New puppy on the way!

Congratulations on the puppy! This is an absolute gorgeous breed, good luck with him/her.
 
About crate training, I highly recommend gtting the pup a full sized crate that will fit him/her when he /she is full grown. If you have problems with peeing in the crate partion it off so the pup only has enough room to lie down.
 
Depending on how old your pup is he should be able to hold it most if not all of the night. Be alert for urgent whining.
 
The pup should be in the crate whenever you are not around to supervise it, thus preventing any accidents. He/she should be taken out every half hour to 45 minutes depending on bladder control.
 
Hope this helps a tiny bit! And remember, the question is not how long shoulh i take him out of the cage, its how long should he be in the cage. Dogs are pack animals and should spend more time with the pack then confined

I think this was my #1 question when I first got my puppy! Nothing I read, no book or online article on crate training, seemed to offer a concrete answer on how often to crate the dog. I hope I can be more helpful than the books were to me....

You will find that there are plenty of opportunities to crate the dog and thus teach him to enjoy the crate, self-soothe, be calm, and develop bladder control. Need to take a shower? Crate the puppy. Want to eat your dinner in peace? Crate the puppy. You think the dog has to potty but you have to find dig up a raincoat from the back of the closet? Crate the puppy for a minute. Anytime you can't keep an eye on the dog, you can crate him - keep the maximum time to his age in months plus one (so, four hours for a three month old dog). Anytime he's out of the crate but you aren't directly interacting or playing with him, leash him to your belt so he can't wander out of sight. This will speed housetraining, foster a close bond, and keep him out of trouble/danger. Another practical way to use the crate is when you know the puppy has to potty (he just woke up from a long nap, for eg) but when you take him out he won't go - crate him for ten or twenty minutes and then try again... this insures no accidents in the house.

Good luck and congrats on your new puppy!

Thanks for the responses.  I'm hoping the crate I have will be big enough for her when fully grown - my brother bought it for his AmStaff so it might end up being just a tad small in a year or so.
 
From what you two have told me I think I'll have a good idea of when/how long to crate her.  I just wanted to ensure that it was done properly - my last dog, a pug, was not house trained very well at all and we had issues with him throughout his entire life.  Gets very frustrating, even though we only had ourselves to blame!
 
Thanks again!

I am glad u found this helpful!
 
I know how hard it is to Not crate train! My first dog, a cockapoo was an absolute terror until his last day with us on house training. Our Golden was also a bit difficult to house train, again because she was never crate trained.
 
My Rough Collie had lots of accidents (my fault) before the crate, but the crate has solved the accident by 98% which is really great because it gives you more time to bond with the dog and less time cleaning up!
 
But for any accidents, water and vinegar work miracles!