[corgimom]

Originally Posted by Karysmith78

Hello!

Ok I would like to know which would be the best option for my 2.5 month old puppy - a crate or a "play pen".

We've only had our puppy for about 2 weeks now. Right now, the schedule we unfortunately have is that my puppy currently is in his crate is 8 hours overnight, about an hour in the morning he's out of the crate, and then back in for about 8 more hours in the day, without anyone coming during the day to walk him, and of course, he's out in the evenings. I know this is not ideal, but its what has to be done at the moment.

At times, my puppy (Ein) has done both number 1 and number 2 in his crate. I don't know exactly which to attribute it to other than he is in his crate so long. I know that puppys don't tend to do such things in the crate because they don't want to have to live with their waste, but Ein has done it on several occurances now...and not just during the day but at night too.

So we're not sure if we should accept the inevitable that he's just going to go in the house or we should try to keep going with the crate.

My fear of having him in a play pen area, is if I will every truly be able to train him properly to "go" outside (with the notion that he will be trained to use the puppy pads indoors while we are gone/asleep). But I really want him to be able to get the exercise and the mental stimulation he needs.

We've also thought about having him the in crate at night and in the play pen in the day but not sure switching it up with solve any problems either.

Any ideas/tips/suggestions?? (as for getting him someone to let him out everyday, thats not doable at the moment).

Thanks!!!!

Do you leave food and water in the crate for him, during the night or day? and how big is his crate right now? And you mention that he has done it at night time also. AT what hour do you feed him supper and when do you take his water away before bedtime?

Are you too far from home to come and let him out during your lunch hour?
I am assuming you feed him in the morning and then take him out to go potty before you leave for work - does he poop at that time?

I think it is a long time to expect a 10 week old pup to hold from going potty for so long .

I would crate him at night and then get an X pen with puppy pads for the day. This way he can stretch his legs and move around. Or put him in a laundry room or bathroom behind a baby gate with safe fun toys for him to play with along with leaving the radio on for some background noise.