Trixie has the same size crate/kennel. She stays in it while I am at work (I do go home at lunch time to take her out). I have her food and water bowl in there (I have food available all day even when I am home... and I leave it in the kennel so she doesn't think the kennel is a punishment). I started out with putting a puppy pad and an old towel in there. But she didn't go on it and seemed to think the puppy pad was a fun toy and ripped it apart every time... so now I put a piece of carpet underneath and still have the towel in there for her to lay on. I do give her toys to play with. And I recently got a small kong and stuff it with treats, so she keeps herself busy with trying to get it out while I am gone. She loves the kong, when I prepare it for her, she goes straight to her kennel and sits there waiting.
I don't use the kennel when I am home; my husband does use the kennel when he can't watch her every second (AKA play his playstation
). He says he just doesn't pay attention to her when she cries.
I haven't purposely used the kennel for potty training... During potty training I kept an eye on her ALL the time. When I saw her squat down I clapped my hands together to startle her and interrupt her, I said 'no' and ran outside with her. She hasn't had an accident in 3 weeks... WHOOOOHOOOO!!!!