New puppy & crate training. We have been putting the puppy in the crate only at night, or when we have to be gone (i think this is mistake number 1). The first night we had 25 minutes of barking. the second night 6 hours. the third night 1 1/2 hours and last night we gave up after 3 hours of barking. My husband has to get sleep for work and I had four kids throwing up. It was just too much. she slept around the house all night and had no accidents (11 weeks old). Is it OK to leave her out at night, if we still crate her when we are gone and then also start crating her when we are here?? The lack of sleep is really wearing on us and my husband was furious last night (at me and the puppy - since I'm the one responsible for her). We try to make sure she is worn out before crating her for the night, I don't use the Kong then. Last night however, I was so busy with the kids she only got about 20 minutes of play time instead of the usual 1-2 hours.