6 month old - special concerns?

Crate training approach:

Because Edgrrrrr is a little older, and he's about to be exposed to his new home and life where everything is new to him, I came up with an idea on how I'd like to crate train him on top of the "traditional way" used when they are young...

My goal with crate training is for him to be able to be Den'd when I have to step out a few minutes, or to be crated when we travel in the car to the dog park or what have you...

He can sleep with me in the bed (I used to have a shar-pei and to this day I have a hard time getting to sleep without her snoring in the room) but I'm thinking of using the crate at sleeping time as a crate training comfort thing...

 I'm thinking that I'll put his crate on the bed beside my pillow with the door open at night at first so that he can sleep cozy in his crate right beside me and get positive feelings about his Den.  Then after the crate is firmly established as his Den and he naps in it during the day, etc because he likes it, I'll stop using it on the bed at night.

  Does this make sense or will this confuse him (changing his night time sleeping place)?  I'm just trying to expediate his crate comfort level so that he won't panic when I do have to crate him but at the same time I want him to sleep in the bed, not the crate, in the long run.

This may sound silly to you, but perception is everything.......Edgar would sound less menacing than Edgrrrrr, and where he's a pittie, you don't want others thinking of him in a negative light....pitties have too much to live down to add an extra, unneeded "negative"

His "holding" time should be about 7 hours now.  The rule of thumb is one hour for every month of age, plus one hour.  Some dogs haven't read that particular rule tho, and one who's been in a shelter environment might not have retained the instinct to not soil their den.

Our Thor was almost 5 months old when we brought him home.  He'd never been crated, but he went into a crate for the ride home, with DH sitting next to him, and slept in a crate without a problem that nite, right at the foot of our bed.  But, if your pup resists the idea, then you'll have to desensitize him to the crate by making it the very best place in the world to hang out.  You can start by removing the door and praising him everytime he goes in to explore, tossing really premium treats into the crate...and these should be treats that he ONLY gets in the crate.  I feed in the crates and my dogs have special crate treats and special crate toys that they are ONLY allowed to have in the crate, so crates become much more special that way.

Good luck, thank you for rescuing him, and be sure to post PICTURES as soon as you can!

Congrats on your new addition and good for you for rescuing this pooch!!  The one thing I would tell you that I wish I had been warned of before we rescued was that as much as you are going to want to "make up" for the first 6 months which were likely hard for this poor pup, don't try to make up for anything - start fresh.  I have been told this many times and still catch myself feeling badly for whatever might have happened to him before we go Wesley - but don't feel badly about what was, dogs live in the NOW and you should begin as you mean to continue with your puppy. 
 
Do you know if Edgrrrr is housetrained?  If he is, that is one this that may be different from getting a very young puppy.  Other than that, I would treat him like any new dog entering the home, limit freedom until he earns it and most of all ENJOY!!!