Puppy Pen?

[Legz]

Hi all, some may remember i lost my little dog about 3 weeks ago quite suddenly leaving us with one 15yr male maltese X who has been very lonely since his sister died. Anyway due to him being a generally healthy happy active little dog who has been very lonely we decided it wasnt fair to have him as an only dog after his whole life was spent with other dogs, so we bought a puppy :D

She is a Westie from a registered breeder (thankyou dogzonline) and we should be getting her in a couple of weeks.

Now my boy has the run of the house with a doggy door into the very big back garden, and we obviously don't want the puppy to have free access to the house and garden when we arent home. We don't want to lock her in a room as my dog will fret not being able to see her and its not fair on her to have him on one side of the door and her on the other.So we were thinking about a puppy pen we could leave in the back room (very cool) that she can then see him and he can lie next to her on the other side of the mesh. That way she can have all her toys and water/food and bed in there and its nice and safe when we are not home.

Where do we get a pen from? How big should it be?

My brother has quite a large crate he used for his Am staffy that he has offered but we think that it will be too small for an active puppy to stay in for 8hrs. She will only have 2 days where someone isn't home, i do shift work and on the days im at work my station is only around the corner from home so i can pop in during the day to feed and take out for the toilet. I'm not sure of the dimensions of the crate save to say its pretty big but maybe too ideal to keep her in. We don't want to stress her out and want her happy.

Any ideas?

Also as a shift worker i do 2 nights a week so have to sleep during the day, and my old boy is always on his bed sleeping in my room with me. What do we do with puppy, do i bring her into the room (haha i cant see her sleeping all day with me) or does she stay in the puppy pen whilst im sleeping? We plan on crating her to start with at bed time as we don't want her roaming the house at night and getting out the doggy door (blocking it up isn't an option because of the old boy needing out at night). I really cant see her sleeping in her crate with me though during the day, haha goodbye sleep

Any suggestions or advice would be sooo appreciated, we want to do the right thing by our old boy and new puppy and want them both happy and content

[tdierikx]

Any Pet Barn type store will have puppy playpens that will serve your purpose just fine - I bought one for under $100 and it managed to contain a couple of 6 week old Great Dane cross puppies perfectly...

T.

[ellz]

Wire composting pen from Bunnings. $26 each and you can buy more than one and either make the pen bigger or use the second pen as a lid. Cable ties and trojan clips work nicely!

[Legz]

Thanks guys

I will head out to bunnings tomorrow and have a look at them but that sounds like it could be a goer.

Cheers

[ellz]

I can highly recommend them. I've been using one for my Stafford litter. We had to go away for an overnighter on Monday and I folded mine up and threw it in the back of the wagon. It came in handy to keep the terrorists confined at my parents' home when we weren't around to supervise them. I'll also be taking it to a show in a couple of weeks so that the terrorists can get some socialisation whilst I show the American Cocker puppy.

They're light, compact, fold flat and are cheap. Can't justify spending a lot of money for a custom designed jobby now that I've had the Bunnings pens!

[bryan_mannix]

Thanks guys

I will head out to bunnings tomorrow and have a look at them but that sounds like it could be a goer.

Cheers

In this photo you can sort of see the bunning's compost fencing zip tied to a crate which worked very well for us through the puppy stage.

[JulesP]

Here is a pic of my Bunnings pen attached to my crate. I love it! No getting up every 2 seconds to see what the hell pup is getting up to. I don't even lock pup in the crate bit, she has the whole crate and pen.

[ellz]

Took this pic en route to the "parental units" home on Monday. We stopped for a human wee walk so I got the puppies out for a break as well. The pen made it so easy and very safe considering this park is on the side of a very busy road! Shows how portable they are anyway!

[Legz]

Wow they look great, that's exactly what i had in mind, ill go tomorrow and buy two to them to join together.

Thankyou so much for the photos, haha much better than trying to picture them in my head.

[SpikesPuppy]

My little monkeys in their pen constructed out of Bunnings panels

In a week or so I will also be making a pen for them outside, using more panels & star pickets- attaching it to a dog run.

If the dog decides it wants to climb out, you can try clipping an old sheet or something as a roof

[ellz]

My little monkeys in their pen constructed out of Bunnings panels

In a week or so I will also be making a pen for them outside, using more panels & star pickets- attaching it to a dog run.

If the dog decides it wants to climb out, you can try clipping an old sheet or something as a roof

I anchor mine outside with tent pegs.

And for a "lid", I use more panels attached with double ended trojan clips.

[SpikesPuppy]

My little monkeys in their pen constructed out of Bunnings panels :D

In a week or so I will also be making a pen for them outside, using more panels & star pickets- attaching it to a dog run.

If the dog decides it wants to climb out, you can try clipping an old sheet or something as a roof

I anchor mine outside with tent pegs.

And for a "lid", I use more panels attached with double ended trojan clips.

I thought about tent pegs but would like to keep the extension to the run set up permanently, not that the older dogs can't climb or jump out of that height if they wanted to but they are used to being penned that it shouldn't be a problem.

Haven't tried the panel lid (we have a secura-pen for shows etc), but a friend with Borders uses the sheet at club fun days etc.

I think I'm addicted to these stupid panels I have 4 or 5 sets (1 set has been added to the sidegate to close the gap under the fence) and feel compelled to buy another any time I see them. I wonder if anyone ever uses them for composting?