For Susie being next to you is probably very stimulating. She likes you. You are a huge source of fun for her. I agree that she should have time away from you. When you are distracted that is a good time to put her in a quiet place somewhere else for a while. Maybe you can find someone with an crate they want to get rid of for cheap or free. I would keep several crates in various places.

I have a 4.5 month-old puppy and I have moments of feeling guilty for leaving him in the crate so much but truly I think I feel more guilt that he feels unhappiness about it. I work full time out of the house. My husband potties him and feeds him lunch but I do most of the rest of it. I was having a horrible time gettng to work on time. The problem? I was trying to rush to get ready, fix his breakfast, and tend to my kids and my cats all at the same time. I was trying to give him time out his crate with me in the morning and he was busy trying to chase the cats and the kids while I was trying to mix his food. I kept having to stop what I was doing to deal with his antics. But, I wasn't helping him. So, now I after his potty and walk I just put him back in his crate. He is just as happy (yes, he protested at first) and I am no longer so frustrated and stressed out in the morning. And, I get to work on time!
My point- acknowledge the guilt for what it is and then shelve it and do what you have to for your dog. If you can accept her being in the crate a lot then she will, too.
Keep working on the fetch and the training. Just like human kids she will grow out of this one day. Main thing is to hold onto your sanity until she does.

My reply is a little long but I hope the info is helpful.

I have a just under 6 month old pup myself. He is actually okay in his crate, and then he gets some time outside on his own to explore a bit, but more often, he is either crated, or we play a bit of fetch, interspersed with basic obedience. I have found that in the evenings, he just isn't ready yet, to be calm in the house- and loose. There are just too many interesting things for him to play with/investigate. I crate him in a large metal crate, where he can see us all relaxing, and he is absolutely fine. I think at this age, they need to be able to learn to settle in a crate, and relax, and basically be ignored if they throw a tantrum. As long as you exercise them appropriately for their age (not over doing the length of walks/pounding of joints), you should not feel guilty. Pups at this stage should be leaning toward modeling good adult behavior- that isn't to say that they are adults- just that we need to have restrictions on them, and have them accept them.

 Quote: Kristi Salinas

For Susie being next to you is probably very stimulating. She likes you. You are a huge source of fun for her. I agree that she should have time away from you. When you are distracted that is a good time to put her in a quiet place somewhere else for a while. Maybe you can find someone with an crate they want to get rid of for cheap or free. I would keep several crates in various places.

Doug, I agree with what Kristi says; get one other crate and alter your routine with her.
So far, it seems like she has been determining your schedule, not the other way around. She is much better off in her crate when you have to be working.

I think she's getting pretty good exercise for a 5 month old pup; add a 10 or 15 minute game of fetch in there, if you can. If she doesn't want to fetch, just get her running around outside w/ long line on, of course.

When you come back inside, let her settle in your office with a stuffed kong; once she's done w/ that and getting restless, put her in her other crate in a bedroom or other quiet spot. Let her cry... {I would not encourage her to play with toys in your office. You want her to figure out that 'office'='quiet time'. Toys will not encourage that association.}

Figure out a routine that is more conducive to you getting work done, and stick to it for a week. She will adapt...

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

{I would not encourage her to play with toys in your office. You want her to figure out that 'office'='quiet time'. Toys will not encourage that association.}

GREAT point!!!!!

What great advice you all have given Doug. I love reading the posts on this board.

I find that nothing wears out a puppy as much as playing with other dogs. Does Suzzie have any canine interactions? That might help, and once her "fetch" game is solid, you'll be able to handle her energy.

Swimming is also great for taking the edge off, and good for puppy joints.

 Quote: meredith hamilton

What great advice you all have given Doug. I love reading the posts on this board.

I find that nothing wears out a puppy as much as playing with other dogs. Does Suzzie have any canine interactions? That might help, and once her "fetch" game is solid, you'll be able to handle her energy.

This is very true, but I worry very much about letting puppies play much with other dogs. I want a tight bond on a pup that looks to me for all the fun in its life. I don't want them to look to other dogs first.

Now I raise my pups for competition, so it is even more important. For pet dogs, maybe not so much. After they have a great recall, and I can call them away from playing with a known dog and still get them to engage with me, I will let them play with a buddy.

But you are right, nothing wears them out the same way!

I also love the idea of swimming a pup. We try to make it to the beach weekly to allow time for that! Great idea!

 Quote: JessicaKromer

 Quote: Lynne Barrows

{I would not encourage her to play with toys in your office. You want her to figure out that 'office'='quiet time'. Toys will not encourage that association.}

GREAT point!!!!!

It is a great point!
The buster cube and food saucers can still be great for when you just need a few minutes but don't want to put them in the crate.

Thanks for all the advice. This is a great thread for me! It's too bad there's not more about living with dogs that are 5 months to a year on Ed's puppy DVD. I will look into getting a second crate. In the meantime, here's what I've done. Basically, just crate her much/most of the time. I let her out in my office with a kong or some other recreational bone. When she gets bored of that, I crate her again. BTW, her crate is a wire crate, but I've got a custom fit cover for it. So while she's very close to me, there's no eye contact.

I'm really trying to get better about refilling the kongs as soon as she finishes with one. I freeze them all, so they need some time. I really like being able to just grab one out of the freezer and go. Having those stocked is important. I've got two, maybe I'll get a couple more so I don't have to refill them right away.

I'm really trying to step up my marker training. The behaviors she's been working on she's getting pretty well. I probably should have added some new stuff sooner.

There's not a lot of options for swimming around here. We've got a fairly nice river that's close to the house. However, I'm not sure how to let her swim in a river. It's muddy and I have no idea what's below the surface where. I don't think the depth gets more than a few feet, but I have no idea. It's supposedly clean enough to fish out of and I do see a few doing that; but I never see anyone swimming in it.

I think the point about playing in the office is very good. To her my office is just a room where most of her life is spent. She plays there. We train there. She eats there; sleeps there. It's just her room. I need to re-train her that this is my work area. When she gets fussy, I think it's mainly that she's locked in my office and thinks we should be playing.

So she's definitely not really ready to be out with us when we're having family chill out time in the evenings. With four young kids, we struggle to keep stuff picked up. Suzzie wants to investigate everything. It seems like a good idea to have a crate in the living room so that she can be in there with us, but have her confined to a "safe place". The only danger is that if she starts barking because she's not satisfied with this arrangement, it'll really aggravate my wife. I guess when that happens, just move her to another crate in another room?

 Quote: jennifer lee

If you have carpeting a buster cube is a great toy (they are super noisy on hardwoods), as are those spaceship looking toys that spit food out.

Search shows me this is the Buster FoodCube. Can you get me a url for the "spaceship"?

Here ya go

spaceship