[GoofyBritt]

My dog is already housebroken, we use peepee pads. But I've had an unusual occurence lately. Bentley is hiding inside of dads recliner (which is unsafe obviously) like every night now. He seems to want to hide and we don't know why. So I brought in the house my old large crate that was for my large cat as I can't get to his see-through crate in the garage, the garage is chock full in the area I need to get to to get the crate.

I am trying to get my timid dog to want to go into the crate and feel safe there. I don't want him in dads chair I want him to go to his crate, eventually. I have a folded up towel in there that is partially hanging out so the door wont close on him in case he is in there. I am putting treats leading up to the towel and on the towel and into the crate but he only goes wont touch the towel with his paws and leans forward to get some of the treats and backs away from it to eat the treat. Now this is just day one here. So I am going to leave the crate there for a few days or so to see if he gets used to it and is more inquisitive. I'm leaving the treats in the crate for him. We did have success with him going nearer to the crate and sticking his head partially inside it, so that's good. But he seems so scared of it.

I sat on the floor with him (which is not an easy thing for me to do lol) and tried to be patient with him. I gently encouraged him by saying "Good boy" and "go get it" in a calm soothing voice. I don't know what else to do. Am I doing this correctly? I've never crate trained a dog before. He is my first dog. What should I be doing?

Thanks!!