I agree, but it does take time and patience for some dogs to understand. My basenji, Charlie knows now his crate is his “home”, but from 8 weeks to now at 12 weeks, focused first on making sure he felt safe in it. This meant a Charlie proofed area that ended in his crate if he wanted to be with me while I worked.
We are now introducing away time, but as mentioned, it’s building up from a mere few seconds to hours.
Charlie has taken to digging in 1 spot underneath a cabinet upstairs. I have looked a few times just to see if I have missed something, but agree pretty sure he just has extra energy to spend.
Is there something wrong with Basenji breeders and pups from Texas? We got Charlie from a breeder in Texas as we live in the state, but was curious when I read this.
Also on the snuggle puppy, that worked quite well for Charlie. He snuggles up to Aggie (named the snuggle puppy) and carries her out of the crate sometimes, but overall has taken to the space. We only put him in the crate when he is sleepy, or has fallen asleep elsewhere and we transfer him to get used to the crate as calm time.
Thanks for that I will look into getting Charlie tested, and yes I mispelled his Dads name it is MOJO DEAN BEAN.
As for Charlie, we just finished the registration process and his name is...
Charles X Goes to Eleven
Oh definitely! We have an 8 year old dog (mixed breed rescue who has been a joy) and after my daughter lost a brand new pair of shoes to her, we learned our lesson that anything is fair game. She grew out of it, but I can already see a stubborn streak in Charlie so only time will tell. For now, we have Charlie-proofed spaces (though he makes us aware when we missed puppy proofing).
Thank you all for the great advice. Charlie’s crate is right next to our bed and that definitely helped the past few nights. He does wake up every 2-3 hours (last night it was 6 hours 
), but our biggest challenge now is separation. He wants someone playing with him the entire time he is awake which is ok now, but afraid that will just create issues later.
I am sure he has plenty of relatives across the US as the breeder mentioned some pups were going to OH, MN, and I think LA.
His Dad is Mojo Mean Bean and Mom is Freeman’s Reddy To Go. We are in the process of registering him soon.