Playpen or 2nd crate for living room?

[Chelsea Herman]

Our puppy will be home in a few weeks, so I am busy shopping and getting ready for her. :-)  I'm torn about what to do for containment in the living room though- for when we are eating or can't be watching her.  We already have a 42" crate (with a divider) that will be set up in our bedroom on the other side of the house, but I would like to have something that can be out where we spend the majority of our time.  Should I get a smaller crate (thinking about maybe a soft-sided one like the show dog people us; we could then use it for travel too), or get an x-pen/playpen? Again, these would only be used when we are actually home with her.  I can see benefits to both, so I'd just love any input on what you all have used/liked.

[Kristin and Sophie]

We had a crate and had a playpen. The playpen was great because I didn't feel like she was so confined and she could walk around and play with toys and be able to stretch her legs.  Again, we only put her in that when we were in the house.  I was so happy that we bought it as we used it every day!!!!  

[Tina McNerthney]

Baxter has two crates. One in our bedroom, where he sleeps at night and one in the living room for use during the day and when we leave the house. We set it up this way from the start and it seems to work fine. Since my husband works from home, we don't use the crate all that often. We feed him in the crate and I hide treats in there just so he thinks of it as a good place, but he never goes in there to hang out and prefers to be right by our side when we are home. I've heard other dogs enjoy spending time in their crate with the door open even when their humans at home.

Regarding the issue of the size of the crate, when we got Baxter at 8 weeks old, our breeder warned us that he would quickly outgrow a smaller crate (24 x 18 x 21) that we purchased. She was right. at around 12 weeks, he could no longer fit in the crate, so I sold it on Craigslist and got a much bigger crate with a divider. If I had to do it again, I'd listen to the breeder and just get two big crates with dividers.

Some people feel that dogs enjoy the more denlike feeling of one of the airline style plastic crates with the holes. Others say the wire crates (which we've used) are the best because the puppy can see through them and you can put a cover (or a big towel or blanket) over the crate to create that den-like feeling. I think a soft crate or hard wire or plastic crate would work, although keep in mind your dog will soon weigh too much for you to be able to carry him around in a soft crate (or "hard" crate for that matter). If your main purpose is to keep the crate in your car or inside the house as a more permanent fixture, a soft crate might be more comfortable for your pup but the trays that come with the hard crates are useful if your puppy has an accident in the crate while potty training. Soft crates, as far as I can tell, don't come with dividers, so that's also a consideration.

We got a playpen for Baxter off Craiglist but I found that it was too confining/small for him, so if you do get a playpen, make sure it is big enough for puppy to have room to move around a bit and play. Some people like to keep their dog in the playpen while they are at home so they can leave the dog for a few minutes without having to worry he'll get into something. Baxter always wants to be by our side, so we decided not to get additional panels for his playpen to make it larger.

[Debbie & Gibbs]

We had a crate for Gibbs and also used an X-pen when we were home. We set it up in the kitchen and he did pretty good in it most of the time. He had lots of toys and chew bones and didn't mind being in the pen as long as we were within sight. If we left the room, he taught himself to climb out. Little Houdini.

[Judi Kilpatrick]

We used a playpen, it gave the pups a bit more freedom than a crate and they could see what was going on. I also used the playpen for time outs when necessary, really didn't want to use their crates for any form of punishment. The playpen was a really good investment, just couldn't watch them all the time when fixing diner, eating, etc. Good luck with the new pup, can't wait to see pictures,