just bought an x-pen.....

[lizziepooh_1]

and Tia is whining and yapping for my attention! We've had Tia for just over a week (she is 11 weeks old) and whenever both of us had to leave the house we've kept in the the masterbathroom with her bed and a pee pad, toys, water, food, even a night light for the late afternoon. But we've decided that we want our bathroom back!

I don't feel comfortable crating her because the amount of time each day that neither of us are home is about 5-6 hours and that's way too long for her to go without a potty break. Although she sleeps all night in her crate (door open) in our bedroom with few accidents just fine.

So we figure an x-pen will keep her contained and give her some space. Well. Tia is making sounds I've never heard before! It's breaking my heart! She has all she could need or want in there (except for Mummy!)

Poor little bugger...she's making sounds like a crow! Tell me that she'll get over this soon! Right?

[lizziepooh_1]

ok...so the ex-pen is going back to petsmart....my husband hates seeing it in the living room. there is no room in the kitchen for it and I will not leave Tia in the basement. We've decided to get a gate and leave her on the landing to the basement whenever nobody is home. We only need to close off the stairs going down, because she's figuring out how to go down....but she still can't go up. Poor Tia! mommy and Daddy can't make up their minds!

[Ponyup]

Try a pack-n-play, it'll give her enough room for a bed & pee pad. Logan liked it way better than his crate. buy an obsorbant crib sheet & fitted sheet for the bottom (urine is harder than all get out to get out of the bottome) & you should be set. We got one that went with our decor & it's not a big deal. Our friends teased us a bit about buying one for a dog, but other than that no biggie. And it's very easy to move.

[mistyinca]

Are you keeping it in the octagon shape? If so, it can take up a ridiculous amount of space. Before you take it back, I want to give you another idea of a way to set it up. We set up ours as a rectangle shape. I did one panel by two. We took the last two of the panels and kept them together, folded them in, so that it made it a smaller rectangle. Here's a picture from another forum: Link to post with picture of x-pen set up

[lizziepooh_1]

I don't have time to return it to the store today...I think I'll try your idea and see what we think for tonight. We have it in the large rectangle right now, and it is pretty big (hubby and I are kinda picky when it comes to our home decor!)

Well, we'll try the smaller configuration

[Siara28]

Is it that CAW CAW CAW sound????

Thats the sound my baby had for the first two nights alone in his crate, it was actually quite humurous , but I felt sad You know, I keep telling myself that if they are not in any danger, or not fed or haven't had ANY loving all day, then yes, help him out, but even though I do love my baby, I do realize that he needs to realize that we cannot possible pay attention to him 24/7!!!!
Is your crate right out with you? Ours is in our high traffic kitchen and he can see in the family room too.

[Hokule'a]

I just bought one of those x-pens also and Hoku is fine if I leave the gate open, she'll go in and out to eat, but hoo boy does she kick up a fuss if I lock the gate All I want to do is give her more room to play and have access to her food/water and pee pad while I'm gone and she carries on like I'm killing her - ugh!

Anyhow, I went home for lunch today and tried making into that smaller rectangle someone recommended and it does look better and hopefully she'll prefer the smaller size. I've also ordered that Comfort Zone Plug-in and hope that will also help

[yorkiegirl83]

I've found that the best thing to do even though it's heartbreaking is to let them cry and ignore it. If you talk to the puppy or acknowledge them when they're doing it, it will only make the crying worse and worse.

[Hokule'a]

I can ignore Hoku's whining and crying (she did that while adjusting to her crate and her playpen) but she literally screams in the x-pen if she knows I've left the house I actually stood outside smoking a cig the other morning and waited to make sure she stopped screaming. Came home a couple hours later and she was a wreck, not screaming but crying, trembling and whimpering. I calmed her down, fed her and an hour later put her in her crate and she was fine. Maybe because of her heart condition I just feel that there's no reason for her to ever be 'that' upset. Am I wrong

[lovelilly]

Where did you purchase this x-pen... I hate mine. I like the little amount of space it takes...

Originally Posted by mistyinca

Are you keeping it in the octagon shape? If so, it can take up a ridiculous amount of space. Before you take it back, I want to give you another idea of a way to set it up. We set up ours as a rectangle shape. I did one panel by two. We took the last two of the panels and kept them together, folded them in, so that it made it a smaller rectangle. Here's a picture from another forum: Link to post with picture of x-pen set up

[lovelilly]

I solved this problem by getting two puppies at once. Training was harder... but they never cried in their crate/x-pen

Originally Posted by lizziepooh_1

and Tia is whining and yapping for my attention! We've had Tia for just over a week (she is 11 weeks old) and whenever both of us had to leave the house we've kept in the the masterbathroom with her bed and a pee pad, toys, water, food, even a night light for the late afternoon. But we've decided that we want our bathroom back!

I don't feel comfortable crating her because the amount of time each day that neither of us are home is about 5-6 hours and that's way too long for her to go without a potty break. Although she sleeps all night in her crate (door open) in our bedroom with few accidents just fine.

So we figure an x-pen will keep her contained and give her some space. Well. Tia is making sounds I've never heard before! It's breaking my heart! She has all she could need or want in there (except for Mummy!)

Poor little bugger...she's making sounds like a crow! Tell me that she'll get over this soon! Right?

[yorkiegirl83]

My new puppy Lula who I've had for 2 months will still scream even with her two other playmates, but I just force myself to ignore it. They only problem I have now is that she can climb out ugh ugh ugh.

[mistyinca]

Originally Posted by lovelilly

Where did you purchase this x-pen... I hate mine. I like the little amount of space it takes...

It's the same size--the one with 8 panels. What I did was take the front panel--with a gate then go two panels on each side. Then on one side, turn in the last panel, but you have two panels left. Put them together and fold them up after the last one. I know that makes no sense on paper here, but if you take it out and start setting it up like that, you'll see what I mean. If you need me to, I can get it out and video myself setting it up that way.

[lizziepooh_1]

I made my expen into the smaller rectangle and it's a much more manageable size....our main floor is open concept, but we had to move FURNITURE to fit the full size rectangle! Tia doesn't seem to mind going in and out of it, but like Hoku, she'll put up a fuss as soon as the gate is closed and I'm out of sight. I haven't tried closing her in and leaving the house. I'll try later and see if I can hear her through the window.

As for the CAW-ing sound...you got it right on the money! I've never heard anything like it, and never care to hear that again!

My husband actually brought up getting a second one and I said "Wow!" but....we would wait until Tia is a year old. Plus....we need to work on making real babies soon instead of acquiring the furry kind!

[Hokule'a]

I've just discovered that your husband is right I picked up a brother for Hoku this past weekend and she no longer screams when I leave her - hallelujah! Oh, they'll whimper a little in the x-pen if they know I'm leaving the house but then they'll get distracted and start playing or curl up together and take a nap. I should've gotten 2 in the first place - LOL!