Dog and open planed house

[Jordan210]

Hi Guys

Im trying to convince the other half that our house is suitable for a dog.

The downstairs is opened planned as such,

So would need a gated playpen/wall as shown by the red line. if this exists.

bed and such would live in the kitchen/dinning room, (Purple represents dinning table)



Would also possibly put a playpen near the stairs too.

Is this a reasonable way to dog proof the house?

[ctdctd]

Depends on the dog.

Some will jump most doggy gates, some will root out any cupboards or rubbish in the kitchen, some won't.

Why not allow the dog the ground floor and gate off the stairs?
Again, some will respect "Stay off the furniture" and some won't!

[SantaBarbara]

Is he a Great Dane?

[otolith]

Mine had baby gates from being a puppy. He's now perfectly capable of jumping over them, but it never occurs to him to do so. In fact, the one at the top of the stairs isn't even attached to the wall, since it damaged the paintwork and I've had it repainted, it doesn't even occur to him to push it over. He's the same with the garden gate, he could easily jump it to get into the rest of the garden, but he doesn't seem to realise that.

[monoloco]

playpens are going to be pretty useless for anything but the smallest pooch -our German Pointer was over the top of a one metre high pen by the time he was 12 weeks old.

I don't see an issue with a reasonably well-trained pooch having free run of the place though. All you might need is a crate instead of a playpen to bung him/her in overnight or if you go out for an hour or two -dogs actually rather like them -its their little sanctuary where they can just curl up and sleep. The rest of the time when you are home he can just wander about 'free-range' wherever he likes- just like ours does.

[otolith]

Mine needs to be prevented from going into my office, where he would feast upon cat food and litter tray truffles.

[Zetec-S]

monoloco said:

I don't see an issue with a reasonably well-trained pooch having free run of the place though. All you might need is a crate instead of a playpen to bung him/her in overnight or if you go out for an hour or two -dogs actually rather like them -its their little sanctuary where they can just curl up and sleep. The rest of the time when you are home he can just wander about 'free-range' wherever he likes- just like ours does.

This. If you set their boundaries from an early age chances are they'll get used to it pretty quickly. Ours was originally crate trained, but now has the run of the ground floor. He knows he's not allowed upstairs, never had any issues.

[MrHappy]

otolith said:

where he would feast upon cat food and litter tray truffles.

Made me chuckle. Since our cats passed away I'd forgotten that our dog did that as well. Ours has free run of the house with no issues.

[Mobile Chicane]

I'd suggest a crate underneath the stairs for the dog to retreat to at night, plus a couple of beds dotted about.

You can train dogs to lie on these and not on your furniture, but you have to remember that a dog is a pack animal which wants to be with you, not shut away in another room.

[MrHappy]

MrHappy said:

Made me chuckle. Since our cats passed away I'd forgotten that our dog did that as well. Ours has free run of the house with no issues.

It's all about timing - 10 mins ago the dog nudged the coffee table with her nose and sent the wife's red wine across the carpet.

[mcg_]

What dog?

Our pug has the downstairs. When we're not in he just goes to sleep. Just have blankets on the sofas.

(We chose a pug because of their lazy nature)

[ChrisNic]

MrHappy said:

It's all about timing - 10 mins ago the dog nudged the coffee table with her nose and sent the wife's red wine across the carpet.

Our GSD has an uncanny ability of not knocking wine glasses over, she does a great reverse when she gets stuck.

She also has the run of the house, I don't confine my son to parts of the house so I wouldn't want to confine other members of the family either. That said, her favourite place in the house is naturally our bed which doesn't go down well with my shift working wife who is always having to turf her off to go to bed!

Edited by ChrisNic on Friday 1st September 20:57

[bigmowley]

Looks a perfect layout for Corgis. Ours have the run of the downstairs and a stair gate does the trick at the bottom of the stairs. Corgis are very posh dogs and don't roll in st or wallow in puddles, well ours don't!
Here is Imola in here favourite spot.

[bigmowley]

bks stupid iPad. It's an Australian Corgi obviously

[PositronicRay]

MrHappy said:

MrHappy said:

Made me chuckle. Since our cats passed away I'd forgotten that our dog did that as well. Ours has free run of the house with no issues.

It's all about timing - 10 mins ago the dog nudged the coffee table with her nose and sent the wife's red wine across the carpet.

Must be a pointer.

Seriously though size counts in these matters, don't get a big dog unless plenty of space.

[garythesign]

We have recently moved to an open plan house. If you have never had different you will probably just work around what you have.

A dog guard at the bottom of the stairs is a good idea. We no longer use one as our dogs are much older now.

As others had said, the size of the dog will make a difference

[HappyMidget]

We have a gate on our living room that can also be extended past normal door size with extensions. Will see if I can find the make of it.

[GetCarter]

I did exactly this from a 12 week old pup in May (completely open plan downstairs)

I bought this and instead of making a 'pen', made a wall with a door. That and a baby gate on the stairs and we were sorted :

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Bunny-Business-Rabbit-Enc...

[Jordan210]

Thanks for all the suggestions, Will take them all onboard

The dog will possibly be a cockapoo/bichon frise size.

Want to have a rescue pup if posible.

[otolith]

Other good reason for having somewhere you can shut them in is that puppies can be assholes and a time out can be an effective way of stopping bad behaviour.