I would have never given much thought to covering a crate before now, but my brother-in-law's recent experience was a bad one.  He was crating his 3 month old great dane while he was gone, and had some kind of sheet or towel over the top of the wire crate.  The pup managed to pull some fabric through the top wires, played and chewed on it, and got it's head caught in it.  Once he got caught, he evidently spun in circles trying to free himself, and my BIL came home to a hanged puppy.  I hadn't even gotten a chance to meet "Tritan" yet...and he's already at the rainbow bridge.  So please be careful what you put in and around your crates, when you're not home.

Another crating hazard I learned from a few folks on another forum a while back, is if your wire crate has two latches, make sure you use both of them.  There have evidently been some instances where folks have only used the top latch, and the dog has managed to get it's head through the bottom part of the door, panicked and fought to the point of strangulation.

I know I'm a total bummer with this post, but maybe it'll save someone else's dog... 

After reading this thread topic, makes me feel not too bad about flunking crate training with Rocky. So sorry and deepest sympathy for losing a dog in a covered crate. Who would ever think a sad thing would happen over a just a drape cover over a crate??

This is Rocky's soft training bath rug he lays in the living room. Big Dog bed in our bedroom.Rocky is trained to lay on both and be very good to calm down