What size crate?

Hi everyone!
New to the group and getting our first Staffy puppy ‘Stanley’ arriving on 10th December. We’re both super excited and terrified at the same time

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Hi and welcome from me and mine!

I've moved your question to the puppy chat area as more people will see your question here. I don't use crates so am not the right person to answer you, but would just say that if you are going to use a crate please take the time to train Stanley to use it happily. Using a crate without training can be very unpleasant for a puppy.

hello & welcome!

I agree with Liz, take time to introduce your pup to the crate so he treats it like his own den or 'safe place'. I think there's help for crate training on the forum somewhere but if you can't find it just ask.

as to size, will you still be using a crate when your dog's an adult? If so, you need one that will allow a grown stafford to stand up, turn around and lie down comfortably. A pup can benefit from a divided crate - one half for bedding & the other half for toileting until he's able to control his bladder/bowels.

Please make sure that he isn't left in there for hours at a time as that will lead to boredom, frustration & destructive behaviour.

We got a medium sized crate when we got Hank and as Gilly says you have half for the bed and half for toilet when they are tiny. He is now 10 Months old and quite big for his age so not far of adult size and we don't feel like we need to get a bigger one, Now I have a crate mattress that fills the whole bottom of the crate for him to sleep and go there with his toys and stinky treats as they aren't allowed on the sofa

My first questions would be what you need the crate for and how you intend to use it ?
In any crate, your dog needs to be able to turn around and lie flat out.

My Nifty has a crate for car travel and another at home as her safe-place sleeping corner. However her sleeping crate is never closed but within her play pen.

At 8 weeks old, I went to fetch her in a cat crate I already had, ferplast atlas cat carrier which measures 60x40x38 cms.
She also used it as her sleeping quarters but quickly outgrew that one so I bought her an adult sized crate, ferplast atlas 60 pet carrier which measures 91x61x66.5 cms for the house.
It’s big and as I didn’t want to be transferring it between home and car, I bought a crate for travelling, trixie gulliver 4 which measures 72x52x51cms.

Nifty is 7 months old and weighs 15kgs. She has room in the travel crate and I think it should be ok when she’s adult sized too. The house crate is couple of sizes up so she has room to sleep in the position she likes but it is not discrete in my lounge !

Value for money, the trixie is really great and if your dog can chew the crate as Nifty does, it’s less heartbreaking to see the teeth marks in the trixie than the ferplast ...

Whoops, forgot to add welcome from us and good luck on your new staffy adventure

Thanks for all your replies, they are all very helpful and appreciated! Stanley won’t be left on his own very often, but I want to persevere with crate training this time so that when we go on holiday or when he’s at work in the office, he has his own little safe place to escape to.
We have had 3 dogs in the past and never bothered with crating and never had any trouble with toilet training, so it’s not necessarily for that reason. We plan to take Stanley with us most places so feel it’s important for travelling in the car too! Only 2 weeks to go now

Ooh, exciting times. Can’t wait to see puppy photos
You’re really lucky to be able to take Stanley to work with you.

I never used the crates for toilet training as she had a puppy training pad in her play pen. There are advantages of travel in crate too, in my opinion. Clean in any car (even when it’s not yours ), makes for portable doggy bed in foreign places, safe travelling for pet. Mine gets wedged on the back seats as I don’t have a car boot and Nifty never rushes out of her crate arrived at destination.

Quick update.

Nifty will be one year old this weekend and is a big girl at around 17kgs.
I have just bought her a new travel case the next size up (so M : L 79 x W 58 x H 60 cm instead of S : L 72 x W 52 x H 51 cm) because she still fits in the S sized one but I want just a little more room for her.
In her travel case, she mostly lies down during travel so has room to do this. But when she sits or stands up, she has to duck her head a little (roof too low) hence the M size.

Warning - I don’t think the next size up (L) would fit through the doors and onto the back seat of alot of cars. It won’t fit in mine anyway !