13 Week Old Puppy Crate Training

Hi!

I got my puppy (golden retriever) at 8 weeks old and I’ve been trying to crate train her from the day I got her. Put her in the crate the first night and sat next to her until she settled (she whined at first but once she realized she wasn’t going to be alone she layed down).

She’s fine in there when she’s sleeping. I slept on the couch near the crate in the living room so that she could alert me if she needed to potty, and she did just that. I always transferred her in there for naps. Still do, if she’s being bitey and I know she’s tired I put her in there, she whines for a bit, then goes to sleep (I always make sure she potties first).

However, I’m struggling to be able to leave her in the crate when I’m out of the house. She’s fine in there with a lick mat or some sort of enrichment toy, sometimes she won’t even realize I leave.

Once, as soon as she realized I had left (she heard the door open), she stopped her enrichment toy and started barking nonstop. Like literally never stopping. I was hoping she would settle after a bit but I was out at a casual dinner and have a camera on her and she never stopped for a whole hour. Other times she will finish her toy and go right to sleep after. But then as soon as she wakes up and realizes she’s alone she freaks out.

Any tips on how to increase the time? I need to be able to leave the house more without worrying about stressing her out too much. I hear different information from different sources. Some people say she’ll get used to it. Others say she will start thinking of the crate as a scary stressful place.