the absoulut WORST thing you can do is try to comfort her i know its hard but by doing what you are doing its teaching her that howling is a good thing , try lock her a a bathroom in the dark and just completly ignore her maybe put her in a hour before you put your kids to bed and when shes quiet go in and praise her and give her treat for being a good girl eventually she will learn , any pet trainer/behavoirist will tell you comforting her is bad and t will just lead to a bunch of problems