Curious when you all decided it was time to give your pupp's a little more room in their crates. Larks has only had 1 accident in her crate and that was the very first day we brought her home, over 6 weeks ago now. She has enough room to stand up turn around and lay down comfortably but I feel like she has earned a little more space! I have the divider in the crate now so it's easy to remove and make a bit bigger, I just don't want to do if too soon though and make a problem for myself.
Right away, in that the crate door was open all the time. The crate was in a pen or our gated kitchen. I hate the idea of my puppy stuck in a space so small all he can do is stand up, turn around and lie down.
She is only in the crate to sleep at night and for short periods of time (15-30 minutes) 2-3 times per day. Otherwise the crate door is left open for her to come and go as she pleases. She does go in there to nap sometimes.
We had no divider, but a bed in one half and paper in the other half (then no paper....eaten...replaced with washable vet bed) Door left open from (I think) around 10 months. My memory is dodgy though.
Both Betsy and Charlie were in pens from day one. Charlie had one or two wees overnight at first, Betsy has never had a wee in her pen. When she is in a crate, it's one sized for a Great Dane, because that's what I had (bought when Charlie was injured and I wanted him to have the maximum space possible).
We moved ours into an adult sized crate at 11 weeks, no divider. At 13 weeks we let him sleep in bed with us (I was deadset against this and then ended up being the one to suggest it My words initially were "I don't want a full grown Lab hogging up the bed!" But well, puppy cuddles are irresistable, and I'm looking forward to full sized cuddles too ). He's been VERY realiable since pretty much the get go though, otherwise I wouldn't be ok with this this early.
I won't place blame. Larks slept from 10 pm-6:30 am in the bigger crate with no accident so I think we are fine!
Likewise, around 12 weeks I felt the puppy crate was getting snug and put her in the 36" one without a divider. She hasn't wet it yet. I have a 75-pounder and now a 30-pounder in the bed with me. Good thing it's king-sized! If I ever live with someone again, we'll have to find room.
