# exercise pen height for standards?



## JJane (Dec 26, 2014)

I am slowly acquiring items needed for a puppy; one item being an exercise pen. I plan to use it indoors in conjunction with crate training. What would be a good height recommendation? 

I appreciate any and all comments on your experiences with indoor ex pens!


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## Naira (Jan 9, 2015)

.it really depends on the puppy. The mini I had wouldn't even jump over a 10 inch pen because he respected the boundary. The toy I had...I swear, I could have put up a 7foot steel gate...she would find a way to to climb it/destroy it/defeat it lol...that girl hated being confined.

Bigger is better to a certain point. Before I got Naira I bought a 42 inch tall crate, and a 48 inch pen. I ended up returning the pen because it just seemed impractical.

Maybe depending on the size of your puppy start with something like 24 inches?


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## CharismaticMillie (Jun 16, 2010)

I would say a very minimum of 36 inches high.


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## lily cd re (Jul 23, 2012)

I used a 36 inch ex pen for Lily and Peeves.


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## ArreauStandardPoodle (Sep 1, 2009)

We use a 42" x pen


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## itzmeigh (Apr 28, 2014)

I got Hazel a 42 inch pen because it was on sale for less then the 36 inch. For a few weeks I thought it was going to be overkill but before I knew it Hazel could stand up and look over the top. Hazel is almost 6 months old. She is a small standard, currently she's about 20 inches. 

I'm sure she would be just fine in a 36 inch pen but I'm glad I have the 42. 

(I just looked back at the one I ordered, the 42" is $57.22 and the 36" is $51.75 so it might not have been cheaper, maybe it was only about $6 more.)


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## AngelAviary (Aug 12, 2014)

I also second the min. of 36". My Stella could clear a 24" gate by over a foot by the time she was 10 months old. If she did not want to be confined, over she went. Then as you went to holler at her and put her back in the kitchen, she would jump back over it herself and then look at you like "what? Im back in ok?" She is 24" tall. My Border Collie would never even try to jump the gate, even though she could very easily, she would never challenge a command to stay put.


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## JJane (Dec 26, 2014)

I appreciate all your comments. :blush: I should have also asked if there is a particular brand of ex pen you prefer over another? This will be for indoor use.


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## SusanG (Aug 8, 2009)

I have a 24" I used for my mini, which worked out well. But then, she is a very calm and cooperative girl. I now have another mini and ordered the same brand of pen, but a 36" so I can connect them for a dog exercise pen outside. I like the 36" better, but its hard for me to reach over it to pick her up - so be sure you get a pen with a door. Again, it depends on the dog (I have no doubt our new one is going to end up jumping over the 24" part of the pen. I would go with at least a 36" for a standard and hope that it will work as an adult as long as he isn't a jumper or escape artist. The wire pens are really heavy, so the higher they are - the heavier. If you don't plan to move it around, no problem.


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## Axeldog (Aug 29, 2014)

I would get a 36 inch height pen. That size generally has worked for us. however, I did have one spoo pup who was a climber.

When she was about 4 months old, she could literally climb out of the 36 inch pen. We got the next size taller (45 inch approx.?), and she climbed out of that too. Poor little thing didn't like being left alone.


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## georgiapeach (Oct 9, 2009)

The spoo that I just finished fostering, Shakespeare, just sized up my baby gate and sailed right over - from a standstill. I'd recommend the highest one you can afford. They're available up to 48 in. I think. The one we take camping for my little dogs is 36 inches.


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

I think for a Spoo, 36" or more. I wouldn't use a 24" even for my toys, except a new one I just ordered for traveling but it has a "lid." lol. It's fabric and a net material...light weight. My metal one is 30" and has a door. (very important) If a Poodle gets it in his mind to jump, they are _very_ capable jumpers! They have these little springs you see, in their pasterns. :act-up:


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## Rusty (Jun 13, 2012)

I'll add my vote for the 36" height. That's what we had for our first spoo puppy and what we'll use again for our second. For the first while, 36" is too high for the puppy to escape, but it's still low enough that I can step over it if I need to (this is more of a consideration for when puppy transitions from being in the ex-pen to being in the whole kitchen, and the ex-pen becomes a fence between the kitchen and living room/bedroom areas). I'll add the caveat that I'm sure our spoo could easily have jumped over the 36" height after several months, but for some reason he's never figured out that he can do that. We were careful to never reach over the side of the ex-pen to take him out, always opening it up from the side, so he didn't get the idea that going OVER the fence was possible.


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## SusanG (Aug 8, 2009)

I thought, with the two of them now, I would buy several of the pens and link them together so the dogs had some room to run (my yard is impossible to fence in so we need something movable for mowing) Then I saw a bald eagle in a tree in front of my house! So there will be no leaving them alone, even for a minute. At least they can still run around while one of us is standing there with them. As you said, they don't like to be left alone anyway. LOL!


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## mom2Zoe (Jun 17, 2014)

My Toy was exactly 2 lbs when she managed to jump over a 30inch one . I had it downstairs when all of a sudden she was at my feet in the kitchen where I nearly stepped on her. It was very scary!!
I then returned it for the 36 inch one and did not put her back in for months until she forgot that she jumped over it twice.
It depends on the dog. My friend has a huge dog that never once tried to jump over as a puppy.


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## SusanG (Aug 8, 2009)

Wow Zoe's mom! You've got a flying toy poodle! Many of the toys I know of, they are so light and tiny, they can leap twice their height! My 12" mini could jump really high too. But Callie is 14" and she has a sturdier build - she sounds like an elephant when she jumps and can't jump that high. Molly is going to be the same size, I have to wait and see if she becomes a flying (or climbing) mini!


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## mom2Zoe (Jun 17, 2014)

SusanG said:


> Wow Zoe's mom! You've got a flying toy poodle! Many of the toys I know of, they are so light and tiny, they can leap twice their height! My 12" mini could jump really high too. But Callie is 14" and she has a sturdier build - she sounds like an elephant when she jumps and can't jump that high. Molly is going to be the same size, I have to wait and see if she becomes a flying (or climbing) mini!


Ya, she is a flying poodle from day one. When i think about all the pf members that post about not letting their toys on the bed for fear of getting hurt, I just chuckle. I could not keep Zoe from jumping or leaping or zooming around the house. She flies thru the air with grace like she is meant to be doing that. At the beginning I would cringe hoping she would not break anything, now I know at 9 lbs/12 inches she won't break. At two pounds she gave me a heart attack. :afraid::argh:


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## Poodlebeguiled (May 27, 2013)

mom2Zoe said:


> My Toy was exactly 2 lbs when she managed to jump over a 30inch one . I had it downstairs when all of a sudden she was at my feet in the kitchen where I nearly stepped on her. It was very scary!!
> I then returned it for the 36 inch one and did not put her back in for months until she forgot that she jumped over it twice.
> It depends on the dog. My friend has a huge dog that never once tried to jump over as a puppy.


*Holy high-jumping jack rabbit! *

:act-up:


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## Charmed (Aug 4, 2014)

I have been pleased with the 42'' Precision brand for metal ex pens, and I like the Iris commercial grade plastic pen that is 73 by 52 by 39 inches high. I will add that I work with my pups from the very beginning that they are not to put their paws up on the pens... and I have never had one jump out. Wilson has, however, shoved the pen around a bit and sucked things in through the bars. Oh, the Iris pen was a lot bigger than I thought it was going to be... you need a good sized room to put it in.


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