# Playpen size for 10 week old puppy



## Nora (Feb 12, 2019)

I am planning for the arrival of my 10 wk old puppy which I do not have yet. I have been told that she is about 5 pounds now. How large should the playpen I buy be? I just bought a pen about 36" in diameter at the pet shop's recommendation. I put into the pen a large wee wee pad and it took up almost half the space. It did not seem like there was enough room for the puppy to move around. I do not want my puppy to sit on the wee wee pad. What is the best size for the pen? 

Should I put the crate that the puppy will sleep in, inside the pen too? Should the door to the crate be closed or open so the puppy can use the wee wee pad overnight? Or should I take the wee wee pad away so that the puppy learns to hold it overnight? At what age should should I encourage the puppy to hold it overnight? 

Thanks for all replies.


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## Barbara Levy (Apr 22, 2016)

We brought home a 10 week old puppy on Sunday. I am using the same set up I did with our older dog. Our daytime pen is 6’ x 2 1/2’. The pee pad holder takes up 2 feet at one end, with the bed on the other end. It is working fine. 

He is sleeping in a 24” crate by our bed. Zorro slept 11 pm to 6 am last night. I can live with that for 3rd night home. With our first, he stayed in the crate until he was 9 months. Now he is in our bed.


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## Wulfin (May 3, 2019)

The expen I have for Denver is 60x60x24. Its the amazon basics one (half the price of the Midwest ones). It has plenty of room for his bed, pee pad tray, and floor room. I like these ones because they’re mobile and can collapse down when we go to the cabin, etc. I don’t have his tray down right now cuz it’s just nap time.

I can’t answer your other questions since we use it purely as a “we can’t watch you this second” pen. He sleeps in a 24” crate in our room without access to anything (but he was already sleeping through the night when we got him) and sleeps from 10pm-6am.


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## Nora (Feb 12, 2019)

Thanks. My home is not big enough for those sized crates. I ordered a round 45" in diameter play pen and a 24" crate to sleep in. I hope the play pen is large enough.


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## Wulfin (May 3, 2019)

Hopefully you can return the one you picked up before. Those things aren’t cheap.
45 inches is almost 4 feet, should be plenty


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## Barbara Levy (Apr 22, 2016)

Nora said:


> Thanks. My home is not big enough for those sized crates. I ordered a round 45" in diameter play pen and a 24" crate to sleep in. I hope the play pen is large enough.


45" round isn't much smaller that 6' x 2'. Long and thin is what fit in our small house. You will make it work. UGODog seems to be out of stock. Look at pee pad holders on Amazon. I also have the Richell. I use disposal pee pads but others use pellets under the grate. It is good to have a grate over whatever you are using so that it isn't torn up or spread out.


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## Mikki (May 6, 2018)

In the beginning if the ex-pen is too large the puppy may not seek out the potty tray. I had a 6 x 3ft ex-pen and ended up putting two potty trays next to each other because Patti was getting close but ended up doing her job next to *one *potty tray. She was 8 weeks and weighed 3.5lbs. It wasn't long before I removed one of the potty trays. Patti instinctively went to the potty tray to do there job.

Initially, I put a small sleeping crate inside the ex-pen, but removed it pretty quickly. It was one of those plastic enclosed crates, open at the ends, vented at the top, with a handle on top. Patti was climbing on top of it after a few weeks and I was concerned about her getting herself caught between the ex-pen and crate. In addition, she was trying to climb out the top of the ex-pen at 12 weeks or younger.

When the crate was in the ex-pen, I left the crate door open for her to go in and out into the ex-pen or into the room connected to the ex-pen when when its door was open. When she went to sleep I closed the crate door if she was in it, or put her in the crate if she fell asleep next to it, to get her use to the door being closed. Sometimes I closed the crate door for a short time while she played inside, again to get her use to it.

At night I took the crate out and put it in our bedroom. I found the plastic crate was too hot and ended up buying a wire crate and sometimes covered it at night or during the day for naps. At that point, I took the crate out of the ex-pen and put in a little bed. Patti always preferred sleeping on the floor (it was cooler) or on top of a little blanket. The ex-pen sat on a tile floor.


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## Nora (Feb 12, 2019)

Thank you - all good information. It does help.


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

The wire expens can be folded in to use less than the total number of panels. Even though our puppies have been running loose in our house for several weeks when they are old enough to go home, we recommend that our owners start with a small size by folding the expen down to 2x4 feet for the first couple of days, until they know that the pup is not making mistakes.

It makes it a good time to teach potty on command too. I stand at the end of the pen where the potty system is, as soon as they wake up from a nap. I don't move, and say go potty only once. Then I wait. Waiting doesn't include anything else, like moving, smiling, or feeling anxious. The instant the pup is finished, there is a celebration, and it can come out to play. I can teach one potty on command usually the first night we have one by itself.

As soon as you know the pup is reliable, it has earned more space.


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## Nora (Feb 12, 2019)

Thank you. My question here is, if I start with a small pen the size the you recommend, then how can the puppy move around in the pen without stepping into the wee wee pad and stepping into the pee or poop??

I am using a round, pop up, pen made of a nylon fabric with mesh windows rather than a wired pen. Is that OK?


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## Tom King (Aug 2, 2006)

They don't like to step in it, unless maybe they spent their first weeks in an environment where there was no choice.


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