Hi All, Well its my first day with puppy and now the real questions start coming I was wondering what the ideal size for a long-term confinement / play pen would be for a Labrador puppy (8 week) would be? My playpen setup at home has his cage, and a play area of about 120cm x 120cm.This area is in the kitchen, Do you think this would be enough space for him? Personally I feel that it is too confining. I was thinking of giving puppy access to the entire kitchen / dining area, which is about 4meters x 10meters. This area is a safe tiled area. Also, while on the topic of access areas, during play time or when puppy in not in his cage (short periods or when puppy sleeps) is it ok to give puppy access to the entire house (supervised)? Cheers, Robbie
Re: Long-term confinement area Charlie had 2m by 2m at first. Now at 1 year has 3m by 5m (when left alone, he is a chewer, so is still confined). The smaller space makes it easier for them to think of it as a den. It's not confining for them, in the way you might think. You can give access to larger spaces when pup is EMPTY. Not otherwise.
Re: Long-term confinement area Personally I would not give freedom to the whole house, but establish some routines and slowly work up to increasing access. Even when a little older, Lilly took some time to not wee in other rooms, even though she was dry in the 2 rooms we used for her to start with. Slowly does it I would say.
Re: Long-term confinement area I gave Harley the run of the kitchen, living room and hallway from day 1 - supervised of course . Even now at 7.5 months, this is where she spends most of her time (apart from the garden). She only goes upstairs when we go to bed. Hope all is going well
Re: Long-term confinement area My dogs have always had free run of downstairs from the moment I bring them home, but only under supervision. If I cannot be with them then I pop them in the crate.
Re: Long-term confinement area I've read bad things about play pens because they can set back toilet training. I think if the pup is in the crate with the door open and decides he needs to go, out he pops into his pen area to go and it ultimately becomes a set back to toilet training. Personally I bought into the advice to teach that toilet = outside right from day one. I use a crate to great success, but no pen. When crated I could rely on my little girl to tell me if she needs to go out to toilet, it's true that they instinctively don't want to go where they sleep. But a pen gives them a second option! In terms of unsurprised house freedom I think that's relative to how large the house is and how available you are to always keep a corner of your eye on him. Only for the first 4 weeks did I crate her on/off throughput the day, to make sure she'd tell me if she needed the toilet, so I could reinforce always taking her outside to go. I puppy proofed the whole house and after that gave her lots of supervised house freedom to the downstairs only (courtesy of a stair gate), too much I used to tell myself in the early days, but with the help of bitter apple spray and a house training line I can proudly say that we've reached 6 months of age without any house or furniture destruction! If I had confined her more I am doubtful she'd have had as much chance to be taught her house manners. I can now regularly turn my back on her for 10-15 minutes (to pop upstairs, to the garage etc) now without a second though, although I crate her for longer periods just to be on the safe side. Very best of luck with the new pupster! My day one was only 4 months ago, only feels like yesterday, what a ride!
Re: Long-term confinement area [quote author=JohnG link=topic=4997.msg62809#msg62809 date=1395500930] I've read bad things about play pens because they can set back toilet training. I think if the pup is in the crate with the door open and decides he needs to go, out he pops into his pen area to go and it ultimately becomes a set back to toilet training. Personally I bought into the advice to teach that toilet = outside right from day one. [/quote] I heard this too - but I used the crate in a pen system and it didn't cause me a minute's bother, Charlie was totally normal to toilet train. It's impossible not to have this kind of arrangement if you need to leave your pup at first, I think.
Re: Long-term confinement area Hi, As we have little likds (1.5 years and 3.5 years), it wou;d make sense to have a smaller confinement area, opposed to the whole kitchen / dinning area (at this stage). At the moment i have a "make shift" play pen, consiting of his cage (42 inch), a security gate and a piece if furniture.I am going to buy a "proper" pen but just want to know the ideal size before i do. The largest one i found was 160cm x 160cm. Would this be enough space for my pup (8 weeks)? He will also have his large crate in it too. Also, how long would this space be "comfortable" for him? This is what im thinking of getting: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Pet-Dog-...pt=AU_Pet_Supplies&hash=item5afcdf7cba&_uhb=1 Cheers, Robbie
Re: Long-term confinement area Would that fit as an add-on to your crate rather than having the crate in it? I'm not good at visualising stuff - think maybe you should wait for the experts opinion!
Re: Long-term confinement area I would need to take measurements and find out if the pen pieces are detachable.
Re: Long-term confinement area The first puppy pen I had was just a bit bigger than that, not much, but it depends how big your crate is. Excluding Charlie's bed, I reckon he had 1m by 2m of space in his first puppy pen. They don't need a lot of space, you'll give him exercise outside that space too. If you are not short of space though, I'd go for whatever you have the space for. I regret buying a smaller puppy pen, only to buy a larger, taller pen later. My boy is 1 now, and I still use the crate/pen arrangement (he chews). If I had known, I'd just have bought the bigger pen to start with.
Re: Long-term confinement area This is Charlie's grown up long term confinement space (minus the rugs - he chewed them! ;D ). It is 2.5m by 4m (just asked OH!). I had this divided into about a 3rd when he arrived. Looking back, I shouldn't have bothered, and just divided the crate. hospital room by JulieTandCharlie, on Flickr
Re: Long-term confinement area I have found a new long term confiment area in the house, its PERFECT! Its besides the lounge and kitchen (so plenty of interaction), its tiled, 3m x 3m, and have double sliding doors. https://www.flickr.com/photos/115697696@N07/sets/72157642830257734/ Still quite a bit i need to do to it though.
Re: Long-term confinement area That looks like a great area! Watch those sockets though - if bored and unsupervised he may well chew them.
Re: Long-term confinement area Hi All, The 8 panel pen arrived today so im going to put the finishing touches to Zulu's play area. He has settled in very nice in his play area, which is 3m x 3m. He is just over 8 weeks but i was wondering if this area is too big for him? The other option is to use to 8 panel pen to make a smaller play area for him, then gradually increase it. What are your thoughts? Regards, Robbie
