Dog crate with shelves SHALTER, oak top

Dog crate with shelves SHALTER in loft style

Black steel and solid oak, with two open oak shelves above the enclosure. If storage is the thing your home is short of, this is the model in the range that gives you some back rather than taking floor space away.

Open shelves or a closed cupboard?

The SHALTER and the HARBOR modern dog crate share a frame and identical dimensions. The difference is what sits above the dog.

Open shelves keep everything visible and within reach, and they read lighter in a small room — a closed box the same size looks heavier. Choose this if the things you store are ones you use daily.

A closed cupboard hides clutter completely. Choose that if what you are storing is not decorative.

Is it strong enough for a determined dog?

The frame is welded from thick square-section steel profiles, and the enclosure can be bolted shut when you need to keep your dog separate from visitors. Two things make it hold: the steel itself, and the sheer mass of the piece. Lighter crates get shoved across a floor by a dog leaning its full weight against the side. This one does not move.

What are the sizes?

Each size gives the external footprint and your dog’s own space.

• Size L — 141 x 60 x 76 cm externally, dog area 97 x 56 x 74 cm.
• Size XL — 159 x 78 x 84 cm externally, dog area 115 x 74 x 82 cm.
• Size XXL — 177 x 87 x 94 cm externally, dog area 133 x 83 x 92 cm.

Standing inside, your dog should not stoop, and should be able to turn around and lie fully stretched on one side. Between two sizes, take the larger — our guide to dog crates for large dogs works through it.

What is in the piece?

• The enclosure — thick black steel profiles, square section, welded.
• A substantial solid oak top with the grain clearly visible.
• Two open oak shelves.
• A bolt on the door.

The bars are finished in black paint free of components harmful to people or animals. The oak tops come in natural, walnut, black and white, sealed with a high-grade matte lacquer.

Where does it sit well?

Loft interiors first — the style came out of American cities in the 1940s, when industrial buildings were converted into flats and the bare walls, plain furniture and technical details were kept rather than covered up. The golden brown of oak against matte black steel is the whole effect.

It also works in rustic rooms furnished in solid timber of a similar tone. In a hallway or kitchen it needs one thing to answer it: a black metal coat stand, a wire-frame chair, something with the same vocabulary.

Is a crate fair on a dog?

It is not enforced isolation. Fill it with bedding that smells of your dog and its own toys, and it becomes the corner the animal chooses when it wants privacy or sleep — a better answer than a bed on the floor with toys scattered around it.

Finishes are on our available colours page. All nine models are in wooden dog crates, and the matching ARCANA loft dog bowl stand uses the same oak and steel.