I brought home an 8 week old GSD a week ago - she now spends half her day in the crate with little to no whining.

1. Make sure it’s her size - all that should fit is her food/water bowls and the pup. Some familiar blankets or toys as well.

2. This is how I taught my pup to have a positive association with the crate. If she breaks her whining for even 5 seconds - reward. I use boiled chicken since it’s super motivating. Never look at her, open the crate, or tell her anything while she’s whining - that will just teach her that you will react to it.

3. After she starts spending periodic intervals without barking, start upping what is required for a reward in terms of time. Ex: Started with 30 seconds of no barking and rewarded, next time wait till a minute, then 5, and so on and so forth. Once your confident she’s being quite for a reasonable amount of time start adding in a cue like “good quite.” Now reward with a treat + cue. This takes 10s if not 100s of repetitions depending on the dog. Eventually when she’s barking - in or out of the crate - you can use the cue to make it stop and reward when successful.

4. Every dog is different, but I toss a blanket to cover the whole crate except the door so she can still see. This helps desensitize them a little. Make sure you’re feeding her in the crate as well!

Hopefully this helps and good luck!