New puppy - OK to sleep outside the crate EVER?

I don't see a problem with letting her take a nap on the lounge when you are there, if you both decide it's ok. Just remember if you let her on the furniture now she will always want to get on the furniture.

I let my Malamute lay on the lounge and have cuddles, it's great in winter he keeps me nice and warm. I too thought it was cute having him curled up asleep along side me. In saying that I do now regret letting him on the furniture especially as I want a new lounge.

You have only had you pup for a short time there will be times that she will have accidents. Just keep up with the house training and take her out every so often to go potty. After she wakes, has something to eat and drink. I took mine out about every 30 minutes then gradually let the time go a little longer.

 
If you decide thats it's ok to have even a place to sleep during the day like a big pillow for her thats fine, that way she is not in the crate all the time. If she chooses to sleep in the crate then just leave the door open when you are home.

Newer studies have shown that allowing a dog to sleep on couches or the bed is fine, but after the age of two months. 
Pups have to urinate after eating, sleeping, drinking, or playing, so if she poops out, I would still take her out to potty before putting her in the crate.

Thanks for the replies. We've been very good about taking her out every couple of hours or even more frequently if we think we need to. We also make sure to take her out after eating, sleeping, and play sessions etc. We are very good about that. It seems as though it's more of a separation anxiety thing. I work a 9-5 job and my gf works overnights (3 a week) as a nurse. We initially thought this was a great combo for a dog, seeing as one of us is usually home and we don't need to leave her in long stretches, but now it almost seems like she is good for one of us and not the other. She was awesome with me yesterday and last night and gave my gf nothing but grief today... including peeing in the crate even though she was letting her out often.

Also, starting yesterday she started doing something I haven't seen before.... when she napped she got very comfortable and it took A LOT to get her to wake up. She just didn't want to wake up and I eventually had to pick her up and place her on her feet on the ground. This happened twice yesterday. Is this normal? We may take her temperature tonight as she felt a little warm. Hopefully it's all in my head.

1) The peeing in the crate thing: How big is the crate? She only needs enough space to stand up and turnaround. If she has enough room to distance herself from it this most likely the cause. Has she had her shots and been to see the vet yet - if not make the appointment ASAP and mention it to them. Of course, it could just be that she is only 3MO and you have only been at the training for a week as well - some dogs seem to pick it up in a day, some (like mine) take longer - especially if they had certain environments at the breeders.
2) the sleepy thing: my 8MO didn't want to get out of bed this morning. I had to pick her up and bring her downstairs. She is just not a morning pup. Keep an eye on her, if she is eating and playing like normal once she is up, I would just chalk it up to a growing pup needing her sleep.
3) Post a pic of her if you can
4) Keep up the good work. Dog ownership only gets more rewarding from here...

thanks very much Presley. It actually turns out that she had a urinary tract infection and we got antibiotics from the vet. So that explains the random accidents and also the sleepiness (I read that it is a symptom). I'm sure it was a lot to change environments and we also changed her food on her. So hopefully she'll continue to pull out of the infection and adjust fine.
 
My pup looks just like yours!
 
[linkhttp://www.worthycausemusic.com/maggie.html]www.worthycausemusic.com/maggie.html[/link]
 
Thanks again!

OMG! How freakin cute! She is so tiny! And those ears! How big will she get?
 
Ok, everyone together now: "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHHHHHHHH - cute"
 
My Presley is a Miniature Bulldog. In the 80's Bulldog breeders used French Bulldogs, Pug's and Boston Terriers to breed out some of the health problems as well as make them a little smaller/agile and energetic. I never thought our's looked like a Frenchie until I saw the pic's of Maggie though - you are sooooo right!  
 
Yeah, that sure would explain the extra sleepyness - her poor little body was putting everything it had into fighting that infection.
 
Ohh, on the food thing, people here have told me to slowly change the food over -start at 1/4 new to 3/4 old for a few days and grandually increase over the course of a week or so. I just went through it with Presley (switching from Science diet puppy to Innova puppy) and BOY did it make a difference. The poor thing was a little poop machine, had bad gas, and the runs somthing fierce. Then I heeded the advice I got here and went to the slow method - boy what a difference. I'm sure it was mroe comfortabel for her too.
 
I guess dogs build up enzimes or whatever they are specifically to break down their food (or the ingrediants in certain foods) and by slowly intorducing the food you allow them to build up what they need. Or at least thats what I was told...
 
In anycase Maggie is absolutely adorable - you must be a proud a pappa.

That's interesting. We switched her TO Science Diet Puppy and she has had pretty bad gas at times and a couple times had runny poop. Interesting. Maybe it's not the right thing for her. The breeder gave us some stuff.. I believe called Foster Smith but you have to send away for it (and we were under the impression that Science Diet was higher quality anyway) so we thought we'd make a change. Maybe well transition her back to it.  Thanks for the tips! She's about 8 lbs right now and I think she'll top off at around 20.

I would do some research on food. I feed Presley SD because well, the vet gave it to us I jsut didn't now. you can google for information or ask people here, they'll direct you to naturapet.com which is wher I started doing research (because of someone on this site) but also I did my own research as well. There is a ton of info out there...
 
The SD didn't make her gasy, it was just switching with out doing it slowly...