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Dog crate or pen, nervous after puppy trapped jaw in bars of crate

8 replies

longtompot · 04/06/2026 13:26

Our puppy, 17 week old cocker spaniel, has a crate for her bedtime and daytime naps which is in our spare room and she sleeps very well in it.
However, during the day, I'd like a solution for the downstairs so I or we can go out and leave her somewhere safe, and my dd who is disabled with mobility issues can at least let her out for a wee in the evening, which she can't currently do with her upstairs crate.
We did have a crate in the living room. It was about 14 years old and the bars were quite thin which is how I think she got her jaw caught. The noise was horrific and I never want to hear that again.
We bought a fabric one...yeah, that hasn't lasted as she has chewed the zip despite me distracting her as much as possible.
I thought the living room was as puppy proofed as possible, but during one brief trip to the shop up the road, she chewed through the, thankfully unplugged, cable of a standard lamp.
So now we are looking at alternatives. The crate upstairs is a Lords & Labrador one and really pleased with it as it has a sliding door. The bars are also very strong so I don't think they would bend so she wouldn't get stuck like she did with the last one so we could get another one, maybe the next size up.
Or we could get a pen. But some of these seem to have the thin, bendy bars which she could get stuck in. The ones which have stronger looking ones seem to be more a doorway barrier. The area we have is approx 1m x 1m which would give her space to move about, stretch out when she lies down and have a water bowl in there. I have seen a gorgeous wooden one but at £300 it's far too much for us.
Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

OP posts:
tiramisugelato · 04/06/2026 13:27

I would just get two crates, or move the existing one when you need to.

Lomonald · 04/06/2026 13:32

tiramisugelato · 04/06/2026 13:27

I would just get two crates, or move the existing one when you need to.

Yes this, we have 2 crates 1is his permanent bed, the other for downstairs or in the car.

BarbarianBabs · 04/06/2026 13:35

This option may not be suitable and Of course depends on the set up and layout of your house, but we ended up removing the door and fitting a baby gate in doorway to the kitchen. That way our girl could still see and hear us to know we were not “shut away” and she had a decent space as her “bedroom” and floors are easier to clean for accidents when she was younger.

Hope you find a solution that works!

Branster · 04/06/2026 13:40

You can get extendable baby gates, a bit like roller blinds on their side, the end result is a screen you an open when you need to.. Look on Amazon. They come in different sizes. The only problem is you need to screw the end posts to something to keep it in place.

Lomonald · 04/06/2026 13:45

Our last dog we had baby gates for the kitchen, he just went in there, newdog is an absolute bugger and bin raids and countersurfs!

Secretseverywhere · 04/06/2026 13:47

I used the baby Bjorne fire guard! We had a couple from when dc were small for wood stoves but you can customise the shape to make a pen or screw into wall to fence off a bit of the house. It’s very sturdy, I suspect it’s the sort of thing that comes up on freebie sites/ gumtree.

longtompot · 04/06/2026 14:08

We have one of those extendable baby gates across between our kitchen and conservatory (not put the door in yet). Sadly, the kitchen can't be her area as the cat needs to go through to get outside or to her litter tray.
I think it will be another crate, which hopefully now won't confuse her as much as it did at the start. Thank you all for your suggestions though

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