# Houdini Dog



## ladypotter (Apr 26, 2012)

Dutch is 16 weeks old today (brought him home at 12 weeks). We are indoor potty training him with a pee pad with holder. He is doing great with pee pees, but will only poo on them if he is locked in his pen with no other option, otherwise he poo's anywhere (I keep him with me at ALL TIMES lately- and he is so quick, even if I see him poo squatting, I can't get him to the pad fast enough). This leads me to my newest dilema...The Xpen

Do any of your dogs climb out of their Xpen? I had originally bought the Iris pen (like this one), and had had the two extra pieces. I work at my office 2-3 days a week and at the house 2-3 days a week. On the days I am not home, I have him in the Xpen, but the last two times I have come home I find him upstairs which means he climbed out (I actually saw him 1/2 climb out one day while I was here and he was in there while I was waiting for him to go potty). It then put the iris pen to just the four pieces like in the picture so that he could learn to potty better (less room for error - which seemed to help A LOT).

So today, we took our kids to a water park so we were gone from 9am-3:30pm, and instead of the Iris Xpen, I tried the collapsable pen (like this one) and he figured out how to lower the zipper area enough to squeeze out! I found him upstairs again. UGH!! 

I have a smallish wire crate that I am willing to use, but am trying to decide if I buy a bigger one so that I can put a pee pad in the back of it, or if I need to figure something else out? 

What do you do when you are gone most of the day? Any suggestions for me considering the Iris pen and the collapsable pen didn't work?


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## Furbabies mom (Jul 25, 2011)

My Hardy (Yorkie) can get out of anything , and after he gets out he shows my other two how to get out also. The Iris pen is a little low, so he can get out of that the other one you showed , he unzips it also. I put a twist tie on the two zippers , but the best pen for Hardy was a taller heavier plastic one, that is a play yard for toddlers! I don't have to crate or pen him very often, since he's 1 1/2 now. Even when I wipe up the hardwood floor, he stays on the couch until it dries. My other two would of never tried to escape.


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## ladypotter (Apr 26, 2012)

Furbabies mom said:


> My Hardy (Yorkie) can get out of anything , and after he gets out he shows my other two how to get out also. The Iris pen is a little low, so he can get out of that the other one you showed , he unzips it also. I put a twist tie on the two zippers , but the best pen for Hardy was a taller heavier plastic one, that is a play yard for toddlers! I don't have to crate or pen him very often, since he's 1 1/2 now. Even when I wipe up the hardwood floor, he stays on the couch until it dries. My other two would of never tried to escape.


twistie ties!! YAY! perfect. I think I will try that next time. THANKS!


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## Summergirl73 (Sep 18, 2011)

When Bella needed to be in a contained area, we put a tall iron (walk thru kind) baby gate across the kitchen. It worked like a charm. They actually use something like ours at her Doggy Daycare  . You could use it in any area of your home as they come in lots of sizes. There's nothing for them to clasp on to so climbing out is really not an option. Good luck! BTW, I love his name  .


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## ladypotter (Apr 26, 2012)

Summergirl73 said:


> When Bella needed to be in a contained area, we put a tall iron (walk thru kind) baby gate across the kitchen. It worked like a charm. They actually use something like ours at her Doggy Daycare  . You could use it in any area of your home as they come in lots of sizes. There's nothing for them to clasp on to so climbing out is really not an option. Good luck! BTW, I love his name  .


Thanks! Bella was my old dog's name! 

Unfortunately that isn't an option for us, Our floor plan is a VERY open plan so there really are not places for me to section off downstairs other than a bathroom which I KNOW he wouldn't like because he wouldn' be able to see us. Plus even if I could close off our kitchen, I don't want him alone in there because we just had a new kitchen done with brand new cabinets and I don't want to give him the opportunity to chew on them! lol. I don't think he would, but just in case. It needs to be a portable option which is why I figured the pen would work. sigh...


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## Iloverocky (Jan 7, 2015)

We call our little Rocky, Houdini or Superdog as well! This little guy can get out of, over, under anything! Today I got home and somehow he escaped his wire crate! The problem is, when he does escape a confined area, ie. Kitchen, or crate... He must zoomie around like a crazy dog, because the other room he has access to is torn apart. Today I got home and tissues were everywhere, he bit through my plastic headband so plastic was everywhere, he had a pee and poo accident which is rare for him, and scary enough, he dug out some wires that we purposely buried under stuff, etc. These little daily mini heart attacks are wearing on me as well. Not sure what to do either?


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## jmm (Nov 23, 2004)

You can get a metal top for metal x-pens. Or get a puppy pen with a top. 
My escapee is best kept in a crate....and I still have to bungee that shut.


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## CloudClan (Jan 31, 2007)

Be careful of twistie ties. Perhaps you are thinking of a different type than I am, but those cheap twist ties with the metal center are a potentially deadly hazard. I use metal lanyards to lock zippers. I As Jackie said some pups can escape nearly every style of x-pen (though I would try a top and Iris sells tops) and so you may need to consider a crate.


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