Whining

Question
We've had our puppy for a little over a month now and she keeps whining at night. Before bed time we have been taking her for a walk (30 - 45 min) and taking her for one last bathroom break when we are ready to put her in her pen. Her pen is on tiled (2ft by 3ft) flooring with a pad (just incase of an accident) in our master bath. She has her toys and water bowl in her pen and a warm bed to sleep on, and she still is whining. I've even given her kongs, but as soon as she figures it out she starts up again.

We are loosing sleep and i am running out of ideas.

(also the pen is where we leave her when we are out)

we did try a crate (where we were able to adjust the space), both in the room and out, and she still was whining. I'm not sure if we gave her too much space, but it looked small enough for her to lay down and turn.

(We picked her up at 10 weeks and she still was with her siblings)

Answer
Her sleeping arrangement (the pen) sounds comfortable and humane.  The problem is that you are rewarding the whining; any show of attention (even yelling from the next room) is an indication that her behavior is getting response.  At ten weeks, puppies are in the middle of a fear state; this is a natural part of development.  If a puppy is overly fearful at this time, coupled with removal from siblings and dam and accustomed environment, the puppy will loudly vocalize if left alone at night.  Most people respond as you would expect: they go to the puppy, talk to it to calm it down, sometimes pick it up and cuddle it, etc.  While these responses are perfectly understandable, the dog's fear or anxiety is actually being rewarded and will steadily increase.  If you get out of bed to actually give toys to this puppy to ease her distress, that is a huge reward!  The only way to extinguish this problem is to IGNORE IT.  Since it has been ongoing for a month, this might take several nights (or more).  DO NOT respond to the whining.  If you feel the need to check on her, use a mirror set up so it reflects her without her being able to see you.  You can, of course, move the pen to another area in your home (such as the kitchen); this will at first make the whining worse (since she will no longer be in close proximity to you and will be in a totally new location in your home.)  I prefer you leave it where it is and "bite the bullet" for a few nights.  Use earplugs!