Travel Crates

Since Gunner, Jackie, and I are often traveling together to and from Cowtown Dog Sports for training, and in anticipation of traveling to agility and rally trials, I have upgraded my travel crates to Ruffland Performance Kennels. I love the Ruffland kennels for many reasons, including design elements that improve the dogs' safety, removable doors on both the front and side of the crates which is convenient, improves airflow, and gives additional access in case of emergency, and ease of securing and fitting the crates in my vehicle.

Both dogs' kennels have been outfitted with custom-made purple Primo Pads and a custom printed Ruffland nameplate. I attached D-rings to the built-in tie-down connectors on the crates so I can anchor the crates in my vehicle with the tie-down straps I ordered. 

I'm excited to have these crates! It's a good feeling knowing the pups are safe and secure while we're traveling.

Jackie's crate is large (36") in orange, Gunner's crate is intermediate (30") in white

Gunner's crate is leveled perfectly with a foam platform from K9 Play Products

When both dogs travel together, Gunner's intermediate RLK crate fits on the folded-down back seat

Purple primo pads are made specifically to fit in each crate

All doors are removable and open both left and right

Tiedown D rings bolt directly to the kennel in pre-installed bolt-anchors on the top or bottom of the crates

Secured to the floor of the vehicle with cargo lash straps

Removable doors open both left or right swing; hinges right open here:

Jackie's large RLK crate fits nicely in the cargo area of my car, a small SUV, with room to spare and the backseats up

The custom nameplates turned out brilliantly

Removable doors open both left or right; hinges left open here:

Pearls:

• With the supply chain issue, these crates can be hard to come by; I got lucky and purchased the large orange one from an agility buddy and I found the intermediate white one at a big sporting goods store called Scheels outside of Dallas
• Love the feeling of security these crates provide and love the options for crating out of my car and traveling with both dogs secured
• Wishlist accessories include Ryobi battery/power operated fans to hang on the crates

Some good news

On January 12, 2022 Gunner saw his veterinary cardiologist Dr. Rebecca Fields Bennie, where a blood count showed that Gunner's kidney values were slightly high. Gunner's cardiologist Dr. Bennie wanted us to follow up with a check on Gunner's kidney values in eight weeks with Gunner's primary veterinarian Dr. J. Scott Mellina. Gratefully,  yesterday at that follow-up visit with Dr. Mellina, Gunner's kidney values were within normal limits. 

Gunner's kidney values January 12, 2022:  CREA  2.0mg/dL  (reference interval = 0.5 -1.8)

                                                                     BUN  29 mg/dL    (reference interval = 7 - 27)

Gunner's kidney values March 10, 2022:    CREA 1.4 mg/dL  (reference interval = 0.5 - 1.8)

                                                                     BUN 23 mg/dL     (reference interval = 7 - 27)

All other values from Gunner's blood chemistry yesterday (March 10, 2022) were within normal limits except for his reticulocytes (immature red blood cells) which were low, 8.5K/uL (reference interval = 10.0 - 11.0). Gunner's primary veterinarian Dr. Mellina did not comment to me about Gunner's RETIC. I emailed all findings from our follow-up visit with Dr. Mellina on March 10, 2022 to Gunner's cardiologist Dr. Bennie.

Pearls:

• Gunner's kidney values are within normal limits
• Gunner is doing well at home, and is continuing to enjoy playing Rally-O

Gunner, the keynote and anchor of the family!