Constant barking in crate

Both dogs are crate trained, yet casper has taken to non stop barking when in his during the day if me and the kids are home. I am guessing it is an attention thing because it does only happen when he can see or hear us. Overnight he is fine, and as far as I know is also fine when I'm out at work. I try not to crate him too much when I'm home, but have to crate him for a while after he's been playing with Miley as he pants for ages and the vet has told me to try and keep him from getting to a point of panting if I can as we are not totally sure what caused his temp to spike a couple of months back so have been advised to keep exercise and excitement to a minimum. The last thing I want is for the barking to annoy the neighbours, and it is slowly driving me mad. So what can I do to stop this?

ive never crate trained hve you tried distracting casper with a toy sounds like hes gotten into a bit of a habit . after a couple of minites o distracting with a toy try putting casper back in his crate .Im sure someone will be along with more experience of crate training.

Yup you're spot on with the attention theory. Do you have a cover for the crate ? I know it sounds almost cruel but it will work for quiet times during the day and night and going forward it will be his safe zone where he can get peace n quiet should he want it. Lots of "Craters" use covers.

Well I put a blanket over it..little horror grabs it and pulls it into the crate then sits on it to bark!

Does he have anything to keep him occupied when he's in the crate? How long honestly would you say he's crated in a day?

When I'm working he's crated all day until I get home at 4pm then he's out with us until around 11pm apart from when he's fed and when I need to seperate the two dogs. When Im not working he's crated when Im out of the house and as above when fed or needing to calm a little. But the times in the crate has increased this week because I've been waiting for him to stop barking before letting him back out as I'm worried to do so when he barks will make him think he's being rewarded for the barking. He has toys in there and some rawhide chews which he loves.