# When to Expand the Crate???



## Bella102410 (Dec 7, 2010)

My puppy (Bella) is about 15 weeks old. My wife and I are crate training her and she is successfully holding it through the day while we are at work without any accidents. Our crate has a divider and Bella is only using about 1/3 of the total space in the available. Since she is making it through the day and night without any problems, is it ok to either expand her living space or even take out the divider all togther? Or should we continue to


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## timmster (Jan 26, 2011)

The divider is mainly in place to keep her from doing her business, and then sleeping on the other side of the crate. The only reason to really expand the crate is when your pup grows bigger.

The crate should be big enough so the dog can stand up tall, stretch, turn around in, and completely sprawl out in. Once he/she is unable to do so, it's time to expand the crate.

Since she is doing so well, (extremely well i might add), you can let her explore other rooms in the house, more freedom etc... When you are completely confident, that your pup won't mess up the new carpet, you might not have to crate during the night. But for now, I suggest doing what you have been doing all along, as it seems to be working well.


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