We tried to crate train Bella Mia but it never worked. She would be so terribly upset to be in the crate for any time frame. It got to the point we felt it was doing her harm to be in the crate. We did find the xpen to be sooooo much better. She now has free roam of the house and there are no issues at all with her.
Sherman Tank was crate and xpen trained as a little puppy and now he just uses the xpen when we are away. He doesmt mind it at all. He will sometimes go in the xpen just to take his own time out. We hope to someday allow him free roam of the house also but he is still a puppy 7 months old and gets himself into trouble (like chewing anything made of wood like the coffee table
).