May 8, 2025 • 19 mins
Every puppy parent faces the same challenge: balancing freedom with safety. That delicate dance between letting your puppy explore their world while protecting them (and your home) from potential disasters. What if there was a simple solution that creates harmony for both you and your growing puppy?
Playpens are the unsung heroes of puppy raising. Far from being a "cage" or prison, a properly introduced playpen serves as your puppy's personal apartment - their safe haven where they can relax, play with appropriate toys, and learn crucial life skills. As trainers Amy Jensen and Amanda explain, this management tool creates the perfect environment for your puppy to thrive while preventing unwanted behaviors from developing in the first place.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
When it comes to raising a puppy, two things are
important training andmanagement.
We manage while we teach thebehavior that we are looking for
, which takes some time.
So today we are talking allabout Playpen's one critical
piece of management.
Welcome to the Puppy TrainingPodcast.
I'm Amy Jensen, founder ofBaxter Bella, the online puppy
(00:23):
school.
Here we are all about helpingyou create the best possible
experience raising a puppy, fromtraining tips to practical
tricks, all aimed at fostering ahappy, well-behaved dog who
truly feels like part of thefamily.
So if you are ready to enjoythe journey and strengthen the
bond with your dog, let's getstarted.
(00:47):
Hi you guys, welcome to thePuppy Training Podcast.
We have Amanda here.
She is a trainer here at Baxterand Bella.
Hi, amanda, so glad you're here.
Today we are talking about playpens.
As trainers, we often get askedwhat kind of play pen should I
use and how long do I use it andwhy do I use it All sorts of
things.
So today let's talk playpens.
(01:11):
So, amanda, I know this is oneof the topics that you love to
talk about and you get askedthis a lot, so thanks for being
here.
Let's start with why we woulduse playpens.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So many reasons actually.
We like to encourage clients touse play pens for just basic
management.
We like to help with behaviormodification plans.
We like to help with housetraining.
Play pens are just so valuablein so many different
circumstances.
We kind of think about it moreas like a little home for your
(01:39):
puppy, like a bedroom, anapartment, whatever you want to
call it.
That's kind of their space andwe give this space to them when
we can't watch them, when wecan't structure our time with
them, we can't train with them,and we just need a little bit of
a bigger space sometimes biggerthan the crate a place to put
them where we know they're notgoing to have accidents, we know
(02:01):
they're not going to get intomesses and create terrors around
our house.
This is just a really greatplace to keep them so they can't
learn bad habits or engage inbad behaviors.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I love that you think of it as their apartment or
their house.
Where did you come up with?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
that.
Well, I kind of see their cratemore as like their bedroom.
It's where they sleep.
Sometimes they just play withsome toys in there.
It's a little smaller and thenI think of their playpen more as
their apartment.
They've got their food in there, they've got water in there,
they have toys everywhere.
They have another little bed tosleep on if they want, kind of
(02:38):
like their couch, or they havetheir crate in there.
A lot of times we do encourageputting their crate in there to
just keep building that positiveassociation coming in and out
of it with the door open so much.
So I kind of like to see thetwo as the apartment and the bed
the bedroom.
So that's what I like to see itas and we want them to be
comfortable in there.
(02:59):
I love going home and justrelaxing in my house, just
sitting down, getting on thecouch, eating a snack.
They like to sit down and chewtheir bones, get a drink of
water, and this is what we wantthat to become for them, and
then we can slowly build that,obviously, or we can just have
something around our house, alittle place for them to go,
where we feel safe that they'rethere, they feel safe being
(03:20):
there, and it's just a goodlittle spot for our dog.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, and they can be happy in there.
I love that.
I think sometimes people seethe fence and they think, oh,
it's a cage, and cage soundsreally negative.
But this is really just a placethat we're going to help our
puppy love and really enjoy.
All these good things come tothem when they're in their
crates or pens and it works forus because it helps, you know,
prevent, like you said, someissues around our house that we
(03:43):
don't want unwanted behaviorscropping up, like peeing on our
carpets or chewing ourbaseboards or stealing socks.
And while we're in the trainingprocess, that takes some time.
So these make some great spacesto help as we train.
Totally.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, totally we.
We love play pens at our house.
We use them a lot.
My daughters all have their ownbedroom?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, great.
Okay, how do we introduce playpens to puppies If they've never
been in one?
What are some good tips forpeople who are just getting
started?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Well, I think, first off, you need to have the
expectation that it's normal.
Your puppy is not going to likethe crate or the play pen,
which is that's what we'retalking about.
So your puppy is typically notgoing to like the playpen at
first.
And this also goes for olderdogs too.
If you're bringing an older doginto your house for the first
time and they haven't been in aplaypen very much, this also is
(04:34):
going to be hard for them.
It's normal.
This could be something assimple as a barrier frustration.
They're just frustrated.
There's this barrier betweenthe two of you and they want to
get to you, and sometimes wemistaken that for severe
separation, anxiety or severepanic and all they're saying is
hey, let me out, I want to benear you.
So we want to kind of interpretthat behavior more as them
learning how to self-soothe andlearning how to be alone, which
(04:57):
is one of the most importantthings I think we can teach our
dogs in general.
So when we're introducing thisplaypen to them, we need to go
in with the expectation thatit's going to be challenging at
first, and so have theexpectation.
There's going to be whining,there's going to be barking,
there's going to be crying.
There's going to be some escapeartists and we can talk and
troubleshoot that through, butthere are going to struggle at
(05:20):
first for a minute.
So keep up a lot of differentpositive associations.
So keep up a lot of differentpositive associations.
On the program, we talk a lotabout a 10 to 1 rule where every
10 times we go into a playpenor a crate, we're only shutting
the door one of those times andthe other nine times are it's
open for play.
We're going in to retrievetreats or toys or chew on a bone
(05:41):
, we're using it for training,all sorts of different things
throughout the day.
So this place is positive ingeneral and then there's going
to be those couple timesthroughout the day where we do
just have to shut it and we doactually want to keep that
varied as well.
That's another important partof introducing the playpen that
when we put them in there,sometimes it's only for one or
(06:01):
two seconds, sometimes it's forone or two minutes, sometimes
it's for one or two minutes,sometimes it's for one or two
hours.
So keep that time varied aswell, so your dog doesn't create
some kind of an expectationthat when this door does shut,
oh shoot, now I'm in here foranother two or three hours every
single time.
The more varied you keep that,the less an expectation they're
going to have around how longthey're in there, so they're
(06:24):
able to soothe themselves easier.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
One key thing that's worked really well for most
people is when they first bringtheir puppy home, not giving
them all of the rain like freereign of their house.
If you give your puppy rightaway, okay, you have all of this
space to do whatever you want.
Then when we try to scale backand shrink it down to a pen size
area, they struggle.
So something we like to do iscreate a Zen den and as soon as
that puppy comes home from thebreeder or wherever you got your
dog from and you're bringingthem into your house, they go
(06:52):
into the pen area and that'stheir living space for the first
few days.
Um, we play with them in there,we feed them in there, we give
them their toys in there, butreally that's the only space
they now know.
And obviously we're getting outevery hour to go play and do
things, but when they're it'soff time they're back in that
pen and they get to know thatspace of the house and then they
(07:14):
just expect oh, this is my safespace, this is what we do, and
from then on we start to givethem a little more freedom and a
little more freedom, et cetera.
But that's really helped at myhouse is the puppy's
expectations start realisticallyversus.
Here's my whole house and nowI'm going to shrink it back down
it's this is the space we startwith and most of them if you're
coming with a brand new puppy,an eight-week-old puppy, they
(07:35):
are used to a pen size play area.
That's what they came from, soyou're just taking them from
their pen that they came frominto your home into their pen,
their new pen area.
They're getting used to thatspace for the first several days
, which works well because theirstress levels are high and
their stress levels take time tocome down, and then we can move
forward.
I found that that's reallyhelped with puppy crying and
(07:55):
whining is that this is justtheir new safe space and then
it's not so troublesome when wetry to, you know, rather than
trying to scale back, if thatmakes sense Totally.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I'm actually really glad you brought that up.
I think that is a reallyvaluable way to look at it and
and I do think we make thatmistake when we come home, we
just are so excited to cuddlethem and be with them, and that
is an important part of it.
But when we do need to put themdown, don't just put them in
your living room and walk awayand go do your stuff.
Put them in this playpen.
I think that, right away, justcreating that expectation that
(08:30):
this is my space is a really,really good way to start them
off.
You'll totally run into cryingstill, we all will so we can
totally talk about how totroubleshoot that as well.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, let's go a little bit into that.
Let's say our puppy is throwinga tantrum.
How best do we handle that?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Very similar to our crates.
Um, we talk about this a lot inBaxter and Bella.
When you go, learn about thecrate.
Uh, but a lot of what we'redoing is there's so much.
So one one thing is that 10 toone rule.
The other thing is a lot ofcomings and goings.
If you're just leaving thispuppy in the playpen a lot of
the time, they do need to getused to seeing you come and go
(09:12):
and come and go, and come and go.
And so one of the tips we giveis, as you're coming towards
your puppy or coming back intothe room or walking in that
direction, we want to make thatcoming very nonchalant, very
boring, so they don't createsome kind of an anticipatory
anxiety about your arrival.
So keep it kind of boring.
And then when they give you agood behavior, like sitting down
(09:34):
or calming down or relaxing,then you can pet them calmly,
reward them with a treat orreward them with access to you,
open the playpen and let themcome out, but don't ever engage
with the barking or crying.
Just keep walking around doingwhat you're doing.
Maybe walk away, ignore it.
If they're really struggling,you can get closer to the
playpen, keep your back towardsthem or your side and stay busy
(09:56):
on your phone or act like you'redoing something until they calm
down.
Sometimes that proximity ishelpful to help them calm down,
but in general we do want to doa lot of coming and going and
coming and going, so they'regetting used to the fact that we
almost always 99% of the timecome back, and very quickly at
that.
There's only that rare occasionthat we do step out and we
(10:18):
don't come back for quite sometime.
But if they have that 10 to 1,once again, with even just our
comings and goings, they'regoing to trust that our presence
is more typical than it isatypical and they learn to calm
themselves down.
So, uh well, and do stay nearthem.
You know, when they're firstlearning near the, near the
playpen, it does help a lot,like we talked about with crates
(10:39):
.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, I think that's huge.
Is that alone concept?
Puppies, when they come to us,maybe have never been alone.
They sleep with their littermates, literally.
Puppy piles are the cutestthing I've ever seen.
Right, they sleep on top ofeach other.
They're always touching someone, and so when they come home and
they are in a space bythemselves, they're like what am
I doing?
Like this is scary, I don'tknow that I can handle this, but
(11:02):
it's really important that weteach them actually you can be
alone, it's okay, you can stillfeel safe, and this kind of
training with the crates andpens, I think, is how we achieve
that.
In today's society.
It would be wonderful if wecould take our puppy with us
everywhere we go, but we can't.
It's just unrealistic.
So there will be times when ourdog needs to be alone, and it's
(11:25):
really important that we start,when they're young, to teach
them in a safe, positive way howto feel safe when alone,
totally.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Totally.
I actually think it's one ofthe most important things you
ever teach your dog in general,because we don't want them
living a life of fear andanxiety because you're not
around.
We don't want you being there,the only thing in the whole
world that can possibly calmthem down, and they can't be
calm without you.
So don't start this off wrong.
You can really bring them inright away and start it off on a
(11:55):
good foot to teach them thatthey do have the capacity to
self-soothe and they can be okaywhen you're away.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It's really a gift that we get For sure.
Amandaanda, what would you sayas for length of time?
How long do we plan on usingthese pens?
I still use them.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
My dogs are four or five years old and I still use
them.
I don't use them, obviously,the way I did when they were a
puppy, but I I have a playpenout all the time so that if I
ever do need to put them inthere when there's multiple dogs
in the house and we're feeding,chews or meals or something
that I just don't want themgetting into each other's food
(12:35):
or getting in fights of any kindor creating bad habits around
resource guarding or differentthings, we'll separate them into
these playpens.
We'll separate them into theseplay pens.
Other times I will totally justuse the play pen when I want to
go take a nap and I don't wantmy dogs near me and I don't want
them on my bed.
I don't want them toaccidentally wake me up.
This is a great place for themto go.
(12:56):
Or if I've got to run to thegrocery store and they're having
issues that day, or we're justhaving a bad day, I can put them
in the playpen and trust thatmy house isn't going to go awry.
They're going to be okay.
It just gives me a lot of peaceof mind to have access to one,
even as they're older.
When they're younger, we'reusing the playpen a lot more for
(13:17):
a lot of different things.
Typically, on average, we wantto kind of follow potty, their
potty routine as our time goes,as our time management, for how
long they're in there.
So that could look like takinga nap for one to two hours and
then out for a potty break.
Maybe a little bit of training,and if we want to put them back
(13:40):
in the playpen right away andthey're not napping, they're not
going to be able to hold it aslong if they're not napping.
So kind of track where yourpuppy's at with potty and take
them out in 45 minutes or so todo another potty break.
You can use this while you'recooking dinner and then, when
you're done cooking dinner, pullthem out and feed them dinner
(14:00):
or feed them dinner in therewith the door open.
You can just use this all thetime.
I would use the playpen based onwhat your family's needs are
and anticipate the dog being inthere for the amount of time you
need them to be in therethroughout the day.
I wouldn't give yourself anyunrealistic expectations that
you need to have your puppy outof the playpen a lot of the day
(14:23):
or they're going to be sad ormopey if they're not with you,
because it's just not reality.
The playpen can be used so muchthroughout the day and as
needed throughout the day, andleaving them in there is
actually really good for them.
So if you don't have thebandwidth or the time or you've
got so much going on in yourlife and you do need to leave
them in there, just make sureyou're getting adequate needs
(14:43):
met exercise, potty breaks, foodchews for their teething, a
little bit of play and trainingand they'll be fine to be in
that playpen, based on what yourneeds are.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I find this is especially helpful for families
with kids, especially littlekids or younger kids that have
high energy and are active andmoving around the house a lot
Playpens, baby gates, any kindof division or separation you
can create in spaces or dividingyour home.
Think of dividing your homeinto boxes.
It can be helpful so the kidscan play on this side and the
(15:16):
puppy can play on this side.
I can see that that reallyhelps with safety issues around
the home as well.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, and behavior modification.
I mean how many of you haveseen your dog jump on your
toddler or bark at your cat orchase your cat around?
I mean this playpen.
If they're in there a lot ofthe time when their kids or the
cat or whatever is around, theycan't engage in those behaviors.
Therefore they never learnthose behaviors, so we don't
even have to deal with them.
(15:42):
So this can be a great way ofpreventing those behaviors as
well.
To your point of toddlers andother things running around that
we don't want them getting intoI also hear a lot of people say
I want that calm puppy thatjust relaxes.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I find that by using play pens or barriers and, you
know, minimizing the space mydog has access to and giving
them their favorite chews inthose spaces, they learn oh,
this is chew time, this is whenI lay down and I relax.
Or this is nap time, this iswhen I lay down and take a nap,
and so they can be positive inthat way as well, totally for
sure.
Okay, let's talk about bestpractices and a little
troubleshooting, because I knowsometimes there's a lot of
(16:21):
different play pens out there, alot of different types on the
market, and we have a lot ofdifferent types of dogs and
sizes of dogs.
So what are some best practicesand possible troubleshooting
that you've talked about withclients recently?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, well, escaping is one of our biggest issues,
whether it's escaping throughthe bars.
If you have a barred playpen,some of the puppies are small
enough to just fit through thebars.
If you have the little X-Pens,there's so many different types
of X pens.
One that we talk about a lot onour program is called the
midwest play pen, and it'sfantastic.
(16:56):
They make different heightsdepending on your dog.
But it is an x pen and somedogs will totally just skill
that, sucker and get right outand that can be really
frustrating for a lot of people.
So there are so many differentones.
If you go to our products page,you can look at different play
pens that we recommend.
So kind of play around.
(17:18):
Don't lose hope if your dogescapes a little Midwest play
pen.
There's tons of other optionsout there and I would give them
a shot because this play penreally is valuable.
So playing around andexperimenting with what you can
to see if we can make it work,it's worth the effort.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, and other things you can do would be like
feeding your dog through thewall instead of reaching up, and
over to prevent them fromwanting to jump and start to
climb, but I know some puppiesreally are just really good
escape artists, yeah.
So yeah, there's differenttypes on the market.
Another option would be totether your puppy.
You could keep them on a leashand use some management that way
.
But I find that being able tohave that barrier in place
(17:58):
really is nice, especially withkids in the home.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That can be helpful.
But yeah, there is a higherpotential of them getting into
or practicing behaviors that wedon't want them practicing.
But to your point, I mean allthe things I talked about were
all management right, and youjust brought up a good point
that there can be a trainingaspect to escape artists, where
we are helping them and trainingthem to stay in their playpen
when they have the impulse orthe urge to escape, to stay in
their playpen when they have theimpulse or the urge to escape.
And that takes time.
It takes a lot of what wetalked about at the beginning,
(18:39):
where we're getting themcomfortable just being behind
the barrier in the first placeand then building some kind of
an impulse control to not jumpin the playpen or scale the
playpen or get out in any wayand so rewarding that calm
behavior, rewarding them downlow, where they're at, and not
up high.
So rewarding that calm behavior, rewarding them down low, where
they're at, and not up high.
A lot of different tips andtricks can go into that for
helping train them to want tostay on all four paws in the
playpen.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, thanks, amanda, for being here and talking all
about playpens.
I think that was super helpfuland informative.
If you guys have more questionson this topic, feel free to
reach out to us.
You can contact us via ourwebsite, baxterandbellacom.
Thanks for tuning in to thepuppy training podcast.
I hope today's tips help youfeel more confident and excited
about raising your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency, you
(19:24):
can create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your family.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review and share it withfellow puppy parents.
For more resources, visitBaxter and Bella online.
Until next time, happy training.
When it comes to raising a puppy, two things are
important training andmanagement.
We manage while we teach thebehavior that we are looking for
, which takes some time.
So today we are talking allabout Playpen's one critical
piece of management.
Welcome to the Puppy TrainingPodcast.
I'm Amy Jensen, founder ofBaxter Bella, the online puppy
(00:23):
school.
Here we are all about helpingyou create the best possible
experience raising a puppy, fromtraining tips to practical
tricks, all aimed at fostering ahappy, well-behaved dog who
truly feels like part of thefamily.
So if you are ready to enjoythe journey and strengthen the
bond with your dog, let's getstarted.
(00:47):
Hi you guys, welcome to thePuppy Training Podcast.
We have Amanda here.
She is a trainer here at Baxterand Bella.
Hi, amanda, so glad you're here.
Today we are talking about playpens.
As trainers, we often get askedwhat kind of play pen should I
use and how long do I use it andwhy do I use it All sorts of
things.
So today let's talk playpens.
(01:11):
So, amanda, I know this is oneof the topics that you love to
talk about and you get askedthis a lot, so thanks for being
here.
Let's start with why we woulduse playpens.
Speaker 2 (01:18):
So many reasons actually.
We like to encourage clients touse play pens for just basic
management.
We like to help with behaviormodification plans.
We like to help with housetraining.
Play pens are just so valuablein so many different
circumstances.
We kind of think about it moreas like a little home for your
(01:39):
puppy, like a bedroom, anapartment, whatever you want to
call it.
That's kind of their space andwe give this space to them when
we can't watch them, when wecan't structure our time with
them, we can't train with them,and we just need a little bit of
a bigger space sometimes biggerthan the crate a place to put
them where we know they're notgoing to have accidents, we know
(02:01):
they're not going to get intomesses and create terrors around
our house.
This is just a really greatplace to keep them so they can't
learn bad habits or engage inbad behaviors.
Speaker 1 (02:15):
I love that you think of it as their apartment or
their house.
Where did you come up with?
Speaker 2 (02:18):
that.
Well, I kind of see their cratemore as like their bedroom.
It's where they sleep.
Sometimes they just play withsome toys in there.
It's a little smaller and thenI think of their playpen more as
their apartment.
They've got their food in there, they've got water in there,
they have toys everywhere.
They have another little bed tosleep on if they want, kind of
(02:38):
like their couch, or they havetheir crate in there.
A lot of times we do encourageputting their crate in there to
just keep building that positiveassociation coming in and out
of it with the door open so much.
So I kind of like to see thetwo as the apartment and the bed
the bedroom.
So that's what I like to see itas and we want them to be
comfortable in there.
(02:59):
I love going home and justrelaxing in my house, just
sitting down, getting on thecouch, eating a snack.
They like to sit down and chewtheir bones, get a drink of
water, and this is what we wantthat to become for them, and
then we can slowly build that,obviously, or we can just have
something around our house, alittle place for them to go,
where we feel safe that they'rethere, they feel safe being
(03:20):
there, and it's just a goodlittle spot for our dog.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, and they can be happy in there.
I love that.
I think sometimes people seethe fence and they think, oh,
it's a cage, and cage soundsreally negative.
But this is really just a placethat we're going to help our
puppy love and really enjoy.
All these good things come tothem when they're in their
crates or pens and it works forus because it helps, you know,
prevent, like you said, someissues around our house that we
(03:43):
don't want unwanted behaviorscropping up, like peeing on our
carpets or chewing ourbaseboards or stealing socks.
And while we're in the trainingprocess, that takes some time.
So these make some great spacesto help as we train.
Totally.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Yeah, totally we.
We love play pens at our house.
We use them a lot.
My daughters all have their ownbedroom?
Speaker 1 (04:04):
Yeah, great.
Okay, how do we introduce playpens to puppies If they've never
been in one?
What are some good tips forpeople who are just getting
started?
Speaker 2 (04:13):
Well, I think, first off, you need to have the
expectation that it's normal.
Your puppy is not going to likethe crate or the play pen,
which is that's what we'retalking about.
So your puppy is typically notgoing to like the playpen at
first.
And this also goes for olderdogs too.
If you're bringing an older doginto your house for the first
time and they haven't been in aplaypen very much, this also is
(04:34):
going to be hard for them.
It's normal.
This could be something assimple as a barrier frustration.
They're just frustrated.
There's this barrier betweenthe two of you and they want to
get to you, and sometimes wemistaken that for severe
separation, anxiety or severepanic and all they're saying is
hey, let me out, I want to benear you.
So we want to kind of interpretthat behavior more as them
learning how to self-soothe andlearning how to be alone, which
(04:57):
is one of the most importantthings I think we can teach our
dogs in general.
So when we're introducing thisplaypen to them, we need to go
in with the expectation thatit's going to be challenging at
first, and so have theexpectation.
There's going to be whining,there's going to be barking,
there's going to be crying.
There's going to be some escapeartists and we can talk and
troubleshoot that through, butthere are going to struggle at
(05:20):
first for a minute.
So keep up a lot of differentpositive associations.
So keep up a lot of differentpositive associations.
On the program, we talk a lotabout a 10 to 1 rule where every
10 times we go into a playpenor a crate, we're only shutting
the door one of those times andthe other nine times are it's
open for play.
We're going in to retrievetreats or toys or chew on a bone
(05:41):
, we're using it for training,all sorts of different things
throughout the day.
So this place is positive ingeneral and then there's going
to be those couple timesthroughout the day where we do
just have to shut it and we doactually want to keep that
varied as well.
That's another important partof introducing the playpen that
when we put them in there,sometimes it's only for one or
(06:01):
two seconds, sometimes it's forone or two minutes, sometimes
it's for one or two minutes,sometimes it's for one or two
hours.
So keep that time varied aswell, so your dog doesn't create
some kind of an expectationthat when this door does shut,
oh shoot, now I'm in here foranother two or three hours every
single time.
The more varied you keep that,the less an expectation they're
going to have around how longthey're in there, so they're
(06:24):
able to soothe themselves easier.
Speaker 1 (06:31):
One key thing that's worked really well for most
people is when they first bringtheir puppy home, not giving
them all of the rain like freereign of their house.
If you give your puppy rightaway, okay, you have all of this
space to do whatever you want.
Then when we try to scale backand shrink it down to a pen size
area, they struggle.
So something we like to do iscreate a Zen den and as soon as
that puppy comes home from thebreeder or wherever you got your
dog from and you're bringingthem into your house, they go
(06:52):
into the pen area and that'stheir living space for the first
few days.
Um, we play with them in there,we feed them in there, we give
them their toys in there, butreally that's the only space
they now know.
And obviously we're getting outevery hour to go play and do
things, but when they're it'soff time they're back in that
pen and they get to know thatspace of the house and then they
(07:14):
just expect oh, this is my safespace, this is what we do, and
from then on we start to givethem a little more freedom and a
little more freedom, et cetera.
But that's really helped at myhouse is the puppy's
expectations start realisticallyversus.
Here's my whole house and nowI'm going to shrink it back down
it's this is the space we startwith and most of them if you're
coming with a brand new puppy,an eight-week-old puppy, they
(07:35):
are used to a pen size play area.
That's what they came from, soyou're just taking them from
their pen that they came frominto your home into their pen,
their new pen area.
They're getting used to thatspace for the first several days
, which works well because theirstress levels are high and
their stress levels take time tocome down, and then we can move
forward.
I found that that's reallyhelped with puppy crying and
(07:55):
whining is that this is justtheir new safe space and then
it's not so troublesome when wetry to, you know, rather than
trying to scale back, if thatmakes sense Totally.
Speaker 2 (08:06):
I'm actually really glad you brought that up.
I think that is a reallyvaluable way to look at it and
and I do think we make thatmistake when we come home, we
just are so excited to cuddlethem and be with them, and that
is an important part of it.
But when we do need to put themdown, don't just put them in
your living room and walk awayand go do your stuff.
Put them in this playpen.
I think that, right away, justcreating that expectation that
(08:30):
this is my space is a really,really good way to start them
off.
You'll totally run into cryingstill, we all will so we can
totally talk about how totroubleshoot that as well.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
Yeah, let's go a little bit into that.
Let's say our puppy is throwinga tantrum.
How best do we handle that?
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Very similar to our crates.
Um, we talk about this a lot inBaxter and Bella.
When you go, learn about thecrate.
Uh, but a lot of what we'redoing is there's so much.
So one one thing is that 10 toone rule.
The other thing is a lot ofcomings and goings.
If you're just leaving thispuppy in the playpen a lot of
the time, they do need to getused to seeing you come and go
(09:12):
and come and go, and come and go.
And so one of the tips we giveis, as you're coming towards
your puppy or coming back intothe room or walking in that
direction, we want to make thatcoming very nonchalant, very
boring, so they don't createsome kind of an anticipatory
anxiety about your arrival.
So keep it kind of boring.
And then when they give you agood behavior, like sitting down
(09:34):
or calming down or relaxing,then you can pet them calmly,
reward them with a treat orreward them with access to you,
open the playpen and let themcome out, but don't ever engage
with the barking or crying.
Just keep walking around doingwhat you're doing.
Maybe walk away, ignore it.
If they're really struggling,you can get closer to the
playpen, keep your back towardsthem or your side and stay busy
(09:56):
on your phone or act like you'redoing something until they calm
down.
Sometimes that proximity ishelpful to help them calm down,
but in general we do want to doa lot of coming and going and
coming and going, so they'regetting used to the fact that we
almost always 99% of the timecome back, and very quickly at
that.
There's only that rare occasionthat we do step out and we
(10:18):
don't come back for quite sometime.
But if they have that 10 to 1,once again, with even just our
comings and goings, they'regoing to trust that our presence
is more typical than it isatypical and they learn to calm
themselves down.
So, uh well, and do stay nearthem.
You know, when they're firstlearning near the, near the
playpen, it does help a lot,like we talked about with crates
(10:39):
.
Speaker 1 (10:39):
Yeah, I think that's huge.
Is that alone concept?
Puppies, when they come to us,maybe have never been alone.
They sleep with their littermates, literally.
Puppy piles are the cutestthing I've ever seen.
Right, they sleep on top ofeach other.
They're always touching someone, and so when they come home and
they are in a space bythemselves, they're like what am
I doing?
Like this is scary, I don'tknow that I can handle this, but
(11:02):
it's really important that weteach them actually you can be
alone, it's okay, you can stillfeel safe, and this kind of
training with the crates andpens, I think, is how we achieve
that.
In today's society.
It would be wonderful if wecould take our puppy with us
everywhere we go, but we can't.
It's just unrealistic.
So there will be times when ourdog needs to be alone, and it's
(11:25):
really important that we start,when they're young, to teach
them in a safe, positive way howto feel safe when alone,
totally.
Speaker 2 (11:33):
Totally.
I actually think it's one ofthe most important things you
ever teach your dog in general,because we don't want them
living a life of fear andanxiety because you're not
around.
We don't want you being there,the only thing in the whole
world that can possibly calmthem down, and they can't be
calm without you.
So don't start this off wrong.
You can really bring them inright away and start it off on a
(11:55):
good foot to teach them thatthey do have the capacity to
self-soothe and they can be okaywhen you're away.
Speaker 1 (12:02):
It's really a gift that we get For sure.
Amandaanda, what would you sayas for length of time?
How long do we plan on usingthese pens?
I still use them.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
My dogs are four or five years old and I still use
them.
I don't use them, obviously,the way I did when they were a
puppy, but I I have a playpenout all the time so that if I
ever do need to put them inthere when there's multiple dogs
in the house and we're feeding,chews or meals or something
that I just don't want themgetting into each other's food
(12:35):
or getting in fights of any kindor creating bad habits around
resource guarding or differentthings, we'll separate them into
these playpens.
We'll separate them into theseplay pens.
Other times I will totally justuse the play pen when I want to
go take a nap and I don't wantmy dogs near me and I don't want
them on my bed.
I don't want them toaccidentally wake me up.
This is a great place for themto go.
(12:56):
Or if I've got to run to thegrocery store and they're having
issues that day, or we're justhaving a bad day, I can put them
in the playpen and trust thatmy house isn't going to go awry.
They're going to be okay.
It just gives me a lot of peaceof mind to have access to one,
even as they're older.
When they're younger, we'reusing the playpen a lot more for
(13:17):
a lot of different things.
Typically, on average, we wantto kind of follow potty, their
potty routine as our time goes,as our time management, for how
long they're in there.
So that could look like takinga nap for one to two hours and
then out for a potty break.
Maybe a little bit of training,and if we want to put them back
(13:40):
in the playpen right away andthey're not napping, they're not
going to be able to hold it aslong if they're not napping.
So kind of track where yourpuppy's at with potty and take
them out in 45 minutes or so todo another potty break.
You can use this while you'recooking dinner and then, when
you're done cooking dinner, pullthem out and feed them dinner
(14:00):
or feed them dinner in therewith the door open.
You can just use this all thetime.
I would use the playpen based onwhat your family's needs are
and anticipate the dog being inthere for the amount of time you
need them to be in therethroughout the day.
I wouldn't give yourself anyunrealistic expectations that
you need to have your puppy outof the playpen a lot of the day
(14:23):
or they're going to be sad ormopey if they're not with you,
because it's just not reality.
The playpen can be used so muchthroughout the day and as
needed throughout the day, andleaving them in there is
actually really good for them.
So if you don't have thebandwidth or the time or you've
got so much going on in yourlife and you do need to leave
them in there, just make sureyou're getting adequate needs
(14:43):
met exercise, potty breaks, foodchews for their teething, a
little bit of play and trainingand they'll be fine to be in
that playpen, based on what yourneeds are.
Speaker 1 (14:55):
I find this is especially helpful for families
with kids, especially littlekids or younger kids that have
high energy and are active andmoving around the house a lot
Playpens, baby gates, any kindof division or separation you
can create in spaces or dividingyour home.
Think of dividing your homeinto boxes.
It can be helpful so the kidscan play on this side and the
(15:16):
puppy can play on this side.
I can see that that reallyhelps with safety issues around
the home as well.
Speaker 2 (15:22):
Yeah, and behavior modification.
I mean how many of you haveseen your dog jump on your
toddler or bark at your cat orchase your cat around?
I mean this playpen.
If they're in there a lot ofthe time when their kids or the
cat or whatever is around, theycan't engage in those behaviors.
Therefore they never learnthose behaviors, so we don't
even have to deal with them.
(15:42):
So this can be a great way ofpreventing those behaviors as
well.
To your point of toddlers andother things running around that
we don't want them getting intoI also hear a lot of people say
I want that calm puppy thatjust relaxes.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
I find that by using play pens or barriers and, you
know, minimizing the space mydog has access to and giving
them their favorite chews inthose spaces, they learn oh,
this is chew time, this is whenI lay down and I relax.
Or this is nap time, this iswhen I lay down and take a nap,
and so they can be positive inthat way as well, totally for
sure.
Okay, let's talk about bestpractices and a little
troubleshooting, because I knowsometimes there's a lot of
(16:21):
different play pens out there, alot of different types on the
market, and we have a lot ofdifferent types of dogs and
sizes of dogs.
So what are some best practicesand possible troubleshooting
that you've talked about withclients recently?
Speaker 2 (16:34):
Yeah, well, escaping is one of our biggest issues,
whether it's escaping throughthe bars.
If you have a barred playpen,some of the puppies are small
enough to just fit through thebars.
If you have the little X-Pens,there's so many different types
of X pens.
One that we talk about a lot onour program is called the
midwest play pen, and it'sfantastic.
(16:56):
They make different heightsdepending on your dog.
But it is an x pen and somedogs will totally just skill
that, sucker and get right outand that can be really
frustrating for a lot of people.
So there are so many differentones.
If you go to our products page,you can look at different play
pens that we recommend.
So kind of play around.
(17:18):
Don't lose hope if your dogescapes a little Midwest play
pen.
There's tons of other optionsout there and I would give them
a shot because this play penreally is valuable.
So playing around andexperimenting with what you can
to see if we can make it work,it's worth the effort.
Speaker 1 (17:35):
Yeah, and other things you can do would be like
feeding your dog through thewall instead of reaching up, and
over to prevent them fromwanting to jump and start to
climb, but I know some puppiesreally are just really good
escape artists, yeah.
So yeah, there's differenttypes on the market.
Another option would be totether your puppy.
You could keep them on a leashand use some management that way
.
But I find that being able tohave that barrier in place
(17:58):
really is nice, especially withkids in the home.
Speaker 2 (18:15):
That can be helpful.
But yeah, there is a higherpotential of them getting into
or practicing behaviors that wedon't want them practicing.
But to your point, I mean allthe things I talked about were
all management right, and youjust brought up a good point
that there can be a trainingaspect to escape artists, where
we are helping them and trainingthem to stay in their playpen
when they have the impulse orthe urge to escape, to stay in
their playpen when they have theimpulse or the urge to escape.
And that takes time.
It takes a lot of what wetalked about at the beginning,
(18:39):
where we're getting themcomfortable just being behind
the barrier in the first placeand then building some kind of
an impulse control to not jumpin the playpen or scale the
playpen or get out in any wayand so rewarding that calm
behavior, rewarding them downlow, where they're at, and not
up high.
So rewarding that calm behavior, rewarding them down low, where
they're at, and not up high.
A lot of different tips andtricks can go into that for
helping train them to want tostay on all four paws in the
playpen.
Speaker 1 (19:01):
Well, thanks, amanda, for being here and talking all
about playpens.
I think that was super helpfuland informative.
If you guys have more questionson this topic, feel free to
reach out to us.
You can contact us via ourwebsite, baxterandbellacom.
Thanks for tuning in to thepuppy training podcast.
I hope today's tips help youfeel more confident and excited
about raising your dog.
Remember, with a littlepatience and consistency, you
(19:24):
can create a loving bond and awell-behaved pup who's a joy to
have in your family.
If you found this episodehelpful, be sure to subscribe,
leave a review and share it withfellow puppy parents.
For more resources, visitBaxter and Bella online.
Until next time, happy training.
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