Large Dog Crate Furniture: What Actually Fits a Big Dog

Most furniture-style dog crates are sized for small and medium dogs. That's fine if you have a Frenchie. If you have a Labrador, a Golden, or a doodle, the list gets short fast, and a lot of what's sold as large dog crate furniture turns out to be a medium crate with a bigger tabletop.

This guide covers how to size a crate for a big dog, which of our two pieces fits which dogs, and which dogs neither one fits. We'd rather tell you now than have you pay freight to send one back.

Start with your dog's measurements, not their weight

Weight is a rough guide. Length and seated height decide whether a crate works. Here's the method we give every customer:

1. Length: measure from the tip of the nose to the base of the tail.
2. Height: measure from the floor to the top of the head while your dog is sitting.
3. Add about four inches to each. That margin lets your dog stand, turn around, and lie down stretched out.
4. Compare with the interior dimensions, not the outside of the crate. Wood walls take up space, so the exterior always runs larger than the room your dog actually gets.

Run those numbers against the crate's interior and you'll know before you order.

The large options we make

Our furniture dog crate lineup comes in three sizes. Two of them are built for bigger dogs.

The Pad, Large

The Pad Large has an interior of about 38″ L × 28.5″ W × 32.5″ H. The outside measures 39.5″ L × 30″ W × 34″ H. It's the best fit for many dogs around 40–85 lb. The front has a fixed wood-slat panel on the left and a clear acrylic panel on the right. The acrylic panel slides left to open, so your dog can see out without metal bars in front of them.

The Pad Large fits dogs up to about 36″ from nose to tail base. Dogs that typically fit include Labrador Retrievers, Golden Retrievers, Standard Goldendoodles, Australian Shepherds, Border Collies, Standard Poodles, Boxers, Vizslas, Springer Spaniels, Bulldogs, Bernedoodles, Samoyeds, and Huskies. Individual dogs vary, so measure yours.

The Den

The Den dog crate end table is the roomiest piece we make. Its interior is about 40.5″ L × 28.5″ W × 33″ H, and the outside is 42″ L × 30″ W × 34.5″ H.

The Den is also built as an end table. The flat top holds a lamp or books. It has one sliding door on the front: the right side slides to the left, so nothing swings out and it can sit beside a sofa without clear floor in front of it. We don't publish a weight or breed range for the Den, so measure your dog and compare with the interior dimensions above. If you're unsure, email us your dog's breed, weight, length, and seated height and we'll tell you honestly whether it fits.

Tall, lean breeds: check height first

Some dogs sit much taller than their weight suggests. A 65 lb Greyhound can sit 32–34″ tall, which is at or above the interior height of both the Pad Large and the Den. Dobermans, German Shepherds, Weimaraners, and Rhodesian Ridgebacks fall in the same group.

These dogs may or may not fit, depending on the individual. Measure seated height before you order. If your dog's seated height plus a few inches is more than about 32.5″ for the Pad Large or 33″ for the Den, that crate is too short.

Dogs our crates don't fit

We don't make a crate for giant breeds. Dogs over roughly 90 lb, or longer than about 36″, are too big for the Pad Large. That includes Great Danes, Mastiffs, Newfoundlands, Saint Bernards, Irish Wolfhounds, Leonbergers, and Great Pyrenees. The Den adds a few inches of interior length, but we don't size it for giant breeds either. Measure before you consider it.

If you have one of these dogs, you need a larger crate than anything in our current line. Squeezing a big dog into a crate that's too small isn't worth it for the look, and we'd rather lose the sale.

What else matters with a big dog

The door

A large crate with a swing-out door needs a door's width of clear floor in front of it, and in a living room that space is usually where people walk. Both of our crates use one sliding door on the front: the right side slides to the left, so the door never opens into the room. On the Pad, the sliding panel is clear acrylic and sits in front of a fixed wood-slat panel. On the Den, the door is wood with the same vertical slats as the rest of the piece.

The footprint in your room

A crate big enough for a Lab is a big piece of furniture. The Pad Large takes up 39.5″ × 30″ of floor and the Den 42″ × 30″. Before you order, tape that rectangle on the floor where it'll go and live with it for a day. If you plan to use it as an end table, check that the top at 34–34.5″ sits where you want it next to your sofa arm or bed.

Materials

Both crates are premium Baltic birch plywood with a hand-stained Oak finish (Oak is the name of the finish color), designed in Santa Monica and handcrafted in the USA. Plywood generally holds screws better than particleboard or MDF, which matters more on a large piece that a big dog leans on every day.

Chewing

No wooden crate is built to survive a determined chewer, and that goes double for a large dog with a strong jaw. If your dog is in a heavy-chewing phase, use a coated wire crate until it passes, then move to furniture. Pet damage isn't covered by our five-year craftsmanship warranty, so it's worth waiting.

Puppies of large breeds

A big crate can be too much space for a puppy still being housetrained. A divider that blocks off part of the interior works until they're reliable. If you buy the Large for a growing puppy, plan on using one.

Delivery and setup

The Pad Large and the Den are big pieces, and both ship by freight. Shipping is free on orders over $200 within the United States. Both arrive needing assembly, with instructions and hardware in the box, and there's an assembly walkthrough video on our product guides page.

Keep the carton until you're sure the size is right. Returns are accepted within 30 days, unused and in original packaging. Return freight for a large piece runs roughly $200, and a 10% restocking fee applies without the original carton. If it arrives damaged or defective, we cover it.

The short version

• Measure length and seated height, add about four inches to each, and compare with interior dimensions.
• The Pad Large (interior about 38″ × 28.5″ × 32.5″) fits many dogs around 40–85 lb and up to about 36″ long.
• The Den (interior about 40.5″ × 28.5″ × 33″) is our roomiest piece and also works as an end table. Measure your dog against it; we don't publish a weight range.
• Tall, lean breeds need a height check before ordering.
• Giant breeds over roughly 90 lb don't fit anything we make.

If your dog fits, see the full range of dog crate furniture, or read our comparison of wooden dog crates vs. wire crates.