Questions about crate training?

Dogs should be out of their crate more than in it! With a young puppy like you have, she needs to be able to run around during the daytime, within reason. By all means limit the rooms she can go into, and you will need to be able to supervise her, especially with a Lab who will get into everything!! Chewing/destruction is in-bred in this breed lol. I recommend you do get her used to being crated and for this, set it up in the area where you are during the day with a cover across top and sides, apart from the door. Leave the door open and she should start to use the crate as any other dog bed. Nice soft bedding and toys in there. When you need to get other things done around the house and don't want her underfoot, or go out (for no longer than 2 hours to start with), then after playing with her to tire her out a bit and getting her out to empty, then is the time to crate her with the door shut. She may complain, but if you have timed it right, she should settle down and have a nap, which is when you get other things done knowing she's safe.

Overnight, I suggest you have her in your room with you alongside your bed. This should reduce the 'I'm all alone' yelling! You will have to take her out at least one during the night for a while as physically she can't hold all night.

No puppy should, overnight apart, be in a crate for longer than 2 hours during the day so her joints, muscles and bone develop correctly. She will need to be taken out every hour to help prevent accidents although there will be some - her accidents are always your accidents however! And the fewer she has, the faster she'll learn not to empty indoors.

Whether you will always need to crate her depends on her, and your training. Mine were crated when we went out (for no longer than 4 hours as an adult, and less when a puppy) until they were around 6 months after which as we rent and I don't want destruction, they were/are confined to the kitchen with a baby-gate across the doorway. I'd suggest that as this is a breed inclined to chew, especially when bored, you may need to at least do the same, if not actually crate although I hope this can be stopped once she's older.

Add - For me, a crate has nothing to do with housetraining but everything to do with safety, and keeping a youngster particularly, out of mischief. They are also invaluable for recovering surgery patients, and for the car. So if you can get her used to being in there, so much the better.

Have her out of the crate most of the time when you're at home, so that you have lots of time to bond. Put her in the crate to sleep, when you're eating (it will keep her from trying to beg scraps at the table), and when you're doing things like vacuuming (as the vacuum cleaner is pretty scary to most puppies, if she's already in her safe place when you get it out, she won't flip out as much) or doing something where you can't devote most of your attention to keeping an eye on her.

There's no reason to stop crating a dog. Dogs that are properly crate trained find their crates comforting. If you want to start letting your dog roam the house when you're not there, wait until she's housebroken, and has mastered basic training (like, learning to not jump on the furniture), and is past the 'chew on everything' phase of teething. My dog has access to the house, but seems to prefer to spend time in his crate while my husband and I are at work - we leave his crate in the livingroom, but removed the door so he can come and go as he wants. When we get home, he's always in the crate. He just likes it.

She should not be in the crate for longer than two hours in the day time.

Give her treats and feed her in the crate so she associates it with nice things, you don't need to shut her in there.