I prefer plastic crates. I doubt I'll ever buy a wire crate, I don't like them at all. I feel that the plastic ones are more safe and secure. I like that the plastic ones are more private, I think that they offer more security for my dogs. Nova is afraid of thunderstorms. When we have a thunderstorm she will run one of two places- she will either run and sit between my feet or she will run to her crate. Those are the places she feels most safe and secure. I don't think she would feel that safety in an open wire crate.
I also think plastic crates are much safer. There is a much better chance of dog (a well crate trained dog) being hurt in a wire crate than in a plastic one.
When we found Jake we didn't think we'd be keeping him so we didn't want to buy a big crate that we'd never use after he was gone. I borrowed a wire crate from a friend who has a border collie, the only time she used it was in the car so she could do without it for a few days. Jake hated it and never wanted to go in it. We wanted him to like it and we would bribe him into it with food and reward him once he was in it. He'd go in it but he wasn't too happy, He's cry and bark at first but would eventually settle down. I had however seen him smush himself into Nova's plastic crate (I'm still baffled as to how he did it). When we bought him his own plastic crate everything was better.
Our other dogs have never been in a wire crate (at least not while we've had them). I keep the doors to their crates open and often find them sleeping in them throughout the day. They eat in their crates everyday and sleep in them every night. When I tell them it's supper time they all go running to their crates and they do the same when I tell them it's bed time. None of them are ever upset to go in their crates.
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