Evolv Vs Traditional Wire Dog Crates: Five Reasons Why We Wished We Upgraded To The Evolv Sooner

While we understand the importance of crate training and the many useful functions that a crate can serve in day-to-day life as pet owners, we’ve always had issues using traditional wire dog crates.

New dog owners will often decide to purchase a cheap wire dog crate when they first bring home their puppy, rescue dog or foster pet because it’s hard to argue with the cheap price point.

You can find lots of options available online or at local pet stores - but ultimately, you get what you pay for and we regretted not investing in a premium dog crate with an innovative design from the start.

Once we decided it was time to ditch the wire dog crate, we initially opted for the Revol dog crate by Diggs but we decided to invest in the Evolv Dog Crate when Diggs’ latest offering was released in 2023.

Having used the Evolv dog crate on a daily basis for the past six months, we’re going to share our reasons why we’re glad we upgraded to the Evolv dog crate and permanently banished the cheap wire crates. 

So with the introduction out of the way, let’s get started.

Easy To Disassemble

We really loved the clever design of the Evolv dog crate. When you get your hands on the Diggs crate, you don’t need any tools to put it together. You follow the simple instructions to assemble the crate, having the ability to customise the design to meet your needs with regards to the placement of the two doors. You don’t have to worry about getting your fingers caught when putting together the Evolv. Even if you’re not accustomed to doing much DIY like me, the lightest Diggs dog crate is so easy to put together. With practice, I was able to assemble and disassemble the Evolv in a matter of minutes.

Perhaps my biggest issue with cheap wire dog crates is just how inconvenient they are to collapse. It can be difficult to find the trigger points to start the process of collapsing a wire dog crate. I’ve lost count of the number of times

my fingers have been caught between wire metal. It reached the point where I wouldn’t bother to collapse a traditional wire crate because it wasn’t worth the hassle. I’d carry the crate constructed to and from my car, to and from my office and to and from different rooms in my home.

Multiple Access Points

The Evolv comes with two doors and pet owners can invest in extra doors to have an opening on each side of the crate. The thoughtfulness of this modular design really appealed to us. We use the Evolv in our home, under my desk in my office and in our car. Having the ability to access Copper and Skye through multiple entrance points is something we really value, especially on road trips.

With wire dog crates, you’ll find that most cheap options only have a singular entrance. We found this restrictive because Copper and Skye can struggle with anxiety, especially Copper when travelling in the car. When you only have one access point, it can be difficult to provide your dog with comfort whether they’re showing anxious behaviour while travelling or even when your dog is crated at home for whatever reason.

Dual Lock Door

The Evolv includes two dual lock doors (and like I mentioned above, you can invest in additional doors if you want the complete set on each side). We found the Evolv really easy to use and especially convenient with life with a toddler. If we needed to quickly put Copper and Skye away, whether it’s to give them space from a rambunctious toddler, prevent them from eating our toddler’s food scraps on the floor during mealtime, stop them jumping on an unexpected visitor to the door or keeping them in the house when bringing in the groceries from the car, the Evolv dual lock doors were easy to use in a hurry. Even with my hands full, I could quickly pop my Klee Kai inside and shut the door.

This wasn’t the case when using traditional wire dog crates. They have cumbersome locks on the doors which can’t be awkward to shut in a hurry. Not only that, the locks tended to be a real hazard to fingers if we weren’t paying attention to what we were doing. If Copper was in a particularly mischievous mood, he could put pressure on the door to release. We were thrilled to say goodbye to awkward doors and locks in favour of the thoughtfully-designed Evolv dual lock doors.

Playpen/Puppy Mode

I wish we had the Diggs Evolv dog crate when Copper and Skye were puppies - it would have made crate training and potty training a lot easier! Every Evolv crate comes with a puppy divider which is a really useful tool and it would have been perfect for Copper and Skye when they were puppies to give them their space in the crate. I really like how you can make a playpen for your puppy if you purchase the Evolv Playpen Mode Frame (for an additional $30) . It would’ve been perfect for my Alaskan Klee Kai during the early days when they weren’t potty trained and I needed to confine them to a specific space while I completed a task elsewhere in my home and couldn’t keep an eye on them.

You won’t get this customization with regular wire dog crates (which is what we had with Copper and Skye when they were puppies). With a roof permanently attached to the crate, we couldn’t easily access my Klee Kai to provide comfort and reassurance while I worked at my desk. There was no puppy divider so Skye had to share the crate space with Copper (and if you know our Alaskan Klee Kai’s personalities, you’ll know that annoyed her!).

Premium product, competitive price

If you’re reading this blog post, you may be thinking, “this sounds great but I bet this dog crate is really expensive!”. Well, the Evolv is Diggs’ most affordable dog crate, ranging from as little as $170 for the smallest size and costing $300 for the largest size. In the context of premium dog crates with innovative designs like the Evolv, this Diggs offering is really affordable. Having reviewed a lot of dog crates over the past couple of years, I believe the Evolv represents the best dollar-for-dollar value out of the many models I’ve tried and tested on my Alaskan Klee Kai dogs.

While traditional wire dog crates are cheaper than the Evolv, you’ll usually end up paying at least $50-60 for a small wire dog crate and somewhere around $100 if you’ve got a large dog breed that needs to be safely crated when you’re not at home or you’ve got a trip to the veterinarian. For the extra price, the Evolv offers more features to make life easier for pet owners.

Evolv Vs Wire Dog Crates: Summary

The best decision we made was ditching our traditional wire crate in favour of a more convenient, flexible and secure option in the shape of the Evolv. I only wish we made the change sooner!

As a busy family of five (including Copper and Skye, of course), the Evolv suited our needs because life can be frenetic with a toddler and two dogs.

I’ve highlighted the five features that really improved our experience as pet owners and made life easier for us, but there are more benefits to the Evolv and you may find this crate helps you in different ways.

By ditching a cheap wire dog crate for the Evolv, you’re not only investing in your dog’s comfort and safety, but you’ll see the benefits of having a versatile dog crate that can be customised to your specific needs.

Learn more about what sets Diggs Dog Crates apart