Hi there and thanks for the post.
These are some great questions and i will do my best to help.
Crates are great toys to help training. Make sure they are in a quiet, secluded area where your pup can feel comfortable.
It is alright to leave your pup in the crate for 3-4 hours at a time. After that the bladder may not be able to hold on and may not help the training. So it is fine to leave pups in the morning and the afternoon as long as you can get home at lunch time and give your pup a bit of a break.
There is no harm in leaving pups in their for this amount of time as most pups end up sleeping all the time their owners are gone anyway.
As for whether to leave the older dog out. I would leave the other dog out and keep the pup in its crate in a separate wound so it doesn't feel left out.
Make sure though that when you come home that you let the two out as the pup will learn even quicker if he has a good role model to follow.
Good luck and let me know how things go and if you need anymore help.
Todd
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