House Breaking and Potty Training

What is WITH breeders letting pups go so young???  In most states it's ILLEGAL to sell or otherwise transfer ownership of a pup under the age of 8 weeks.  OK, sorry, end of rant.
 
Hi, welcome to idog.
 
Yes, you should be using the smaller crate.  You don't want him to get comfortable with toileting in the crate, and if he can get away from it, he'll potty right there instead of waking you up.
 
with a pup this young, he should be spending a LOT of time in the crate.  He's going to need to pee when he wakes up, after eating, drinking, playing, etc.  You should be taking him outside AT LEAST every hour for now.  the ONLY time he should be "loose" in the house is when you are WITH him, and when he has just pottied.  If he makes a mistake a gentle, unh uh, not there.  wanna go OUTSIDE and go potty??  is all you should be doing.  Keep a towel handy and scoop him up in that and RUN him outside.  Then repeat Go Potty.  Then PRAISE when he does.  This is going to require one heck of a lot of devotion of time and effort, but he'll get it eventually.

well, the lady we bought him from sold one of his brothers to the local veterinarian the day before.... we figured this was a seal of approval. what difficulties are we going to run into getting him a week early? and if i understand you correctly, we're going to have to get up every hour on the hour to let him out at night? this seems to be overdoing it a bit...

No you shouldn't need to get up every hour...they can hold it longer when they are sleeping.  The rule of thumb is one hour for every month of age, PLUS one, so not quite 3 hours now, and if the crate is BESIDE your bed, you'll be able to hear him when he fusses.
 
8 weeks is the minimum.  I prefer to keep my fosters 10-12 weeks.  7 little days doesn't seem like much I know, but in those seven days they learn bite inhibition from their litter mates, they learn to accept discipline from their momma, they learn how to play appropriately, etc.  AND the diffence in bladder control is HUGE.  When my pups leave, rarely before 12 weeks they are pretty well potty trained.  I've also worked with them on individual crate training and leash training.  I consider that to be part of the BREEDERS job......a I'm just a foster mom who tends to get all the ready-to-whelp mommas.

Your puppy is too cute! don't worry I got the same talk from Glenda, but really, listen to her advice, I did and I haven't had an accident since (almost 2 whole days..It works!!) I also wasn't aware that puppies need to stay until at least 8 weeks, or trust me I would of told the breeder a thing or two!! but your puppy is home now so it is up to you now to make sure he learns what he would have staying with momma and siblings... as far as the crate thing goes mine has a very large one (to accomedate his adult size) and I was going to divide it but decided not to, instead what I did was get him a bed big enough for him until a few more months and when I first got him I brought a blanket with me which we rubbed all over the momma, so this blanket is now covering the other part of the crate and you know what? he has not ever done his business inside, he lies down halfway between both the bed and the blanket (face usually on blanket.. likes to smell his momma!), I also have toys all around (he likes to play inside!!), my point to all this is if you can do this now (get a blanket with momma scent) and put it even on the small crate he will probably be less likely to pee/poo in there, plus it will comfort him at night....my Keehlo sleeps through the night good, he will bark if he needs to go outside but otherwise he will sleep right through the night.. Thank goodness for this!!!!
Good luck with the training, and when you run out of patience, get some more!!! LOL...
Andrea.

Eh!  Sorry, I'm my efforts to NOT get on the soapbox about the "breeder" I failed to mention what an absolutely ADORABLE baby you've got there!!