I have bought and used every dog box pad I could get my hands on at different times over the last 30 years. Don Brown out of Iowa probably made the best ones. The padding and outside material were excellent but they were hard to make, expensive to make, not profitable and he quit making them. Most of todays have very poor quality padding or foam which makes them a pain to use because they slip and slide all over the inside of the box. Ours shouldn’t do that to you. We use the best, top quality padding, which is expensive, and cover it with 1000 denier nylon. Some pads have zippers, ours don’t. That is not because we we’re trying to cut costs but because I never met anyone who actually replaced the foam and found the zippers made every young dog in the box think that is where they should begin working on their new chew toy.
Many of the guys I know and hunt with use straw or hay inside of their boxes which is fine. Most people don’t use near enough of it to help the dog from getting jarred around or help the dog be more comfortable. If you run up and down the roads to competition events or simply want your dog to ride in comfort consider these pads. If you want the best performance out of your dog when you pull him out of the box, whether it is a 30 minute trip to the local club house or 300 or more miles down the road to a national event, don’t you think he’ll preform better being less bounced around and “beat up” in the back of your truck? These pads are the perfect firmness to protect your dog from the wear and tear of the road while riding in the box.
If you are hauling pups or very young dogs these pads inevitably end up becoming “chew toys” for them so please be mindful of that before sticking puppies in a box with these pads. When ordered with a box they ship with the box so the only shipping you pay on them is for the dog box. When ordered separate or as a pair there is an additional $45 shipping charge.