I need to leave my puppy alone for the first time. I’m worried it won’t go well and he will hate his crate afterwards.

Hello everyone!

I am a first time dog owner and I need to leave my 9 week old pit bull puppy alone for roughly 4 hours once per week. I have class from 10:30am – 2pm and there’s no one else home to stay with him. I’ve had him for a week so he hasn’t had to be alone yet and I know that ideally you slowly get them used to be alone. I need some advice please! I don’t want him to hate his crate due to this and I also don’t want him to freak out all on his own. Is there anything I can try to do to make him feel as comfortable as possible and give me some peace of mind?

Thanks for any suggestions.