My pups are 3 weeks old and starting to be wened, they have a small puppy pen with newspaper and a cardboard box with vet bed.  We were leaving the gate open so Mum could pop in and out and feed but now the pups are able to climb the little bit and get out.  So not sure what is the best way for her to get in and out, she'll jump out no problem but she is not happy jumping in and nor am I in case she lands on a pup...

I am thinking a cage on the outside with somehting solid on top she can use as a step in?

Could you not pick her up and place her in with the puppies, if you make a note of the times she has been in last so you know when the puppies will need the next feed from mum?

Lois

I have the same problem she will jump out but not back in, my welping box has a sliding hatch and it is rather tall, at the moment i have made a smaller sliding door and mum just steps in, pups at the moment arent trying to climb out,  i usually put them in a crate once climbing out and let mum in and out.

Well i suppose im just lucky as i give my bitch and pups the whole dining room,as its my relaxing area where i go to reserach or relax they are with me.
when pups are born they are in a whelping box but when they get to four weeks i take down the whelping box and put up two 48" dog cretes either side of the dining room facing each other,i have a metal puppy pen which stretches the lenghth of the cages so bedding is in the cages and the food is in the pen in the play area.
i dont know if ive explained that well enough lol.
i also make sure that i line the bottom bars of the cretes with cardboard so the pups cant get feet or tails caught/trapped.door is always open from kitchen to dining room but then we have an arch from living room to dining room as its all open plan here anyway so i can always see whats what.
bitch can come and go as she pleases, i just untie one side of the pen.

mine hav a whole room so once they start escaping whelping box, then I just take the front off and give them access to whole room

I use a 4ft crate for Chihuahuas, so plenty of room, and no chance of mum jumping on pups when she returns from the garden.

I have a small whelping box with vetbed inside (inside the crate) and mum comes and goes as she pleases.  Once pups get mobile, they have room to play with toys, and each other.  And they are fed in the crate.

Gate is left open, and my criteria is that pups have to be able to get out of the crate unaided before meeting the rest of the gang.  Four weeks is average, but they do differ.  Until then, I take them out myself, but don't allow the rest of the dogs in while it's puppy playtime.

Once they have started venturing out, I just go round picking up pups when I find them asleep, and put them in the crate for safety.  The crate is closed once I go to bed at night, just for my own peace of mind.

I have a whelp box which has slats which we add too as puppies grow, mum can jump in and out but puppies are unable too , whelp box is 4ftx7ft has a middle which I remove once puppies up on thier feet, so usable for the whole time. When I want them to have more room I remove the slats completely then put pens around the box which has a door I allow mum in when she wants but she can watch puppies without being pestered. I sleep with puppies right through until they leave so am always available when she feels the need to go into her babies.
I also have another pen in the main living area I alternate the puppies for cleaning which makes life much easier when no-one else around to watch them.

Once the pups are up on their feet I change them from the whelping box to a croft Freedom pen and use the extra panel in the door way, mum can get in and out but pups can't.  I also join two freedom pens together so they have a bigger area for playing and separate area for sleeping.

Once the pups are up on their feet I change them from the whelping box to a croft Freedom pen and use the extra panel in the door way, mum can get in and out but pups can't.  I also join two freedom pens together so they have a bigger area for playing and separate area for sleeping.   Ditto , that is our set up also to a T. 

Well i suppose im just lucky as i give my bitch and pups the whole dining room,as its my relaxing area where i go to reserach or relax they are with me.
Thankfully I think you will find Tamara most people's puppies on the forum are as lucky as yours :-) :-D   They will all probably have a room of there own also or "contained" within that room as you described with puppy pen, I think the OP was trying to work out how to give mother space from her puppies but easy continual access.  Unless I have read this wrong you untie one side of the pen to let her in and out which is probably a similar access to a lot of peoples. 

My breed is small enough the cant get over the gate on the freedom pen ( well except one puppy who could escape anything)  but the mother can still leep in and out.

I use the Freedom playpens as whelping pens also, mum can come and go as she pleases.  Pups are able to see all around them as soon as eyes are open, rather than having people looming over from above etc.. also, I can see all the pups at all times without having to peer over a solid sided whelping box...

one side of my whelping box has spindles built in safely close enough together so  they are safe but puppies can see out  (hubby a joiner so he builds it to my spec.)
Freedom pens are not big enough for me ... I like them to have lots of room  dining room is turned into a whelp room.

Starryeyes, one pen is not large enough for my breed, but using 2 full pens and extra panels, whelping  area and subsequent play/sleep area is equal to  over 20sq feet :-)

I cobbled something together to attach a Freedom playpen to my whelping box, then Ellie just jumped in and out. We only had the 2 puppies so she was able to avoid jumping onto them. I only had one escapee a couple of days before they left home, I suddenly discovered a small tricolour puppy had arrived in the kitchen to join the other dogs! :-)

The Freedom pens are pricey but really brilliant. ( My first one has rusted though and only ever used inside but they are perfect.)

Your right the puppies get to see alround especially when I am trying to sneak past them without them seeing :-) 

Same here Blue, both my pens have rusted slightly not just along the bottom either, and only used indoors,   still really good though.

Has the side panel went up in price recently? I was just going to order another one and thought the side panels were cheaper than they are now on Croft..

Just typed out a huge message and got a whole load of error messages.

So it is shortened.

My Croft pen arrived today and I am so disappointed, it is not even half the quality of my old ones, the welding is disgraceful.  The person who welding this one must have brushed shoulders with a welder.

The slot where to door goes is thinning tin metal and it arrived bashed to pieces, not even worth straightening out as the material is so thin it won't take constant movement. Paint flaking off all over, honestly.

I heard people complaining about the cheap copy versions on E-bay but I tell you at a 1/3 of the price of this one £168 I paid ( 10 days ago ish) it can't be much worse. 2 panels won't even go together no matter how I try to pair them up.

Croft have some explaining to do...   I am not tight at all, in fact quite the opposite :-) but my old ones and these are like night and day ( 4 years since I bought one)

My old ones are blackish, these are more silver..

So disappointed

Update to follow.

Same thing happened to a friend of mine, hers arrived completely bent and bashed, so she returned it and got a refund, she wasn't happy with the quality at all.

If they have changed the quality then they are going to lose a lot of business, I was going to order two pens this week, but going now on two reports don't think I'll bother, I've also got two of the cheaper ones from ebay, so think I'll stick to those.

Ps.  Blue I can see your reply 8 times....lol.

Oppp they post wouldn't go through last night :-) some good person has fixed it

I called them and am still not super impressed. I felt he didn't want to know to be honest. It is being collected on Monday. I am going to take photos of my old ones and the new one as the difference is quite a lot.

He ( can't remember his name) said they sell loads everyday and this was a one off but the welding overall is there is small changes which to me at £168 make it a cost reduction.

You know you said you had some of the cheaper ones , what are they like? at less than half the price they can't be worse. Only you can't get the extra panels.

Does your croft panels fit in these cheaper ones to?

I actually like the cheaper ones from e-bay, my cockers can open the catches on the door of the Croft version, but the e-bay ones the catch slots down, then across to lock.  Also the pegs and slots on the panels are round, so you can change the shape/move it around, whereas the Croft one has square pegs/slots.......must say my cheaper versions haven't rusted either!

I spoke to my friend this morning, she also said one of the panels wouldn't slot in and Croft assured her this had never happened before and arranged collection/refund.

Edit to add, no the croft panels don't fit with the cheaper versions, but I have used cable ties when I've needed to join them

Sharon,

Did you see my post about the extra panels,I guess from your description they don't fit in the cheaper pen?

I like mine double the size so would really need to buy two and pair them up would you say?

Yes I think you will need two, probably still cheaper than one from Croft ;-)

I have a 7ft x 4ft whelping box with slats at the door which I can make higher as the pups get stronger. I let them all out a few times every day in to my large kitchen, but I'd rather they didn't have free run to get out as I have other dogs (including a big clumsy Bullmastiff) and when I'm cooking I'd rather not have 10 pups at my feet lol. The mother walks in and out (I have the slats up to her elbows at the minute) so no danger of her jumping on them. Maybe she's just a careful mum.

We bought a Croft whelping box that with extra sections covert into a puppy run last year at a  Champ show. When it was delivered me and my sister put it together for my mum when she came home from work.... we really liked it everything fits together and non of the sections are bent.

Maybe they had a bad batch, the only thing thats a slight problem is we got the tallest one for our bullmastiff but the door is too tall we might have to make another door but otherwise its alright.

I have a pen that I bought from Wrangler Pet Products, it is 3' square, but they sell extra panels so you can make it bigger if you like.  They are strong well welded pens, black powder coated.  The only problem is when the door is taken off the front panel is a bit too low for my cocker pups, so my OH had to add a panel a bit higher when they got to about 5 weeks, so pups couldn't get out , but mum could get in.

Do these puppy pens have thin bars? I have one and one of my pups got her bottom jaw caught between the bars :( which is why I got the whelping box made.

My Cocker spaniel pups can get their jaws stuck between the bars of the Freedom pen too!

I use puppy pen panels to make my whelping quarters, but always lien the sides with cardboard for this reason and of course to prevent drafts.

It is 2" x 2" powder coated mesh, but they also do 1" mesh for smaller breeds I believe.  I have never had a problem with any of my cocker pups getting their jaws stuck, or any other part of them for that matter. lol  I have the whelping box in there until they are properly mobile and then I take that out and just use vet bed.  They can be found if you google wrangler products, I think they do some of the bigger shows too.