Do you use a doggy play pen or crate them or give them free range?

[julieandrea]

When you leave your dog home for the day do you crate them, put them in a doggy play pen or give them free range? I'd like to let mine have free range of a dog proof area but it still makes me nervous to leave him. I want him to be independent though and have it as comfortable as possible when I'm not home.

[Tissy2cute]

Well Trixie is about 4 1/2 months. She is not home alone much. Sometimes if we are all gone she has to go into her crate. If I am just running to the grocery store I might leave her in the kitchen and sunroom area with her big sis Jewel to watch over her.

I am lucky my daughter in college is home off and on all day so she helps me a lot with Trixie.

Of course I take her to a lot of places as well so I don't have to leave her...wish I could take her to work. It is so hard leaving in the morning and she cries.

[Hazels-momm]

Well we live in an apartment, a puppy proofed apartment, whenever hazel is home alone I let her have access to every room but the bathroom I keep the bathroom door shut, the closet doors and all the kitchen drawers closed tightly that way I know she didnt get herself stuck somewhere while I was away...she is a very curious yorkie

[Amirah-momma]

I still crate while I am at work, but my roomie and I are on different schedules so Amirah doesn't go my whole ten hour work schedule in the crate. If my roomie and I end up on more similar schedules then I am gonna put her in a pen. Ultimately I want her to have run of the house, but she needs to be better potty trained first.

[GuinnessStout]

Guinney is baby gated out of bedrooms, bathroom, dining room and movie theater room but other than that he is free to roam and after watching him on the camera during the day he spends the entire time we are gone sleeping on the couch so he can stay up all night slapping us in the face with toys or jumping off the top of the sofa at the foot of our bed to land on our chest all 12lbs of him!!!!! Grr

[Patti]

My 3 had free range of my pretty big master bedroom, walk in closet and bathroom. They were having a lot of accidents even though they are all adults. So when I replaced the carpeting, I blocked off part of my bedroom. Now they have part of the bedroom, the walk in closet ( they took over it so I fixed it up with beds and crates for them) and my bed. The carpets in these areas are covered with plastic. Especially with a puppy, I would limit the space he or she has access to until you know they are potty trained. I usually kept a new puppy in a playpen or a small area that was set up with a bed,a safe toy and pee pads when I couldn't keep a close eye on them. Make sure the are is puppy proof. They can get bored and chew on things.

[yorkietalkjilly]

Tibbe runs free in the house and has since he was done housebreaking. Unless he is ill with GI problems and I am not home to let him out when ill, he is totally clean in the house. Bless his heart, he's so good. He has never marked in his life and he's 5 years old.

[Princess keke]

When I leave I crate her because it no telling what she would do if I wasn't home.

[KazzyK810]

ZoE has free run of the house most days. When she's home alone, she mainly sleeps, either on he couch or in my bed.

There are times, when I'm in the middle of a DIY project and I have stuff laying around, so I put a gate up in the hallway and leave my bedroom door open, so she can sleep on my bed and still has has access to her potty pads in the hallway.

[MandiesMom]

Up until Mandie was 5 mos old and house/pad trained, she stayed in her own room (empty with just her stuff). Now, she roams free with my other dog (I do have the bathroom and bedroom doors closed, though)

[Verbena]

Depends hoe old the pup is. And if he is potty trained or not.

[julieandrea]

Wow I never considered the potty training aspect! I wouldn't want little Grim thinking it was ok to use the bathroom over the whole house! How would you make it known he can't pee everywhere when you aren't there to watch him! Interesting dilemma. Luckily the rooms I plan on having available are all hard wood. He is use to peeing on news paper too. The breeder has set that up nicely but he still would use the bathroom on the floor anywhere about 50% of the time. Glad to see people have had success with giving them free range though. Grim is too small to jump on even the lowest surfaces lol. Dot think he will be getting into too much trouble. I will only have things he is allowed to play with on the floor. Might invest in a pen for his potty stages.. Would be nice and help with the training. Thanks for all your advice!

[GuinnessStout]

If we are talking about a baby puppy then YES a pen!! I would not dream of leaving it alone to free roam because even if you think there is nothing they will shock you and find something like a power cord! Thank goodness mine was not plugged in when Guinness decided it would make a great treat.

[Rubenboy]

Ruben is 8 months old and goes in his playpen when I run errands or can't watch him. I got it from Walmart and I love it. I have peace of mind knowing exactly where he is and what he has to play with while I am gone. I left him in my laundry room, that I thought was puppy proof, until he chewed on the corner of one of the walls. He was 4 months old then, teething and probably just ready to get out of there. I had to putty and paint! He has not chewed on sheet rock since nor do I give him the opportunity! Ruben sleeps in his crate at night. I have a 13 yr old schnauzer that is his nanny.
Beth

[Yorkiemom1]

All babies should be restricted to a small area of some kind....they can get into way too much, given unsupervised free range of the entire house. All my dogs are crated when I leave the house for work....in case of fire, I do not want the poor babies hiding and firemen not able to find them. the windows in the nursery and in the Yorkie room all have those stickers alerting pets are inside....my precious little useless "pets" are allowed free roam in my bedroom....they all get on my bed and wait for me to get home.
When I first got them, as puppies, I kept them in an ex-pen, where they had more room to play and run around all day....when they became adults, I crated them in large crates, not carriers....these crates are like 26" x 42"....something close to that. Even when I am home, my house inside is "fenced and crossed fenced"....baby gates are used to keep all babies restricted in the sun room area....and all exit doors are blocked by at least 2 sets of baby gates and ex-pens stretched out across the doors, so in the event a dog does get through a doggie gate into a restricted area, they still can not gain access out the front door! It isnt pretty, it isnt a "vision out of Southern Living magazine", and it is certainly a pain in the patootie going around and thru all the barriers, but my babies wont be going out any doors accidently! When company comes or workmen are doing anything inside the house, everyone is crated.