Search forum
Back to German Shepherd Dog
Liked top 20
ForumsGerman Shepherd Dog > Crate cooling ideas? (13 replies)
Crate cooling ideas? by Adkins1986 on 26 July 2012 - 01:46 |
| I'm looking for any ideas people may have on keeping dogs cool while they're in their crates. We currently have plastic 500 series airline crates with cedar bottoms. The crates are in the back of a Dodge Ram with a cap over them. We currently get bags of ice and spread under the cedar bottoms, and also a couple of small fans blowing on the dogs. The ultimate goal would be to buy a trailer with a high output fan or A/C unit installed. Right now that's night a financially feasible option. I found dog box that has a 100cfm exhaust fan installed in it, I was just wondering what other people use to keep there dogs cool on the hot summer days of training. Thanks for the input. Zach |
Adkins1986 by Chaz Reinhold on 26 July 2012 - 01:58 |
| Either use a 1" paddle bit and drill hundreds of holes, or use an open wire crate. |
Chaz Reinhold by Chaz Reinhold on 26 July 2012 - 02:09 |
| Caps can hold in too much heat too. Heat rises and neither of those are vented on top. I'm not recommending you drill thousands of holes in the cap, but you can park in the shade and move the crates out of the bed. Ewww, or you could buy one of those 12v coolers and leave the lid open. In fact, buy two and bring the beer. Now that would be cool! |
by Adkins1986 on 26 July 2012 - 03:10 |
| The side windows on the cap flip up and we have small fans installed there as well so there is good air flow. I think what I'm looking for is a crate with a good fan built into it. The fans they make for crates are junk. I don't like the idea of a wire crate because of how flemsy they are. I like the aluminum crates but I'll be in the same situation with those that I'm in with the airline crates I already have. I found a crate that they make for gun dogs that has a resevoir attached to the bottom that you can fill with cold water, but of course it's too small for GSD's. |
by Jenni Von on 26 July 2012 - 04:22 |
http://www.rayallen.com/product/12volt_Kennel_Fan/Kennel_Comfort This one moves some air and is probably the best 12volt on the market Also you may want to consider a cooling vest |
Jenni Von by Jim Mc on 26 July 2012 - 10:24 |
| The ice deal work good but pouring it out on the floor of crates is messy i fill up 1 gallon gatoraid bottles and freeze them they will stay frozen alot longer then the ice cubes just refreeze them if dogs don,t eat them my dogs just lick the heck out of them and lay on them. |
by laura271 on 26 July 2012 - 12:46 |
| My male GSD rides in a Zinger Winger crate under a truck cap in the back of our Ranger; he has gotten too broad across the shoulders to fit behind the seats in the truck. It has gotten brutally hot and humid this summer in SW Ontario so I really worry about him when we are driving to training. We don't have much luck with wireless thermometers so we put a wired outdoor thermometer probe in the top corner of the crate and zip tied the display unit to the back of the crate so that it is between the cap and the back truck window. This provides us with a rough idea of how hot the crate is as we are driving - if it gets too hot then we stop, let him out for a drink, wet down his paw pads, etc. We use an O2 Cool Rechargeable fan to move some air and frozen pop bottles of water (as another commenter has posted). I would like more air movement and have read on a similar thread on the WDF about the Endless Breeze Pet Fan or may ask my husband (he's a mechanical engineer) to build one from a radiator fan (as described on the WDF thread). Laura |
laura271 by Ramage on 26 July 2012 - 16:05 |
| I have an aluminum dog box with 2 bays. I like it better than plastic crates for cooling. I can keep a sun shade over the top and it helps reduce heat, plus I can throw ice inside and the aluminum stays cooler from the ice vs plastic. Actually, we use ice and plastic bottles that are frozen. I also finally found those O2 fans, so we'll be using them starting this weekend. |
Ramage by Conspicuous on 26 July 2012 - 16:05 |
| Just for fun, I thought I'd pick up a ProSelect *DELUXE* fan to see how I liked it. It wasn't too expensive, so what the heck. http://www.petedge.com/product/ProSelect-Deluxe-Thermostatic-Crate-Fans/45023.uts You can buy an optional cooling cartridge, which you stick in the freezer. It's only good for a couple of hours though, so I bought an extra cartridge. I've also seen cooling beds, that are supposed to be good for 6-8 hours, but I haven't put one to the test. The fan is battery operated, you can buy an adapter for your car, or one you can plug in to a regular socket. The control switch is a bit finicky, that's my only complaint so far, but i've only used it once. |
Conspicuous by Weezy on 26 July 2012 - 18:31 |
| We also use the frozen water in pop bottles. I use 2 litre bottles. small fan on front of crate. Dogs lick the heck out of the condensation on the bottles and the cooler air from the frozen bottles help as the fan blows on it. Have to kind of watch out for the pop lids though. Some like to chew them off others just lick the bottles and or lay against them. |
Weezy by alkster2002 on 27 July 2012 - 14:36 |
| OK ................ here is your 2 best ideas for keeping the dog COOL .............................. done it so often ...... get a reflective tarp or one of those camping foil insulative blankets and throw it over the top of your topper on the truck ..... reflective SIDE UP ..... it will reflect the sun back up and you will not be radiating heat into the topper .......... test it ...touch the top of the topper from the inside without the reflective tarp ..... it is damn warm ..... put the tarp on then touch to inside the topper from the inside and see how COOL to the touch it is ......... AND ice right into the crate so the dogs paws are in the ice ....... I am able to do this when parked out in the sun ........................ try it and let me know ........ and of course use your fans now ...... you can get a 1000 watt inverter to plug into the cigarette liter and have a big house fan blowing on the dogs ........ |
alkster2002 by joanro on 27 July 2012 - 15:35 |
| I would first have a crank-up vent installed in the top of the cap. That will allow heat to escape. Just make sure it is cranked down tight when on the road so it doesn't get messed up. Then get some " Solar-Flex" from Lowe's. It will be in the insulation department. It is aluminum foil with bubble wrap between, comes in two foot and four foot width. You can cut it with scissors and glue on with Liquid Nails. With last forever. Put it on the ceiling and inside sides of cap, you will be amazed at how much radiated heat it will prevent. |
by alboe2009 on 27 July 2012 - 23:31 |
| First, are you talking of while the vehicle is in motion or parked? If you're talking of in motion, AND you have sliding windows in your truck and cap you can either buy or fabricate a hose/cover attachments that fit to/over your exhaust ports for your AC vents. If parked, some of the ideas listed above. Just do some research and fabricate what pertains to your situation? I have a cap, while in motion there is enough air current for my three and at times when parked my thermometers have showed 100/105 degrees they are not kept in stationary/parked mode for long periods but they are acclimated to heat and comfortable. |
alboe2009 by Adkins1986 on 28 July 2012 - 23:50 |
| Thank you for all the comments. There's a lot of great ideas. We'll be trying out some stuff over the next few weeks. I'll post on here with what seems to work best. |
Do NOT follow this link or you will be banned from the site!