A photo of a photo 🙂 This project was featured in the January 2017 print Better Homes & Gardens magazine. You can read more about the photo shoot here.
To quote my daughter, “you’re not a good puppy, but you’re a sweet puppy”.
She’s so right. There is an absolute sweetness about Buddy. Anyone that meets him, loves him. He’s a bit of a celebrity with my kids’ friends.
A little-known fact about me: I rescued and rehomed 16 dogs (and a pregnant momcat + her babies) in 2007 (before DIY, this was an early endeavor that kept me happily busy).
But none of those dogs were Buddy.
He came with a “7 Day Free Trial” which meant he had numerous issues: separation anxiety, peeing and pooping whenever we left the house (in protest), dominance issues, excessive barking. And…he hates other dogs. He was a puppy mill puppy. And evidently…Buddy decided home was here with us.
Buddy’s crate is his safe place. It’s where he goes to calm down. His issues are mostly resolved, but still has separation anxiety. Without the crate, he would have likely hurt himself as he panics and runs all over the house when we leave.Dog ownership is no joke. It comes with a lot more gear and responsibility than I ever anticipated. They truly are our “kids”. So just like any kids’ room, I had to get a better system when it came to storing Buddy-gear.
I’m sorry for those of you that have a larger pet crate and you’re probably thinking “what about me?” I don’t have a build plan for that. But I would imagine you could make a massively impressive table or even a hutch using our plans as a guideline 🙂
Dog Crate DIY Hack
“How To Beautify Your Dog’s Crate”
- Medium sized pet crate / kennel
- Two tension rods fitting up to 36″ in length
- 4 x 28″ table legs (prebuilt)
- 5 x 1″ x 4″ pine boards for the tabletop
- Cafe style curtains – any style
- Kreg Jig
- This tutorial for finishing the wood (see link for painting supplies)
Building Plans:
This is a pretty simple table build. We purchased four Parson’s wood legs, 28″ long and built a custom table to fit perfectly overtop of the crate. I decided on plain, Parson’s legs because we already had a lot of turned legs in this space, so I thought this would break things up. using 1″ x 4″ pine boards for the tabletop and a Kreg jig. We decided we wanted the crate to be large enough to slide easily out of the front or the ends of the table.
For the tabletop, we used 1″ x 6″ pine boards (5 of them) and used a Kreg Jig to splice them together.
Then I used the exact same method to finish the wood that we used on our coffee table. Come see the steps outlined in this post.
We hung tension rods on the underside of the table, and then hung cafe curtains on the rods. He loves this setup and rests pretty peacefully in there.
And here is the final reveal…
Featured in Better Homes & Gardens
January 2017 print edition
Read more about the Better Homes & Gardens article here.
This article first appeared on Angie’s List, where I’m honored to be included as a contributing blogger. Click the image below to visit and get more DIY + home decor ideas!
What a cute sheltie – and I love what you’ve done with his crate! We also have shelties. Of the 6 my husband and I have had together, 3 have been rescues, including 2 of our 3 current furbabies, Oliver and Shelby. Oliver had many adjustment issues, but is now doing very well. Ike was an elderly sheltie who had been turned over to a kill shelter by family who said they were moving and could not take him along. We believe he was also a puppy mill dog. He had many of the same issues you describe in Buddy. I have never seen a more anxious sheltie. He was incredibly sweet, and just melted our hearts. But he was a true challenge. We only had him a year before he died suddenly of liver failure, but take comfort in knowing that it was a year in a loving home with a family who would make him a priority. I already understood the value of rescue, but it truly brought home the difference between a well bread dog from a breeder, and a puppy mill dog. Good luck to you and Buddy! I understand how challenging he must be, and applaud you for not giving up on him. I hope to hear more about how he’s doing in future blog entries!
Clair, thanks for sharing! I LOVE shelties. They are so adorable. I can’t imagine someone turning over to a kill shelter. Another thing I didn’t share, Buddy knows sign language commands….they’re so smart! I’ll keep you posted on how he’s doing, he’s 10 years old already!
Love what you have done with the crate and that Buddy has a ‘safe’ place to go. Thank you for rescuing him and giving him a loving home. I volunteer with a group and it sure pulls at your heartstrings. The world needs more people like you.
Absolutely, the rescues really did affect us! Eventually we had to give it up (because it traumatized Buddy). He’s done as much for my kids as we’ve done for him. He was therapy dog “failure” but his good qualities outweigh everything else.
This is really amazing. We have a rescue pup that has really awful separation anxiety as well and we have a crate for him but it can be an eyesore in the house! Thanks for sharing this, I’m definitely going to start this project this weekend.
Regina, I’d love to see how yours comes out. Keep me posted!
Looooove your blog and i will definetely try and build it.
I have a question though, how did you manage to calm your dog’s anxiety? I have a 10months-old cocker and barks constantly when we leave (and for the moment doesnt go in in crate)
Cheers from Belgium 🙂
Hi Cindy, I hear it’s just beautiful over there…I’m hoping to take the family next summer on a trip to explore Europe, can’t wait! My dog was three years old when we adopted him and was already crate trained. I consider his anxiety an ongoing problem that always needs to be managed. We tried keeping him out of the cage this week, but he’s starting to poop again in the house (in protest) of our leaving. So we’re back to the crate. My dog didn’t even chew his toys when we first got him…so getting him chew toy and treats he will actually use was one step to manage his anxiety and keeps his mind occupied. Our dog is also a herding breed and he had dominance issues. Unfortunately, that means I had to dominate him, and was very strict. He’s not allowed to bolt (aka sprint) ahead of me through doorways. He’s not allowed on our furniture (he thinks he’s equal to me eventually and starts thinking he’s dominant again). He has to work for every treat (does a few simple tricks as part of the request). He’s a LOT of work! But I’m sure you’ll get there eventually with your dog. That’s why I said “dog ownership is no joke”. It is a LOT of work, as our dog came with many issues.
THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for this post! I have been looking for something EXACTLY like this… where I can slide the kennel in and out as need be but keep it from being an eyesore! This post is verbatim what I will be following this weekend for my build. YOU ROCK!
So glad you found this helpful! We love having a useful space in the corner of this room. Let us know how your build goes and if you have any questions 🙂
Love this crate! Been wanting to do something like this with our dog’s crates but didn’t know how. Great tutorial. Just one question, where did you find the cafe style curtain?
Courtney, I had the ones pictured on hand (it was actually an 84″ curtain that was discontinued from Bed, Bath and Beyond). But with the height of the table most any curtain will likely need to be hemmed with the hemming tape that you can iron on. I found some pretty curtains from Homegoods recently and they were on clearance and they were cafe style. Your best bet may be Amazon for a ticking stripe style if that’s what you’re looking for. Good luck!
My wife saw this awesome project in BHG and is excited for me to give it a try. Thanks for sharing! I have one question about the table top. When looking closely at the side of the top, it appears the end grain of the 1×6 boards is covered. If that is the case, what material did you use to hide the end grain and joints?
I love this so much!! I plan on building this for our 2 year old Chocolate lab who loves his crate for bed time. I know it says medium sized dog crate, but what are the dimensions of the one shown here??
Thanks! Our dog crate is 36″ long x 30″ tall
I love what you did here! I have 2 Australian Shepherds that are both crate trained since puppyhood. They’re 10 and 9 years old. They also have to be kenneled when unsupervised because one will pee all over (he drinks like a fish and is intact) and then the other helps herself to food (she’ll open cupboards and is a bottomless pit). Oh, and my boy I’ve had tested out the wazzo and there’s nothing wrong with him other than what goes in must come out. lol But I have my kennels, one on each side of my entertainment center in the family room and they ARE an eyesore. Your kennel is about the same size as mine are, however you said your is 30″ tall. The table legs you have are 28″ tall so I’m a bit confused on how the table would give the clearance it’s providing, with the legs 2″ shorter than the kennel height. Because my boy sometimes pees himself I have to be able to remove the kennel as well. So I think I’m going to try your solution here. I’m just a bit confused. It looks like your kennel is 24″ wide, and that’s the width of your table top. So the 30″ is definitely not accidentally the width. Thank you for helping me on this!
Love your crate for your special friend. It has been so long since I have seen anyone own a Sheltie. I just love them and your is beautiful. I don’t understand why people would be upset because you are loving and caring for your pet. Pay no attention to them probably just jealous they don’t have such a gorgeous dog.
Debbie, thanks so much for your comment. Buddy is such a good boy – and I think once you put your projects out there, there will always be people who go out of their way to say negative things. I’m all too familiar with people like that and distance myself but I love all of my readers, we think alike!
Love this table! Can you tell me how you attached the tabletop to the bottom?
Love this!
Do you have the actual plans including the cut instruction? What size are the boards to which you’ve attached the legs?
Thanks in advance!
Jill,
the critical thing is that you end up with openings on both the front, sides and top that are slightly larger than your crate. Our crate was 24 X 36 X 24 so wed laid it out this way. The legs are 28″ high, we used pre made legs that I had laying around but 2X2’s will work. Our Crate is 24″ high so I made the apron 3″ thick. That leaves a 25″ height to fit the Crate. The length of the apron board on the front is 25″ and on the sides the length is 37″. This was an all Kreg Jig build attaching the Apron to the legs is incredibly simple using the Kreg Jig. I left a 1/4″ reveal on the apron.
Our top is 29 X 42. 1 X 6 boards are actually 5 1/2 inches wide you can edge join 6 of these and trim down to whatever table width you prefer.
Hopefully this helped.
Mark
Thanks Mark! I appreciate it!