New 1 year old dog, problems at night

Question
Hello.  We recently (1 week) adopted a dog from the humane society.  She is a total sweetheart, but she really doesn't like be left alone.  We when are home, she follows us all over the house.
We are trying to crate train her, she is a stray and 1 year old.  It is working in terms of getting her housebroken, but we are having some seperation anxiety issues with her.  She pretty much enters the crate on command for me, but she whines and whines throughout the night.  She whines at first when we put in her for anywhere from 15 to 60 mins, then she usually starts up again in the middle of the night, and again just before we wake up to let her out.  We try not to acknowledge the whining, we are succeeding for the most part, but it is making it difficult to sleep.  In the morning she won't stop whining even when we are nearby, so sometimes we have not choice to let her out while she is whining so we can let her out to go to the bathroom.
Any suggestions?

Answer
Hi Jon;
first let me say, I HATE those crates, and I personally would never keep a dog in one on a regular basis.
They are safer for a dog to be in when traveling, as in case of a crash, the dog is more confined and not likely to become a stray bullet flying around and should not be hurt much, and for using as a time out place for punishment.
People who say that dogs learn to love their crates and will go in there by themselves, because it is "their den" are deluding themselves.
The dogs resign themselves to a necessary evil. They will go in there when the door is open, and lie down, just like they will go an lie down in a small pen thaey hate to be put in, because they have beentrained to do it, and don't have a choice.
I take it back, there is one other thing I used a crate for. a small dog and her litter we took in. I put her in a crate for a large dog, but did not close the gate.
We made the nice bed in it, and put her in with her puppies. It helped her because until the puppies were big enough to walk good and climb out, it kept them from crawling all over the room, and corraled them for her. the wire gate was taken off, until the puppies got big enough to get out, and she whined one night because they were running all over, so we helped her round them up, and put them in the crate, and put the door on. She could lie down then and get some sleep. when she wanted out, she would beark once, and we would let her out, she showed us she wanted those kids closed up in there while she went out to do her business or eat.
It was easy to change the puppies' bed several times in the daytime and when the puppies were in the house, she would get them in the crate and bark for us to come close them in. that was one rambunctious litter, and they ran her ragged.LOl
We kept her and found homes for the puppies, and put the crate back in the storage room.
Your dog is lonely, and feels like she is in prison in that crate.
The crate for the dog is like a locked room for kids you don't want to bother with, to me.
Or like the parent that puts the kids in front of a tv set for their bedtime story.
Not really a family member.
Mine are taught to go outside, and have a doggy door to go out when we are asleep.
they have beds beside family members' beds, because they are family members.
Ours are allowed to sleep on the beds if they choose. Not all people want their dog in their bed, but the dog should at least be where they can be near a family member in the night if they get scared or lonely.
In one week,  this dog still does not have a sense of security, and needs reassuring.
when we take a stray to foster ( we foster a lot of dogs), it sleeps where we can reach down and touch it, or at least a hand can be hung down so they can touch it and know they are not alone and are safe.
To expect the dog to get to where it will stay the night in the crate without whining , you may have to wait this out for weeks, or even longer. The dog feels insecure.
Is the crate at least in your bedroom, where they dog can hear you breathing etc, so she knows she is not alone?
That is all I can suggest.
As I said, I am just not into those crates, so I have no idea hw long it takes to train a dog to one.
I think people who get into these "new" methids are like the parents who raised the children by Dr. spock's book.
they raised a lot of mal-adjusted children.
Artificial prenting, I called it.
Charlotte