# Transition



## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

I am thinking about transitioning 9 month old Sophie from her ex pen to the kitchen, cordoned off, of course. The only time she uses her expen (with her crate inside) is when we are gone. She does occasionally use her crate for napping, but more often than not, uses the floor or loveseat.

I was wondering the best way of going about this transition, and even if this is a wise thing to do at this age.

I thought I would leave her crate where it is and use the ex pen as a barrier between kitchen and family room. I would use gates to keep her out of dining/living rooms and access to upstairs. She is use to the gates and having limited access to those areas.I would probably do this for several weeks. 

I do understand there are relapses in behavior during adolescence, but then waiting too long to make changes can also be troublesome for older dogs.

I would appreciate any wisdom and advice.


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## jmombo (Jul 7, 2013)

I have expanded space for my 3 havs recently. They are ages 5, 4 and 3 months. When I first brought them each home, they were in the ex-pens 2x4 size with just enough room for bed and litter. After they were accident free for weeks that way, I expanded the ex-pen a little more and continued to expand it until it was fully open.... so long as they remained accident free. With increased space to play, it allowed for increased space for accidents. Mine continued to do well so I didn't need to decrease the size of the ex-pen and try again. If the space proves to much, no big deal, just decrease the size for a while and try again at another time. 
After my havs did well with the extended size of the ex-pens, I then opened up the family room with access to their litter boxes. My girls use the boxes, my male usually does not. So, if there is no litter used, make sure to do alot of potty breaks at first because this extra space seems to bring on extra excitement, leading to more peeing! LOL! Don't expect perfection, but mine are doing very well now, with the whole first floor open to them. This was the method I used and it has worked. If someone were to have an accident, I'd just say "no" and take them outside or to the litter box. Hope this helps some.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Thank you jmombo. Sophie hasn't had an accident since she was 4 1/2 months. When we are home, she generally has access to upstairs and down. She is great to run downstairs and ring her bells if she needs to go out. We keep her in her expen with crate when we are not at home. I am concerned about creating anxiety with the larger kitchen area at her disposal. She is not a clingy girl and may trot upstairs for some private time with her antler. It is not very long before she comes back down. It is doubtful that I would ever give her free rein of the whole house ever...


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## puppy-love (Nov 9, 2012)

swaye said:


> I am thinking about transitioning 9 month old Sophie from her ex pen to the kitchen, cordoned off, of course. The only time she uses her expen (with her crate inside) is when we are gone. She does occasionally use her crate for napping, but more often than not, uses the floor or loveseat.
> 
> I was wondering the best way of going about this transition, and even if this is a wise thing to do at this age.
> 
> ...


That makes sense to me. It's very similar to the expanded areas I opened up for Julie at 9 and 10 months. It has meant increased monitoring for me to keep potty habits reinforced but has been successful overall.

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## RoutineAvocado (Feb 6, 2013)

Is it because you eventually want to get rid of the ex-pen? If so, your plan sounds worth trying. If you have cleaning supplies or anything you don't want her to access in the lower kitchen cabinets, I'd install baby locks.


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## DebW (Jun 11, 2013)

I tried to transition Sheldon from ex-pen to kitchen. Although he had been accident-free for some time, he immediately peed on the kitchen floor when he was confined there.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

DebW said:


> I tried to transition Sheldon from ex-pen to kitchen. Although he had been accident-free for some time, he immediately peed on the kitchen floor when he was confined there.


Hmmmm, maybe I am rushing it. Actually, I was thinking of just for maybe 15-20 minutes at first, such as when I need to water outdoor flowers.


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## DebW (Jun 11, 2013)

I'm considering the opposite strategy for Sheldon. He has a large ex-pen with potty, bed, etc in the LR. To take back the LR, I'm thinking of reducing it to the minimum size and eliminating the potty. He is never in there for more than 4 hours at a time. I'm thinking of trying that out this weekend.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Let me know how that works for Sheldon.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

RoutineAvocado said:


> Is it because you eventually want to get rid of the ex-pen? If so, your plan sounds worth trying. If you have cleaning supplies or anything you don't want her to access in the lower kitchen cabinets, I'd install baby locks.


Yes, and the locks on the cabinets sounds like a wise decision. I did not even think of that. The are clever and determined.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

swaye said:


> Yes, and the locks on the cabinets sounds like a wise decision. I did not even think of that. They are clever and determined.


And the more I mull this over, the more hink I should wait, especially since she doesn't seem bothered with the present situation. I am curious as to when others dispensed with the ex pen.


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## krandall (Jun 11, 2009)

swaye said:


> And the more I mull this over, the more hink I should wait, especially since she doesn't seem bothered with the present situation. I am curious as to when others dispensed with the ex pen.


Kodi was almost 3 when we finally did away with it. I think we might have kept it indefinitely, just for the reason you mentioned... he seemed happy with it, and I then knew he was completely safe.

But at that point, we did a HUGE addition/renovation on our house, and the x-pen had either move or be taken down because the wall it was against was part of the construction. In the interim, we started just putting him in his crate when we were out of the house. He adapted to that very easily. (He has always slept in his crate anyway) The pen just never got put back up. If we're out for up to about 3 hours, we just pop him in his crate. If we need to be out for an extended period of time, I now have my own office, and we gate him in there with his crate, water bottle and litter box.

I just feel MUCH safer knowing he's in a confined space where there's nothing he can get in trouble with. Not that he goes looking for trouble any more, but you just never know what idea is going to get into their heads. To my mind, leaving a dog totally loose and unsupervised is like leaving a pre-schooler in the same situation. They MIGHT be fine, but then again... what if? I know lots of people leave their dogs loose all the time and don't worry about it at all, but it's not for me.


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## puppy-love (Nov 9, 2012)

At 10 months we retired Julie's expen. It was in conjunction with our house move. In the new house, I can limit her to the kitchen and family room. There's a gate so she can't go upstairs and doors so I can close off the master bedroom, den, powder room etc. cabinets are secured and I feel comfortable that she's safe in that space if I go out. She's doing well with the ugodog here.

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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Again these personal experiences are so helpful. I mentioned earlier that it is unlikely that I will ever give her free roam of the house when we are gone. Our previous two dogs were gated in the non carpeted areas of our home when we were gone and did fine. There was only one dog who had free roam of our house in the 40+ years of sharing our home with dogs. My soul dog, K.C., was indeed very special and although she has been gone for 20 years, I think of her often and miss her very much.


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## Lalla (Jul 30, 2013)

swaye said:


> Thank you jmombo. Sophie hasn't had an accident since she was 4 1/2 months. When we are home, she generally has access to upstairs and down. She is great to run downstairs and ring her bells if she needs to go out.


I'm probably over-cautious about allowing my puppy to run downstairs - I've read all sorts of horror stories about the strain it puts on developing legs....perhaps at 9 months it's ok? What does anyone think? I'm still not letting Cuba, who is 6 months old now, do stairs. She does go up and down the three shallow steps into my kitchen, and the two shallow steps into a raised bit of garden, but I don't let her go up or down staircases in the house yet.


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## swaye (Mar 28, 2013)

Hmmm, I must admit that I was not aware of this. Sofie has been doing this for the last 2 months! And she has springs in her legs. She can jump about 3 feet in the air trying to see who just rang the doorbell! I imagine that is probably worse. We are working on stopping that and making some progress, but she still jumps some. Another worry...:-(


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