Playpen or crate?????
 

I have a friend that is getting her first "little" dog (from Willow here on YT :D :D ) she has always had "outside" dogs and she hasn't had a dog in a while. She is now 41 years old, single, and has given up hopes of having anymore children so she is ready for her first house dog. talk about a SPOILED pup!!!!!!!! she hasn't even met the pup yet and she is already obsessed LOL

anyway, she works during the day, so she was asking me about potty training. I mentioned that I have always crate trained...but that maggie didn't really need the crate for more than a few weeks at most...now she just uses it to nap in from time to time. or to hide her toys in LOL. i told her that i have heard of people using playpens if they have to be gone during the day...so that the pup has more room than a crate.

she is leaning toward the playpen idea. but since i have never done that, i have NO advice to give her.

anyone here have a preference? (dumb question....OF COURSE you do LOL) and if you use a playpen, what are some "tips"??? i mean...i know you need to put pee pads in there...but what else?? this is foreign to me so I really need some help here :)

oh, i should mention, her children are grown and live on their own. she is the only one in the house.

I prefer the playpen because the little ones can move around . I only use crates for transportation .

what do you keep in the playpen? how do you keep it from getting ruined if they have accidents that are not on the pee pad?? do you line the entire bottom with pee pads to begin with?

i think she prefers the playpen too (she has already bought one LOL) but she just doesn't know exactly how to use it effectively

and neither do i since i have never tried it

I used a playpen when I first got Hoku but when Kalani came along I got an x-pen which is even better. You can keep it small at first and then enlarge it when you want more room:)

I place pee pads on the entire buttom and gradually narrow the area .

I place food , water , toys and a little bed in the playpen .

I work all day so Izzy is in her x-pen which I line in one corner with pee-pads - no way is she going to hold it in all day so she is trained to go on the pee-pads. I like the x-pen since it's big and she has one end for pee-pads and one end that has her little housebed and food/water/toys. I like the x-pen since it gives her more room to exercise all day vs. the small sleep crate.

However she also has her sleep crate which she sleeps in at night or she goes in when we are only gone for a few hours like out to a movie/dinner/etc., Also - Izzy gets fed in her sleep crate so it's like her special home.....I have to feed her in there since I have 3 cats and she would prefer the kitty food vs. her own. :(

Exercise pen rules!!
 

I LOVE exercise pens. They cost a little more than a crate, but I think they are worth it. I put a pee pad in one corner, food & water in another, and their bed & toys in another and then they have plenty of room to play, eat, sleep and do their dirty work while you are gone.

This is a really good thread. A lot of good ideas.

I used a kid's swimming pool when I first brought my yorkie home. It worked really well for several weeks until he got big enough to jump out. I also put his bed, toys and a pee pad in it. If he missed the pee pad then the pool is really easy to wipe up. I just threw it out when I didn't need it anymore.

wow...great advice everyone!! thank you so much!!

I also use a x-pen. I bought a piece of clear vinyl slightly bigger than the pen to put on the floor. It is easy to clean if Murphy misses the pad and prevents him from chewing on the rug.
I bought the vinyl at Walmart for around $5.00.

I use a playpen for Gizmo, but I will probably keep him in a gated area during the day when I go back to work in the fall. He's a real jumper right now. I also had to take his bed out of the playpen and replace it with a pillow because he stands on the back of it and jumps! lol

The playpen is beside my bed at night and he still sleeps there at night. I have a pee pad on one side, his little pillowbed on the other side. I also keep a small ceramic bowl with dry kibble and I have a waterbottle attached to the side. When he jumps around, he always knocked over a water bowl.

The bottom of our playpen is a vinyl pad and cleans up easily.

Nathan sleeps in a playpen..he was pee pad trained by the breeder when i got him so he has a small area for the pee pad, his bed and water and dry food in it..as he is only 3 lbs he has plenty of room..and he has more room now because he will not soil his playpen so the pee pads have come up and its just him, toys, bowl of water and food...
bty: his playpen is a pack and play type with a carrying bag so i can break it down and take it with me when I go away on weekends so he still has his familar sleeping quarters!!!:D

I have a Qs.....Chloe can jump!! If I get her a x-pen, I feel like she will just jump out the x-pen!! She stays in her crate when we are at work (I feel bad about it!!!) But I do like the idea of x-pen. But I just worry she somehow makes her way out???

When Britney was a puppy, I kept her in a playpen. It was really cute! The playpen's bottom was made with a water-resistant material, so I never had a problem with it getting dirty. I kept her bed on one side and the pad on the other.

She stayed it whenever I wasn't home until she was probably 9 months or so. After that she was able to jump out.

I have the xpen for Izzie set up in my kitchen....she is in it during the day while I'm at work and at night for sleeping....I have one area set up with her wizdog(potty pad) and then her food/ water toys and bed are on the other side. I do take the bed out during the day and she just has her blankie so that gives her more room to play with her toys. Then evening time from about 5:00-10:00 is free play time outside (with supervision) and downstairs....she is so used to this routine now that at night all I have to do is just point to her bed and say "Nitey Night" and she goes right in her xpen and into her bed for slumber time.:dogzzz:

First, congratultions to your friend on her new puppy! Which one of Willow's puppies is she getting? I saw them all in person and got my little Lily from her. Those puppies are so darn cute!

Anyway, I think the playpen is better so that it gives the puppy more room to move around. Another good idea is an expen or to gate a room for them. In the playpen or expen, they should have food and water, a blanket or 2, a potty pad and some toys and chewies. The puppy kong is good to keep them occupied for longer periods of time, and you can put their favorite treats inside. Another toy that keeps my little guy occupied is Hide-A-Squirrel. I think they also have a Hide-A-Squirrel Jr. that is smaller and better for the littler ones.

Edited to add: I just bought a Graco doll playpen for Jake, but he can jump in and out of it. So, I'm saving it for my new pup. I think it's perfect for a little one, but I wouldn't keep them in it all day. There's not enough room for food, water and a pee pad. But, they are great for keeping them confined for shorter periods of time if you need to.

Wemple2 sent me the following picture of a dog that was for sale that she thought might be zeke. I am posting this in case it is and someone can try and ID it

oops worng thread sorry

You can line the bottom of the playpen with a plastic tablecloth, then a blanket on top. That would keep the bottom from getting ruined. The best ones are probably the ones that are plastic or vinyl on one side with a felt backing.

When I had Lily, I learned something that worked really well for her. I kept her in a travel crate because I had to keep her warm. My vet had told me that Hydrocephalus pups usually don't care whether or not they lay in their own urine. I found that not to be the case with Lily. She would look for a corner of the crate that wasn't covered and go there if I didn't pay attention. So, I had a fleece lining in the bottom of the crate, and then I put baby receiving blankets in there and made sure the entire bottom of the crate was covered with the blankets, especially the corners. That way, she would cry to let me know she had to potty. She never once had an accident in her crate, which I found amazing since she was so young and she was sick. So, I'm thinking if the entire bottom of a playpen was covered with plastic and then a blanket on top of that, with a pee pad or two on one side, the puppy wouldn't go in the playpen, but only on the pee pads.

I use Both!
 

I use both a outdoor Pen and 2 out of my 3 are "Crated" for periods of time and I have also "Trained" all 3 to have free run of the House for extended periods of time. From what I understand a Crate is more Private for them and is supposed to give them a sense of Security, as well as promote rest and sleep while you are away or even when they just want to get away from me.
When they are in the Pen, I never leave them un-supervised since it is outside in an un-fenced yard......too dangerous!
I have used it indoors with Pads, before they were House Trained. I prefer to use both depending on the time of day and purpose or how long I will be gone? The Pen does not give them any Privacy and It's uncomfortable for me to bend over to take them in and out of it. As far as the Crate, they go in and out when they please.

Flannel back table cloths from the dollar store works well also