Crate vs. expen "kennel" vs both?

[amongmany]

Hi there everyone,

We're in the process of puppy-proofing and prepping our home right now and we need to order a crate and an expen for our pup. We live in NYC so we don't have much space, but we do have enough room to consider how to make him most comfortable. We're planning on crate training and we'd like to have an expen around as well to let him play in. That led to the idea of an expen with a roof, potentially instead of a crate. Has anyone done this? Thoughts?

Also, anyone have a recco on how tall an expen to get?

Thanks!

[tanza]

Top to a Xpen is a MUST….. very rarely will a Basenji NOT climb out! The crates that I use for the house are General Cage wire and are approx 30 x 21 x 24. For travel, I use one size down

[amongmany]

Thanks Pat! That's what I'm planning to order for the crate. Will def. keep the xpen lid in mind.

[CrazySenji]

I have midwest wire crates 30" for travel and 36" for at home. They include a divider panel so you can make the crate a little smaller for house breaking. I've never used the dividers myself but it's a nice feature. Xpens are great but like Pat said.. good luck keeping most basenji pups in there with out a top! My Cody was up and over without a second thought! Elliot never used one but he was already 5 months and nearly house broken when I brought him home.

http://www.amazon.com/Midwest-1530-iCrate-Single-Door-30-By-19-By-21-Inch/dp/B000OXAERM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1395063895&sr=8-1&keywords=midwest+crate+30

That's the ones I have. Cheap, convenient and sturdy. I take them to shows with me all the time and they are easy to set up and break down.

[amongmany]

@CrazySenji

Thanks, that helps! I was eyeballing that one, but then we were leaning in the direction of the double-door variety to give us a little more flexibility in placement.

[CrazySenji]

Yes those are nice too! They don't work what what I use them for but they are a nice feature :). Amazon is the cheapest place I've found them.. if you spend over a certain amount shipping is free.

[amongmany]

Oh yes, definitely buying from Amazon. Unfortunately, the 30" isn't available via Prime, but so be it.

[Timesthemyth]

I absolutely love my x-pen; like everyone already said top is a must. My first introduction to basenji escaping was my little 10week old puppy making his way up over the exercise pen. I made the mistake of not buying the top from the get-go, and didn't get one with a door on it consequently; now my pen is all warped and bent out of shape.

FYI the clips that come with the Midwest pens are POS, my dog ended up warping a lot of them….so I'd buy some better clips. I bought both crate and top off Amazon as well. The crate is a good deal in my opinion. The crate has been great, but the tops are overpriced in my opinion....

X-pens are fantastic, but they are easier to escape from than a crate.... learned that lesson the hard way when Beo managed to dig under the carpet and squeeze underneath it - while scratching up his underside in the process. A small puppy should have no problem though...

24 x 30 is what I got. No complaints.

[Chealsie508]

I have both but having had a dog with crate issues I can say that sometimes giving them too much room in the beginning is cause for a bigger mess and sometimes more anxiety. Keep that in mind. I would find it best to start off with a cozy crate and if all goes well then the ex-pen would be super.

[CrazySenji]

Elliot had crate issues when I had an enclosed plastic kennel and the issues stopped very quickly after I bought the wire one. My Cody never had an issue in the plastic ones but they are all different I suppose!

[Chealsie508]

Crazysenji- same with Oakley, had to be a wire crate; oak never got used to his Vari-Kennel for the car…totally freaked!