Why I Finally Bought a Dog Playpen

The first time I clipped Biscuit to a tie-out cable beside our motorhome, I thought I had solved the problem. She could sniff, I could read, Dean could fiddle with the awning. Ten minutes later the cable had wrapped around one leg of the picnic table, then the other, and Biscuit stood there looking at me like I had arranged the whole thing.

We are not full-timers. Dean and I are 66 and 64, retired, and we take our used 25-foot Class C out about six trips a year, mostly to state parks and private RV parks in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and New Mexico. Biscuit is our 7-year-old beagle mix, about 22 pounds. She is calm. She is not a jumper. That did not make the cable any less of a nuisance.

What I wanted was simple: a place beside the RV door where she could lie in the shade, watch the campground, and not be underfoot while we cooked or sat in camp chairs. I looked at wireless dog fences first. Then I talked to a woman two sites over who had an FXW Rollick set up for two small dogs. She said the panels came apart and went into her storage bay. That was the part that got my attention.

We bought the FXW Rollick dog playpen about two years ago. The one we have is 24 inches tall with 8 panels. FXW lists it as square, 46.5 inches long by 46.5 inches wide by 23.6 inches high, and 23.8 pounds. I did not measure it against Biscuit with a ruler. I watched her walk around it once and settle on her mat. She has never jumped it, and she has never pushed a panel out of place.

Now it lives in the outside storage bay when we travel. At camp, I set it up beside the door, on grass if the site has grass, on the outdoor mat if the site is gravel. Biscuit is always supervised in it. That last sentence matters more than any feature on the listing.

Eight panels, 24 inches tall, 23.8 pounds. It packs away, and it rides in the storage bay beside the leveling blocks.

Setup is not a project. I pull the pen from the bay, put the panels together, and set the door where I want it. FXW says assembly takes no more than 5 minutes. That is close to my experience, though I am slow and careful and I check the latch twice. The door has a gravity-actioned locking mechanism. I lift, swing, set it, and then I test it with my hand before Biscuit goes in.

At 23.8 pounds, it is not a featherweight. I can move it myself, but I feel it when I lift it from the storage bay to the ground. Dean can move it with one hand. I cannot. That is the honest trade. The weight is part of why I do not worry about it shifting when Biscuit leans against a panel. It is also why I do not carry it to the beach or the trailhead. It stays at the campsite, and that is fine by me. I have carried it from the bay to the far side of the RV once, and I did not enjoy it. Now I set it up close to the door.

The pen is for sitting outside, not for leaving her alone all day. When we walk, she comes. When we drive to the dump station, she comes. When we go inside for lunch, she comes. The pen gives her a boundary while we are nearby. It does not give me permission to disappear. I think that is the right way to use it, and I think any pen is the wrong tool if you use it the other way.

I looked at wireless fences. I did not want to train a 7-year-old dog to a new boundary at every campsite, and I did not want to wonder about batteries. The pen is simpler. It is there when we arrive, and it comes down when we leave. It is not invisible, and that is the point. Biscuit can see the panels. I can see her.

What it is not: it is not a fence for a jumper. FXW lists the dog breed size as small. Biscuit is 22 pounds and calm. If your dog clears 24 inches without thinking about it, this is the wrong tool. If your dog pushes hard on panels, watch that dog. I am telling you what worked for a 22-pound beagle mix who mostly wants to lie in the sun.

What I'd Tell You If We Were Sitting at My Kitchen Table

If we were sitting at my kitchen table, I would tell you to think about the dog first, not the campsite. Biscuit is calm, 22 pounds, 7 years old. If your dog is a jumper, a climber, or a chewer, ask more questions than I did. I would tell you to set the pen up at home before your first trip. Do it in the driveway on a Saturday morning, not at 5:30 in the evening with mosquitoes and a hungry husband. I would tell you to check the latch every single time. I would tell you the pen is not a babysitter. And I would tell you to measure your storage bay. 23.8 pounds is easy enough for me, but it is not nothing, and the pen needs a home when it is not out.