I'd be interested to hear what the folks with 3+ dogs do to transport their dogs. And those of you that use dog trailers, what brand trailer do you like and do you have photos of them?

I like some of the WT-Metall trailers I've seen, but I know a few Germans that actually like the american Jones trailers better, plus the Jones Stainless Steel trailer has a large-stall option which I feel better about when leaving dogs in a trailer for long periods of time. However being in Florida that's a $5000 premium for the a/c package regardless of which brand I choose, n the Stainless trailer I priced out came to around $15k.

Before I consider dropping that much money into something with no horsepower, I'd like to hear some feedback on what you all transport your dogs with.

Not really interested in transportation of 1-2 dogs, since I have 2 dogs n it's not really a challenge. But crating a 3rd dog means either killing passenger space in an SUV or going back to driving a pickup, which I'm not too keen on doing.

Mike a number of people that I know that have more than 2 dogs being transported at one time on a regualar basis have resorted to Suburbans or Excursions or some kind of van. That way they can fit in 3 to 4 - 24x36 size crates at one time in a vehicle. I have seen several of the dog trailers that you are talking about, but don't recall the manufactur names. My personal feeling is that I like my dogs in the vehicle with me. I would not feel confortable with my dogs traveling in a drag trailer. And this is from a horse person that has traveled with horses in drag & 5th wheel horse trailers for eons. Just don't feel that I'd put my dogs in that situation. If my horse would have fit into my truck, he would have ridden in there also. I have had many close-calls with horse trailers due to the carelessness of other drivers & horse trailers are very big & much more visible than the dog trailers that I have seen. JMO

In the 90's one of the members of my schutzhund club had a multi-dog trailer. Sorry, but I can't remember the guys name. Anyway, on his way to club one night he lost a dog on the freeway because of a door malfunction. A passing motorist flagged him down, but he never found the dog. I would think it might be safer to pull a horse trailer with the divider bar removed & just load crates.

There's a scary thought! I actually have alot of paranoia about sticking dogs in a trailer, paranoia about the ball on the hitch not being tight enough n coming off, the safety chains failing, people rear ending the trailer etc. But I've towed a trailer a buncha times now n it's a convenient way to take a buncha dogs from place to place. I have a Yukon, n the cargo area is barely big enough to fit 2 dogs. The way the seats flip forward in the Yukon, instead of everything going flat like in an Expedition, it makes it difficult to put dogs in the 2nd row. Puppy crates will fit, but long-term, I cannot see how to transport dogs inside the vehicle. So OK I could trade up to a Yukon XL when my lease is up in a year. Great that gives me, what, an extra 18" or so? Hardly enough to add more crates without making the 2nd row seating unusable. Being my primary vehicle that's a no go, I'll never be able to take more than 1 passenger again n have no room for cargo or training equipment. Even in a pickup, it'd be difficult to shuffle 3 or 4 crates around, n theres no way in hell you'll catch me driving a cargo van Eventually there will be a 4th dog I'm sure, n I can't keep upgrading vehicles till I'm driving a FedEx truck around.

As for malfunctioning doors, I like the trailers that have the outside doors + inner bar doors, so the odds of 2 locked doors failing on the same kennel are slim to none, but there are still other legitimate concerns about sticking dogs in a trailer.

Maybe a Winnebago? LOL. Do people who train 4 dogs just not take them all with them? Or do they have 4 males that all happen to get along n can be squished in the cargo area of an SUV crate-free? Kinda surprised there's not a real non-cargo-van solution to dog transport. But I can't for the life of me think what that solution could be.

I had considered a regular cargo trailer modified and framed with aluminum dog crates or something of that nature, but I question the safety of a cargo trailer vs. a stainless steel trailer. Jones claims their stainless dog trailers are the safest dog trailers on the market, n they are framed in steel so short of a semi plowing into it I don't think it'd break too easy.

I bet the new dog trailers are a heck of a lot safer than the ones made back in the early 90's. I have friends who have those extra long vans, I think they are called cargo vans. Usually they are full of crates, no passengers. Everyone else goes in another car. One person I know has been known to stack crates in her van, 500's on the bottom, smaller crates on top!

When I had my Denali I was able to bring 3 dogs.I had 2 crates side by side and then a crate on top folded, third dog would be loose until we got to the training field and then I would have my crate next to the car and of course the other 2 would be in the SUV.Now I have a different SUV and can only bring 2 dogs.I really was entertaining the thought of pulling a small trailer to be able to bring all 3 dogs but that's in the back burner for now. Mike I think a truck or a trailer would be the only way to bring 3 or more dogs.
Susan,you'd never catch me drive a van

We typically travel with a lot of dogs. We have 6 dogs total (presently - that # may go up soon).

Right now we have a Ford Excursion. We can fit 2 large and 2 x-tra large vari-kennels in it. With this arrangement, there is no remaining passenger space in the back and hardly any cargo space. To solve the cargo dilemma, we purchased a Thule cargo box for the top. That system works pretty well. However, add a baby and 2 more dogs to the group and that means we travel with two vehicles if we bring the whole crew(a Honda Pilot, in which we carry the baby and the 2 crated puppies). Thankfully we don't do this that often.

We have considered a cargo (uggh) van, but I just can't bring myself to do it. The best thing about a van is that you can stack crates, or put gear on top of the crates (or under if you build a box). We've also considered an RV as we know a few people who travel this way with their dogs. Neither of these options is "cool," but sometimes you have to sacrifice your reputation in order to be practical

We also have friends who can carry 4 dogs in the back of their F-250 pick-up truck. They have a nifty roll-out platform that allows you to pull out all the crates at once. No need to crawl back into the pick-up to reach dogs/gear. This p/u also has a solar panel on the top to power the fan/heat for the dogs' area.

I also would recommend looking into some of the metal 2-dog crates that are custom designed to fit into the back of specific vehicles. We looked into buying 2 of those for the Excursion. Although we decided against it due to the cost, they would have fit beautifully into the back of our vehicle. No more squishing and tugging to get the crates into the vehicle. I think it also would be safer in the case of an accident. I always envision my vari-kennels exploding open upon impact in a serious accident.

I know this is a lot of info - but I hope its helpful! Keep us posted on your decision. Perhaps it would be helpful to those of us who carry a lot of dogs around!

 Quote: konnie hein

Neither of these options is "cool," but sometimes you have to sacrifice your reputation in order to be practical

That would be the reason that I'm 25 years old, not married & have no kids, but drive a minivan lol! But it gives me the most space and I travel a lot with my dogs. We're big campers around here.

I'd personally consider a small RV, Mike. I've traveled with dogs in an RV before and it's great! You could maybe get an older one or something like that.

Konnie,
too funny we do the same thing, we have a cargo box on top of my suv(for times we need it) and my husband will drive the kids in his truck.
ah love of the dogs...