First of all, please understand that crate training is not cruel. In spite of what some people may have told you, breeders and veterinarians recommend using a crate for your dog from a young age. We strongly recommend crate training your puppy from the start. By crate training the puppy, you are protecting your puppy from potential deadly situations. With crate training, you are training your puppy in positive and safe ways. No harm is done to the puppy while it is in the crate for reasonable periods of time.
For thousands of years, dogs in the wild have sought out small “dens,” where they can feel safe and sheltered while resting, caring for puppies, or recovering from an injury or illness. Giving your puppy their own personal bedroom can help them feel more secure.
This method is also extremely effective for house training while you're not keeping a hawk eye on them—dogs won’t want to soil their bed, but will have little issue with sneaking into another room of the house to go if they’re not yet fully trained. We recommend crating your pup until they are trustworthy to be left home alone in the house (usually after 8 month or so).
Please remember that 8 week old puppies need to urinate about every 2 hours, so leaving them in a crate all day is not good for their mind or body. If you are at work for the whole day, look into local doggie daycare providers. Daycare will help your dog socialize with other dogs, and they will be under constant supervision.
Tips for training:
Puppies will go through a chew phase, and we recommend taking your pup's collar off when crating to make sure that they don't have a chance to chew off and ingest their collars.
Feed your pup in their crate. This gets them more comfortable, and is a clear reward for when they go in.
Cut off access to food and water after 6 PM, or about 2 hours before "bed time". While it may seem mean, this helps set your puppy up for success for the night.
No matter how much they cry, don't give in! By letting them out of the crate you are teaching them that if they cry, they will get rewarded by being let out.
Do not leave bedding in the crate with small puppies unattended. They will see the material as something to rip, shred, ingest, and pee on!
Start with a small crate that they can stand up in, but is small enough that they can not choose a back corner to eliminate in. Most larger wire crates come with dividers that you can use to make your big crates smaller, which is a more affordable way to crate train.