u/Decent-Issue-8292

Don’t even pretend this this cover isn’t teaaa☕️

Okay… this is going to be quite the over explanation probably but please bear with me and read it because I really do need help and guidance😭🙏

I have a 5 month old German shepherd/pit mix (30lbs) puppy. I went out for dinner and drinks tonight with a friend for approximately 5 hours while he was in the crate (36”)and he criedddddd and howled and barked and bit/pawed at his crate and chomped at his snuggle puppy the entireee time I was gone…

Now here’s why I’m really confused…because he goes in this crate every day for 8hrs during the workweek because I’m a single corporate woman and I have no choice and this is NOT his normal temperament in the crate.
M-F
I leave at 7:30am
he cries for ~20-30 minutes
sleeps until about noon
Cries for about 30 minutes again (occasional howls but no crate chewing)
I come home around 3:30-4 (right around when he starts to get irritable again)
I get home (I give zero reaction, open the crate, take him out the backdoor, let him potty, and THEN love on him)

Now TODAY, it’s Saturday so i slept in until about like 9:00… lol which is probably the latest I’ve ever made him wake up however he was also let outside around midnight the night before. Then, I hung out around the house, let him play/rest with me on the couch until like 2pm when him and I both drove 45mins to my parents (I had a friends graduation party to go to) and I dropped him off to hang out with my parents dogs (whom he nonstop plays with) until 6:30ish when i came to pick him back up and go home. I then fed him, cleaned myself up and left him in the crate again while I went to dinner/drinks for 5 hours and little man LOSTT it…

Please just tell me what I’m doing wrong and how to fix it… I know I may come across terrible for trying to have a bit of a life outside of my dog but I’m genuinely trying everything I can to enrich and placate him when I do. I have intentions to start going on walks with him daily now that he’s fully vaccinated but this past week is the first week he’s been safe to do that…so we’ve only been on a walk twice while I try to figure out a better walk schedule lol.

NOTE** He does not sleep in his crate at night…he sleeps in bed with me (which is my guess on why he gets upset at nighttime in the crate maybe?)
also FYI- he has a snuggle puppy with a heartbeat, a yogurt/peanut butter lick mat, a pro plan beef cheek dental chew, and multiple small freeze dried chicken strip pieces given to him when he first gets into the crate. These are the ONLY times he’s given any of these things. HOWEVER- I’ve also noticed he won’t chew on the dental chew until after I let him back out and he immediately grabs it after pottying then spends the next 30-45 mins chewing on it until it’s gone…

Please help us lol
And if you got to this point in my monologue… bless you and thank you for caring🤍

**** EDIT FOR MORE CLARITY****
I did not go looking for this puppy, I found him near an airport when he was 3months old and chose to save him myself. I did the same with my cat when I found him near my sisters house 5 years ago and I’m a huge proponent of rescuing.

Also, he sleeps in the bed with me at night like I said and he by choice holds his potty from 10pm-6:30am. He never hops off the bed during the night and when he does need to go and I haven’t gotten up yet, he tells me by flipping around or pawing at me to tell me. So I know 8hrs is a very long time to leave him during the day… but he can hold it and already does do this by choice at night time. I also used to leave work at lunch and let him go potty/roam for a bit but it made him have longer fits if he only was out for like 45mins and it started feeling better/more realistic to leave him in the crate until I actually come home at 3:30-4.

Last but not least, I do spend hours a day playing and training him after work so he is not ignored by any means when I am home. I have had him for 2 months, he is 5 months old and he knows sit, down, stay, come, paw, spin, jump, and crawl commands all by mine and his own merits. So outside of his tantrums inside the crate he is very well loved and attended to as far as I’m concerned.