Help needed with seperation anxiety

Hi, could anyone please give us advise on how best to help us with our 18 month old Westie's seperation anxiety?

Although, we only knew there was a problem when our neighbour informed us of the howling & low crying noise every time we leave him in the house home alone.
Other than this we have no probs with him, and on the occassions we have videod his behaviour whilst we are out, he does only cry/howl for about 20% of the time and is no way distressed when we leave or come home, and then we only try to leave him for short periods (no longer than 2-3 hours when we are at work) He does follow us about the house a lot, but we are trying to gradually leave him in rooms alone and praise him for being good.
We did at first crate him when the problem first arose, then decided he would be better with the run of the downstairs to keep him more occupied along with loads of toys/treats to pass the time, these don't seem to be helping, and now our neighbours are complaining again that the howling is annoying them and it's 'got to stop'......as we explained to them the other day, we are now trying a D.A.P diffuser along with Zylkene as sugessted by the vet, and they need to give us a bit of time and that we do on occassions need to leave him home alone as part of his training or the prob will never be solved.
Have we just got very sensitive neighbours??? (who are home daily, and live in silence)
We have stressed that we are doing all we can, has anyone got any more advice to help please??

When you filmed him how long was he actually barking/howling for?

We have miserable neighbours too, so I can sympathize. They don't work and are at home all day and have twice complained that our dogs bark too much. Seeing as they are rarely left and only bark a 'normal' (at the door, when playing, to be let in etc.) amount and never continuously, they don't have a leg to stand on. Yet apparently it is 'too much' for their elderly relative who visits occasionally, this is despite the fact that their old Jack Russell used to bark constantly and they can play their awful classical music and SING loudly.

I guess without knowing how loud it is for your neighbours, we can't say whether they are being reasonable or not - I have to say, that I wouldn't enjoy a howling do living next to me.

You are doing right by getting him used to spending time alone while you are in the house.

Personally, at least for the time being, if he is only being left for 2-3 hours, I would go back to using the crate - this should encourage him to sleep/relax when you are out (providing he usually likes his crate).

What sort of exercise/mental stimulation does he have before you leave?

When you come and go, do you make a fuss of him? What do you say/do when you are about to leave him? Do you make a big thing of greeting him when you come in?

Even when you are not planning on leaving him, do you have a word or command which you use to tell him to 'chill' (i.e. just to lie down quietly)?

I think you need to go back a few steps. Is it possible for you to arrange things (taking time off work if necessary) so that over the next couple of weeks you can work up by only leaving him for short periods? If you still have to leave him for 2-3 hours while you are working on the problem, it is likely just to undo what you are doing.

Thanks for your replys,, firstly, he's not actually barking when he's left but more a wining and low pitched howl, but I would definatly say he spends most of the time sleeping in his bed....but thats just the times we have filmed him. I do know that our neighbour has exaggerated over the time we have left him for (under 3 hours the other day was 4 hours to him!) so how can wetake his word for it that the noise is that much of a nuisance?

I'm a little unsure about going back to the crate as he seems happier the more room he has...only going by our recordings anyway!

We always try to let him run in the park/garden before leaving him, sometimes a 45 min walk if we have the time, although this is difficult in the mornings when trying to get myself & 2 kids out the door! if not we try to give him as much mental excersise as poss in the mornings, he always has tricks to do for about 10 mins to earn food, followed by time in the garden.

Me & my hubby did at first try the 'ignore the dog' when leaving & coming home, but that soon went out the window with my 2 kids finding it very hard, so we have lapsted at bit on that, but we will start to do that again, see how things go, and we'll try a command for when we want him to lie down.

Thanks for all the advice..we'll try your ideas

can I ask what anyone thinks about Dog Door Flaps...would this be a help if he could get out into the garden when he's home alone (the garden is secure),bearing in mind that when we are in the front garden he wines constantly at us through a gap in the gate. I don't want to upset anymore neighbours though!
Do they take a while fo the dog to get use to???

Personally I'm not a fan of them...I prefer to know that my dogs are safe in the house if I'm not with them - gardens are generally less secure.

Also, there will probably be more sounds etc. in the garden for him to bark at.

Thanks Hali....I did wonder that myself! perhaps not a great idea

Is there a room which is further away from the wall that joins to your neighbour? If your dog was in there they might not hear it so much. I do sympathise...there's nothing worse than moaning neighbours...you can't get away from them!

Thanks....but the only other room is my teenage sons bedroom (or the bathroom!), and we are trying to keep him out of bedrooms because we did start letting him sleep in my daughters room at night because of him getting anxious, I don't think that helped at all, besides.....even a dog would turn his nose up at his room!!

I`d leave the radio on fairly loud and also provide a stuffed kong. It sounds like the neighbours are being a bit demanding TBH.