I just wanted to share something with you that happened to me. I put my 4 month old puppy in her crate which is the 42 inch size. Hung a water bucket in the crate next to the door. I used a clip to fasten it in place. A short time later heard a noise from the dog area. The puppy must have caught her leg in the bucket. She pulled the bucket, clip and all off the wire crate. She caught her front leg in the bucket and tore her biceps tendon tying to get it out. She is okay. But just wanted to give you a heads up. Now I use the smallest bucket and clip it on the crate with the clip that,s attached to the back of the bucket. Much safer.
I have never used a bucket in a crate just for such a reason. With adult dogs, I can obviously just put a bowl, but puppies would have too much fun. I used a big rabbit style Lix-It bottle attached to the outside of the crate. the very readily learn to use it.
I've had my young pups around 7 weeks to 4 months old get their heads and front feet stuck in those stainless steel buckets..usually the handle that is sticking straight up, clipped to our fencing. Now I place the metal handle behind the bucket and attach the handle to the fence but the handle is hanging down. When our pups are in their big kennel run play area, I put down heavy pots filled with water. They don't tip them over cause they are really heavy.
