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Originally Posted by Care28 Thank you so much for your advice! Oh, you can be sure that there will be plenty of pictures to come if we get her! lol I just put a new card in my camera for even more picture fun. 
This X-Pen, can you tell me more about it? With Kelli, we didn't crate or put her in a pen of any sort so I'm a little new to all of this. We actually TRIED to put Kelli in a little carrier that her former owners gave to us to use and she was having none of that, poor little girl stuck her feet all the way out and wouldn't even go inside it. At that moment, she had the full run of the house, lol. Even slept on the bed, which we know with a puppy we probably won't be able to do?
So now of course I'm thinking I need to buy her a bed, lol. She's gonna be so spoiled! |
I feel like Toto thought for a long time that my camera was a part of my hand .... you just can't make too many pictures!!
We have Toto's setup in our home in AL and another in our condo here in Colorado. We like the one in the condo best because it's just 8 sections that are 24"X24" all linked together like one long thing [I will make a pic for you if this is what you decide]. We simply unfold what we want to use in a particular area ... just fold the unused sections back out of the way and use what's needed. It has one spot that's open because the only time we close it completely is if we have to leave her home alone for a short period of time. The one in AL actually has a gate and when she was as tiny as your baby will be, it was difficult for her to get over the little "threshhold" because her little legs were so short & belly so fat!
She quickly made her pen area her little "safe house" .... if she feels stressed, afraid, threatened, etc. she gets in her little pen and curls up in her little bed and our "house rule" is .... if she is in there, she better not be disturbed! This is a great rule for the grandchildren along with "noone" under 15 yrs. can hold her!" It has worked beautifully! Our homes are "puppy proof" and we make sure that there is nothing that she can harm herself on that's within her reach. We confine her to the X-pen if we have to leave her for a few minutes for her own protection. We also keep her wee-wee pad, extra water dish, bed & toys in there just in case she wants something while in there. Another invaluable thing ... we probably have 4-5 of is the little oval shaped beds. Toto is so finicky and likes her stuff clean so these are really easy to just throw them in the washer & dryer and having several allows for laundrying & "Miss Prissy Paws" stays comfy!
She is toooo funny ... when I take a blankie or bed to put in the laundry, she watches me like a hawk!! She also uses the little soft carrier, that we bought for flying, as another little safe/pouty place! The day I brought that home, I just unzipped the top and front & sat it in the den ... no big deal. After a day or so of an occasional sniff, I put a favorite toy way back in the back where she would actually have to go in & get. It was the funniest thing .... she would peek in there and then began to stretch in a little further ... but wouldn't let her feet leave the carpet! She finally, about the 3rd day, stretched way in there and then ran as quickly as she could, grabbed the toy and ran back out!! After a few days she would go in often to retreive toys, etc. and then finally would curl up in there. The most important thing that we have learned is that they only know what you teach them. We never, ever took her out of that carrier nor put her in through the zipper part on top! We would always unzip the front and tell her "kennel up" and she will scoot right in there & we zip it up. We always keep the top unzipped unless we are in flight and she will stick her head out [or half her body] and look at everything going on .... I can set the carrier on the floor with her sticking her head out the top while checking in at the airport .... she has never, ever jumped out the top! She knows that you enter/exit the carrier only through the front! They are terribly smart, however, I wouldn't completely trust her for anything! I always, always watch her and see to her safety myself because, bottom line, animals are unpredictable!!
