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Permalink Reply by Sam Tsang on March 29, 2008 at 10:16am

It may be a better idea to keep him in a crate when you're not home. the exercise pen is good, but since he's not potty trained yet, he may have a little too much space and choose not to hold. It is better to use the pen when you're at home, but not able to supervise him.

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Permalink Reply by Bridget on March 29, 2008 at 10:27am

Ok, here is Dr. Dunbar's recommendation. You have short term crating and longer term confinment.

Use the crate for short times for when you are there but not able to keep an eye 100% on the pup.

But for longer periods when I have to be at work and they are not house trained yet, he recommends a large enclosed area. Most people use a laundry room with a baby gate. I can't. So, I can get an exercise pen and place his crate in it along with his water bowl, puppy chew toys, and a puppy potty made of a lawn sod square. Some people use puppy pads for the potty, but Dr. Dunbar recommends using the sod since that is what I ultimately want to keep the puppy focusing on using.

At first this idea sounded strange to me, but if I have to be gone for a longer period, I do not want my pup soiling in his crate. I also worried that 6 hours was too long to leave him enclosed and this way he/she can move about a bit. He'll only be in the large pen when I am not available for a long period of time.

Has anyone tried Dr. Dunbar's methods? What was your experience?

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Permalink Reply by Kristen on March 29, 2008 at 10:23pm

I am not familar with Dunbar's methods, but it does sound similar to what I do. I've always considered it "modified crate training" I use puppy pads. I have a small folding metal kennal fence--24 inches high, that I bought at Petsmart and put the crate inside. Food water and potty pads are all "outside" the crate and inside the fenced area. The area is not large. About three times the foot print of the crate. We do find an occassional piddle on the pad, but they are very infrequent now. We never find a poop. At night I would bring the crate and place it by my bed, so at night that was all the puppy had. During the day, the crate just seems too confined, especially with other dogs in the house. We will eventually phase the kennel fence out--the crate we will continue to use.Brodie is my first dog that actually enjoys using his crate. With the other dogs we phased out the crate. They all find a favorite spot in the house. We have various dog beds tucked into the favorite spots. Brodie is just three months and is fairly trustworthy in the house--he lets me know when it is time to go out. I always expect a slide back at 5-6 months, but with Fergi we didn't go through that.

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