Puppy question about crying

Question
Hello,  Thank you for taking the time to answer my questions.  I have an 8 week German Shep pup that I am crate training.  I had the pup for about 5 days now and he is "almost" house trained.  The crate is big enough for the dog to stand up, turn around, and lay down.  I have a Kong toy and I hide some treats in there too.  The dog was never create trained before, so it is new to him.  The problem is at night, he gets very upset and some what aggressive towards the cage.  I  do get up every 4 hours to take him out and when returning to the create I make it a positive experience.  The dog is experiencing separation anxiety at night.  I keep a light on, I put an old shirt in there so he smell my sent. I did not try to have some soft noise on yet.  What more can I do to help the transition
Thank you

Answer
I don't know what you mean by "making it a positive experience" but if you mean that you are talking to him, patting him, etc., you may accidentally be sending the wrong message.  At night, when you take him out to potty, say very little, except maybe "go potty" and when you bring him in, place him in the crate silently, turn the light out and IGNORE any noise that he makes.  He will gradually learn that, at night, you will not be paying any attention to him.  My dogs all know when its dark that there's no point making any noise.