When our puppy was 8 weeks old she was in the playpen all the time (unless toiletting or on socialisation trips). Now she is 17 weeks old and I put her in her crate if I am leaving the house for 1 - 1 1/2 hours. But I still use the playpen on and off during the daytime when I am at hone (e.g. When we are eating, or if I have to leave the room, or if she gets unruly/overexcited). I realise she is still young, but that we can't use it forever! So I interested to learn when other puppy users found they no longer used a puppy playpen. As I write this, it is 21:45 & she is happily sleeping in her pen before "bedtime" in her crate.
duggan was only ever put in a pen when we left the house. We tried started letting him have free run of the house (bedroom/bathroom doors closed) around 11 months for 15 minutes then 30 etc. up to 2 hours till he was 13 months and now we can leave him 4-6 hours by himself out of the pen no problems. Having said that, he would happily go in the pen on his own and wait patiently for his Kong whenever he saw us getting ready to go out. If we are longer than 4 hours our tenent downstairs will come take him out to do his business. He was never crated or penned since he left his mom while we were home. We got very lucky in that way. He never chewed anything he wasn't supposed to.
