In a size large, costs $600. Empty, it weighs 72 pounds. Both numbers are approximately 10 times those of the single-wall plastic crates that you鈥檒l find at a pet store. Excessive? I guess that depends on how seriously you take the safety of your dogs.
A decade ago, every single one of us thought that charging $60 for a cooler was pretty excessive. These days, most of us can鈥檛 remember how we kept our food cold before Yeti came along. That brand took a product everyone considered perfectly adequate, then听re-imagined it. Sure, its coolers are expensive, enormous, and heavy, but by keeping ice frozen far longer than anyone had previously thought possible, Yeti has enabled its customers to better enjoy outdoor activities. I think Gunner Kennels is doing the same thing for dog owners.
鈥淚 basically just built my dog the kennel I wanted,鈥 says Addison Edmonds, who founded the company, which is named after his听dog. Edmonds is a passionate waterfowl hunter, so regularly transports Gunner between home and field in his truck. And the typical plastic travel crates we鈥檙e all familiar with just didn’t hold up.
Edmonds鈥檚 research eventually led him to a double-wall, rotomolded design that鈥檚 very similar to that of a Yeti cooler. Just here, there are large ventilation slots and a heavy duty metal-framed door. This type of construction听lends the crate massive strength in three dimensions, at a weight that remains manageable for a single person to load into or out of the bed of a pickup. In its testing,听Gunner Kennels has found that its crates can withstand a crushing force in excess of 4,000 pounds. Traditional plastic crates can barely withstand being听transported, let alone the forces created in a car crash.听The G1 is the only crate to earn from the Center for Pet Safety.
Keeping dogs safe in cars is a complicated, nuanced problem that doesn鈥檛 have a perfect solution. As I explored in-depth听last year, a harness that keeps your dog in the rear seat and connects to the seat belts is the best solution for managing the forces a dog is exposed to in a crash. But those harnesses may not be a practical solution for owners of large dogs or people who want to carry dogs in the back of a truck or van. A crate provides containment, preventing your dog from flying around听in a crash, as well as protecting the animal听from debris.听Importantly, crates also keep pets from falling out of the vehicle, something which the Humane Society says .
Of course, to achieve those safety benefits, a crate needs to be really damn tough. At just 35 miles per hour, a 60-pound dog becomes a 2,700-pound projectile. Additionally, exposed in the bed of a pickup, a dog can be subject to the forces caused by a vehicle rollover. That resistance to 4,000 pounds of crushing force achieved by the Gunner G1 doesn鈥檛 sound like overkill now, huh?
That’s why I recently ordered a听large G1. My dog, Wiley, has always been a little anxious on car rides, but following a long-distance move last summer, that anxiety started to become unbearable for us humans. He now cries and whines while hopping around the car uncontrollably, and won鈥檛 settle down, even on long trips. I needed to find a way to contain him, and with a new pickup truck on the way, moving him from the cabin to the bed where us humans wouldn鈥檛 be tormented by his crying sounded really appealing. Of course, I鈥檇 only do that if I could guarantee the safety and comfort of my best friend.
The top and bottom halves of the G1 arrived in two separate boxes that were each so big that they can had to be squeezed through a standard-width home door, with no room to spare. Initially, I was a little unimpressed with the featureless beige halves, but then I set about assembling them. The provided bolts are of perceptibly top-end quality, and arrive with red threadlock already applied. Put the top half on the bottom and seven of those bolts screw into nuts molded into the polyethelene. The metal-framed door bolts into the opening, with a听hinge that runs the full height of the door on one side, blocking access to those bolts. I groaned with anticipation of the contortions that were going to be necessary to install the bolts that run behind it, before I noticed the access holes drilled into the frame that made the job easy. The process of putting the crate together felt like working on a nice car; it was听immensely reassuring.
Examine the assembled crate closely and what looks like a beige plastic box from afar听becomes something that鈥檚 full of clever solutions and loads of smart details. Rubber feet on the bottom prevent the G1 from sliding around in a truck bed, as well as provide an air gap below the crate, offering some insulation from the ground or pickup bed. A recessed channel runs around the interior perimeter of the crate floor, funneling听liquids to a drain plug at the rear. That means to clean it, you just spray it out with a hose and it will drain automatically and quickly. If your dog pees inside, that too will just flow out. In addition to the full-length hinge, the door is secured by a locking latch on the opposite side and supplementary latches top and bottom. Those four points of contact maximize the likelihood that the door will remain closed if the crate is deformed in a violent crash. The carry handles come off a kayak. The rubber wheels are mounted on heavy duty (and replaceable!) steel axles. Perhaps most importantly, the steel tie-down points are molded into the polyethylene with enough strength that they match the 2,500-pound load rating of the provided tie-down straps.
There鈥檚 also 鈥攅verything from a battery-powered cooling fan to sleeping pads that exactly contour the crate鈥檚 interior鈥攖hat add to the G1鈥檚 practicality.
I remarked to Edmonds that loading Wiley into the G1 doesn鈥檛 feel like I鈥檓 putting him in a doggy jail cell. 鈥淲hen I load Gunner into his crate, it鈥檚 something I feel good about,鈥 he says.
The double-wall rotomolding also provides dogs with some insulation from the heat or cold. The company has noted that the interior of its crates can, in some circumstances, remain 15 degrees cooler than ambient temperatures on hot days. While this feature will provide some additional comfort for the dog, Edmonds is hesitant to pitch the insulation as a safety feature, for fear that it could get in the way of an owner adequately protecting their animal from extreme conditions. At the very least, the dead air space in the shell, plus the non-conductive nature of polyethylene, means the crate won鈥檛 feel hot or cold to your dog鈥檚 touch.
It should also be noted that there are some best practices required for dog owners to get the most out of their kennels. While the G1鈥檚 four tie-down points and straps can each resist 2,500 pounds of force, the points you strap it to in a car or truck may not be nearly as strong. The tie-down hooks in the back of most passenger vehicles, for instance, are only rated to 100 pounds. Edmonds is also quick to stress how important it is to secure听the door鈥檚 two supplementary latches, if that door is to remain closed during a crash. You also need to be careful about appropriately sizing your crate to the dog it will carry. The less extra space there is inside, the less a dog will bounce around in a crash.
All that said, the G1 remains a uniquely safe product. Edmonds says that they鈥檝e seen 鈥減robably a dozen鈥 severe accidents while dogs were traveling in customer鈥檚 crates, but zero reported injuries. Visit the page, and there are听some big crashes recounted;听everything from a rollover to a pickup that skidded off the road and struck a telephone pole with its bed, where the dog was traveling. 鈥淲e have not even heard of a dog that has broken a leg in the kennel,鈥 says Edmonds.
With the G1, that safety comes in a package that should stand up to years of daily use, and which you can use for air travel, or static crating in a home or campsite. Is it worth $600?If you travel with your dog, I think it鈥檚 the best $600 you鈥檒l ever spend.