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Keeping puppy in the kitchen!


Kerislc

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When we are gone, we put Scout in the kitchen with a doggie door. He is only 5 months, so I don't yet trust him to wander around the house. Well, this weekend he figured out how to climb up and over the kiddie gate that keeps him in the kitchen. I must admit that it is one of the funniest things I have ever seen (Scout is 8 inches tall and the gate is 32 inches).

However, now I am not sure how to confine him. I tried putting a towel over the gate, the garbage can in front of the gate and he still managed to climb over. My husband has started calling him "spiderman."

Any advice?

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UADjAi0Z3BLxQIGF!3ZUl6gzs*lLU035MiqMGL9NVjzwGa8*xHhfyHE1!5ZPbRWtRhnZsst3x*gTDhCN5bnqwGJuHrG17XtBkFoJWUVzGuflxvRKz7exuHSCRRcAcEUX/Puppy.jpg?dc=4675493787382110901[/img]

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How long are you gone during the day?

Could he be crated instead? It would probably be safer for him. Seeing as he figured out he can climb the gate, now what else can he figure out how to do? Knock speakers over...chew on wires...dig up carpet....scratch doors....potty in the house...and many more fun and new things for a puppy!

It won't take him long before he learns a new 'trick' and gets self rewarded for it. He gets rewarded every day for climbing the gate. He gets freedom and new things to do!

Probably a crate would be the best idea. And if you feel you are gone too long, is there a neighbor, friend, or relative that could come and let him out? Or could you or your husband come home from work and let him out?

This is the HARDEST thing about a puppy and why my husband and I didn't go the puppy route....but the rescue route!! We knew we had no one to let the little guy out during the day. And we are gone too long for a 10 week old puppy!!

Good luck with your little monkey dog!

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Thanks for the suggestion. I come home everyday at lunch time for an hour and various friends and family tend to drop by during the day to play outside with him.

He is crate trained, but I have noticed that he is SO much happier being in a place where he can get a little bit of exercise during the day. There is a night and day difference in his behavior when we leave him crated (which we still do if we are not going to be gone too long).

Our kitchen and patch of the yard where he can go is totally puppy proofed, and I would prefer to leave him in that space.

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I did the double gates when I had to have my ceiling fixed after it caved it after rain damage. It worked out just great. Here's a picture of my double dog gate:

[img]http://groups.msn.com/_Secure/0UwB9A2MaI3QZ9MyuwnIkpGA*o2wFVH81rkET7W*QO9LqEHfKZI7SZfbx0CBIJydCSsh8Oov81h*m5InaeOhhi*Qb9MhQ97zI0sfyLVAXhRLfB*GBzwOr25kPOPHOKHkk/doggates.jpg?dc=4675493824241292761[/img]

P.S. I have gotten new wallpaper and a new kitchen floor since this picture was taken. I finally got my house out of the 70s!

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I've been trying to convince the roomies that a nice wood framed, full screen, door wouldn't look out of place between the living room and the stairs. Still no sale but I think it would be convenient. And as long as it would be one of those ones with the routered wooden, country-ish frames with screen on bottom and top I think it wouldn't look to bad. And it wouldn't impede air flow in the summer.

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The thing I'd be worried about with double stacking is that he might learn to climb them both, then hurt himself on the other side.

Two suggestions, firstly you could get a crate and keep it open against the doggie door, so that he can go outside and have his own little space indoors. Montie and Cassies crate is extra large, so although they are tiny (Montie is also only 8 inches, but thats full grown!), they can play together and run around and do their own thing in it.

My second suggestion, which you will probably prefer, is to simply renovate the gate so that there is a peice of wood or something going inwards, so that once he gets to the top... well he can't climb upside down! :lol:

Hope that helps :D

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There are these gates that the Foster and Smith catalog sells that are as tall as a double-stacked baby gate (we had to do that once and it was just too much of an operation for me! :lol: ) that also swing open for your convenience, and can be removed when not in use. I don't know their exact web site, but if you type in "Foster and Smith" it should come up. What saved us was using an exercise pen as a crate, for our Elkie mix it kept him out of trouble as a puppy, and for our Pyr it gives her more room during the day but still keeps her confined. They come as tall as 4 feet.

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