Ruff Tough Kennel

I've had many vehicles to transport my show dogs throughout the years, and even more crates. My first vehicle was a 2-door Subaru, and my Boxer rode in the back seat, loose, for the first year I trained him. After being exposed to show people, and seeing their vehicles and crates, I quickly moved to a Subaru station wagon with a vari-kennel in the back. 

When I started showing in agility, and needed more gear (and had more dogs), I got a minivan. I was showing a Pug, a Boxer and a mixed breed at the time, so I had a platform built, that was attached to the van, with wire crates lashed to the platform. Another van, and many years passed, but the layout of the crates stayed virtually the same.

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When I retired my last Boxer, and no longer showed outdoors (no more canopies, chairs, coolers, etc. to haul) I took out the platform, and put in a crate large enough for 2 Pugs.

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Eventually I decided to get a smaller car, so in 2016 I got a Kia Soul. For the next few years I traveled with 1 or 2 pugs attached to the area right behind the driver's seat, in a metal crate. ​

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A month ago, I decided that the setup could be safer, so after researching different crates (and their costs) I ordered a Ruff Tough kennel. I ordered the mid-size kennel, with standard holes.

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I wanted more ventilation, so I planned on adding a row of holes on each side and in the back.

I drew a template using the existing holes, and taped it to the crate.

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Using a step bit, we drilled out the holes on each side and in the back.

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The finished sides.

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The finished back.

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The Soul doesn't have a lot of places to attach tie-downs, so I had to get creative with securing the crate in the car. I found some latches behind the back seat that worked. 

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I wrapped the entire crate, and attached that tie-down to the latch.

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With nothing in the rear of the car to attach a tie-down to, we ran a cross rope, then looped it around and under, and attached it to the latch.

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As an added measure of safety (since there was nothing securing the crate in the rear), we put a tie-down between 2 latches on the side, to keep the crate from flying forward.

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The final tie-down was attached from the back of the crate to another latch on the side of the car, to keep it from flying side-to-side.

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The crate door caught on the floor of the car, since I have a seat protector down, so I raised it up a little with foam floor tiles.

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We've already had our first ride in the new crate, and Kimchi looked through the holes for a minute, then curled up and went to sleep.