Crate inside of Pen
 

My wife and I will be adopting our Yorkie in a few months (early July!) and we are trying to get everything prepared. We are definitely going to use a crate for sleeping and if we can't actively watch our puppy. We are looking at the basic 100 series crates from Petco/Petsmart. What I have having trouble finding is a play pen/exercise pen/play area that has a tray on the bottom that would be a good size to fit the crate as well. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks in advance. Any help would be appreciated.

Zac

Hello, I'm not familair with a tray that goes in the bottom of a playpen... the breeder I got our girls from gave me a 42×28 wire crate with pull out tray under the 'wire' floor... I've seen similar crates in stores and these playpens look nice for during the day... Amazon.com: Blue 45" Pet Puppy Dog Playpen Exercise Pen Kennel 600d Oxford Cloth: Pet Supplies

Part of your crate/xpen choice should be based on which potty training method you are going to use. If you are going to crate train, you need one that is only big enough for your pup to stand up and turn around. Any larger, and your pup will be tempted to soil the crate.

I piddle pad trained my pup, so I used an xpen with a piddle pad in one corner. I don't know of any xpens with trays for this purpose. You could put a tray in one corner under the piddle pad.

I don't think you want your pup on top of the wire (the pan should fit inside of the crate ). Wire hurts the paws.

"I don't think you want your pup on top of the wire (the pan should fit inside of the crate ). Wire hurts the paws." Thank you for pointing this out! My girls were 2 1/2yrs (full grown) when they joined our family; and while the tray does indeed go in a slot under the floor of the crate, I put a large pillow and really soft blanket in it that covers the floor ;) They sleep in it next to our bed at night so I wanted it to be really comfy ;)

I want to wish you luck with your new little one. Having said that,
I used the crate to potty train and it worked very well. It was
large enough for her to turn around and get comfy but not so large that
she would soil her crate. The crate did not have a wire bottom, it had a
tray.

Just another thing to consider if you're putting the crate in the pen. My sister's dog figured out how to break out of her pen using her crate within 2 days of getting the pen.

Depending on the size of the pen you may not have room to set the crate far enough from the edge that the puppy can't climb on top of it and jump out. So you may need one big enough you can keep the crate away from the edges, tall enough it won't matter, or one with a top you can put on it.

Thanks for all of the replies. For those who didn't understand, we were looking at a pen something like the pink one attached. (BTW I hate the colors, but love that it has a bottom "tray" so if there are any accidents the floor is protected in our apartment)

While the puppy is still a puppy and training to go outside, we were going to use something like the picture. We wanted to have the crate inside of the "playpen" and crate train the dog. Wake up, walk the dog. Feed the dog, walk the dog. Etc. Just to get the puppy used to going outside.

While we are in the house and the puppy isn't fully trained we did not want to have him/her running around possibly doing something in the house, so we would utilize the playpen to keep everything safe the house.

So that is the plan. We hate that pink thing, so we were looking for something with a "tray" bottom and that would fit a 100 series crate. Hopefully that clarifies things for those who had questions. Does anyone have ideas/concerns/comments? Thank you!

Excited!
 

Thank you for the info all...we have bought almost everything that we need for our little girl, picked a vet, researched food, etc. It has been a very interesting/crazy process, but we are ready! Now we play the waiting game until we get to bring her home!

Hi Zac, Congrats on your yorkie.... I'm Jealous! I don't have one yet. If I understand you want to protect your floor while the puppy is in the Pen. When I had my bunny i built this huge inside condo for her. For the floor I put down a thin piece of plywood it was like 4'x3' or something like that but you can make it as big or small as you need and stuck the self stick tiles to it. This worked wonderfully and you can pick your colors. Just put the pen around it or on top of it which ever works for your layout. Also i have seen pen set ups where the crate is on the outside of the pen but connected that way the puppy can't jump on top of the crate and escape. But she can still go in the crate and in the pen. Have lots of fun with your new puppy. Any pics yet????

also they have these puppy apartments that is like a huge crate that has a small bed area just big enough for the pup to lay down in but he can leave that area and go to the bigger part to potty it has to doors also one in the sleeping part and one on the potty part both lead to the outside

ooo I like that crate and I love the pink, but my boys wouldn't

What kind of food will you be starting her on?

Being a senior and recent convert to lap tops and smart phones, I honestly can say if it exists, it is in the internet. I bought several crates on line and was very happy with them. This is where I got mine www.midwesthomes4pet.com

I am so sorry to leave this post hanging like this!

Here is our solution.

Wire Kennel (Midwest): Midwest Life Stages Double-Door Folding Metal Dog...
Carrier Crate (Petco): Petco Home and Travel Premium Kennel - Travel Dog Kennel from petco.com
Messenger Bag (Sherpa Sport Sack): Sherpa SPORT SACK Messenger/Courier Style Small...

The Carrier Crate (with door removed) sits inside of the Wire Kennel. That leaves room for a pee pad and a water bown inside of the Wire Kennel. The Carrier Crate serves as her "den" or "bedroom" while she still has a play area where we can keep her unsupervised. She very rarely uses the pee pad, and is 99% potty trained, with the occasional accidents if we don't bring her our right after waking and 25-45 minutes after eating. Even with access to the pee pad, she still holds it all night for us (at only 4 months)! When we travel we use the Carrier Crate in the backseat strapped in to make sure she is safe in case we get in an accident. When we get to our destination(s) we walk her and then use the messenger bag.

We bought the messenger bag because it has good reviews and doesn't look like a dog carrier. We have brought her out shopping and very few people notice, and the ones that do are excited about our little girl!

We feed her Fromm dry food, mixed with wet food of various brands. We have tried Wellness, Merrick and Organics by Nature so far and she loves them! We like the ones that have food and vegetables together, and she doesn't seem too picky. We give her 1/4 cup per meal (4 times a day) and she only eats about half of that. Occasionally she will eat the whole 1/4 cup, but that is rare.

We are doing postive reinforcement (clicker) training and she is learning very quickly. She does "sit" and "down" so far, but we are still working on it. She is so smart!