[BellaBlue82]

Originally Posted by viviansnickers

Carol, I totally have the same guilt. When Snick 1st came home (he was only 8 weeks old!) we crated him in the laundry room and he was all alone in a new place with strangers (us!) It makes me sick to think I did that to him. He would cry and cry for a solid 3 weeks. Finally I had it, it broke my heart and we brough him in our bedroom and he was SILENT all night.

To the OP, crate training can be GREAT for some pups but was not suitable for our Snickers. He is a puppy mill pup and he just hated crates in general (can you blame him?) So after we decided to get rid of the crate, we usd a small human playpen which was elevated about 1 ft off the ground and he stayed in there while we were at work, it worked so much better. He slept in our bed when he was about 4 months and did have about 2 accidents (gross!) At about 6 months he was fully trained and now will not sleep anywhere but with us.

Dogs want to be with their pack, and the pack is you. If you crate train, please keep the crate in your room by you at night. During the day I would keep the crate where there is some action to watch, (by a window/tv etc.)

Good luck
Snick & Viv

This is great, thank you guys so much (and everyone else who has posted!). So even though my bedroom is upstairs, I'll let her sleep in her crate in my room, and then just move it back downstairs during the day, which is where we spend most of our time.