crating question

[tks527]

My pup is 9 weeks old. We have a crate plus a puppy playpen that we've made appropriate for her current size. My question is, while at work which should I put her in? I was going to do the crate however the breeder suggested she is too young to hold her bowel/bladder for that long so thought the playpen would be best for now with paper down. Do you agree and give reasons for either way please!!

[stardogs]

If you're going to be gone longer than about 2 hours at your pup's current age, a space where she can potty in one spot and sleep/eat/drink/play elsewhere is best - if she has to sleep where she potties she'll learn to eliminate where she is because she has no way to move away and that will make housetraining/crate training much more difficult.

The larger area could be a puppy playpen or a puppy proofed bathroom and should be at least twice the size of her crate, ideally a bit larger to provide plenty of room to move away from any eliminations. Use paper or puppy pads - several layers would be best since many pups will move the substrate around - start with the whole floor space covered and then once you know where s/he is going you can consider slowly removing pads/papers from the areas that are kept clean.

[Barb04]

As a note, if you use the bathroom, make sure the pup can't chew on the pipe (usually not metal) that goes from the tank into the ground. I've heard of a dog chewing the pipe which created a water leak.

I do agree on a large area instead of the crate.

[Maxy24]

For Tucker we used a play pen while we were gone and put a puppy pad in it. He used the pad the first day and then held it from then on out.

[tks527]

thanks so much for your fast replies!!