Glad it's going better!! It sounds like what you are doing is working for him so I would keep doing it. Different methods suit different dogs/owners so don't second guess what works for you.
No idea the size of your pup but we rehomed a 1 year old dog that slept in its old owners bed *rolls eyes* he is now fully crate trained, infact refuses to get out! We made it ultra comfy for him, covered in a blanket, and bought a cat bed like an igloo to sleep inside and another blanket with him and that felt like his own little den. He does spiderman impressions when we try and get him out every morning
Well apparently he weighs 3 kilos! He seems quite a flat out sleeper - his bedtime set up is a crate with a plastic dog bed that takes up about 3/4 of the crate, soft bed inside the plastic bed, blanket and teddy. He slept last night essentially spread eagled across the top of the whole lot!
The first two spangles I got were 7 weeks and took a while to toilet train. The current youngsters were 9 weeks and pretty much managed toilet training within the week. I don't know if that's because we were better at handling it or because they were older.
I would love to do some pictures but I have been working 8am to 10am the last two days so to be honest I have hardly seen him! My poor OH has been left in charge. Hopefully tomorrow afternoon and Monday I will get some pictures. I have a couple on my Facebook but not sure how to link that from here via my iPhone!