[107barney]

Hi from providence. My suggestion is to transition your pup to the crate when you are home with him.

Open the crate and lead him in with a high value reward -- bits of white meat chicken. Say in a very upbeat, happy tone of voice "kennel up" as you lure him in. Once he's in there give him the treat immediately. Do this like 4 times. Lure him in with the treat, once in, give it to him. Just say "good" in a calm tone when he eats the treat. I would work on this twice a day for a couple of days. Once he starts feeling comfortable that he will get some chicken when he goes in there, you can work on keeping him in there using the "WAIT" command.

You first want him to associate that something GREAT (chicken) is going to come when he goes into his crate. Once he knows that, he'll probably start walking over to it on his own. When that happens, you can shut the door and say "Wait". I'd increase the time in there very slowly until you're sure he wont throw a tantrum.

I always ask Teddy to "Kennel Up" while I'm making his dinner because he gets under foot and circles and is too hyper to really master the "stay" command.

Let me know if you make any progress or need some more ideas. I'm not a dog trainer but we've done tons of training and the chicken trick works like a charm!