Virtually every training expert and anyone who has ever tried it are avid believers in using a dog crate for housebreaking a puppy! It will greatly speed up the training process and reduce the number of indoor accidents ... and keep him out of trouble and danger when you can't keep a close eye on him.
Many new puppies don't want to stay in a crate at first, but would rather be right beside you. Some may cry pitifully. If he does, let him cry for a while if you are sure that he does not have to "potty" and that he is not hungry or in pain. Usually, he will soon fall asleep. It may help at first to put treats in the crate and let him walk in and out. It also comforts him if you sit right outside his crate where he can see you until he falls asleep.
In the beginning, it is a good idea to put the crate in a room where you can hear him, but his fussing the first few nights does not keep you from getting some sleep. The first week or so, he may will really need to go outside once during the night since his regular routine has been interrupted (somewhere between 2-4 AM). It is strongly advised to get up, take him out, praise him, and put him immediately back to bed. To ignore his fussing will result in a messy crate in the morning ... and teach him that it is of no use to try to be neat and clean. I recommend, at first, putting a bath towel in the crate ... it is much easier to launder in the case of an accident than a big blanket or crate cushion. Do not leave food or water in the crate.
Believe it or not, he will actually get to love his crate and will want to sleep in it or run to it when he feels threatened! It is an ideal solution to confining either a puppy or an adult dog when you are not there to keep an eye on him. And when traveling in the car, it is safer to crate him if room allows. The crate comes in handy when staying at a relative's home or in a motel room (some of which require dogs to be crated at night). Last good reason to crate train: if your dog ever gets injured or requires surgery that calls for "bed rest" and no activity, you will have to crate him. This time of stress would be made much worse if the dog was panicked at being confined to a crate; in contrast, a crate-trained dog will be relieved to be able to feel safe and rest on a comfy cushion in his own crate.
In other words, I believe that you are making training and life with your dog much more difficult than necessary if doing so without a crate! If you're buying one, remember to buy one big enough to accommodate the dog when he becomes full grown. They come in molded plastic (like airline crates) or welded wire that fold and carry like a suitcase. If you use a wire crate for a puppy, you may want to drape a blanket over the top to give him a sense of enclosure like a den. Just make sure he doesn't pull part of it into his crate and eat it!
