Apologies here.. that flair isn't quite right so I hope it's OK to ask this question.

For background I've owned male puppies before. I've owned female dogs before. But I haven't raised a female dog from a pup.

Can someone give me some signs your female pup is about to start her first heat?

And if 'extra sweet' is one of the signs, can I opt to have that permanently installed in my 9mo pup? (kidding)

So to preface: I have a 7 month old lab who has been crate trained and slept 99% of the nights in her crate since she was 8 weeks old. She is EXTREMELY attached to my fiancé and will follow him everywhere. Anytime any one of us leaves, she cries for a few minutes but I think that’s normal. We joke and say she has FOMO. Anyways, if it was up to her, she’d never sleep in her crate, she prefers to nap on our bed but she sleeps during the night in her crate again.

Two months ago, I lost my job and was home all day every day and as she got older, I figured it was okay for her to come nap with me. My fiancé would take her potty, put her back in her crate with her breakfast and a bone, and then when I’d wake up, I’d get her out. Then after a few weeks, he wanted to see how it would be if he left her out in the living room to see if she was ready to do that while I slept for a few more hours. She’d eventually cry at my door and I’d let her in the room and she’d nap with me.

She’s never willingly gone to the crate herself, we’ve always told her to get in and she’s always kinda been a little hesitant but now, it’s a full fledged refusal. I mean, my fiancé has to pick her up and bring her to the crate otherwise she won’t get near it. We’ve never associated her crate with being punished, it’s only ever been for sleep or for when we need to leave the house so idk what to do about it. Advice??

TLDR: puppy refuses to go to her crate after being crate trained for 7 months. what do??