Hi all, bit of background – I got my little girl Honey on the 20th Jan, she’s 9 weeks now, she’s been very unsettled in her crate and started soiling it nightly – so I followed advice on here and got her a bigger pen and a smaller crate.

I set up her pen in another bedroom, put her in for bedtime last night and she only whined for half an hour, then snuggled up in her crate and went to sleep! I checked on her about an hour afterwards and she had done a wee where she was supposed to and had gone back in her crate – result!! (or so I thought).

This was my first night of leaving her to go all night as she had a place to pee/poo – so I could get a bit of sleep! Half 7 this morning, I went in and she was there to greet me at the bedroom door!! She had escaped her pen! This is meant to be where she is safe and I feel so bad, she had obviously climbed on top of the crate, then worked her way up to the bed, then jumped down off the bed!

What do I do now, I want her to be safe so i could change her pen for a soft bed, but also her even trying to escape shows that she’s still not a happy girl

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This is a picture of the set up - excuse the big wee in the middle!

Attached Images

IMG00905-20120131-0825.jpg (91.8 KB, 77 views)

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Maybe get rid of the bed and get a soft dog bed or take the top of that one so she can't climb on it

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Chi-s are very sourceful and brave !! Don't feel bad...she didn't make to the street...

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Rubia -y mi perrito que Rico

Just looked at the photo...that set up is nice...but an invitation for chi agility !! Rico has a soft bed that is like a cave...maybe try one of those sorts instead of the crate for now...

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Rubia -y mi perrito que Rico

we had one that could climb up the corner of the pen like a ladder [ very scary ] because it was quite high up.....we put cardboard all down the corners which meant she could not climb up so really you need to see which way she is getting out because it could be she is climbing from the crate or she could be using the cross bars as a little ladder ..... they are little devils aren't they x

Your dog may have been too young to not soil the crate, so it may improve as she ages. Barney hasn't soiled his bedroom crate since he was about 10 weeks old.

If you stay with the pen, the crate may be the step stool to escape.

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Here are pictures of Barney: Flickr: Crochet Bouquet's Photostream

I would get a cat bed or as we call it a hobbit hole in our house instead of the crate. But he could be climbing the pen too. They are not timid little dogs LOL.Sam is 16 weeks now and at 9 weeks we were up every 2-3 hours for pee breaks even with taking his water away at 8 pm.Now we are up to 6 hours so you could go back to just the crate but get up every 2 hours or so if your worried about safety.They truly are like babies.