Help!!

[Lindsey]

I posted yesterday about getting a Sheepadoodle puppy for my dad.
I told him I would keep her until August, work with her on crate training and house training.
I realllllly didn't think it would be that hard. Our Molly doodle was a breeze at both of those trainings.

However, this puppy whines and whines and whines in her crate!!! I don't know what to do at this point. Molly was a much older puppy when we got her (13 weeks old) this little doodle is only right at 8 weeks. So maybe it's because of her age.
I was prepared for her to wake me up in the middle of the night, to go potty, and she does wake me up...but she won't potty. She usually just wants water and then wants to play!
So from 11pm to 7am both nights I've had her, she held her bladder the whole time, but DID wake me up in the middle of the night to play.
She whines and then howls and then whines and then whimpers...it's heart breaking. However, I've always just let a dog whine it out and then they pretty much get over being crated all on their own. Not this little one, she has a set of lungs and can whine for long periods of time! Yikes!!

I've put a blanket in her crate, along with a stuffed animal and a chew toy. I'm wondering if she left her mother too young.

Pleasssssse, if anyone has any tips, please share!!!!

My dad is coming this weekend to visit and I don't want him to get discouraged because she's fussing while in her crate. I know and understand she's a puppy and I keep telling him that, I just don't want him to get frustrated with her, she's so little and I know she will grow out of this phase/stage. I just want her to be comfortable in her crate :-)

[Lynda Kamrath]

I don't know if this might work for you, but with my first doodle puppy I had a playpen with a vibrator built in.  I think it also had a music box that you could wind up.  I would cuddle him and kiss him and tuck him in with his puppy blanket and put on the vibrator.  He went to sleep immediately.  I would get up and carry him out to pee in the middle of the night and put him right back to bed.  Never a problem with this puppy.  I guess I went a little overboard with this vibrating playpen, but it worked for us.

[Jaime and Barley Barker]

I second all of these. I used to put one hard chew toy in the crate, and one plush toy for him to cuddle. I would switch these up from time to time. I also got Barley a giant pig stuffed animal. He can cuddle with it and use it as a pillow. He still adores it. I also tried to make as little noise as possible to avoid waking him up. If I had to get up and use the bathroom, you can bet Barley did too.

[Mimi Linna, Lilly and Lolly]

how is everything going??