Crate training for separation anxiety

Hi everyone! I need some advice as a first time dog mom. I have a puppy that I’ve had for about 6 months. I’m having a hard time telling if he has separation anxiety, confinement anxiety, or all of the above and could use some opinions as I’m working on crate training him.

When we first got him, he did just fine in his crate and would settle and sleep the majority of the time if we had to leave the house. I work from home so I don’t have to leave him often and typically he would be left alone for max 4 hours on the weekend. He would also sleep in the crate in our bedroom. He has been my little shadow since the week we got him and as he has gotten older he seems to be hating his crate and I can’t tell if it’s being away from me that bothers him or being confined in the crate. So here are some notes and you tell me what you think –

• He sleeps in bed now so no more crate at night
• I have recently started putting him in the crate to nap while I’m in the room and he does fine with that and will settle and sleep
• When I leave him now he will cycle through phases. First barking/whining then he might settle and lay down for a little bit then he’s back up again barking, panting, moving around. He has torn up 2 beds and sometimes will pee but not every time
• If I put a blanket on the crate, he loves it while I’m there but will tear it down when I’m gone
• When I’m home working, he’ll wander the house. Typically he stays in my office with me but sometimes will go lay in our bedroom or on the couch. He also doesn’t mind sitting outside alone.
• If I leave him out to wander while I’m in our garage working out, he will mostly sit by the door and sometimes whine but will quiet down. – We left him free in our bedroom 1 time and watched him on the camera and he seemed even more anxious, pacing back and forth, crying/barking
• He will sometimes choose to just lay in his crate when we’re home
• I give him a frozen Kong in the crate. Sometimes he will eat it, other times he won’t until we get home
• when I get home and let him out of the crate he runs around super excited, jumps and whines (I try to stay neutral when I come in) and then after about 30 seconds of that he’ll typically go get his unfinished Kong

So based on that, do you have any thoughts on if he has separation anxiety or just anxiety with the crate? Do you have any tips?

I have been feeding him in the crate, practicing with him in there and I’ll leave for a few minutes and come back, lots of treats in there, started having him nap again when I’m home, is there anything else I should do? How many times a day should we be practicing?

Ideally I would rather him be able to be left out alone while we’re gone. However, I think it’s important for him to be comfortable in his crate. We live away from our families and when we go home to visit for Christmas for example, we’ll be at my moms which will be unfamiliar to him and I’d like him to have a safe space if we’re all out of the house.

Thanks for reading my long post and I appreciate any advice you may have!