Leaving a puppy unattended all day with full access to your house or yard is like leaving a human toddler unattended in a toy store for 8 hours…There’s gonna be a mess!
We know you are excited about your new dog/puppy and when you bring them home you might be sorely tempted to let them run around the house, free to explore and get to know their new environment. Stay with us here, we are not saying your puppy can’t explore and have some freedoms. We are saying, for your best chance at successfully training a dog that has all of the best manners you’ll need to initially control/manage your puppies environment. Supervising and/or confining their space can help to prevent early mistakes that will become their learning history. Puppies are naturally curious and energetic, left to their own devices, it’s natural for them to get into well meaning trouble or up to no good (chewing the couch, electrical cords, digging a hole under the fence).
Let’s set them up for success and create a puppy play area! This area should be safe, fun and dog/puppy proof. This is the ideal place to confine your puppy when you can’t keep an eye on them because you’re busy around the house or have left to go run errands/go to work, etc. Here are some things that should be included for a great puppy play area:
- Easy to clean floor surface (linoleum, tile, heavy duty tarp)
- Cleared of hazards (power cords, toxic plants)
- Prohibit access to items you do not want them to chew
- Source of water that is not easy to spill
- A potty area if you will be gone too long for an appropriate bathroom break
- Comfortable rest area (crate with soft bedding)(if they aren’t crate trained yet, remove the door to prevent them from accidentally being locked inside)
- A selection of toys that can be self-entertaining (don’t leave potentially unsafe toys that might require supervision, ie, stuffed toys if they currently try to eat the stuffing)
- Also, don’t leave them all their toys and change it up so they don’t get bored
The puppy play area could be a smaller room like: laundry, bathroom, garage. If you use a room and your environment has weather extremes, make sure it’s climate controlled. Also, examine the area for items that might scare your puppy (ie, loud washer/dryer, AC unit that has a loud compressor). If you don’t have a room that can be used for this purpose you can use a playpen, exercise pens (x-pens) or baby gates to cordon off an area of your home.
Using a puppy play area can help prevent property damage and keep your puppy safe. Another benefit is that it can help to ensure that your puppy is getting enough rest. Puppies, like toddlers, are notorious for not self-regulating and getting enough sleep. Distractions make it very hard to turn off the brain! Your puppies brain is doing a lot of learning and re-wiring, rest is crucial. Lack of proper rest can lead to chronic stress and an increased risk of behavioral problems, now and in the future.
Below are just a few examples of what a Puppy Play Area can look like. It doesn’t have to be fancy, just functional.
