Introduction
If you’re wondering what the right French Bulldog crate size is, you’ve come to the right place. This ultimate French bulldog crate guide will not only help you to find the right size but I’ll also show you the different styles of crates and what situations they are perfect for.
Do you need a crate for your French Bulldog puppy training? Or perhaps you want a heavy duty one that your dog can’t destroy? There are many different dog crate designs on the market, and this guide will help you find one that suits you and your Frenchie’s needs.
I’ll cover the various factors you need to consider when you’re choosing a crate, how to measure your Frenchie, plus we’ll look at the main styles of crate available and the pros and cons for each.
Best French Bulldog crate For Adults & Puppies
If you’re in a hurry and want me to cut straight to the chase here are my top picks for the best dog crates for French Bulldogs:
1. Best Plastic French Bulldog crate / French Bulldog Travel crate – Petmate Sky Kennel
2. Best Value Metal Wire French Bulldog crate – MidWest Homes for Pets Dog crate With Divider
3. Best Wooden French Bulldog crate – Crown Pet Products Wood Pet crate End Table
4. Best Soft French Bulldog crate – 2PET Foldable Dog crate
I do go in depth on each of these down below so keep reading if you want more insights on each of these various dog crate options.
French Bulldog crate Size – How Big Should a Dog crate Be For a French Bulldog?
You definitely want to get the size of your Frenchie’s crate correct.
It shouldn’t be too cramped, but it also shouldn’t offer too much space to move around either. I’ll show you how to find the best crate size for Frenchies.
Your French Bulldog should be able to turn around easily and sit up without having to crouch. If it is hitting his head on the top of the crate it is too small. You will also want to make sure your French Bulldog has ample leg room in the crate. He should also be able to stretch out his legs when lying on his side without hitting the walls.
While you want the crate to be big enough for your Frenchie you will want to be careful about buying a crate that is too large. Your dog shouldn’t have a lot of extra space inside the crate. Too much space can negatively affect how useful the crate is as a training tool for your French Bulldog. If the crate is too big he could end up using one corner as a bathroom which defeats the purpose of it as a house training tool.
The crate should give your Frenchie a feeling of safety and security. A crate with too much space will prevent your dog from achieving that sense of security.
So, what size dog crate do you need for your Frenchie?
How To Measure An Adult French Bulldog For A crate
Alright, let’s go over the measurements for a fully-grown French Bulldog first.
If your little Frenchie is an adult, you’ll need to measure his length and height. (Pro tip: having some treats available during this process can help make this go more smoothly). You won’t need to measure the width of your little Frenchie.
One way to do this is to have your French bulldog stand in the corner of a room with his backside against one wall. Get a piece of chalk or something that won’t leave a permanent mark on your walls. This way, you can mark the height and length measurements and get out the measuring tape after.
French Bulldog crate Size – Measuring the Length of Your French Bulldog
To accurately measure the length of your Frenchie, get him standing on all four paws and measure from the base of the tail to the very tip of his nose.
Next, add a couple of inches to the length measurement which will allow him plenty of moving around space. Having a little extra space to move around, adjust his bed, and make himself comfortable is a good idea. That number should be your target minimum length for your French bulldog’s crate.
Measuring the Height of Your French Bulldog
Now, get the treats out and have your dog sit. Measure his height in this upright position from the floor to the tallest point of his big pointing Frenchie ears (their big ears need room too!).
Again, add a couple inches, and you’ve got the minimum height for your Frenchie’s crate.
The length and height numbers you have come up with should give you your target crate size for your French Bulldog. If you get a crate that is a few inches bigger that won’t matter too much you just don’t want him to have a ton of extra space in there.
French Bulldog Puppy crate – What Size crate Should You Get For A Puppy?
You really have two options when it comes to getting a crate for your French Bulldog puppy.
Option 1: Multiple crate Approach: If investing in multiple crates at different stages in your Frenchie’s life isn’t a problem for you or your budget, you can use the same method as above to measure your puppy.
Get the height and length numbers for your puppy and get a crate that fits his dimensions. Just understand that your Frenchie pup will grow fast so the crate will quickly become too small. If you do choose to take this option I wouldn’t spend too much money on your first crate. Once he reaches adult size, you can invest in a more expensive crate that will suit his needs into adulthood.
Option 2: Save Money By Buying A Resizable crate: When I first got my Frenchie he was 8 weeks old and weighed about 5 pounds, and was only about 7 inches long. Your dog’s size as a puppy will be very different to his full-grown adult size. The crate he will need during puppyhood will be much smaller than what he will need as an adult.
It would take repeated investment and different crate sizes to keep as your puppy grows. A better option is to get one crate to accommodate your dog’s adult size and buy a divider to reduce the size to suit his changing body dimensions. You would simply resize your dog’s crate using the divided so he doesn’t have too much free space to move inside the crate.
5 Different Types of French Bulldog Crates
When it comes to choosing a style of crate for your Frenchie you certainly have lots of options.
Here are six popular options you can choose from.
Metal Wire Dog crate – The metal wire dog crate is by far the most popular option. They are durable, they can be folded up for easier transport, they can be stored away, they can be set up easily, they can be cleaned fairly easily, and best of all they are affordable.
For most Frenchies this option should be more than adequate if you just plan to leave the crate at home.
While these metal wire dog crates are the most popular, you may get the following types of crates for the following main features and uses.
Foldable Soft Dog Crate – When I first met my Frenchie puppy the Breeder I bought him from showed up with my little guy and his siblings packed inside one of these soft dog crates. The biggest benefit of soft crates is how portable they are. This crate is much easier to transport your Frenchie in than its metal counterpart.
This is likely the best pet carrier for French Bulldog around town in your vehicle as well as for vacations and trips. These are also very affordable crates. In addition, it is easy to clean, and easy to collapse down. They are made of a soft fabric, have a thin metal frame, and come in some attractive designs.
Decorative Wooden Dog Crate – This style of dog crate looks and functions as furniture while also being a dog crate too. They of course purely indoor crates. They can come in a style of an end table, night stand and more. There are many different brands each varying in colors, size, and shape so you can match it with your interior design. Wood end tables are the most common wooden dog crates but I have a friend who has a night table version for her Frenchie.
Plastic Dog Crate – This is a very popular option as well and many people get plastic dog crates like these as travel carriers. This can help make the transport of your Frenchie to and from the vet easy for you. If you ever plan to fly on an airplane you can get an airline approved plastic crate as checked baggage pet crate transport. Plastic dog crates like these are lightweight.
Heavy Steel Dog Crate – Made of a heavier thicker steel then the metal wire crates. This style of crate is really designed for chewers, scratchers and escape artist dogs. This really shouldn’t be needed for a Frenchie.
As you can see there are many styles of dog crates and the best crate for you depends on your needs. The intended uses and where you are going to use the crate will influence which type of crate to invest in.
How long you can leave your French Bulldog in a crate?
It really depends on how old your French Bulldog is. If you have a puppy then it depends on your puppy’s age. The rule of thumb my dog trainer told me is that, a puppy can hold their bladder one hour for every month of age. For example, if your puppy is three months old, they can hold it for about three hours. Don’t go longer than this between bathroom breaks because the changes they will have an accident will increase considerably.
Now, if you have a trained adult French Bulldog can use its cage like a den. It can be in crate for overnight or up to 6 or 7 hours a day. French Bulldogs are prone to separation anxiety so if possible try not to leave your little guy alone for too long.
One Simple Way To Make Your New Frenchie Puppy More Comfortable In His crate
When you go pick up your French Bulldog puppy from the breeder you will be very excited but you must understand your new puppy will be somewhat stressed being separated from his mother and siblings. When we visited our breeder we saw that our little Frenchie slept in a pig pile with all of his other siblings.
We picked up our Frenchie in the middle of Winter here in New Hampshire and our bedroom floor where we had the crate was somewhat cold. On top of putting a crate pad in there, putting some dog blankets in there, one other thing we did for our little puppy when we picked him up was to get him a heat pad. (They even have electric heat pads for dog crates now).
A Pig Pile of French Bulldog Puppies Used To Snuggling With Each Other to Stay Warm
Here is the Snuggle Safe Microwaveable Heatpad we used in our little guy’s crate (he’s the one with the Brown collar in the pig pile photo above).
A simple little head pad like this can go a long way to help keep your Frenchie warm, feel less stress after being removed from his siblings, and sleep well at night. We would simply pop this in the microwave for 4-5 minutes right before bed and then tuck it under one of the blankets in our Frenchie’s crate.
You can also go with an electric heated dog pad too if you want something a little fancier than the microwaveable one we use in our dog’s crate.
The Many Benefits of Owning a Dog crate
There are a lot of great reasons to use a crate and its beneficial for both you and your Frenchie. Initially, the idea of using a crate may seem somewhat unpleasant due to its enclosed structure, but it can be very beneficial in training your Frenchie. If you want a secure personal space for your dog, then a crate is best to use. Below are some of the most common benefits of a dog crate for your consideration.
1. Offer Your Frenchie Safety
Whether the dog crate will be used at your house, transporting your dog in your vehicle, or even with you on a vacation, it will first and foremost be a safe place for your dog. As a rule of thumb you should keep your dog crate with you, especially when you are traveling.
Life and its many responsibilities make it a sad reality that you won’t be able to always be with your Frenchie. As much of a disappointment that might be it is quite normal and something all French Bulldog owners must deal with. A good crate will offer complete security due to their double locking system and this can help keep your dog safe.
A crate can also help keep your Frenchie away from substances that might be bad for his health. For example, my little Frenchie had an obsession with chewing on the kids’ papers and even on his puppy pee pads. Judicious use of the crate can prevent them from swallowing poisonous or dangerous substances. Keeping your little guy in a crate will help keep them protected and secured.
2. A crate for your Frenchie can be used as a house training tool
A crate is useful tool to help control the environment of a puppy to assist with house training. Our dog trainer had us start crate training our little Frenchie as early 8 weeks of age. All dogs are born with a natural inclination to keep their pee and poop out of the den that they sleep in. When you first start crate training, try to keep your Frenchie in the crate for short duration and do everything you can to make it a positive experience.
The crate can help your Frenchie puppy bladder control by holding it in, even when they are inside. You must understand, once you take them out of the crate, they will instantly need to go to the bathroom. The crate should be a valuable tool to will assist you in their potty training and they will soon learn to keep their cages clean.
A properly sized kennel can encourage your Frenchie not to muddle the place, where he stands or sleeps. Moreover, puppy also learns to control his discharge, in case of emergency situations. In this way, pet owners can get a huge benefit of litter training. If you are bothered about your canine’s poor toilet routine, then get him a crate As Soon As Possible!
Here is a short video with some great puppy crate training tips:
3. The crate should be a place of peace for your Frenchie
After a busy day of playing, sleeping, eating, and playing some more they will need a peaceful place to relax. You just need to keep their crate in a peaceful location in your home and leave its entrance open most of the time (we leave our little guy’s crate in the master bedroom).
The crate will provide soothing feeling to your French Bulldog and soon he will become accustomed to this environment and associate it with relaxation. Be sure to never use the crate as punishment. By treating the crate as a comfortable bed to your pup, he will search for his crate whenever he is tired and in need of rest. As his owner you must be sure to keep his crate safe and peaceful. The crate should be his own personal space, where your beloved friend can go to relax. I have some other French Bulldog crate training tips here.
4. Have crate – will travel
Not all French bulldogs enjoy traveling in your vehicle (although mine loves it!). Transporting them in a crate can help make it easier on them if they aren’t big fans of car travel. Another worthy mention is that travel in a car unrestrained can be dangerous for your Frenchie. A sudden stop could turn them into a projectile.
To keep your dog relaxed and calm while you are in transit it is recommended to carry them in a crate. There are many different French Bulldog travel crates on the market that are highly portable. Many can easily be folded down into a very portable handbag. Travel crates like this can provide a safe and comfortable environment for your Frenchie anywhere. The see through panels on the top and side allow you to monitor your Frenchie and make sure they are doing ok on their road trip.
5. Protect them during injury or illness
If your Frenchie ever gets injured or sick, then a crate may help to protect them from further injury. This comfortable safe-haven can help soothe your little dog to help them recover. A Frenchie may need some protection from their self if they ever do suffer from an injury. Without protection some of their actions can increase his pain and slow recovery. A secure crate you can protect him against making it worse by restricting his movements. In turn, as the proud Frenchie parent you will also feel relieved when your wounded or sick pup will be kept in a risk-free and protected environment.
Top 5 French Bulldog crate Reviews
Best Plastic French Bulldog crate / French Bulldog Travel crate – Petmate Sky Kennel
This crate is my top recommendation for your French Bulldog. This is the crate we personally use for our little Augie and he loves it. He does also have a Metal crate (shown below) but this is the one we use for him 90% of the time.
- SECURE AND BREATHABLE: The is one of the top reasons I love this crate. It has wire vents on the front, sides, and back. It has a double-latch secure door good for keeping any ‘escape artist’ Frenchies from escaping their crate.
- EASY TO TRAVEL WITH: I haven’t flown with my Frenchie yet but this crate has been great for short and long road trips. Looking at the reviews for this crate you can fly with it after some modifications have been made but that will take some further investigation with your airline to determine the exact current FAA laws. This crate is adaptable travel necessities provide a safe and comfortable travel experience
- EXTRA SECURITY LOCKING MECHANISM: This crate has a 4-way vault door that provides extra security for the travel dog crate and prevents sliding and shifting.
- DURABLE AND BUILT WELL: This crate has been built to last. Durable plastic shell, non-corrodible wing-nuts, extra strong steel wire, and interlocking door provide heavy-duty protection. We even dropped the crate (don’t worry, our Frenchie wasn’t in it when it dropped) and it came out unharmed.
- VENTILATION ON EACH SIDE: The front of the crate is fully ventilated and there are additional ventilation openings on each side as well. We wanted to make certain our French Bulldog had plenty of fresh air.
- MADE WITH RECYCLED MATERIALS AND ECO-FRIENDLY: Another selling point of this crate is that it is environmentally friendly. The fact that it is made with recycled materials is a bonus!
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NOTE: Add a Soft Pet Bolster Pad To Make It Comfy Your Frenchie
With our crate at home we use this Padded Pet Bolster Bed to make the interior of the crate nice and cozy for our little guy. We wrap this padded bed with a couple small dog blankets for easy cleaning and to make it even cozier. We found the 31 x 23 inch pad fit perfectly into our crate and gave him a cozy bed to sleep on inside.
In addition to the pet pad, we got a tip from the dog trainer to help our Frenchie sleep even better at night. She recommended that we drape a blanket over the top of that after putting him his crate at night. This makes it even darker in the crate while. We went with this cute decorative French Bulldog blanket which fit perfectly over our plastic crate.
Best Value Metal Wire French Bulldog crate – MidWest Homes for Pets Dog crate With Divider
While this crate didn’t get my top choice it comes in as a close second. In fact, it’s probably closer to tied with first place than in second because in our house we use this crate as well as the Plastic one shown above.
- FOLD AND CARRY DESIGN: My favorite feature of this crate is it’s “fold and carry design.” This crate sets up easily in seconds and no tools are needed for assembly. While it also sets up easily you can quickly fold it down into a portable suitcase-like package as well (this makes it handy to bring on trips).
- PERFECT crate FOR FRENCH BULLDOG PUPPIES: This crate also comes with a divider panel included. This way you can buy one crate when your little guy is a puppy and then adjust the size as he grows. Just choose the size of crate that your French bulldog will need when it reaches its full adult size (30 inches should do the trick).
The divider panel will allow you to adjust the length of the living area while your puppy grows, keeping the living space small enough to reduce the chance of your puppy going to the bathroom in one end and sleeping in the other. - 1 YEAR WARRANTY: An added selling point is that this iCrate double door dog crates carry a one-year limited warranty. You likely won’t need it with the quality design but hey, it never hurts to have your bases covered with a warranty.
All and all this is a great crate and I would recommend it to anyone looking for a reliable crate that will serve their Frenchie from puppyhood to adulthood.
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Best Wooden French Bulldog crate – Crown Pet Products Wood Pet crate End Table
This is a perfect type of crate to use in a living room or family room where you don’t want a big ugly metal crate. Alternatively, you can use it as a night stand in your bedroom which is a nice way to keep your Frenchie close by at night.
- FURNITURE QUALITY DOG crate: This is a decorative and functional pet crate that also serves as an end table. This wooden dog crate is made with a durable hardwood known as Rubberwood. It is a materials similar to teak. This beautiful dog crate end table has a stained and lacquered finish just like fine furniture. It has a really nice look to it and is a perfectly functional piece of furniture at the same time.
- EASY TO CLEAN: The floor of the wooden dog crate is made of a melamine material that is waterproof. This helps to eliminate the absorption of any liquids and odor. This flooring material also make it a very easy to clean interior which is ideal.
- 360-DEGREE VENTING: There are multiple vents on each side of the Wooden dog crate which provides plenty of air flow as well as letting your Frenchie see what is happening outside his crate.
The medium crate is recommended for small and medium-sized pets up to 45 pounds. Most Frenchies only get up to 24-28 pounds so this is plenty big enough for them. I wouldn’t recommend using a crate like this for a French Bulldog puppy as it might be too big but for an adult Frenchie this will be fine.
Here are other ideas on dog furniture dog crates if this style suits your home.
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Best Soft French Bulldog crate – 2PET Foldable Dog crate
Here are some of the features of this soft dog crate that you and your French Bulldog may like:
- MULTI-PURPOSE FOLDABLE SOFT DOG crate: If you’re looking to buy a versatile soft dog crate this gets my top recommendation. It is foldable, perfect for transporting your Frenchie safely in a car. It is also a great dog crate for camping and is great for indoor and outdoor use.
- STRONG STEEL METAL FRAME: While the exterior and interior of the crate is a soft material it has a built-in metal steel tube frame. These aren’t flimsy tubes but are structurally very strong.
- TOP HANDLE FOR EASY CARRYING: Includes a top handle on the soft dog crate so you can easily carry your Frenchie in style.
- MACHINE WASHABLE SOFT FABRIC COVER: The steel frame of this soft dog crate is covered with a water resistant fabric cover that you can take off and wash. The cover is easily removed with the big front zipper.
- GOOD VENTILATION WITH MESH PANEL WINDOWS: Thanks to side and front windows there is plenty of air flow through this crate. Additionally, this soft dog crate perfect for your French Bulldog comes with a waterproof mat for the floor.
- CHARITY DONATION WITH PURCHASE: A pretty cool bonus feature is that this company states they will donate a portion of sales to various pet charities when you invest in one of these soft dog crates.
- 1 YEAR WARRANTY: This crate also comes with a 1-year warranty against manufacturing faults in place. This protects you from any manufacturer defects.
This soft dog crate can be a great choice especially if you need a way to keep your little guy safe while transporting them in a car.
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Conclusion
There you have it my Frenchie loving friend. I hope this guide gave you some insights on how to pick the best crate (or crates) for your French Bulldog. My top pick that we use as our go-to crate is the plastic Petmate Sky Kennel. This is the one we use for our Frenchie in our bedroom and he loves it. He sleeps like a baby in it every night. The crate keeps him safe and secure and he treats it like his den. While this particular crate is the best fit for our little guy you may choose one of the other crate styles depending on what suits your situation. Thanks for reading and I hope this helped you in your crate shopping decision.
