Kennel Training

Question
I picked up my black lab puppy at 6 1/2 weeks old and she is now 8 weeks old.  When I put her into her crate when I leave and when I want her to sleep she whines and barks. I give her a treat each time I put her in there and give her a toy to chew on.  What else can I do, none of this seems to be working, and she has deficated in her cage a couple of times now.

Answer
Don't know if this will work when you leave or not.  At bed time, with a new puppy, I have found lying down in front of the crate like you were going to sleep and speaking softly to it, or singing, until it settles down and goes to sleep works very well.  Follow the pattern, a period of active play, outside to eliminate, and then into the crate.

I have never had what I thought was a problem with puppies deliberately fouling the crate.  I do see many questions like yours where it sounds that way.  

If my method doesn't solve the problem, you could check this link, http://www.webtrail.com/petbehavior/dogthink.html

It is rather lengthy, and I wonder how well tested some of the ideas are.  You will have to scroll down a ways to ''seperation anxiousity