Hello all, I am new to the forum and for the last couple of days, have been reading lots of threads. You all seem a lovely bunch so thanks for having me.
A bit of background, I have had dogs all my life but never a Cocker and I have not had a puppy in my life since I was about 12 and crating was not a concept I knew about - there was a lot of newspaper involved from what I can remember.
Anyway, I live with my Mum and we lost our last dog in October 2019 at the age of about 15 (he had been a stray and we got him around the age of 2) he was good as gold from the off. I was devastated but knew after a time, I would have another dog in my life.
Fast forward to just under a week ago and we got Stanley, he is beautiful, nearly 9 weeks old and a really good little boy considering his age.
The problem is me and my fear of crating him at night, I have seen such conflicting information on how to start crating but made sure the crate was a very welcoming place and fed and watered Stanley in the crate, he also has cuddly and chew toys in there as well as a scented blanket from his litter- this all makes perfect sense to me.
Then I start to become a little bit baffled with it all. The breeder advised to put him where I intend him to stay, which would be in the utility room downstairs and hindsight tells me he was probably right. Instead I decided to have him in my room for a few nights until he had acclimatised to his surroundings and more importantly, us!
He has a small crate in my room upstairs and a much larger one downstairs and he takes himself in there sometimes but I wouldn't say he loved it. He normally falls asleep out of the crate and then we put him in it which disturbs his sleep. Most of the advice is to leave the door open on the crate but I can't see him ever choosing to sleep in there of his own volition any time soon.
Last night he fell asleep on me and I fell asleep too and I am now starting to worry he is bonding with me much more than Mum and we are going to start having separation issues soon if I don't sort this out.
I suppose I am looking for a bit of advice and moral support because I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and crate him on his own in the utility with the crate closed. I have closed the crate door a couple of times when he is eating or already asleep and he is fine for a few minutes after finishing his food or waking up but it is a different matter if i leave the room and he cries but I don't let it go on for very long before going back (i wait until he is quiet for a second before walking in as I don't want to reinforce the crying).
This is a real ramble and I apologise and if you have got this far, thanks for reading and I hope someone can helpx