There were a couple of problems with it from the start. First, once I unfolded it, I could never figure out how to get it back into that little circle shape. So that means I couldn't get it back into the cute little zippered case, which was one of the reasons I bought it in the first place - a nice compact case! It was also so unstable in the car that when I stopped the first time, Seymour rolled around in the crate like he was going down Niagara Falls in a barrel. Luckily he was in the back seat and didn't go very far. I still think that it is a good sleeping crate if we are going to visit friends or relatives for a night. As a car crate - we (both Seymour and I) decided to pass.
I then found a crate called Port-a-Crate. It has a good metal frame on a lightweight nylon-type fabric. Seymour immediately loved it and once he went in he didn't want to come out. It could be easily seat-belted in the back seat. As much as Seymour liked being in it, he liked more having the choice of when he came out of it. The crate has a zipper and can lock with just a clip.
The first time I tried it, I was in the house. I zipped him in and by the time I walked about 5 steps away, he had already unzipped it and was prancing happily by my side. I then decided to lock him in when he was riding in the car. It took a little longer than the unzipping but before I had gone very far, he had chewed his way through the mesh on the door and found his way to his favorite lumbar position behind my back. (I have to remember to have better posture when driving!)
Seymour is not normally a chewer - all of his stuffed animals look like new - but he's never had to find his way through a stuffed animal to freedom.
It was pretty easy to sew up the crate door (and you can see my handy-work in the picture above) so I still zip it when necessary - I just decided to give him the freedom of choice - no lock.
We were beginning to collect the doggie travel necessities that worked for us.
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