Ah I remember these days... ;)
Here are a few things that helped me a lot (in addition to J Hutchison's suggestions):
- If possible, place the crate next to your bed. If this isn't possible, bring your mattress to the crate. It's not forever, just one or two weeks.
- Before putting the dog inside, go outside a bit. Even five minutes will help and tire the puppy just a bit.
- Once back inside, put the puppy into the crate and spend some time next to the crate or close (I used to watch one or two episodes of some TV show about 1m away).
- Then take another short trip outside.
- Go back in, puppy back in crate, and try to sleep next or close to the crate.
- If the puppy starts crying, say something, maybe touch the crate and let it sniff your hand, just don't open the door. (Unless it's a bathroom emergency of course.)
While this sounds tedious, in our case (8-9 weeks old male) the crying stopped almost immediately. He was perfectly fine sitting in there since he saw me outside and knew there's someone.
About one or two weeks later he didn't even mind not seeing me (corner of the bed between me and the crate). If he started to whine a bit, I'd say one or two words and he'd be happy again. At this stage we essentially skipped the "in crate while watching TV" step and he was allowed to sleep next to me in bed, while I watch something.
Another one or two weeks later, I suddenly decided to even skip the last crating. We went outside, I just said "come get in, you're allowed in bed" - he couldn't have understood it as a whole, but he clearly got the idea somehow, so from that day on I no longer needed the crate, he'd just sleep next to me or behind my pillow. (Of course this requires the accessible area to be puppy-safe.)
Few weeks later that was no longer an issue either and he started to sleep on his own at his own picked place atop the staircase (none of us escapes without passing him).
While this sounds tedious (it really can be), it's totally worth the trouble, because you'll save yourself lots of time and trouble later, if you know your dog trusts you and won't ruin your inventory just because he's alone for a few minutes (or outside a crate during the night).
Also, just wanting to mention that, just to be sure:
Never forget dogs are pack animals and especially Huskies have a very strong pack mentality. (Our two boys would literally add pretty much any stranger or other dog to it.) You and your family are part of the pack, maybe even some neighbours. The puppy doesn't want to be alone (natural instinct to be safe etc.), so it will cry for you. While it's perfectly fine to teach the puppy that you won't just come whenever it cries, you should never completely ignore that either.
Also note that "puppy is overactive and doesn't want to stay in crate or sleep" might be an indicator for the puppy indeed not being tired enough. :)
Oh, and one more thing, since we also adopted a young dog (our second… pack mentality and stuff), who was crated most of the day and had growth problems: Not judging you or anything, but please make sure your crate is big enough for your dog to be comfortable. Ideally you could just get a crate that's big enough for an adult husky right away (safes you from buying another later on e.g. for vet visits or in case of any medical problems). It should be around 100-120cm long and 60 cm wide and high, ideally made from durable metal (don't even try to crate a Husky in cloth or plastic).
