My partner and I recently got a puppy (mini bernedoodle) when she was 8 weeks old and started crate training her on day 1. She’s now 10 weeks and able to sleep in the crate overnight (10pm - 6am).
We’ve also done forced crate naps throughout the day. When we put her in, we giver her treats + lick mat, then leave the room and shut the door. She typically barks/whines for ~5-10 mins or so before settling down. Sometimes she’ll nap for 2+ hours, and other times she’ll wake up 1 hour in and start barking/crying. A lot of times she doesn’t need to pee, she just wants to play.
My question is whether we’re doing this right. There’s so much conflicting info out there about the best way to crate train and build a confident/independent dog. We’ll have to return to our office schedules soon and are planning to have a dog sitter come by 3x a day to let her out and play with her for 30 mins at a time. Does this sound reasonable? Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated.