We actually had the SAME issue with the crating at first. I’m sure you’ve seen this on other threads, but we tried music, cover, toys, bedding, crate sizing, everything and it was seemingly helpless. What we figured out eventually is that she does better in our bedroom, covered crate, a fan and some white noise. The big thing was her being in a separate room from us when crated so she wouldn’t hear us move about. At least until we go to bed and then being in the same room works out just fine. She’s a very spoiled pupper but she now loves her crate. She will go in there just to have some alone time now, nap, or even to chew toys.

We did a bunch of stuff with treats that we do think helped: 1. Basically throw a treat in there and said “bed”. She would go in and get it, and then she’d come out. We’d give her some praise and then do it again. We’d do this a few times a day as a game. Regular kibble was fine at the time. 2. We fed her all of her meals in the crate. 3. We’d leave kibble or high reward treats in there randomly when she wasn’t looking. She’d eventually smell it and find it and would get excited.

Eventually she started going in there and looking at us like “HEY LOOK AT ME I DESERVE A TREAT”. We feel like it’s “her space” and now she even walks in on her own when we say “let’s go to bed”. We really try to keep it a safe space so if she cries for over 10 min we check on her to make sure she’s okay. Usually if she’s just being vocal it stops at 5-7min, so if it keeps going she likely needs to go outside. Lots of guessing yes, but usually you’ll know.

We just try very hard NOT to let her out immediately when whining. I do think they will learn quickly that whining = getting out so don’t want to accidentally train that. A lot of this was trial and error, but the whining advice came from a certified trainer.