Dog ownership so far
We decided on a name: Pixley. Yes, like the town in the Central Valley. Justin remarks on that name every time we drive up the 99. The name seems to fit her - small and sprite-esque. It's harder to settle on a cool "girl" name.
The first night we put her to crate around midnight and she only whined/barked/howled for about a half hour before giving up and going to sleep.
Last night we crated her around 11:30 (after a long, fast walk) and turned down the lights (thank goodness for dimmers). Then Justin and I talked in the kitchen, drank some water, walked around. By the time we were both actually sitting in bed she'd fallen fast asleep. No whining, howling or barking at all that night.
She was up around 5:30 this morning - we waited for her to stop moving around in her crate before coming out and walking her. She fell asleep in my lap after the walk and let me move her into her crate after ten minutes or so. I walked around the house a little and then went back to sleep. She barked at the dump truck this morning and was fully up by 8:30. Another walk and now she's tiring out again.
It seems that the key to getting her to peacefully sleep is really tiring her out. Looks like we'll do a lot of walking and eventually running. A dog is a great reason to get outside - we have a tendency to stay indoors all the time.