6-Month Old Goldendoodle Clearing My 24" Pen

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

So this week I found out that Teddy, my 6-month old Toy, can get out of his 24" (actually, it's 23") IRIS plastic pen.  When I would go out, he'd climb up and cry and then bark a few minutes (or less) but then he'd be OK with sleeping and resting in his little cage.  I have a Nest Cam on the playpen and it's a little 6' x 3' square or rectangle or other shape that gives him enough space (he's 11 pounds).

Now....he gets out of the cage (which he knows I don't want) and then he has free access to the living room (potential problem), kitchen (potential problem), and bathroom (I don't care, nothing bad can happen there).  Worse, he barks longer at the door to my apartment.  I guess he thinks if he could escape the playpen he should be able to get out of the apartment too or at least call me back.  

When he was in his little playpen, he kind of accepted the situation.  Outside it, at least right now since it's new to him, he has access to most of my apartment save the bedroom and he's not as quickly accepting the situation.  I can't tell exactly what he is doing because I haven't re-configured the Nest Cam to tell me what he is doing when he escapes the pen and for how long.  But yesterday I went to lunch with a friend and he was still barking in the apartment 15-20 minutes after I left.  In the 4 months of using the playpen I would say 99% of the time he was quiet within 5 minutes.

I just ordered the higher 34" IRIS playpen.  I'm hoping that the extra 10" gets me to about a year or so when he'll be older and either (1) not want to leave any pen, even if he can jump out of it or (2) I can leave him in a portion or the entire living room/kitchen area or a fenced-in portion because when I leave he won't bark forever with separation anxiety.

How do some of you handle this ?  I work from home now so being home with him pretty much 24/7 has been good but if I get a normal job (I'm looking) I will have to playpen him or give him access to most of the apartment or a section of it that is fenced-in/off.  To date, he's been in the playpen for a few hours at most when I do lunch/dinner, shop, or attend a sporting event (these are the longest, about 5-6 hours alone).  If I get a normal job, aside from being let out or walked as per any arrangements I make, he'd be alone 12+ hours in the playpen or apartment (I'm single).

[Amy and Annabelle]

Annabelle goes into her cage when we leave. We are retired so we never leave her alone more than 3 hours. All she does is sleep.It is a pretty big cage for her. She has her bed and water.I leave it in the kitchen when we leave, so if someone comes to the door, it won't bother her. While she leaves everything alone when we are home, I just don't trust her when we are away. I don't want to take any chances. Her cage is one of her safe places, so she is happy there. If we worked, we would have a dog walker come in mid day to take her out and play with her and give fresh water.

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Has Annabelle ever jumped out of a barrier or playpen ?

I'm wondering how the 34" playpen will hold up now.  Anybody else out there have any jumping height limits for Goldendoodles of various ages (preferably for a Toy but any breed info. OK) ?

[Amy and Annabelle]

I had a 24" fabric playpen when we first got her. It took less than 2 weeks for her get out of it. But it was fabric and easy to do. Annabelle doesn't like to jump over things. I can put a foot tall landscaping fence around my flowers and she shows no sign of wanting to jump over it. Even a small determined dog probably could jump a 34" gate. It is just hard to tell with a non-jumper.

[Stacy]

The simple solution to this would be to get a roof for Teddy's playpen. I just looked and they sell them on Amazon for 11.99 - although it looks like it only fits in a 4 panel configuration, and it sounds like you have him in a 6 panel pen maybe? I think Teddy would still have plenty of room in a 46x46" pen, especially if he's only 11 pounds. He's just a little guy. 

I work 12 hour shifts and I'm single and live alone, and at my previous house I was far enough away from everything that there were just no options for anyone to let the dogs out during the day (or night, sometimes I worked night shift.) So I understand your situation. I'm sure there are a lot of people who would say that under those circumstances I just shouldn't have dogs. But the dogs are my life. I don't know what I would do without them. And we have always made it work, and if they could speak english I don't think any of them would tell you that they were mistreated because I have to work! 

When Katie was a baby, before she was potty trained, I left her in a 4'x4' exercize pen with a cloth top. I got her one of those fake grass potty patches. She had a bowl that secured to the side of the pen so she couldn't tip it over. She had a bed and some very safe toys. Nothing stuffed (I'm paranoid about them eating cloth and getting a bowel obstruction) no ropes (same reason) nothing I thought she could potentially swallow. I always liked kongs and nylabones when she was alone. I feel like those are pretty safe. She did kill several beds and I finally got her one of those hammock style raised beds - which she hated. I think she was happy laying on the floor. She did really well with this setup. 

Our only problem, when she was really little, was that when I got home she thought it was time to play and I was exhausted. So I found a place where she could go to daycare for 12 hours. I dropped her off on the way to work and was able to pick her up on my way home at 11pm. It was a place that did daycare and boarding and was staffed 24 hours a day. It was pretty exceptional. Now that she's through the crazy puppy phase we don't do daycare anymore. 

I admit that I have a lot of anxiety about the safety and well being of the dogs. Probably more than most people. They are both pretty good dogs, but they can find things to get into when they aren't supervised. I don't worry so much about my stuff. I worry about them deciding that a power cord looks like a tasty treat. Or chewing through a cabinet and eating something toxic. or... my brain can come up with a million ways that I could never dog proof the house enough to keep them 100% safe. I worry about a potential dog walker losing them. Or someone coming to let them out in the back yard letting them escape through the front door. I won't even let my parents keep them because they don't watch them the way I do. 

So my dogs stay in their kennels when I'm gone. They are big comfortable kennels. But no one lets them out or checks on them for me. And they do fine. I usually have to wake them up when I get home. And they like their houses. They both run to get in when I put my shoes on. I think they feel safe in there. And I don't kennel them together either. They get along well, but if they got into an arguement when they were locked in a crate together with no one home it could be bad. I think they each need their own space. 

Certainly I don't think the way I do things is the only way, or even the best way. But it works really well for us. I've never lived in an apartment, so I can't speak to the barking thing. But if you think my experience could help you at all I would be glad to give you any tips I can think of! 

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Thanks Stacy...thought about the cover but don't want to confine him like that.  He may also get scared/not like it. Plus, I would have trouble peering in with my Nest Cam.

[Carolyn Shusterman]

Hershey is a mini (14 inches at the shoulder) ALD and she goes over a 42" gate when she wants to.  I suggest you get at least a 42 " gate to confine her to a room.  Looks like you have an athletic dog too. 

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Teddy is a bit "scared" of the ruler so I had to guestimate since he ran away from it...LOL....but I would say he is 14" at the shoulder/back and 17" at the top of his head while on all fours.  11 pounds.

My 34" pen arrived today and I set it up.  Testing it tomorrow when I go to our clubhouse to watch some football. I'm sure it will contain him and I think even a year from now he'd be afraid to get up to the clearing height.  The extra 10" makes it alot higher.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

We had a Springer Spaniel that refused to be 'caged in' and escaped pretty much anything.  He mostly outgrew doing this, but when he was about 8 and had surgery and needed confining, we used an ex-pen.  He stayed in if we were there, but once we had to go out and put Ned in the pen with him.  We came home to him at the door and Ned in the ex-pen. Sigh!  Your higher pen will probably work though.

[Frank & TeddyToyDoodle]

Thanks for all the information.

For now, I have the 34" gate and I'm hoping the extra 10" gives me a few more months.  If I still want to contain him down the line, I guess I can always tie the 2 pens together.  No way he's jumping out of something almost 5 feet high !

[Ginny Nightingale]

Might be climbing, not jumping.

[Ginny Nightingale]

If your pup is a climber, no height will work and the pup could get hurt falling down the other side--I know of a dog that climbed a 48" high pen at the age of 8 weeks--she is athletic (now 4 years old) and it was not problem for her at all to climb up and go over--needless to say, this dog needed a crate. I do not know anyone (I raise and sell pups for a breeder so I know a lot of folks with puppies) that trusts their dog of this age in a pen--too much freedom in a way--the crate will reduce the activity enough that the dog will just snooze until you get home--and you can use the crate when you are working at home for brief periods to get him used to it. At one year, he might be trustworthy enough to roam the house--or at least a portion of it, but my bet is that a higher pen will not work unless it can not be climbed. I think it is more important to have the pup safely confined than to be able to watch the pup sleep with the nestcam.

[Stacy]

I think the thought of climbing was also my concern. Then you have the potential for a leg to get stuck and injuries... I mentioned I was a little paranoid! But my little dog, not a doodle, broke 3 legs in 12 years despite my best intentions. Once jumping off a couch, once falling off a bed, and once getting stepped on by a bigger dog. Never once did she get injured in a crate. And the thing about watching them when you're not there - they're fun to watch. I used to watch Katie at daycare. But if they're home alone and you're watching them on camera there's nothing you can do to get to them even if something bad is going on. I think it would just make my nerves worse.