Arik,

Congratulations on your new dog. He is a beautiful boy. Is his name Darwin?

You have received some great advice and are doing a good job already. You are lucky you established a safe place for him to be while you are at work. I feel the laundry room is a very suitable substitute to the crate until you have the crate training completed. Take it slowly and make it all positive. Build the bond and the rest will fall in place.

Has he been left alone at home yet? Or will Monday be the first time? If Monday is the first time, I would practice a couple of calm departures and returns to introduce him to that part of his routine. I'm not sure what your family situation is but from experience I know in my house work/school day mornings can be chaotic, unlike the laid back weekends/vacations. If everyone is on the same page for your return to work on Monday it will be less stressful for you and the pup. Goodluck and keep us posted.

Thanks for all the advice; we have a lot to learn but I feel we're getting a lot of good help.

Here's an update. Darwin stays in the laundry room while we're not here; he doesn't like going in very much, but once inside he doesn't seem to whine and bark. Actually, he's a pretty relaxed dog, except for one issue that I'll post about on the appropriate forum. Once we get home, he's allowed to roam over most of the house, with his leash attached. Most of his time is spent in the living room where the crate is, but he's still very suspicious of it. Sometimes I'll throw a few treats in, or his favourite ball, and he'll go in to get them, and come straight back out. The only real progress is at night after everyone's gone to bed. I turn off the lights and sit quietly in the far corner, and he'll eventually go right inside to eat from his bowl. Actually, this is the only time he'll eat; I tried leaving his food in the crate all day but he doesn't even look at it until night time. Even so, I've never seen him lie down inside, he just eats up and comes out. Until now, I've brought him to the laundry room to sleep, but I think tonight I'll try leaving him and see if anything happens. He prefers to curl up on the cold tile floor rather than lie on the soft blankets in the crate; what can I do to make it more attractive to him?

I'm pretty sure he understands what I want when I say "go crate", because he seems to get all suspicious, but I don't make a big deal of it or correct him for not going. For the moment we're taking it slowly; as long as he doesn't chew any damage to himself or to the house at night then there's no hurry. But it would be nice for him to have a corner of his own where he can curl up, without being afraid of it.

Sounds like you are doing good. I will make the suggestion that for bonding purposes you should tether him to you. Having a leash on is a great thing in the house, but tethering really helps to create a strong bond in a dog. I tether my dogs for a very long time when I get them and my almost 1 year old is still tethered to me 75% of the time and the other 25% follows me everywhere anyways.

Also, change the word used for kennel/crate. Don't use the same word he has a bad association with from being forced in the crate. Have a new word that is 100% possitive. Work on the treat tossing as a specific exercise and introduce the new word as outlined in previous posts.

Good luck!

No sooner had I written those words, and I had the idea to take his blankets out of the crate and put them in his favourite corner of the floor. Sure enough, this morning he was curled up on the blankets. I think what I'll do is put them back in the crate during the day, and every night move them closer and closer, until they're right next to the crate. Then I'll post again and ask what to do next!

An update: it only took about three nights of putting the blanket outside the crate. Last night I put the blankets back inside in the evening and sure enough, he slept inside all night. Even better, he's started resting in there during the day!
Now the difficult part: to try closing it without traumatising him.

Don't close the door yet if that's what is spooking him. First get him used to you just approaching the crate while he's resting in it. Go over, toss a really good treat in, and walk away (without saying anything to him).

I would do this a few times first, you have made good progress and you don't want to go backward!

That was a really insightful trick you thought of.

Well, after a couple of nights when he decided by himself to sleep in the crate, and a few sessions where I closed the door for a few minutes at a time, tonight I'm leaving him in there all night with the door closed. We went for a nice long walk, so he was nice and tired, and just curled up inside. I turned off the lights, closed the door and he didn't seem to mind, so wish us luck!

I just want to say to everyone here (and newbies like me should listen especially) that YOU ARE ABSOLUTELY RIGHT

I wasn't sure at first whether all this crate business was for real, or maybe it was another American fad. But now that it has clicked with Darwin (it only took a few weeks), it's his favourite place. He goes in by himself when he wants a rest, and when I tell him to; something that makes life a lot easier. But best of all, you can see that he feels comfortable and content when he's curled up in there.

So thanks to everyone for insisting that I don't give up!

Arik,
That is GREAT news! Darwin sure looks totally relaxed in that top picture! Our two dogs love their crates - we wouldn't have it any other way.

Congrats Arik! It does look like his crate is the place to be to kick back and zone out for awhile. Love the photo!