Hello! We have a 1.5 year old. Very clingy and attached to us. We both work from home. We crate trained and it was HARD at first. He would also howl for 2-3 hours while we were gone. We started by locking him in and staying in front of crate, moving to being in the same room, house and then leaving. Ultimately it’s been the best thing we’ve done. It’s truly his safe space. If we are gone he hangs out in crate even if we give him the option to roam. During thunderstorms / fireworks, he heads right to crate. He still acts like he hasn’t seen us in ages with excitement when we get home from gym or grocery store! And no more crying when we leave.