12 week old puppy crate/ schedule help!

Hi everyone! I guess I’m having a little trouble with my 12 week old puppy and need advice. I’ve seen plenty of schedules on here but no one quite in the same situation as I am. Any advice is welcome.

I have a 12 week old Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. We are trying to do enforced nap times with the schedule pretty much being up for 1 hour – 1 1/2 hours. Then nap. Rinse and repeat. My significant other works from home, so someone is always around.

Where we are having trouble is she really only sleeps for 30-45 minutes then is up crying and yelping. We try and only let her out when she is relatively calm but we have gotten no luck with getting her not to want out of the crate. Other things to mention, she doesn’t mind her crate at night. She sleeps almost the entire night and doesn’t cry at night when we aren’t around. From camera footage it looks like she wakes up in the middle of the night and drinks water and plays with her favorite bone that squeaks and torments the cat, back to bed. If we stay in the room while she’s in the crate she also freaks out. If she hears anything or anyone during the day she’s awake and just wants to be next to that person. Including the cat.

How do I help her with being better on her own in the crate? I hate to have her yell it out for an entire hour trying to get her to settle. Although, it would really be nice to go out to the grocery store without knowing she’s yelping and crying while we are away. Is the problem the current schedule? Is she too attached to me and my SO that she thinks we’re abandoning her?

I have been playing crate games with her for around 2 weeks and she eats all her meals in her crate.

Thanks!