Puppy From Inside To Out

[Hunter]

Hi Guys

Everyone was so helpful with my boy when we first got him and all the helpful advice meant he is now successfully going in his crate with no crying at all for up to 3 hours (don't want to leave him in it for more than that).

We have now been trying to move him from inside to outside so that if we need to be away for a bit longer (another hour say) that he can walk around, go pee, etc . We seem to be having a heap of trouble and almost seem to be back to square one.

Here's what we have done. Started leaving him in his crate with door closed - he was fine. Soon as we started with the door open lots of crying and howling and peeing. Did exactly the same as we did when crate training but it seems to be taking so much longer without much improvement. He is now 4 months old, cocker spaniel (English) male. He has heaps of toys, food and water and a big a yard to play in but his crate is in a closed, covered area in a corner as I have seen he tends to favour curling up in a corner. He has treat balls, kongs, chews, etc but he seems to touch nothing until we come back. When we come back same thing, no fuss from us and he doesn't seem to make a big fuss.

As when we crate trained him - I work from home so I am always listening out for trouble and praising, etc as soon as quiet. I really want to start being able to go out and feel comfortable with him being OK on his own - am I asking too much too soon?

Do you think he just prefers being inside - if so - how and when do you make the transition from leaving a dog in his crate to being alone in the house? I am deperate not to ruin all the hard work we both did getting him toilet trained?

Let me know what you all think!