[Ohanax3]

Hello again! This is only my second post on this site, but I got so many helpful responses to my first post that I figured I should ask another question before I get my puppy next month.

I've never actually crate trained a dog before. My very first dog was in the crate for like her first two nights with me and then I gave in to her cries and let her sleep on the floor in my room every night. This was never a problem, as she never really gave me any problems ever. My second dog I never tried to crate train so he's used to sleeping in my bed every night. However, because I babied him, he developed separation anxiety. I REALLY do not want my new puppy to get separation anxiety, and I want her to feel more independent than dependent, just because I don't want that whenever I can't take her outside with me somewhere she's feeling stressed and unsettled. So my question is, when I get her, how exactly would I go about crate training her? Would I put the crate in my room and have her sleep there? I already bought her a doggy bed, but I just realized that if she's sleeping in a crate, she won't need it. Do dogs who are crate trained sleep in a crate for the rest of their lives, or do you transition them to a doggy bed at some point? Sorry if these sound like dumb questions but I just want to get everything right with her. I'm really scared of her feeling too dependent on me and developing separation anxiety, and I want to do everything in my power to have that not happen. I want her to be okay if I have to run out to the store or something and can't take her, not cry for the entire time and/or become destructive. I want her to be well rounded. Oh, and also, I plan to weewee pad train her, if that has anything to do with crate training.

Additionally, I've read posts on here mentioning an xpen. I've gathered that she would go in the xpen when being left alone, but would you advise that I put her in there sometimes when I am home with her just to get her used to it? I've never really used one of those either with my previous dogs, but again, I want her to be more independent as to not develop separation anxiety (my biggest fear). This doesn't mean that I'm going to not show her affection or that I'll be ignoring her or anything of the sort. I just would like her to have more boundaries than my previous dogs and have confidence that she is okay even when I'm not with her.

Lastly, (sorry for the super long post. I keep thinking of things that I don't want to make a completely new post for because everything is related here), if you have any advice at all about how to avoid the whole separation anxiety issue, I would GLADLY take any and all advice!

Thank you so much in advance for all of your responses.