We just got a 12 week old boxer puppy, Oskar. We got him this last weekend Halloween weekend, and had to start work on Monday so we are crating him while we are away.Here is our scheduals so you all know. Tues Thurs and Fri my husband goes to work at 6, he then lets the dog out to potty. I wake up at 7 and I let him out again. On those days I take my lunch at 12 and I come home and let him out again. My husband gets off at 2:30 and again takes him out, then I get off around 4 15 and I come home and take him out again. Well today when I came home from work I noticed that he had pee peed him his crate. I then figured out that he had probably been going potty becase when I took the blanket out, there was some more pee spots. I don't want him to think it is OK for him to pee in there. He is only crated when we go to work, other than that he is out and sleeps with us at night. I don't want him sleeping in the crate at night, and we do not mind him sleeping with us. Any advise?

How big is the crate? It should be big enough for when he is full grown, but if its too big for him as a puppy he can go to the bathroom in one area of his kennel and sleep in the other. He should be able to stand up turn around and lay down in the kennel. But an old box to occupy part of the kennel so it is a comfortable size for your puppy. If it's a wire crate you can get dividers for it, so it will block off half of the kennel.

Are you sure you will want a full grown boxer sleeping in your bed with you and your husband?

I don't like my dog sleeping on my bed when my boyfriend is over, because my bed becomes too cramped. She it a shepherd cross, but on the smaller size, weighs abouts 50 lbs. When Im sleeping alone she either sleeps in her kennel, on a blanket on my floor or at the foot of my bed. But she always has access to her Kennel, and she enjoys being in there.

But its your own choice. That's just my opinion.

Another thing I forgot. I don't know if he is having accidents while you are sleeping. But I have a new puppy, she's 10 weeks old(her name is Sadie, my other dogs name is Keo). But after a certain time, I don't let her have any food or water. Most of the time about 3 hours before the time I'm going to be in bed. That way she could go the whole night without having to go to the bathroom. When I first got her she was almost 8 weeks, but the first week or so I was woken up by her in the middle of the night and I would take her out and see would pee, mainly because she was really young and couldn't hold it for 6-8 hours. Now she sleeps through the whole night.

Going along with what KSL25 said, if your crate is too big for your puppy right now you could get one of the crates that's adjustable. We got an extra large one for our great dane puppy. They come with a divider so the puppy can only use so much of the crate, then as the puppy gets bigger you move the divider back.