For those of you who use soft-sided crates with your dogs, has anyone ever introduced one to the dog as a puppy? This would be a smallish dog (German Spitz Mittel- think the miniature variety of American Eskimo and you're pretty much right on for size) and in general, her relatives aren't particularly bad about chewing. I'm contemplating using a soft crate just because it's so much easier to move than one more heavy wire crate, and basically training it as a 'go to your mat and stay on it' behavior before ever using it for primary confinment, which should really minimize the scratching and chewing that kills soft sided crates. I know I'll be housebreaking with the pup behind a baby gate for confinment and a potty pad just in case (I'm home every 3-4 hours on 99% of my workdays), so won't need to use the crate for confinment during that, and ... yeah. It just seems like if I could set the pup up from the beginning that you NEVER scratch or chew on your crate, it might be easier to make the transition to a soft-sided crate (by training the correct behavior in the first place.)
Thoughts?