Puppy Will only Fall Asleep on Couch
Puppy is 12 weeks old Pitbull/Lab mix rescue and I’ve had him for almost 2 weeks now. He refuses to sleep in his crate unless he falls asleep on the couch and is transferred into his crate while drowsy in mid sleep. And even then it’s hard to get him to settle unless you pet him for multiple minutes, close the crate, and then slowly pull the blanket over the crate while saying “yes” his key word for training learning other commands. I don’t know how to break this habit. Any advice?
If placed straight in crate when not exhausted he whines and barks constantly even if we let him try to whine it out (which is hard to do living in an apartment with neighbors below us and beside). He doesn’t settle in his crate ever during the day even though it is open and we randomly will place treats in there to entice it as a happy place.
Edit: we also allow him a parent scented shirt and a Snuggle Puppy for all sleeping (nap or night), he will eat the snuggle puppy if allowed to see it all day.
When we first began crate training we had his crate in the bedroom and he did not need to fall asleep on couch and we slept on an air mattress on the floor with hands in the crate, and then next night we were able to try again and without hands needed. We then moved his crate to the living room where it has been since the third night and we slept on an air mattress and slowly each night moved it further from the crate until back to bedroom.
Also if he falls asleep on the couch and you try to put him in the crate and he wakes up, game over you have to start all over again because now he’s awake and upset. We’ve even tried giving him a pupsicle to lick and settle in the crate but as soon as you close the crate or leave the room he freaks out even with the lick toy.
Any advice is welcome! Please help, a tired pet parent.