Hi there, first poster here. We are becoming parents to a gorgeous cocker spaniel in two weeks and are in a huge dilemma around whether to purchase and where to purchase a puppy pen in addition to our crate.

We work full time and the puppy will be alone for around 3-4 hours at a time in the day. We plan on putting the crate in the kitchen and until she is fully trained, want to protect her from chewing through wires etc.

Her crate is only large enough for her to sleep in and eat in. We are unsure what the best thing to do is around leaving the door open for her, securing the kitchen area and letting her run free in the kitchen, or getting additional puppy pen panels to clip to her crate - if so, I would appreciate advice and experiences of these around safety, appropriate height etc. Are we safest just closing her in the crate for these hours she is unsupervised? Aaargh.

Please help. We need the best solution for her, this is our first dog so we are unsure what is sensible and appropriate. She has been raised in a crate and is currently kept in the house so I dont anticipate her having anxiety about being inside a crate I am just concerned she will need more room, as well as anxiety around her going to the toilet in her crate.

Alternatively, we have an empty room in the front of the house we could allow her to run around in, I am just concerned that she will be visible from the pavement if someone passes and spots she is alone in the house she may be at risk of theft - am super paranoid!

Any advice gratefully received.

Personally I wouldn't shut her in a cage, if you want to keep an animal in a cage get a hamster. Presumably she will sleep in the cage too? So will actually be in there 12 hours a day. Dogs have been reared successfully for centuries before the relatively new craze for caging them :-) If you've already bought the cage fine, I would take the door off so it can't close by accident and get a petgate or leave her enclosed in either the kitchen or the other room you talk about.

I have successfully used a pen when I have had puppies. It keeps them safe from house-hold hazards - e.g electrical flexes, etc....and they have room to move around, when no-one is available to supervise them. Having said that, many people swear by crates, and it seems lots of dogs love them too. I'm sure either would be fine.

I suppose it depends how much of a chewer your dog is but I bought a pen for my current pup who is now 8 months and it has been a total godsend.  I also have a fairly anti-social staffy and I didn't want the 2 of them to have unrestricted access so I bought 2 pens and took the hinges apart and joined them to make a giant 16' pen.

the one I bought was similar to this http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DELUXE-PUPPY-PEN-8-PANELS-X-24-X-24-HIGH_W0QQitemZ170351937223QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_Pet_Supplies_Dogs?hash=item27a9c446c7&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=65%3A12|66%3A2|39%3A1|72%3A1683|240%3A1318|301%3A1|293%3A1|294%3A50 but is 4' high to prevent either dog jumping in or out.  I dismantled the dining table as I have an open plan kitchen/dining area so now just have a breakfast bar and a massive puppy pen at the other end of the kitchen.

For me it is the best thing I have ever done.  He has loads of room to move about and play but can't chew walls, wires, books etc etc All things that my other dog did so it gives me peace of mind and for less than £100 for the 2 it has more than paid for itself in potential repairs.  One of my neighbours' pup chewed their french doors, skirting boards, stairs and more and it has cost a fortune  to fix.

get a pen, for peace of mind when you can't be around to supervise.  I also have a cage and had a small cage inside the pen initially so he had an enclosed den inside the bigger space.

Hi and welcome.  Congrats on your puppy, you must be very excited.

Used properly, crates can be useful although I wouldn't suggest shutting your puppy in there for 3-4 hours each day, it's too long.  Think of your crate as a bed with doors. It's no substitute for access to the whole bedroom. 

Older dogs cope very well with short absences but this will be too long to leave a puppy and still be able to manage toilet training.  She will not be able to wait until you get home so you can expect plenty of puddles (and more).  I'd hesitate to call these 'accidents' as they are completely expected - she will need to go outside every 20 or 30 minutes for a few weeks.  She will possibly not be completely toilet trained until she is 6 months old.  It can certainly take longer if you aren't there to teach her how and when to ask to go outside.

You need to make sure she is left in an area where you are able and willing to clear up after her.  It would be unfair to shut her in her crate where she will have no option but to soil her bed.  From your description the kitchen seems the most sensible place and you can use a pen or panels to restrict access to unsafe areas like the back of the fridge.  As she gets older you might want to give her access to more of the house but we've always found it best to leave the dogs in an area where they can't see much.  You don't want your dog to feel she has to 'defend' your property from everyone that passes by.

Sorry if it sounds a bit negative.  Actually my dogs love their crates - nowhere better for relaxed upside down sleeping, and taking trophy toys!!  The difference is that I'm here full time and I'm able to make sure they aren't ever shut in as such.  We use the doors to ensure they don't have late night play parties and, when the youngest was a pup, to ensure they had private safe places to go if they wanted to be undisturbed.  Lots of other good uses too but the key was that mine weren't ever contained for more than an hour during the day.  One thing to remember is that you can't completely anticipate what you'll need.  We bought all sorts of things that we never used so my advice is to wait and see what sort of girl she is before rushing into spending too much money.  Have fun :)

Thank you so much for your responses. It is hugely valued, just to acquire insight from those a lot more experienced than ourselves.

We will be on leave from work for most of the next month or so, I just want to make sure that we are best prepared for those times when we have to be away from home. It really would go against any of my instincts to shut the door on her crate for hours.

When she is unattended as she grows up, we will use a crate as her comfy bed area, and then use croft showman pen panels to attach to the pen giving her some extra room , leave the crate door open and provide a tray with a patio slab inside set aside as her toilet area so that she doesn't suffer any anxiety from soiling her bed.

Eventually, we want to be able to give her the run of the kitchen, and never having had a puppy before, it is difficult to imagine how old she will be until she is ready for that, without the fear that she will electrocute herself behind the fridge.

> it is difficult to imagine how old she will be until she is ready for that, without the fear that she will electrocute herself behind the fridge.

!!!  My youngest is 2 and he still tries to put his head in places only his eyeball would fit - usually whilst tracking down an errant biscuit !!!

You sound pretty well organised and you can sort the rest as it happens.  One thing it's worth thinking through before she comes is how you'll manage her at night.  Is she coming in with you for the first few nights?  If so, a smaller crate is helpful or you can perhaps use the one you'll be using in the car.

Oh so much to plan for...  :)   Makes me feel very slightly puppy broody!

Is it a puppy pen you can make larger or smaller?? If so, why not have the crate with the door open and fix the puppy pen around it so she has a 'run' to play in and an area to sleep in. Then she wont need to be completely loose in a room but still has a good area to stretch her legs in.

Congrats on the upcoming new addition though :-)

Hi

Congrats on getting your new pup

I have 3 dogs all were brought up being crate trained, they longer spend any time in them during the day and do not chew etc around the house

Though the youngest who used to sleep in a large crate in my room as a pup she is now 18 months and still chooses to sleep in there at night she whins like made if i dont let her in , before i no it she is on her back asleep. I have a puppy play pen as there called which she was kept in if i was out for a few hours though she only stayed in that till she was 6 months old and then when i went out she stayed in the kitchen with the crate door open as she used go in there to sleep

The other 2 who are 3 and 5 do not go into a crate by choose do, and have a nap in there

Mine see it as a good place ( well i assume they do ) as they go in there on there free view and some times wont come out

used approprailty i think they work well

> !!!  My youngest is 2 and he still tries to put his head in places only his eyeball would fit

:-)  :-)  :-)  Normal dog then?

>have the crate with the door open and fix the puppy pen around it so she has a 'run' to play in and an area to sleep in.

I did this with ours (slightly different set up but similar in design) :-) it worked very well and kept pup safe when I was not there to keep an eye on her and made it easier to clear up in the early days.

We are getting a puppy in the new year (fingers crossed) and its been 9 years since we had a puppy in the house. I have equal amounts of excitement & anxiety at the moment! 

Good luck!

i have never crated any of my dogs and don't really like them but thats down to personal choice.
when i had two dogs they slept in the kitchen and now we've moved and have number three they sleep in the utility room with a dog gate on and i put their bed where you'd normally see the washing machine and tumble drier, which are now in the garage.
This works really well for us but depends on the amount of space you have and any doggy smells tend to stay in the same room.