A 4 Year Update On Our Spray Painted Plastic (Ruff Land) Dog Crates – Paw Print

When we moved out of the city, back in 2019, and upgraded from an apartment to renting an entire house, I decided that my dogs, Kitsune the papillon (RIP) and Fenrir the Alaskan Klee Kai needed some updated digs as well!  Because what else is a crazy dog lady going to do when she suddenly finds herself with more space besides dedicating more of it to her dogs!?  I bought my two boys each a large-sized Ruff Land Kennel to exclusively be used as their indoor crates.  Ruff Land Kennels have not passed crash testing (most dog car “safety” products like crates and booster seats actually haven’t passed crash tests!) so I don’t use these crates in the car.  But they work fine, for us, as indoor crates.

I bought my crates both in the color “whitestone” which just wasn’t going to cut it.  We’re far too fancy to be using basic white dog crates, don’t you know.  So in 2020 and 2021 I spray painted Kit’s and Fen’s crates in their signature colors – red and blue.  Of course, I must now point out for Memorial Day 2022, Ruff Land Kennel offered a limited time release of their crates in red and blue.  Coincidence?  I’m not fully convinced.

Can you tell I’m still a bit salty about it?  All that work painting my crates, and if I had just waited I could have bought them in the exact colors I wanted!  Oh well.  My spray painted crates didn’t turn out perfectly, but I like them and I had fun working on them.  In case anyone wants to look back at how I painted them, the supplies I used and such, I’ll post the link to the article I originally wrote about them.

Painting Ruff Land (And Other Plastic) Dog Crates

4 Years Later

Well here we are, 4 years out from when I originally painted my dogs’ crates.  My post about painting the crates gets a lot of views and I get questions quite often asking how the paint held up.  I figured this was as good a time as any to answer that question.  Mostly due to the fact that I went on a crazy sleep deprived cleaning spree randomly the other night and decided that, at like 11 at night, I just had to move Fen’s crate and thoroughly clean it (for no reason).  Yeah, my partner loved that.

I guess I have to point out that we sadly lost our beloved Kitsune in January of this year.  His signature red crate has been sitting empty since then.  I haven’t been able to muster up the…whatever it is that it takes to move it into storage.  So I didn’t include Kit’s crate in my late night cleaning frenzy, but we do still have it.  I will include a new photo of Kit’s crate in this post but, to be honest, I didn’t spend the time cleaning and inspecting it the way that I did with Fen’s blue crate.

So 4 years, minus one dog :(, and one move later how well did the paint job on my spray painted plastic dog crates hold up?

The Spray Paint Held Up Better Than I Thought It Would!

When I told people I was going to spray paint my dogs’ crates, many of them told me that it wasn’t going to work long term.  They suggested that the paint would scratch and chip off relatively quickly, making all the work of painting them not worth it.  A few people I talked to had painted their own dog’s crate and were not happy with the results, so recommended against it.  I think the biggest difference was that I painted my dogs’ house crates.  These are crates that pretty much sit inside my house and, besides the rare middle of the night cleaning spree and that one time we were forced to move (renting sucks), they almost never get moved around.  They get used a lot, yes, but not moved.  I’ve kept them in a spot where they’re rather out of the way too, so the outsides of the crates don’t get bumped, or hit, or scraped often (if at all).

I was okay with the thought of the paint getting scratched or chipping off over time.  I figured I could always touch them up in the future if I wanted too.  However, I’d say after 4 years of daily use Fen’s crate is still looking pretty good!  It does have more chips in the paint then it did when I last updated in 2022, but not anything that I’d consider to be super significant.  I don’t feel any need to bother touching up or repainting the crates yet.

Ruff Land Kennels Dog Crate Review

Photographic Evidence

Of course I can’t just make you take my word on it.  Here’s some updated photos of my spray painted Ruff Land Kennels dog crates.  Fen was my lovely assistant while I took these photos, in case you don’t notice his adorably silly little face in the background in a couple of these photos.

Here’s the front of the crate.  There’s a small chip in the paint near the hook on the side and some missing paint around the door frame that isn’t even really noticeable, especially when the crate door is closed.  Fen looks like someone just told him a really good joke!

Here’s the side with all the ventilation holes.  Looking pretty good.  There’s a bit of missing paint/scuffs around the middle.  The middle part sticks out further than the rest of the crate.  I’m pretty sure this (mild) damage was done during our move.  The movers scraped the sides of the crate against the door frame when they were moving it in for us.

And here’s the other side, where the extra door is.  This side has a chipped paint spot up near the top corner but otherwise looks good.

The back of the crate is up next.  It has some mild scuff marks near the top and bottom and a bit in the middle.  I think these also happened during our last move.  Fen was sticking his tongue out at me in this picture!

And lastly the top, which actually looks even better in person than it came out in the photos.  In the picture I feel like you can see some scratches and light scuff marks, but these are not really noticeable in person.

In case anyone is really interested, here’s a front shot of Kit’s crate.  You can see a small paint chip where I removed his name tag (I put it in his memorial area) and some chips around the door.  I didn’t take photos of the other sides of Kit’s crate, though.  However, it’s in pretty much the same condition as Fen’s.  There are some small paint chips and scuff marks here and there, but it overall still looks pretty good!

Would I Spray Paint Plastic Crates Again?

I don’t think I would bother spray painting crates if I was using them in the car, or if I planned on having to move them around a ton.  But when it comes to house crates that pretty much sit in one spot all the time, yes, I would spray paint them again.  After 4 years, and seeing lots of use, I’m happy with how our spray painted crates have held up.  Most of the noticeable damage to the paint was done during our last move, not during everyday use.  So I don’t think the paint job would hold up well if you were moving it in and out of a car constantly, or had them out in the elements.  But again…house crates.

I do still wish I had known that Ruff Land Kennels was going to do a limited release of red and blue crates, because I would have bought those instead of spray painting white crates.  Oh well.

I’m thinking of holding on to Kit’s crate and potentially redoing the paint job in the future if we ever decide to add another dog to the pack.  I’m thinking next time it will need an even cooler design.  Maybe a racing stripe or something?  And I still have the option to touch up the paint on Fen’s crate when/if it ever needs it.

For the price and amount of time it took me to spray paint the crates, taking into account how they look 4 years later, I for sure feel like painting them felt worth it to me.  Why make my dogs use boring white crates when they could have colorful ones!?  But again, I’d only go with the spray paint method for crates that get treated rather gently.  It would be cool if, in the future, high quality crate companies would design crates that come in more colors, and not just for a limited time releases!  Until then, spray paint may be an option if you really want a certain color crate for your spoiled pup.

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