I am deciding what size crate to put my new puppy in that will be here in 3 weeks.
In the past I've always crate trained my puppies, and have YET to meet a pup that does NOT pee or poop in the crate (they are in 6 hours a day when no one is home). I always got a bigger crate though so that I could give them water and a pee pad in there.

They always grew out of this once trained to go outside, but is it really a good idea to buy a crate that has enough room for them to potty or do you find that the smaller the crate the less likely they are to potty in it?

What do you think about using a pen as well? I have a small house so a pen will take up a lot of room but I do want to train this puppy well and heard good things about setting up a pen for puppies.

I prefer the pen setup with a bed on one side and peepad on the other. I think it would be easier than crate to reach into to clean it . A pen can also be configured into either a square or rectangle shape easily which gives you more options for where place the pen. I use this system with my dogs and they seem comfortable and happy with it. I have also had good success house training with this setup.

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Siggy compliments of the talented Jan!

I used the smallest size crate there is along with a pen around it. I personally think it was a great idea. He took to the pee pee pads right away, which were on the other side of the pen (opposite his crate and food area). He never once cried when we put him in there, just goes in and does his thing.