This summer I will be introducing a puppy to my home.

I have a dining size room that I will be dedicating to my dog.

When leaving the dog home alone, my idea is to have a crate attached to an outdoor pen measuring 6ft x 6ft x 3ft high.

Would this be a suitable arrangement or should I simply leave the dog in a crate?

You'll get differing opinions. Personally, I would not leave a dog confined in a crate if I was likely to be away from home for long - we never left Ailsa for more than 3-4 hours and we wouldnt lock her in a crate for that time- we only used it when she went to sleep at night.

But we did do something similar to what youre proposing during the daytime: we fastened an extension to a large dog crate so that she would have the space to move about safely if she wanted to and we put waterproof tarpaulin on the floor (easy to replace and hose down if there are any accidents).

If we'd have let her have the full run of the kitchen she would (and actually DID a couple of times) accidentally switch the gas cooker on, so it was better that she was confined.

And we left the radio on low so she could hear the sound of voices (radio 4 rather than music) plus gave her a KONG stuffed with treats. You tend to find they sleep most of the time youre out if you re lucky.

Shea has been known to switch the gass cooker on too... we have to make sure the lid is down when we go out!!

Plus she is an avid radio 4 listener...lol :)

thank you for your advice

I agree with Katkins comments, however I am a bit confused about your set up. Is that crate going to be outside? If so, then you will need to make sure the position is in a shaded area, but bear in mind the suns position throughout the day. At no time should your dog be exposed to the sun and heat for long periods, as they are too stupid to remove themselves to a shaded area. Mine would lay in the sun and bake all day on the garden if i let them, so I have to make sure they are only allowed out for short periods in the summer. Phoebe particularly, as she she is mostly white with pink pigment, so is a candidate for skin cancer.

As always - play your dog by ear

that set up sounds suitable for a test run, and if it works, stick with it

if, however, you find that sir/madam fuzzypaws is an escapologist who can nose their way out of the pen, a safely locked crate is the better option :(

I tried leaving Brude in a room with no furniture and with a laminate floor when he was a pup, but he chewed the windowledge (this was after he'd chewed a couple of pieces of furniture on other occasions :suspect: ) so that was that - he's now crated if we're out for more than 20 mins

I was fortunate- Ailsa has never been a chewer. A little b*gger in other respects but thankfully never a chewer or foragger in bins.