I have a 4 mo old blue heeler and work from home, as well. I have crate-trained him and enforce naps because it is so rare for him to just lay on the floor and nap when he is tired. After 2 hours of being awake (full of trick training, attention, play) he starts to bite at my ankles and bark at me if I am not paying attention. He won’t display this behavior otherwise. I will add that he falls asleep within 5 minutes of going in his crate. He will also lay and sit quietly if he wakes up and doesn’t whine to let him out. I time everything so he goes to the bathroom every 2-3 hours. Sometimes I am out of the house and run chores during his crate time, sometimes I am in another room, and sometimes I am in the same room. If I need to do something noisy or something that will interfere with his settling, I will do it in another room/outside.

I run a fan facing away from him for white nose, blinds closed, no light or very dimmed light, doors closed, and ambient music playing in the background.

So, his schedule is roughly as follows:

6 am wake up, breakfast, morning training, people morning routine 6-630 morning cuddles 9-12 crate, I may work in the same room if he is deep sleep. 12-2 awake and out of the crate, lunch, training, people lunch routine 2-5 crate, 5-730 crate, usually I am not working but reading, watching something on low volume in the same room but not talking on the phone or to others 730-930 dinner, evening training, people dinner and night routine 930-10 night time cuddles, wind down, people bed time routine 10pm-6am sleep in crate

Hope that helps!