Pop up vs. metal exercise pens...

[Joann Valerio]

Anyone use the pop up soft sided exercise pens and what was your experience? I'm thinking of
getting a metal exercise pen and also putting in a crate. Also in the corner a pee pad holder with pee pad in the corner.

[Carrie]

Hi! We use something like that whenever we have a puppy. We have a play yard (I think North States is the brand - we bought on Amazon) and zip tie it to the crate that we use in that space for the first couple months. A great help for the moments you can't watch puppy fully but don't want to put him/her in a crate.

[Carrie]

I just sent you a pic of our set up via a Facebook message.

[Joann Valerio]

Didn't get it. Can you post it here or friend me on Doodle Kisses and send it there? Thanks!

[Carrie]

Hi again! I just posted a pic on the photos page.

[Amy and Annabelle]

I had a soft sided one for Annabelle. We got her at 10 weeks and by 12 weeks she learned how to escape. And she was just a tiny thing, maybe 6lbs at most, when she climbed her way out. If I had to do it again I would get a metal one. If you lived closer I would give you my soft sided pen and all the extra pee pads and tray. I didn't use those very long either...it was less than 2 weeks. Although I do have family in Ottawa.

[Andrea, Belle and Honey]

My 15 pound mini labradoodle Belle used a soft-sided pop-up pen from Amazon for about 7 months.  It had a zip on-floor and roof, so she wasn't able to escape from it.  It also folded into a carrying case, which was great when we went visiting so Belle could have some quiet time when things got too exciting for her.  Unfortunately, my sister's Viszla eventually ate a big hole in the roof, and without the roof Belle quickly learned to collapse the walls.  Now we use a metal folding pen that I set on a piece of washable linoleum. This works fine at home when I need her to be restricted with more room than the crate, but it is too heavy and cumbersome to take on visits. So I found pros and cons to both kinds of pens.

[Missy]

we had a soft sided exercise pen initially..our pup was a jumper, so within 2 weeks he was able to jump out.  he loved to jump back in if you were chasing him...but it was useless to 'contain' him. 

we ended up getting a taller 31" wooden fence you could arrange from circle to retangle. that lasted until we were over a year old.  Now he can also jump that! 

But we found the wooden adjustable to be most useful that first year as we have open living space.  And this helped contain him during play time. (he had to earn trust to be able to go freely around the house) 

[Rosie's Family]

We got a rather tall metal playpen for Rosie. Rosie at this point seems more comfortable in her crate and does better there (though still struggling with any alone time). We are taking sometime off of work to try and help her adjust, but we are thinking about connecting the crate to the playpen to give her some more room to play when we are back at work. 

My wife doesn't like how unstable the pen feels so I am looking for ways to make it more rigid.