sleeping arrangements?

Hi All
I will be getting my new pup in 5 weeks and 6 days time and am trying to get everything ready for her.
My cav i have already is crate trained.she has a 24" crate in our living room and is put in it when we leave the house (which is not for long) and overnight.
My problem is do i crate the new puppy in a seperate crate???buy a bigger crate?? Am really not sure how to work it.
I was really wanting for my 2 girlies to sleep beside each other.
How does every1 else with 2 or more dogs work it???
Im slightly confused with what to do.Was hoping that once the toilet training is over, that Lucie and the nameless new pup will be ok to have the kitchen area when im out or asleep.But I would rather they were together from day one.For first few weeks im ok to crate puppy in my room and have Lucie upstairs with me too if need be!
Any replies/advice would be great!:razz:
Leesa.:rah:

You should never crate a new puppy or any new dog with an existing dog. Even when they are adults they should never, ever be confined in a closed crate together. Dogs that are best friends still can et in scraps and the results could be deadly if they are packed into a crate together.

Get a separate crate and crate train separately. The fact that your existing dog is trained will help the new little one to learn many different things too. I'd start feeding both dogs *in their crates* or the puppy in the crate, the adult dog outside.

I[d probably not put Lucie in your room just for a few weeks then move her out again. remember you will need to be getting up in the middle of the night for the first couple of weeks probably to take your new puppy out as well.

Generally: never leave two dogs alone together until enough weeks have passed that you are very, very confident they get along together,

Our new puppy Qnotje has her own crate and sleeps in that from night 1.. She never was put in our bedroom either, we left her with the other dogs downstairs.. We gave her a teddybear to sleep with and of course the first days she gave a nice concert when she was crated but now she doesn't even complain anymore.

But we don't put them together yet unless supervised. And Qnotje has a sleeping crate and a day-crate.. She has slept through the night as of day 1 but when we need to go out we put her in a bigger crate so she can play

Good luck

We have two crates... Chesney is in a smaller one until he gets a bit bigger. Right now he sleeps in the crate in our bedroom because he's annoying otherwise and with three kiddos at home I NEED SLEEP. lol!!!

Little puppies can be quite irritating at times, so I would not crate him with your adult dog. They both really need their own space. I always let a new puppy sleep in my bedroom for just a little while, until they stop fretting for their mum & littermates, and until they gain their confidence in their new surroundings. I did crate Beau & Sonny together for a while after Beau grew out of that annoying stage, but only ever at night & within earshot so I would know if they were getting annoyed with each other. Certainly I would never crate two dogs together unsupervised.

What Karlin said.

In addition, you may want to arrange the crates so the dogs can see each other, especially if the puppy cries at night in the beginning. We have found that it sometimes (but not always) helps.

And just to reinforce what Karlin said, please do not put them in a crate together until the new puppy has been at your home for quite some time. And then only under your very careful supervision. We sometimes will crate 2 dogs together when we are traveling, but then they're back to separate crates (we have some collapsible crates) when we reach our destination. We have 2 or 3 that simply can't be trusted with another dog in their crate.

I travel with two in a crate, definitely, as I know all four of mine can be mixed and matched easily in crates with no problems. At night, they'd likely be fine too. When they board, they have the option to go into a large open crate and often all four will pile in together or three and one outside -- but the thing is, the door is always off and situated inside a larger puppy pen, so they can go out if they want, they aren't forced to be in a closed space together.

As Caraline says, adults can get really exasperated by a puppy so not a good idea for that reason alone to crate together. If anything Lucie will probably need a place to go where the new puppy isn't during the day at times - puppies can be a real pest and not all adult dogs care for them when they are small enough to be really annoying. The only one of my four that likes puppies enough to enjoy their company is Lucy, who has had puppies of her own in the past (she loves seeing puppies! ). Some dogs love puppies though. Just a heads up not to feel disappointed if Lucie isn't too thrilled at first as they tend to become friends as the puppy gets older.