What should I put in my dog's crate?

What goes in

• A low-pile washable mat to begin with. Plush beds and fleece are the items most often shredded and swallowed, and intestinal obstruction is a surgical emergency.
• Water for any stay beyond a short period. A clip-on bowl or bottle avoids the spill that soaks the bedding.
• One durable chew, sized so it cannot be swallowed whole and cannot wedge behind the teeth or over the lower jaw.
• A worn t-shirt for a puppy settling in, provided the puppy is not a fabric eater.
• A cover over the crate for dogs who settle better in a den, leaving airflow on at least one side.

What stays out

The governing rule is that anything in an unsupervised crate has to be safe for hours without a person watching. That excludes most of the things sold for crates.

• Soft toys with squeakers, plastic eyes or stuffing.
• Rope toys and anything with strings that unravel. Swallowed string is worse than swallowed solids because it can saw through intestine.
• Collars, harnesses and tags, all of which can hook on crate bars. Remove them before the dog goes in.
• Rawhide and any chew that softens and breaks into swallowable pieces.
• Puppy pads for a dog you are housetraining. They teach the dog it is acceptable to eliminate in the crate, which is the opposite of the point.

Adjusting over time

Watch what comes back out. A mat returned intact for a fortnight earns an upgrade to something softer. Chew marks on the edge mean staying where you are. A dog who destroys bedding while alone is usually telling you something about the length or the stress of the stay, not about the bedding, and that is worth addressing before buying a tougher bed.