Sarah,
Congrats on your V and welcome.
Personally I would just stick your V back in there and let him cry it out. It should not take too long for him to get used to it.
I can only tell you what worked for us. From day one he slept in his crate, I wouldn't have it any other way.
We picked him up from the breeder and put him in his crate for the 3 hour drive. The odd time we would take him out and he would sleep in my GF's lap.
The first night was a struggle, we all had a slumber party in our living room. Crate door open and myself and my GF on the floor outside the crate. He cried for about an hour. Then we woke him up to go relieve himself. Once we got him back in he cried for 20 minutes.
The next night the crate went in our bedroom, 15 minutes of crying, tops. We would talk to him while he cried, mostly positive reinforcement, just to let him know we were there. Oh and all these times and to this day (he's 5 months old) we cover his crate with a blanket to black it out for him as much as possible.
We keep a fleece blanket in there for him and a non edible nyla bone. We had towels in the crate when he was even younger, but soon discovered he would rip at them while we were at work and eventually he would swallow the towel strands... not good.
Knock on wood he has not even tried to rip up the fleece blanket.
All I can say is you have to have patience for the first while....good luck and keep is posted.
Harry
Congrats on your V and welcome.
Personally I would just stick your V back in there and let him cry it out. It should not take too long for him to get used to it.
I can only tell you what worked for us. From day one he slept in his crate, I wouldn't have it any other way.
We picked him up from the breeder and put him in his crate for the 3 hour drive. The odd time we would take him out and he would sleep in my GF's lap.
The first night was a struggle, we all had a slumber party in our living room. Crate door open and myself and my GF on the floor outside the crate. He cried for about an hour. Then we woke him up to go relieve himself. Once we got him back in he cried for 20 minutes.
The next night the crate went in our bedroom, 15 minutes of crying, tops. We would talk to him while he cried, mostly positive reinforcement, just to let him know we were there. Oh and all these times and to this day (he's 5 months old) we cover his crate with a blanket to black it out for him as much as possible.
We keep a fleece blanket in there for him and a non edible nyla bone. We had towels in the crate when he was even younger, but soon discovered he would rip at them while we were at work and eventually he would swallow the towel strands... not good.
Knock on wood he has not even tried to rip up the fleece blanket.
All I can say is you have to have patience for the first while....good luck and keep is posted.
Harry