My boyfriend and I just adopted an 8 week old Husky, a female named Me'Kah. Our roommates that live in the basement adopted Me'Kah's brother. We are having a terrible time crate training the two puppies. We put them in separate crates during the day and they both bark all day long. We have made sure that we spend alone time with our puppies so that they will become attached to us and see us as their "pack leader". Me'Kah sleeps in a puppy bed next to our bed and her brother sleeps downstairs with his owners. We have crated them separately for a week now and it doesn't seem to be helping, as I said they are crying and barking all day long. I think they are feeding off each others' barking and crying and that may be why it doesn't stop. Does anyone have any advice on this topic?

I think you should provide more mental stimulation during play time. Really try to wear the pups out so they go to sleep in the crates. Also, start making them sleep in the crates at night, and correct, then ignore them for howling and make them stay in there and run themselves out of steam. The key is to make them WANT to be in their crates. It should be a place they feel safe and comfortable. Sometimes ignoring them and letting them work through their issue with it, and realize nothing bad is happening to them, is the best method.

Surely at 8 weeks old they're not crated all day? Somebody should be home to spend time with these pups, give them mental stimulation and play with them. They'll definitely not be able to hold in their "business" all day long at that age.

I second the sleeping in crates, my girl loves her crate. She also has toys and a bully stick I only let her have when she's in her crate. She goes in there voluntarily when guests are too loud, or she'll go in and look at me, waiting for her goodies. She does whine when she's awake in her crate and I'm not in sight ( her crate faces my bed), but if I leave on the radio she's fine. I don't actually know if that part is good for her crate training or not, maybe someone can say, but since I live in an apartment, I do what I can to continue living here.
When she falls asleep outside of her crate, I take adorable photos and play with her cute little paws, and she sleeps pretty well through it since she sleeps like a puppy. Eventually I'll lead her to her crate, and as soon as she lays down I leave her to sleep peacefully lol. It may be unconventional, but she knows that if she wants complete peace, she can go to her crate. As it is, Puppy usually prefers to sleep next to mommy, poked and prodded or not lol. But she knows. And if I lead her over to her crate she hops in and passes out, no fuss.
Besides that, tired puppies are good puppies so wear them out well!
Good luck!

If it has only been a week, give it more time. Both mine would do that for the first couple of months. How long are they in the crate during the day? Generally puppies can hold their bladder for 1 hour for every month plus 1. So if they are 2 months they can hold it for about 3 hours, however I crate trained my pup at 2 months old and he was crated for 4 hours in the morning and another 4 hours in the afternoon.

Make the crate a positive place, give them non-destructible toys and some treats to get them in there. Also I would suggest crating them at night until they get used to it. I would crate both of mine until they were about 5 months old at night, and now they sleep in my bed.

Just for comparison, i got my girl at 7 weeks and she cried like a banshee the first week when we crated her. We would only crate for short periods of time and tried to make positive associations with the crate but regardless, she HOWLED like a little demon dog lol. So even if your dogs were by themselves i wouldn't be surprised if they still made a lot of noise. But on the bright side our pup has improved dramatically from that first week and shes now fine with her crate. she will just talk a little sometimes when i first crate her at night. give it time.

Also i agree with K9_Eric about mental stimulation . Make sure they get out during the day and have a chance to play/run around. Give them puzzle toys and special treats in the crate. All of this helped our pup learn to like it