These puppies are growing!
Remember, we used the divider panel that comes with your Crate Couture™ Furniture System to help us with housebreaking while Milly and Bella were so tiny. By keeping their crate space small, it encourages them to wait until they are let out to go to the bathroom. But these gals are growing like weeds and it is time to give them some more space to stretch out! How can you tell when your puppy is ready for a larger crate? First, they need to be doing a good job of holding their waste while in the crate. If you make it too big, they will think it’s ok to use a corner of the crate to eliminate. Second, you may notice they are not sleeping as well at night. Milly and Bella began to backslide a little this week, whining before morning came. Lastly, you may simply notice that it looks a little tight for them! I can’t believe how much they’ve grown – one-half of a crate looked enormous just a few short weeks ago and now they are filling it up. (Take a look at our video: “Time to Expand Crate”.)
We had the divider panels positioned about halfway down the length of the crate. You may move it to about ¾ of the way down the crate, or remove it entirely once you realize it’s time. If your puppy is still having accidents in the crate, you should go a little slower and keep moving the panel back a tad further each week before you double his crate size! After all the work you’ve put into potty training and crate training, the last thing you want to do is jeopardize your efforts by moving too fast.