Best suited for: Hotel or vacation rental crate
Also works for: Everyday crate, if your dog doesn’t scrape to escape
Quality: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
Overall rating: ★★★★★

We own three of these Dens, two medium ones (for travel and for a vacation home) and a large one (for everyday use at home). The Den comes in three sizes: Small (17Hx22.5Lx15.5W), Medium (24Hx29.5Lx22W), and Large (30Hx38Lx28.5W). We like the Den because, assembled, it is sturdy and solid; and it collapses with the simplest of approaches — the four aluminum poles that provide structure at…

Best suited for: Car travel
Also works for: Beach, picnic cabana
Quality: ★★★★★
Price: $$$$
Overall rating: ★★★★★

The first crate we bought was The Roof Box Company’s DogBag. The DogBag folds up (with a complicated maneuver akin to the one you may already be using on your car windshield sunscreen) and fits into a normal-sized backpack (provided by Roof Box). It has plenty of mesh netting so your dog has good ventilation and fairly good visibility. You need to supply your own floor padding (Roof Box’s Quilted Liner is thin, and…

Best suited for: Stealth transport
Also works for: People avoiding puppy bling
Quality: ★★★★
Price: $$$$
Overall rating: ★★★★

Chloe’s messenger bag, the PetEgo Contour Messenger Black Label Bag, is a great stealth carrier. It comes in two sizes: Small (10.5Hx14Lx8W) and Large (13Hx20Lx10W). It also comes in a sporty orange-and-grey color combination, but I think the all-black option looks more like an computer bag and doesn’t highlight the mesh ventilation panels.

It has many good features, but the ones I care most about are the mesh “tower” and a small, zipped hatch in the top…

Best suited for: Showing off an adorable small dog
Also works for: Beating the heat
Quality: Unknown
Price: $$$$
Overall rating: ★★★★★

The PuppyPurse carrier is really a sling for your dog, with four leg holes. The sling wraps around your dog’s torso and closes along your dog’s spine, presumably with Velcro. There are D-rings at the neck and tail to which you clip two straps that can be shortened to go over your shoulder, lengthened to go across your chest, removed altogether (so your dog becomes a handbag), or half-removed and used as…