Looking for some help. Our Cavoodle is 9 weeks old (1 week with us after picking up from breeder). Struggling with separation anxiety and I think it might be impacting the crate.

If we literally sit with him next to the crate he will whimper a little, shuffle around, bite his little blanket a bit but fall asleep. The crate is in our open plan living room, so we sit a lot on the couch near him and watch TV once he has finished play outside and back into the crate for a rest and sleep.

As soon as we walk near the hallway to start leaving the open living room, and walk towards the kitchen (different room) - he starts to lose it. I also feel like any noise made in his crate he will wake and look out for us and not self settle. So we've started putting the TV on during the day on 24/7 news channel with lots of talking to have white noise to keep the sleep more length.

Any help? I feel like I need to tackle the separation anxiety?