Top 5 Reasons Why Puppy Pens and Crates are a Essential in a Multi-pet Household
When I brought our 10 week old Standard Poodle home in November of 2021, I had never owned 2 dogs at the same time. Sure, we had dog-sat for friends plenty of times, and I had done some day-training of another friend’s puppy…but we had only ever really had 1 dog at a time.
When our GSP was a pup, we were living in a different home, and the kitchen was easy to gate off. In addition to a crate, that’s where Shadow spent much of her early weeks. To be honest, I don’t remember much of those first few weeks — but that could be because I also had a 7 year old and a 2 year old. #sleepdeprevation
But thankfully with this new addition to our family, I was fresh off completing my Pro Dog Trainer certification and had a few absoluteDog tricks up my sleeve and had acquired 2 puppy pens and an old crate. I set one pen up next to my bed, which is close to a door, for night-time toileting. The other, I set up in the living room attached to a crate. (Note, in the pictures, you’ll see a few different options, we tried just the pen in the living room, but settled on going back to the crate/pen combo in the last photo).
Reason #1
Pens and crates/kennels offer a place for puppies to sleep. And puppies need their sleep (on average, they need between 16-18 hours of sleep a day when they’re young!). Attaching an ex-pen to the crate also makes for a nice way to “suggest” that sleeping happens in their crate without closing the door those first few weeks. If given the option between a hard floor or a softer, warmer bed inside the crate, many times, puppies will choose to nap where the blankets are. You can also up the value of the crate by scatter feeding or giving long-lasting chews inside their crate. We typically cover a crate at least partially to keep some light and sound out. If a puppy is prone to chewing beds, I suggest folded towels or blankets. Bonus being they are easy to wash.
Reason #2
They keep puppies safe from resident animals and children as well as anything you haven’t puppy-proofed. We call this “Gated Communities”. Puppies aren’t known for scoring high in terms of impulse control. Using management tools like pens, crates and gates helps limit their choice options. They may WANT to chase the cat, or the kids, or the older dog BECAUSE IT IS FUN!! but if they can’t because of the gate in-between them and said novelty machine, well, you just helped them make a better choice. Gates and pens also help keep puppies from getting into wires, chemicals or anything you don’t want them chewing on when you turn your back or have to go to the bathroom. It also limits where toileting accidents could happen those first few weeks of potty-training.
Reason #3
You can rotate who is behind the gate when you’d like to give your pup a little more freedom and practice being in the larger spaces of the home without having to worry about older dogs. In the case of the photo, my puppy was doing a good job being calm outside his pen, chewing on a bone, and our older dog, who likely would have taken that bone away from him just because she does that, got to spend a few minutes in the pen with her own bone. Until a puppy truly understands boundaries, a pen will help keep any rehearsal of resource guarding at bay.
Reason #4
Presence doesn’t mean access. This is a concept any new puppy owner (and in some cases of older dogs with separation related behaviors) will want to work on. We practice this using gates/pens or crates. Many puppies when they come home at 8 or 10 weeks don’t want to be visually or physically separated from their people. While super sweet at first, this can cause problems down the line if the dog doesn’t learn independence has value, too. Utilizing the safe spaces for puppy to be when visitors come over allows the puppy to not rehearse jumping on guests or getting overly excited when people come over, or even sometimes, just INTO the room. Remember, what our dogs practice today, they do well tomorrow.
Reason #5
All puppy owners need a break from their puppies sometimes, too. Seriously. Having a space where your puppy can be integrated into your home while also practicing calm behaviors is key. But all puppy owners also need down-time.
What are some of the ways you’ve used gates, crates or pens in your home? Leave us a comment below!
Read more from Devon Dogs about their top tips for Gated Communities here.