[IlliniJen]

I'm a cat person. That's Kosmo, my 12 year old Devon Rex in the avatar pic. He has a brudder from another mudder in Oscar, my 11 year old Devon Rex.

I'm going to introduce a dog to the family and I'm either going to (hopefully) be picked as the forever home for a little 15 pound 3 year old French bulldog or I'm going to get a Boston terrier puppy from a local reputable breeder.

If I get chosen to adopt the Frenchie from the FBRN, I'm wondering if Xpens are used with adult dogs of her size. I plan to crate her when I'm away, which isn't often, and let her sleep either in her crate or my bed, but I'm wondering if and when dogs "outgrow" using Xpens. She's pretty much there with housebreaking according to her profile, and I work from home, so she's going to get a set schedule (as will any dog I get). Do people use Xpens in lieu of a baby gated area? Would it be a good idea to get one just to give her a little more room to roam in when I'm away? Or should I just use the crate?

 

[Binkalette]

It depends on the dog.. Some dogs are GREAT in the crate, and some absolutely hate it. My Zoey hates it.. no matter what we would do.. all the crate training techniques and things we did to make the crate a 'good' place didn't work. To this day if she even so much as has to sit next to her crate she will start to drool... When we would leave her in her crate she would freak. We'd come back to her sopping wet, everywhere but her back.. just drenched in drool.. there would be pieces of toenail broken off and laying several feet away from her crate, and her crate (the plastic kind) has chew and scratch marks ingrained on every inch of the inside. So.. yea.. crates aren't for every dog. Zoey is left out to roam the house now when we are gone and she does perfectly. Maggie is still crated.. she doesn't have problems with it.. not yet anyway.. But we only just got her and she's a baby.. so I don't know how she will be when she is older.


You can use an Xpen for adult dogs just fine, just make sure it's tall enough that she won't jump out. We don't leave our dogs in the Xpen when we are gone, but if we just need to contain them for a minute somewhere where we can still see them they go in it. Our Xpen opens up so it can be used as a fence also, so sometimes we use it to fence off the dining room from the living room.. it would take about three baby gates hooked together to do that

 

[IlliniJen]

Thanks for the feedback Bink.

The rescue Frenchie is pretty much crate and housebroken according to her profile, so I'm not too worried. I just won't let her roam when I'm not home and I would have to confine her to a floor of my house if I used a baby gate. I live in a 3-story town home and the second floor is one large loft-like room where I'll keep her crated and it's big enough to fit an Xpen...I was thinking maybe an Xpen would help with doggie-kitty integration in the beginning so it's not WWIII. I'm not too worried about integration as she's fostered with cats and pretty much ignores them. I just have one cat who is...how do I say this...a cuddle slut. If it's warm and offers the mere possibility of a lick, he'll be all over it trying to snuggle. My other cat ignores anything non-human and barely tolerates the other cat harshing his swagger.

I'm sooooooooooo excited to get a dog, though. I loves my cats, but I've done a lot of thinking, research and soul-searching to determine if a dog is my thing, and I'm ready to welcome one into my life. French bulldog or a Boston terrier are the breeds I've determined fit into my lifestyle. I've got a thing for snorting, farting, snoring dogs.

 

[Pai]

French bulldog or a Boston terrier are the breeds I've determined fit into my lifestyle. I've got a thing for snorting, farting, snoring dogs.

lol! Isn't it great how there's a perfect dog for everyone (or is it a perfect person for every dog?)!

 

[Cracker]

I would choose the frenchie over the puppy myself..especially if you are SURE she is cat friendly. Just my 'rescue' genes I guess.

The only thing I would consider with the xpen is that frenchies are BULLDOGS and therefore there is a lot of muscle in that compact body..it would have to be a sturdy xpen so that she doesn't move it all over the open space...lol. Maybe permanently affix the pen itself to a large piece of wood/plywood or something to prevent this from happening...especially if you have nice floors. It can always be removed later on and packed away, but if you are looking long term, I would definitely screw it to the wood.

Off topic:
I LOVE the rex cats. They are like little crushed velvet kitties!

 

[IlliniJen]

I would choose the frenchie over the puppy myself..especially if you are SURE she is cat friendly. Just my 'rescue' genes I guess.

The only thing I would consider with the xpen is that frenchies are BULLDOGS and therefore there is a lot of muscle in that compact body..it would have to be a sturdy xpen so that she doesn't move it all over the open space...lol. Maybe permanently affix the pen itself to a large piece of wood/plywood or something to prevent this from happening...especially if you have nice floors. It can always be removed later on and packed away, but if you are looking long term, I would definitely screw it to the wood.

Off topic:
I LOVE the rex cats. They are like little crushed velvet kitties!

Well, I don't get to "chose" the Frenchie. The French Bulldog Rescue Network has to chose me! I was already declined for one rescue frog, so started looking around for breeders and another rescue frog turned up on FBRN in Texas, so I hunkered down, and spent hours on my application, tweaking and re-tweaking. I wanted to make sure I wrote the best app I could for this particular dog to give myself the best chance. They can get 150 apps for each dog! That's a lot of competition! Can't say I didn't put my all into it! It's now a waiting game. Fingers crossed!

Good advice on the Xpen. It would be on a pine wood floor, which is rather soft, so I don't know if it's the best idea. Especially since the Frenchie I applied for is a velcro dog and won't tolerate being away from her human. I will definitely use one if I don't get chosen and get a BT puppy instead for training.

I'm going to swing by Petsmart tomorrow and start building a shopping list for dog stuff. Cats are so easy. Food and litter and occasionally a toy. Dogs are complicated little critters! When you're doing google searches for best poop scooping methods, you know you're in deep.