crate training new puppy hepl?!?!?

im gettin a new puppy and i have decided to crate train her but im still a little foggy on it. but my biggest questions is…do you make the puppy sleep inside the crate?? or should i have her sleep somewhere else on the little bed i bought her?? please help and any other details you want to include on crate training would be great!

My dog has major separation anxiety and I’m moving out of my mums house to a new city, can I take him with me?

I moved back into my my mum’s house several years ago due to a combination of going back to school and the fact that my dog has MAJOR separation anxiety. Howling that goes on all day (according at the time to people living in the bottom duplex who were home during the day), and destructive behavior (chewed the carpet at the front door and scratched the door frame to bits. Also my room-mates came and went throughout the day and I think that made things worse.

He is a pound hound and was 7 when I got him. And due to the cruel and neglectful treatment he had before I got him I was unable to crate-train him (please no lectures that this is the only way – some dogs that have suffered severe abuse cannot be crate-trained later in life – I’ve had two different vets who know his background agree).

Things were manageable staying at my mums, although she sabotaged my efforts to treat his separation anxiety (saying it was mean) and I gave up after a while as it was easier (my fault).

Now I am moving and want to take him with me (he’s 15 and very attached to me – likes my mum but is definitely my dog. I’ve found a link on a website about treating Separation Anxiety (http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html) which looks promising but since I am moving to a different city am wondering if moving him would do more harm than good.

My mum has a big house with a big back yard and he has his own couch downstairs that is basically his. I’d be moving into a basement suite or upper floor of a house. I’m trying to find a place that is also home to a working professional so they too wouldn’t be home during the day and wouldn’t be bothered if he did howl at first. I think I would have at most 3-5 days before starting work to start with the separation anxiety therapy described in the link, I’d also get a dog kong to stuff with peanut butter for when I leave. I’d rather not put him on drugs but if they’d help I’d be willing to try (don’t want a zonked out dog, and don’t think he’d like that either).

At his age (which I must say he still acts like a puppy who loves to play), am I being selfish by trying to ‘start all over again’? He is very very attached to me and though he likes other people and plays with children makes sure that he is part of my ‘pack’. (yes that is also the anxiety talking I know that).

I want him with me but if moving and trying to work through this is too much than I have the option of leaving him with my mum.

ps.

I went on VaCa a few years ago for two weeks and left him with my mum. When I came back he had shed most of him manners (sitting when told, would snatch food from your hand, wouldn’t go outside when told, sat anywhere at any time), and it took me a month to get him back in his place. So I’m worried something like that might happen again and I’d be in another city and couldn’t deal with it.

pps.

I’m not putting a perfectly healthy dog to sleep so don’t even suggest it!
Apparently the link I put has expired on that site, here is the new one: http://www.hsus.org/pets/pet_care/our_pets_for_life_program/dog_behavior_tip_sheets/separation_anxiety.html