Oh yeah he hasn't gone poop yet! Should I be worried or will he go when he's ready and no need to worry?

 

If you need a break from him (which happens, dont feel bad) or you think he needs a nap, you can put him in the crate. There is nothing wrong with that I dont feel. I did that with Mandalay.

Mandi was also a whiner. Some may tell you to take him to the vet, but if he does not act like he is in pain or something, I'd watch him to make sure he keeps acting ok. Mandalay came from a big family so I think she whined because she was lonely and longed for her brothers and sisters...but I dont know.

 

Watch out! Puppy's go when they want to, be careful. You only had him a day.. You got a lot to go yet, (month's) stay glued..
Good luck and be patient. Adorable pup. They grow fast!

 

He is adorable!

My pup was, and still is at 4 months, a talker! She makes all kinds of noises, at all different times of day. From what I've heard this is very typical of GSD pups.

When my pup was very young, until about 12 weeks, I would crate her at various times throughout the day, when either I needed a break, or she was getting too ramped up and was mouthing a lot, if she didn't go to the bathroom outside to prevent an accident, and a slew of other reasons. The times range could vary from 15 minutes to 2 hours, depending on the situation. Now, at 16 weeks, she likes being in her crate! She goes in on her own at night when she's tired, or sometimes she drags a toy in there and plays in her "den".

It takes a while for some dogs, but I think 99% of them end up really enjoying their crate, and like having a place that's all theirs.

 

Stark is 18 weeks old and is a HUGE WHINNER!

He whins when he is chewing his toys, eating his meals, being cuddled, wanting to be cuddled.. ugh.. Haha..

I think it is a male thing to be honest because none of my other female dogs have done this.. hehe.. jk.

Some dogs just like to "talk" I think... how lucky are we?

 

http://www.wonderpuppy.net/canwehelp/1crate.php

I personally only crate at night (in my bedroom), when I have to leave the house, or if I am doing something that's so involved I can't pay attention to the puppy. Otherwise it's all about me keeping an eye on the pup, that is ALWAYS in the room I am by shutting doors to other rooms and baby gates.

Exercise exercise exercise! Even a young puppy can go visiting friends and their families, and other HEALTHY vetted dogs you friends may have that are good with puppies.

 

Sorry, I only answered part of your post -

For Stark, he is only crated at night and when we are gone. Oh, and when he eats his meals. He is fed a raw diet so it gets messy, the crate is the best spot to feed him because it is an eaiser cleanup for me and I am a total germaphobe!

I have a X-Pen for him (excerise pen) in the house that I use if we are gone so he can play with more room (once he was reliable with a few hours of not going to the bathroom).

Other than that he is out with me - ALWAYS SUPERVISED - I have only had 1 incident with him chewing something and it was MY FAULT. We had spent 10 hours at the beach and he was zonked out on the livingroom floor, I left the room for a quick shower, came back and my air conditioner cord was chewed through. I couldn't get mad because it was my doing.

But if you can leave your pup out with you most of the day, it really is for his benifit.

 

Adorable puppy! Halo is a HUGE whiner. She likes to lay in the hall outside the cat room and whine at her favorite kitty through the gate. I think she's trying to tell Emmy to come out and play!

Since this is the hall close to the door we use to let the dogs outside for potties it can be frustrating since I never know if she needs to go out or she's just talking to Emmy. She's finally starting to use the bells with some consistency if she needs out so I just ignore her if she's whining in the hall. Puppies whine!

 

<span style='font-size: 11pt'>Luke is adorable. How old is he?

We got our pup at 9 weeks of age. We kept him crated when we couldn't watch him and for his naps. Doggie babies need naps also to help them grow.

He got walked often every hour and after eating, drinking and playing. We cut off the water at 7 pm and have been doing this since day one. Sirius is now 6 months old.

In the beginning, we had to get up twice during the night to walk him. He would whine and that's the cue to go for a walkie. Sirius sleeps through the night now and gets us up between 6 - 6:30 AM - don't need an alarm clock. He is it!

His last walk is between 10 - 11 PM

Our pup gets lonely if in the room by himself and will whine. If he's in the crate and I return to the room, unless he needs to go potty, he'll stop whinning. If he keeps whinning, it's time to go out.

We don't make a big deal of our coming/going but our pup will still whine if in the crate, alone in the room and if he's not sleeping. I have found when I've left the house, upon returning, he's not whining. He'll start up when we come in the door. We don't give him attention until the whinning stops. When it does, he gets attention.

Keep paying attention to your pup by listening and observing till you get to know his whinning. At the same time, you don't want to reward whinning. Just keep attending to his needs.

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i got my boy at weeks old. we crated him through out the day.
i would put him in his crate every 2 or 3 hours. then i would sit in the room where he was. sometimes i would live the room and make noise in another room. sometimes i would leave the house.

i only crated him for short periods in the begining.
over night i had him out every 2 hours.

 

Rex is a big whiner too! When we first got him we put him in his crate in our bedroom at night and he was whining almost all night. After the second or third night of whining we decided to try not crate him at night anymore... He was doing great! Woke us up when he needed to go potty and we never used the crate at night ever since. We still have it in our bedroom and he can go in it at night if he wants to but we never close the door. We do close the bedroom door though...

During the day when we're gone he gets crated in a wire crate in our living room. He made a HUGE deal out of it for the first couple of days/even weeks but at some point he stopped crying/whining/barking and just got used to it. We gave him treats as soon as he went in this crate and now, at 4 1/2 months, he would even go in the crate to rest when we are watching TV, etc.

We never crate him when we're at home unless he needs a time-out. He can be wherever he wants to be when we're home, even if we can't supervise him. I used to have him in the bathroom with me in the morning when i got ready for work but now i trust him and he never does anything "bad' when he knows we're in the house... but most of the time he lays in front of the shower and waits until i'm done anyways

I just got tired of running up and down the house to see what he's doing. Most of the time he just lays somewhere and sleeps anyways...
He is also fully housebroken so I'm not worried about him peeing in the house at all. But with a 8 week old puppy I would definitely recommend 24/7 supervision