Author Topic: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q  (Read 1799 times)

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Offline sophie.ivy

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A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« on: October 07, 2021, 04:29:35 PM »
Hi guys,

I'm the proud new owner of a gorgeous, bouncy 10-week-old working cocker spaniel bitch. I've helped raise a few Sheltie puppies, and have been dog sitting for x6 WCS for the last 10 years and thought I was prepared for a WCS puppy... :005: Silly me!!

I'm looking for a bit of advice / reassurance (!) about the way we've been penning her as I've never done it like this before, and how else we can work on stopping her from picking up all the things she's not meant to in the garden!

In many ways, she's a dream - she is sleeping really well at night in her crate, and has never had an accident during the day (only a couple of wee's during the night) so toilet training is going better than expected. In others, her behaviour has been a bit 'challenging' (polite way to put it!) she picks up everything she's not meant to - stones and snails are her favourite things in the world to pick up and hold in her mouth! She's also eaten a slug, which prompted a panicky call to the vets (her worming medicine covered lungworm - phew!) and she's brilliant at responding to her name UNTIL she has something she's not meant to or I want her to stop digging.

We have a cat so she's in an indoor playpen (8 panels) for most of the day as they get used to each other (we work from home so she gets lots of attention and play time), but she did have freedom of the garden until the stone issue...we're now putting up a big playpen in the garden (24 panels) to stop her getting to the stones. We tried 'leave it', swapping it for a higher value item, and distracting her but no joy. We started ignoring her so then she started chewing them! We really don't want her swallowing any as have heard lots of horror stories about surgeries, damaged teeth and big vets bills.

I feel really bad about having to take away some of her freedom in the garden as she is penned indoors...do you think it's ok for her to move from pen to pen at this age? What sort of age should we start letting her explore the house a bit more? We let her out downstairs when guests are over and for a few play sessions during the day, but I would like her to have the freedom of the downstairs soon.

Has anyone else used playpens for their puppy and up until what age?

Advice on the dreaded stone issue also very welcome!!

Thank you :)

Offline cazza

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Re: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« Reply #1 on: October 08, 2021, 04:34:54 AM »
Firstly, hello and welcome

Puppies are like babies and explore using their mouth, hence the stones etc so you are not going to stop it completely at this age even by putting her in a pen in the garden

Mine was the same and we just swapped the stone for a biscuit, mine is 8 months now and still the odd stone  gets picked up, but this is more about ‘hey mum you’re ignoring me, and I want my ball’  :shades:  She only gets her ball at the end of the day but would have it all day if she could - as we made it a high value toy (at 8 months she gets her ball for 20 minutes when I finish work and we play retrieve games and hide and seek with it, it’s not thrown for her to chase after as she is still too young growing wise)

I never used a pen in the house just a stair gate on the stairs and she had the run of the kitchen and hall when not in her crate - I had puppy proofed the area by removing anything she wasn’t to have including the laptop cable having to be moved - the laptop is still up on the side and no longer lives on the kitchen table

At 6 months she got to go upstairs and now has the run of the house

Wishing you all the best with your wee bundle of joy  :luv:


Offline sophie.ivy

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Re: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« Reply #2 on: October 09, 2021, 07:38:30 AM »
Hi Cazza and thank you for your reply and welcome!! :D

That’s a nice idea about the high value item - we were trying to swap the stone for her nylabone, which she likes but it’s in her pen all the time so probably not very special or high value to her! We set up the garden pen  last night and it was big enough for zoomies so we’re calling it the ‘thunderdrome’ now  ph34r. Going to spend some time teaching  ‘leave it’ and getting her to a good level with it so hopefully, we can take the garden pen back down.

I’m sure I’m just being overly cautious about the stones, but my friend sadly lost her border terrier after it swallowed a sharp stone and it’s haunted me a bit! Even though I know that was a really unlucky case!

It does feel like having a baby sometimes - you’ve got to have eyes in the back of your head!

Off to the vets now for her 2nd jab…can’t wait to start taking her for walks!!

Offline Katrina

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Re: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« Reply #3 on: October 09, 2021, 07:43:19 AM »
Hiya!

I'm new here too with my 17 week old wcs puppy Oscar. We've had a baptism of fire too!!!  :lol:  a lot like you... toileting and sleep at night is going well, mouthing everything is a challenge!

We have a crate in the kitchen and a pen in the living room. He tends to be with us and we give lots of attention in the pen... but the crate is for sleeping and we try to use it when (or ideally just before!) He gets overtired and a bit wild!! We have kids in the house so I worry about him eating a piece of lego... or anything else that has been dropped so we can't give him as much freedom in the house as he would like. He gets walks and outdoor play too so I try not to overthink the pen thing... it's not forever and better than a vet visit!  We train good behaviour in the house, out of the pen but on a long lead. This is when I've done a final sweep for lego, pens, homework sheets etc.

The garden however, we do let him have free run of. He mouths stones, he picks up snails, he has picked up (but not eaten) a slug.  He has also popped three footballs which had to sneak into the bin  :embarassed:  I swap the stones for a piece if ice sometimes, he still gets that hard bite but without me panicking - I try to otherwise ignore the stones and after watching him carefully he usually drops them after exploring them for a short time. I keep a garden trowel close by at night and do slug patrol whilst he has a wee  :lol2: and chuck the slugs over the fence. I also cut back the big plants so I can see the base of them and raked out all the old leaves etc where snails could be hiding... he likes those too!!!  And the kids footballs are away for now!!!  Basically, I've puppy-proofed as much as I can so that he can enjoy it.

Someone here suggested not running after him if he has contraband (it might well have been cazza!) so I ignore him or if I really need the thing because it is dangerous... I pretend I'm making his tea.  That gets his attention and he comes running.

I dont know if that helps. But you're not alone!!! And if we ever manage to move beyond the pen... I'll let you know  :lol:

Offline cazza

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Re: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« Reply #4 on: October 10, 2021, 07:23:09 AM »
Hi Katrina, yes it was me that said not to chase him  :D as they then think it’s a game

Another thing rather than ice to let him chew and eat is frozen carrots  ;)

Ash didn’t like her nylabone at all, I have put it away and may get that out to try her again

We have also tried a yak - google them on Amazon, natural yak milk and cheese, when then get down to a small size from being chewed remove and pop in microwave for 40 seconds and they puff up. Once cooled then the dog can have it back and eat it all (it’s like a puffed pork scratching  :shades: )

Offline sophie.ivy

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Re: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« Reply #5 on: October 10, 2021, 08:07:25 AM »
Thank you Katrina!! That’s great to know you’re doing the same thing with the indoor pen and Oscar is doing well  :D they seem to settle really nicely in the pen, so I think it’s just me overthinking it!

It sounds like you’re doing all the right things with puppy proofing the garden - Ivy loves to hide under the bushes when she has something she’s not meant to so cutting them back so you can see the base is a great idea!! We used nematodes for the slug issue as it’s a natural and pet friendly way to get rid of them, haven’t seen one since we spread it! Doesn’t work on snails though is the only thing!

Definitely going to use the frozen carrots Cazza, she loves crunching on carrots and didn’t think to freeze them for a hard chew! She does have a yak cheese chew and loves it, but it sends her a bit hyper, but then again everything does so…! I didn’t know about puffing it up in the microwave, that’s like a double treat  :D


Offline Katrina

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Re: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« Reply #6 on: October 11, 2021, 06:56:19 PM »
Yak sounds interesting Cazza...

How long does a yak stick last?? Oscar has been demolishing braided lamb in minutes... I've given him a goats ear to chew tonight but honestly - body parts as chews makes me feel a bit queasy! Lol .. I'm such a wimp!!!


Offline cazza

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Re: A playpen for every occasion! New puppy owner Q
« Reply #7 on: October 16, 2021, 06:48:08 AM »
Yak sounds interesting Cazza...

How long does a yak stick last?? Oscar has been demolishing braided lamb in minutes... I've given him a goats ear to chew tonight but honestly - body parts as chews makes me feel a bit queasy! Lol .. I'm such a wimp!!!

Depends on the dog, I have the medium size - I had to hold it the first time for her to chew on - think it took her nearly a day to chew until I removed it and microwaved it

But the one she has at the moment has lasted a couple of weeks- she carries it around with her more than chew it at the moment   :005: