Our puppies are raised in our home (home environment) and stay in the whelping box in our living room until they can walk properly. However, because they are legally required to stay there until at least 15 weeks old, when they are older, they have their own puppy pen in the room next to ours where they can play and sleep at night. The room where the puppy pen is located is centrally located in the living room, so the puppies can keep an eye on everything. After a week, they are well-accustomed to the puppy pen and are potty-trained. After that, they mostly run around the house and happily climb up the stairs onto our couch. We have an indoor play area for bad weather and an outdoor play area for sunny days.