Crate training on a budget: Cocker Spaniel cross

Crate training works best when the crate genuinely feels like a safe, comfortable place to your dog — not a punishment or an afterthought. The right size and setup matter more than most people expect, and so does how you introduce it. You've mentioned you're borrowing a crate and need bedding on a tight budget, which is completely workable — the bedding is actually one of the most important parts. To point you in the right direction: what breed mix is involved in the cross, roughly how big is your pup now, and are you starting crate training fresh or has the dog already had any bad experiences with the crate?

That's a good position to be in — starting fresh with no bad associations means you have every advantage. At five months a Cocker cross will be roughly medium-small, so a standard medium crate is likely what you've borrowed. The one thing I'd ask before recommending bedding: does she chew? Some pups at this age will destroy anything soft in the crate, especially in the early weeks when they're still settling. If she's a chewer, soft bedding can actually become a hazard.

Perfect — a calm, snuggly dog is exactly who benefits most from good soft bedding, because the comfort itself becomes part of why the crate feels safe. For your situation I'd recommend the Petface Paw Print Mattress. It's a simple, washable foam-filled mat that comes in sizes to fit standard medium crates, it's consistently under £10, and it does the job properly — it's not so thin it feels like nothing, but it's not so plush it's a nightmare to dry after washing. For a dog you're introducing to a crate from scratch, something that smells familiar quickly and washes easily is exactly what you need. Put an old t-shirt of yours on top for the first week and she'll take to it fast.

It's worth checking. The rule is simple: she should be able to stand up without hunching, turn around comfortably, and lie stretched out. If the crate is significantly bigger than that, you'd ideally block part of it off with a divider or a cardboard box wedged inside — too much space and some dogs will toilet at one end and sleep at the other, which makes training harder. If it's roughly right for her current size, you're fine. Don't worry about growing into it just yet; at five months you can reassess in a couple of months.

You're in good shape. Borrow the crate, get the mat, put something that smells of you in there, and let her explore it with the door open for the first few days before you start closing it. No rushing. Cocker crosses tend to be people-oriented and respond well to positive association — treats tossed inside, meals fed near the door, that sort of thing. You don't need to spend more than that to get this right.