check the size against your dog, not against the cute puppy in the photo. The listing says 21 to 40 pounds for this 30 inch crate, and Tupelo is about 32 pounds. If your dog is near the top of that range or taller than mine, size up or ask someone who knows your dog. I am not a vet or a trainer, so any question about how long to leave a dog crated is a question for your own vet or a trainer who can see your dog. What I can tell you is what happened in my house. The MidWest Homes for Pets crate was ready when Tupelo came home, it held up to a young chewer, and it gave him a corner that was his. That was enough for us.