u/Complete_Coconut760

My husband and I are new to the English Setter community, we just picked up our 11 week old boy Benny last week. We’ve been lucky enough to have some time off from work for a couple weeks while we get him situated in his new home. However when we return to work, there will be 2-3 days a week that we are both gone from about 8-4pm. We do have family nearby that can check in on him midday and a garage with a connected fenced outdoor run for him. Crate training has been a bit of a struggle for him so we are leaning towards not keeping him in his crate for that long.

Any advice or recommendations on how we can set him up best to be left alone for 4 or so hours at a time?

We recently brought home our 11 week old English Setter puppy, Benny, one week ago. For the most part he’s very well behaved other than normal puppy behaviors. We’ve been trying to crate train him since day 1. We feed meals in the crate, give him special treats in the crate, and reward him for staying calm in the crate. He doesn’t naturally put himself in the crate to nap, but if we place him in after he falls asleep he will sleep for another 30-45 min before he gets up to look for us.

At night, we’ve been sleeping next to him while he is in the crate with the door closed. When he can see us he does okay, he will cry/bark maybe every couple hours in the night. We’ve made a conscious effort to not give him attention or let him out when he’s whining.

Last night, my husband slept with him on the couch. He fell asleep at my husband’s feet and slept the whole night without waking up from 11-6:30. He seems to sleep way longer and without panicking when he is not in his crate.

My question is, should we continue trying to crate train and if so what things can we try to get him to sleep through the night in his crate. Or should we let him sleep outside his crate since that’s where he’s been the most content? Any tips are welcome TIA!!