Portable crate for Cockapoo moving between homes

Moving between two homes every week with a dog is a genuinely specific challenge — the crate needs to feel like a consistent safe space for your Cockapoo regardless of which house you're in, and it also needs to be something you can realistically pack and carry without it becoming a chore. Crate training works best when the crate becomes a genuinely positive space, and that's actually easier to achieve when the crate travels with the dog — same smell, same setup, same associations. The right size and type matters a lot here, as does how you introduced it. To give you a solid recommendation: how old is your Cockapoo, roughly how big are they, and are they already comfortable in a crate or are you starting from scratch?

That's actually a really manageable situation. The whining at the second home is almost certainly about the environment feeling unfamiliar, not about the crate itself — which is good news, because it means the crate can do the work of being her constant. At 8kg she's a medium-small dog, so you're looking at a 76cm or 30-inch crate as a comfortable fit. Before I give you a specific recommendation — is the second home somewhere you can leave a crate set up permanently, or does it genuinely need to travel back and forth with you each week?

In that case I'd go with the MidWest Homes for Pets Folding Metal Dog Crate — specifically the 30-inch single-door version. It folds completely flat in seconds, has a carry handle, and the folded dimensions are manageable in a car boot. It's a proper wire crate, not a soft-sided one, which matters because soft crates don't hold up well to regular assembly and disassembly over months — the zips and poles start to fail. The MidWest is built for exactly this kind of regular use. For an 8kg Cockapoo the 30-inch gives her room to stand, turn and lie stretched out without being so large that it feels like an open field and loses the den effect. It comes with a divider panel too, though at her age you probably won't need it.

A few things that genuinely help: put the same blanket or bedding in the crate every time — her scent on it is more reassuring than anything you can buy. Set the crate up before you let her explore the flat, so it's already there and familiar when she sniffs around. Feed her first meal at the new place inside the crate with the door open — no pressure, just positive association with food in that space. And don't make a big deal of arrivals; calm and matter-of-fact helps her read the situation as normal. Most dogs with a solid crate foundation settle faster in new environments than their owners expect, especially once the routine is consistent.

Good choice — it'll serve you well for years of back-and-forth. The consistency of the crate travelling with her will do more for her confidence than most training interventions. If she's still whining after a few weeks of the new routine, come back and we can look at whether there's something specific about the second environment triggering it. But I'd expect her to settle noticeably within a fortnight once the crate is the same both places.