since I got my little bundle of joy, he's slept with us. He's never cried and the only time he's ever been in his crate, is when we tested it out to see how we felt about it. we left him in there for about an hour or two while we went to the store , I think it was. Needless to say he still sleeps with us. during the day, we put baby gates in both enterances of the kitchen and lay his crate inside with the door open. this way if he feels like it he can go lay in it himself. when he sleeps with us we put his dog bed between our pillows and we have an industrial paper clip that we clip to the head board and we clip his leash to it. we only give him enough slack to get to the end of His bed. this way if he gets up or moves in the night we know to let him out.