separation anxiety?

Question
hello,

my boyfriend and i recently (2.5 months ago) rescued a now 16 month-old wheaten terrier named seamus.  on teh advice of our vet and the rescue cordinator, we decided to crate train him.  in general, he's been doing well with the crate -- when we leave the house in the morning to go to work, seamus is a dream about going into his crate and letting us leave without a hitch.  he never freaks out or anything like that, and in fact has started going to / into his crate before we even give him the command because he knows when we're leaving.

the problem arises when we put him in his crate at a time that he's not used to being crated.  for example, last night, i got home at around 6:30 p.m. like i usually do, and i walked him immediately like i usually do when i get home.  at around 7 p.m., i then crated him because i was meeting a friend for dinner.  i wasn't gone very long -- i think i got home at 10 p.m. -- and i ran into my neighbor who told me that seamus barked / cried from 7 p.m. until when i got home.

is there anything i can do to help alleviate this?  he generally does not bark for attention, and when he's in the crate and wants to get out, we never let him out until he calms down, so he should know by now that barking does not get him out of the crate.  my neighbors are really quite wonderful about understanding seamus' adjustment to life with us, but we do live in an apartment, and i worry that if we don't do something to remedy the situation, it will only get worse.

let's see what other information i can provide you with: seamus came to us already neutered, so that's taken care of.  he eats twice a day (science diet, nature's best) and gets a couple of treats a day.  when we leave him in the crate, we always leave a light and the radio on for him.  he also sleeps in the crate at night.  i can't think of anything else to tell you about him, so i'll just end here and hope you can give me some insight into what to do for our little guy.

thank you so much for any advice,
~penney


Answer
Hi Penney
Try taking your dog for a LONG walk in the evenings. Walk him until he is tired, tongue hanging out.  Also try tv rather than radio for him, where he can see it, and give him some toys with treats stuffed inside when he's in the crate. And ONLY when he's in the crate. Alternate frequently as they do get tired of the same toys and get bored. Set up some toys he can exercise with in the yard, tether ball on a pole, ropes from low hanging trees , soccer balls, etc. Again, alternate frequently.   
Wheatons are VERY high energy intelligent dogs and they need to express that in some way. He isn't having those needs fulfilled and his behavior will get worse. See if you can take him to a dog park a couple of times a week. More is better!
Cindi