How to Build Indoor Puppy Enclosures

An indoor puppy enclosure can help the owner in many ways. It can keep your home from being soiled, prevent the puppies from chewing or damaging your possessions, keep them safe from harm, and help give the mother dog a rest. A pen built with PVC is hygienic, lightweight, portable and easy to assemble and disassemble for travel. It is also easily modified -- enlarged or shrunk down -- to accommodate bigger or smaller puppies.

Things You'll Need

  • 15 10-foot PVC pipes, 3/4-inch in diameter (labeled "Schedule 40" thickness)
  • 20 corner connectors, 3/4-inch
  • 40 four-way connectors, 3/4-inch
  • 8 three-way connectors, 3/4-inch
  • 8 caps, 3/4-inch
  • PVC pipe cutter or hacksaw
  • Tape measure
  • Marking pen
  • PVC glue
  • Rubber mallet
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Instructions

    • 1

      Draw a plan of the panels. Measure the space in which the puppy pen will be erected, to help you determine the size.

    • 2

      Cut the pipes to the desired size. To make a square pen just a little bigger than 5-by-5 feet, cut 10 10-foot pipes in half. A PVC pipe cutter works best, but you can use a hacksaw or even a chop saw. Cut 40 connector pieces of pipe to a length of 1 1/4 inches each.

    • 3

      Assemble the bottom layer. Start with two four-way cross couplings. Attach one end of a 5-foot length of pipe horizontally and an elbow coupling opposite it, to make a corner. Join another cross coupling to the corner piece, and insert another length of cut pipe horizontally opposite it. The bottom part of the connector makes a small leg, and you have one corner and two sides at right angles to one another. Join all four corners and two more cut lengths of pipe, to make a square. Place caps on the four "feet" at the bottom.

    • 4

      Insert a 1 1/4 inch connector piece vertically into each open top portion of the cross couplings -- a total of eight per layer. Push cross couplings onto each of these, and build another layer of railing. Continue building layers in the same way, until you are satisfied that the pen is high enough. Replace the four-way couplings with three-way couplings for the top layer.

    • 5

      Place plastic or rubber matting and newspaper on the bottom of the pen, to prevent your home's flooring from becoming soiled.