BJ and Crate Training - need some ideas.

With BJ being new to our home and having issues with sharing toys - he likes to steal toys that the other dogs are playing with and they are not too keen on the newbie being so... ballsy lol - as well as just being blind and getting himself stuck in teh house. So we've decided that he will be crate trained. The other dogs in teh house *Yuka and Cookie the German Shepherd* have the run of the place, which means they get on my laptop and sell stuff on Ebay (seriously more stuff in our house disappears, DVDs, CDs, furnature lol).

We're also crating him at night as he does not lay in one spot on teh bed and has tried to fall off several times during the day, so it's just safer all the way around.

Problem is he hates it. Whines for the first 20 minutes at night, my aunt does NOT handle this well and I can't stand whining either lol We're understanding, but if there is ANY way to get him away from it, we'd love to hear ideas. I do know that ignoring him while he whines is a good idea, as if you are to talk to him it gets the reaction he wants which "rewards" bad behavior.

we've only had him at home for a weekend, so he may settle down yet, but if there's anyway to make the transition smoother please share!

What about starting slow: from having full run of the house to being gated in the kitchen/bathroom-you can keep his crate in that area with his bed in it so that he can go into it if he wants. Also, since he has only been with you for a week, he might settle down and sleep in the bed with you after he gets used to his surroundings. And what about putting his bed on your bed so that he knows where to sleep? A big bed may seem uncomfortable to him and if he has his own bed then he always knows where to go. I am a firm beliver in my pugs sleeping with me at night to reinforce the "pack" and bonding. Plus, if one of them gets sick during the night, I want to be there for them. But this comes from a person who has had up to 7 pugs in the bed with them at a time! LOL!

I have only had pugs with limited vision, but not totally blind. We babysat a pug who was blind and we kept a blanket on the bed so that she knew where to sleep and then put it in her xpen with her during the day.

Others who crate their pugs at night will probably have some better suggestions. Also, what about rescue remedy to calm him during the seperation?