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We had a crate before that we purchased for a dog we were about to get. The dog we got was a Jack Russell Terrier, who we named Jack. Jack destroyed the first crate we got. He would bang it, move it, and even got out a time or two, so I was looking for heavy duty crates, but they were all too big (& of course had reviews saying their dog escaped). Finally I had to pull the trigger and buy a new one because we were afraid he would hurt himself on the crate and settled on this one. Finally!! It’s been a month and Jack has not been able to damage this one (or the tray insert)! Even if he tries banging this one, it’s not as bad as it was with the thinner bar crate. Unfortunately, I haven’t found a bed for it that he doesn’t destroy!! (He has even destroyed a Kong bed!!). If you have a small dog that wants to destroy his/her crate, I would suggest this one.Very easy to assemble and very sturdy! Extremely heavy for use in travel. More of a permanent cage!A lot of crates on the market are cheaply made and flimsy. This is very strong and sturdy. My pot belly pig sleeps in it at night and it contains her nicely.I rescued a 1 year old very active, destructive, not house trained dog. If I had not had this crate I would have had to return him. With this crate we can cope with him and keep him safe. Everyone (except the cats) arevery happy with his accomplishments.LOVE this carte...got the 36 inch for toy aussie puppy..it comes with divider which is great..I put crate under a counter and opened side door and added divider to front to allow extra room for dog litter pan...yes he came littlerbox trained from breeder...then use the front door for main entry. its a huge crate and he loves its...really glad i got it. folds super easy and has a handle you can attachEasy to assemble but I would not want to do it frequently. I bought the intermediate two door size so Cleo would have plenty of space. We just started crate training but she seems ok with it.The Ultima part stands for "Ultimate crap." These are the worst dog crates I have ever owned, and I own a bunch. The issue with these crates is the hinge design for the end doors. On a good day, they bind and the door doesn't swing freely. They are also almost always bent when they arrive. Should the crate not be bent beyond use, you can count on the hinges being borked. On a bad day...in other words, eventually, and sooner than later, the hinges will break off.My dogs are easy on their crates. My boy has been in his for almost a year, and the hinges have been weird from the beginning. As noted above, they were bent when the crate arrived. One was not even fully closed. I had to pinch it with pliers. This week, the bottom hinge on the end door he uses snapped off. Midwest is not known for their wonderful customer service, and when I complained previously to them about how they package their crates and they are always bent to hell when I get them, they actually told me that they "NEVER" have had any complaints about bent crates or their packaging before. That's obviously a crock. So I was already dreading fighting them for a warranty replacement for this crate.In the meantime, I ordered a Frisco crate from another online retailer. Unfortunately, the wire gauge is really thin on it, so I was reluctant to use it for my boy. He's the biggest of my dogs, and while he is not a crate destroyer, he is a "violent nester" and gets crazy when he is nesting in his blankets. I was worried it might not stay standing. So, I traded that one out for another Midwest Ultima that I had stored away for one of my other dogs. Brand new. Never used. I set it up last night. Door hinge binding. What a surprise. Tonight, hinge snaps off. That is TWO of these crates that have just fallen apart due to this horrid hinge design.I love everything else about these crates. The wire gauge is heavy duty. The size is great. I love having three doors. If only the doors actually worked and the hinges didn't break off.I have a third one of the Midwest Ultima 48" crates that has managed to hold together. I had to tweak the hinge loops on it to make them work, including a bottom hinge on one of the end door. However, this crate has lasted because I use the side door, which has a different design than the end doors. I fully expect that, should I need to use the end doors ever, they will also break off.I bought a 36" Midwest Life Stages crate for one of my dogs, and it does not have the horror-hinge design. It has two doors, one on side and one on end, and they both work great. Wire gauge is nice and thick, too. As much as it makes me want to gag to think about buying another Midwest product in this lifetime, I may go with a Life Stages crate. If Midwest fixes this horrid hinge design, this would be a fantastic crate.Good luck getting one from Amazon that isn't mangled when it arrives. Be prepared to return it. They will expect you to try to ship it back. You will want to try to preserve the box, if you can. Good luck getting it back in the box. I had better luck with the smaller crate arriving in one piece. It, too, was bent somewhat at one corner, but still useable. My recommendation would be to return it without opening it if the box is the least bit banged up. I have learned this the hard way. Even then, you have a great chance of the crate having broken welds (42" crate came that way), bent panels (4 out of 5 came that way, not all from Amazon), or with bent or open (as in not closed loop) door hinges (4 out of 5). Watch out for that.I am not looking forward to trying to get Midwest to replace both of these crates. The construction is such that you can't just replace the end panels. So, given their reputation for lousy customer service, I will be very surprised if I am able to get a replacement for one of these crate, much less two. Wish me luck. The pictures I included show the broken hinge and pieces, and one picture shows an unbroken hinge, so you can see the difference. Apologies for the poor lighting.Update: I contacted Midwest customer service, and they have been GREAT. When I made my purchase, the model was #748UP, which was the triple door version. Midwest has since discontinued the triple door version. It is now a two-door version with a fixed hinge. Midwest requested proof of purchase and pictures of the issue, which I supplied. Their response has been fast and professional and they have shipped out two brand new replacement crates (new style), under the warranty. I have not received them yet, and hopefully they won't be banged up during shipping. That's the open question at this point. But, very, very pleased with the response from their customer service. I really expected a battle to get them replaced. I was very pleasantly surprised.The crate seems well made, however I’m a 68 year old woman, who lives by herself & the instructions are inside the crate; so you have to figure out how to open the crate in order to get to the instructions, how dumb is that.Why aren’t the instructions loose in the box so you can get to them ??? I found a video on line of how to open it, it was very difficult , finally got a screwdriver & pried off the latch holding it closed, probably won’t recommend this crate & it’s pretty heavyCut finger on sharp edges not good for a dog, front door when locked opens over an inch paws could get stuck dog trying to force out. Can NOT get it together one hooked part is directly in the way of a bar. If the hook was in the correct place I’d still not want it as directions show you Must bend the front and back panels Out and then bend the top down to get the front and back to lock into place.ZERO stars. Unless!I wanted something a little studier because I read so much about husky's trying to escape. I had to reinforce the whole crate with zip ties because with a little tugging, a determine pup could pull the weak connecting areas apart. But once reinforced, it's been great, the bars are strong and well made. My puppy only tried once to pull on them with his teeth and never did it again. The slide out bottom has made cleaning accidents a breeze. The "wheels" that come with it are not like rollers and did not survive one day if moving it around. Overall, I am happy with my purchase.We bought the smaller, 36 inch crate from this company when we adopted a 9 month old puppy. Our dog turned out to be bigger than expected, so we recently purchased the larger 42 inch size crate. there was a delay in shipping, but it eventually came. it is a very well made crate, easy to assemble, easy to disassemble and move, comes with handles to make it easier to move the crate when assembled. i really like the flexibility of having 2 doors, front and side, depending on crate placement in room. very happy with quality of crate.Just when I thought it was no longer possible to purchase a heavier duty wire crate, I found this option on Amazon! The build reminds me of the wire crate of 20+ years ago. It may not be your first choice if you move it around a lot, but if you have a more feisty dog, it's a heavier gauge wire and they are closer together. I haven't been able to find this model in local pet stores.We have had a couple different crates before. By far this is the best one we have purchased. We have bought two of these now. The paint job is much better than the other crates on the market. The paint does not flake off. I have not used it for travel, but if I did, I would zip tie the front and the back sides to make extra sure my dog does not pop the panels open during travel. If you have a powerful dog that try’s to get out of everything, I would recommend the same for everyday uses.Note: The sizing on Amazon is a bit misleading. Best to go with the sizing on the box.
