Our 18 week old puppy is crate trained. We used the recommended method of introducing the crate and even on his first night he went in there and slept without crying etc. We now use it closed when we go out and for night time. During the day, he goes in there himself to sleep, and if he's sleeping on the floor in the kitchen and I tell him to go to bed, he does quite happily (he is a little shadow so would rather be on kitchen floor with me than sofa on own - but crate has cushion so is softer for him, hence the command). The only time he cries in crate is if we have put him in there for a particular reason (eg need to clean up something or do something that would make it dangerous for him to be around).
I've been reading the thread on here about the puppy who is really distressed in his crate and its worried me. If we go out, we put him in the crate rather than leave him the run of the kitchen. He never cries when he goes in there and he wags his tail in delight when we come home but never seems distressed. He has never had any toilet accidents in there and he's got the cushion from a dog bed in there as well as vet bedding and he's never destroyed it. Generally, we don't leave him for more than about 20 minutes (school run etc) but on odd occasions, it will be more (eg today, school play, he was on his own for about 2 hours). On the longer occasions, we give him a good walk first and we leave him with a couple of stuffed kongs.
So my question is, am I safe to assume he's not distressed when we leave him. Are some dogs just naturally more chilled in a crate than others? In general, he's an affectionate, sweet natured and laid back puppy (I'm expecting teenage phase to pay be back of course). I have no reason at all to think he's unhappy other than the fact that other puppies seem to find being in a crate upsetting.