Can you offer recommendations for keeping a hot-natured boy cooler while in his wire crate while traveling? This is for the guy that seeks out a cool tile floor in the air-conditioned house.

Has one of the canine cooling pads worked for you and/or is there a safe gel pad I could provide to him under supervision? What about a plastic bottle of ice or block of ice or even a wet cloth over the top of the crate? I recall that a professional handler used some kind of pad that she kept in the freezer for my old hot boy.

I saw something called a Cool Bed III on QVC last weekend. Apparently there is some kind og cooling mechanism inside. the item # is M 17069 for the largest size on QVC.com.

These sizes don't seem to correspond to crate sizes though. That could be a problem. The medium Cool Bed III is 33 x 22 and the large is 44 x 32. The Canine Cooler is 48 x 36 or 36 x 24. A 500 crate is 39 by 25 or Vari Kennel Ultra is 40 by 27 and a smaller wire crate is 34 by 20, but that may be too small once the little boy grows up. So should I just go ahead and get the 400 or 500 crate and the medium cool bed or canine cooler? Any advice?

Not sure what to suggest. If I was buying, I would buy the larger crate and the smaller cool bed and the dog can hang out on it when he needs to, even though it's a bit too small for the crate. If he decides to chew it, well, that's another problem.

Google the words...Dog Cooling Vest ...and you will find a fair grouping of choices. I happened to like this one Body Cooling Vest I happen to like the vest better than the pad as I think it might be more versatile.

I have bought these little fans that clip on the crates. They have the frozen packs that fit on the fans and it really cools. I use several. You can buy extra frozen packs to change out too. They run off batteries.

Those blue ice blocks you mentioned? Put some of the hardsided ones under his crate, and turn the crate pan upside down over them. A few years ago I saw something that had pockets in it to put those blocks in, then you would hang it on the inside of the crate for the dog to lay against. But the upsided down crate pan over the blocks is probably much easier!

A few years ago we were on a road trip to a show and the AC broke down in the van. We stopped and bought bags of ice and emptied them in the bottom of the hard sided crates and cover that up with towels. We also open the side windows so they had air circulation. The dogs were so cold that we had to stop and take the ice out and just leave the cold wet towels for them. They were comfortable for several hours.

Thanks so much for all those great recommendations, guys. I'll use your advice. You all provide a wonderful resource and I appreciate it so much.