the borrowed crate was only 27" tall but axel is 32" tall so he had no choice but to lay down whenever he was in it, which meant that between the time i went to work and the time bryan got up he was pretty much stuck in one position.

today i got the largest crate i could find, which is 33" tall and long enough for him to comfortably stand up, turn around, and stretch out when laying down.

bonus is that this one has a plastic tray for the bottom. the borrowed one was supposed to have a plastic tray but it had been lost at some point by the owner so we had to set it on plastic garbage bags which axel would tear up when he got mad. i am no scientist but i can't imagine that bits of plastic did his tummy any good.

at first he seemed peeved at me for taking away his crate, not that he'd ever liked the old one much, but i think it was the fact of having something different. even so, he warmed up to the new crate pretty quickly. we had a blanket over the old one which covered the top, both sides, and (when we closed the door) the front to make it more cavelike for him and keep him from seeing us get up to use the bathroom or whatever in the middle of the night and set him off whining. this new one is so big that the same blanket only covers one side, the top, and the front so i set it up so that the open side points toward the couch. i think this makes him happier because he seems more willing to go inside now, as long as he can see me. initially i had the open side toward the kitchen, and he didn't seem to like that much.

he's actually voluntarily going inside now to lay down which is cool, and when it's time to eat and i tell him to go lay down, he goes inside and stays there without me having to close the door.

hooray for the "big boy" crate!