Hi,

We have a 11 month old Newfoundland who happily sleeps in her crate at night.

She has hip and elbow dysplasia and is currently undergoing physio which is really helping her with the pain and to improve her walking.  The physio has suggested we find a crate that allows our dog to stretch out fully as this will be of great benefit to her.

The largest 'standard' sized crate is 48", which is what she has at the moment and not big enough. We are trying to find a 6ft x 3ft (or 4ft) crate at a reasonable price.  The croft Showman crate is the right size but costs £300.  I have tried Hamster Cages (as seen recommended on here), but that was more than the croft cage.  I keep checking ebay, but nothing!

Does anyone know where I can find a decent sized cage without spending a fortune?

Many Thanks

Why does she need a cage? Could you maybe get a petgate and restrict her to one room if you don't want her having free access to the whole house?

If she is happy being in a crate, then a wooden-framed one would be sturdy enough - perhaps using ready-made panels (two to a side if none are big enough). I'm sure a good carpenter could make one for less than you were quoted, or DIY if you are confident :)

She keeps nice and calm in her crate and really enjoys having her own space.

Not thought of making a wooden one, I could probably do that.  Although she does have a taste for wood at the moment. :-)

Have you looked at heavy duty puppy pens (sometimes listed as whelping pens/beds)?  These can be linked together in a variety of sizes and might give you what you need.  

Try Dog Health for one with a roof/lid

What about a puppy pen? You can get as many panels as you need, they just slot together and don't weigh a ton like the big crate I had. If you buy a crate privately make sure they double check the dimensions before you travel.

great minds think alike dogsababe!

Ahhh, now that's even better!!  Thank you.

We have a puppy pen for when our Newfy bitch has her puppies - you can add or take away as many sides as you want.
Is she having surgery for her Hips ?

another vote for puppy pens.  I got one with 4' sides when I got my rott pup and joined 2 together so he had a giant play space but they would work well as a giant cage.  I suppose the question would be whether your dog could get through the door, although I managed to get through it no bother and I aint no skinny girl!

Here's a couple of links for 60 ins plus crates,

http://justlovedogs.co.uk/dog-crates-incl-soft-crates/folding-wire-crates/showman-wire-crates/cat_10.html

http://www.splendidpets.co.uk/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=5_16_24

Hi,
Sorry to hear your girl is having a right of a rough time right now.

I have a breed which is not much smaller than yours and was in a dilemma a few months back to get a very large one. The Splendid Pets one for 60" is currently out of stock and they said it would be Jan before they got any more in. I then got the the next size down from them and its brilliant, more than enough room, but boy does it take up a lot of room.
What i've currently had to do as one of mine is on complete rest and a crate alone is not enough for a dog of this size(when on recouparation(sp)) I purchased a playpen(2nd hand), either the Lindam or Babydan and then placed this around the entrance of the crate, so when mine gets too hot he can lay out but still be very confined.
If you send me your email I can forward a photo of what i've done. Much cheaper than a Croft one..

WolfieStruppi said it when buyer beware if off ebay. My seller said it was 5ft x 4ft, well after collecting it after an hours drive each way it was far from that and I had to take it back to them too..

She has had surgery on her elbows, but not her hips.  They just removed the fragmented bones from her elbows, but recommended we didn't operate on her hips, although they did give us all options.  At 16 weeks of age, it just seemed a step too far.  Had she been a couple of weeks younger, they could have done a procedure that is new to the UK, but has been done in the US for some time.  However, she spends plenty of time in a water treadmill which is helping A LOT, and she loves swimming.  We are members of a Newfoundland Water Training group and she is a great swimmer, but since her operation she has taken a backwards step in terms of obedience.

The splendid pets one looks promising, and only £20 more than the puppy pen, slightly bigger too. It also will have the door in a more suitable place.  I was rearranging our living room in my head last night, trying to work out where the puppy pen would go (from the link above).  January is only tomorrow, so it's not that bad! haha

I do like the croft cages, and we have a soft travel crate made by them which is great quality but the prices for metal crates seem crazy.  Unless they are made from Platinum!! 

I don't want to work out how much our dog has cost us over the past 10 months, but I think we could have been on several luxury holidays with the money.  She is worth every penny though.

Being part of a working gropu is worth its weight in gold - we swear by it.We joined with our first Newfy ( who now has passed at every level both draught and water) and it worked wonders for our boy who had hip and knee problems,our newest baby also has passed A-D and 1 -3 .
She will probably be naughty due to the lack of excercise she can get because of her poorly legs,we had this with our boy so we started giving him 'mental stimulation' in place of excercise which worked wonders! he would get just as tired as if he had been out on a walk (i.e we would hide a treat and have him search for it - only in the kitchen so it was a small area) this then progressed to a paticular toy which we would hide and call out 'find it' - he loves this game even now !

We have really enjoyed being part of a working group and she is a very good swimmer, and took to the water instantly.  She was due to take her A test in August but we decided against it as she was still on very restricted exercise. She could still swim, but we wanted to just let her have fun.  This was her only off lead exercise, so it was also difficult having any control of her in the water.  She is behaving much better in the water now though.

Tried the 'find it' game tonight as you suggested.  She has slept for the past 3 hours and let us eat our dinner in peace, so it seems to have tired her out a lot.  She wasn't very quick with the game, and she even sat ontop of the toy she was trying to find at one point.

I have emailed splendid pets to ask when the 60" crate will be back in stock and I just got a reply saying "we will email you when we have it in".  So not much help from them!  Will phone them in the new year and ask again.