Jo, I was thinking about this and I know you said you tried closing him in the basement but his howling put an end to that. Maybe....on a weekend....try it again with both Monte and Gus in the basement, but don't give in to the howling. Then the next night, do the same thing. They will both eventually figure out that the basement is where it's at for the night and they will calm down - hopefully sooner rather than later. Maybe put them both in the basement then take Jonah and go visit your mom for the night.

A quick story as an example, we were having the basement painted so I wanted to lock P & CJ up, but we don't like putting them both in the same bedroom all day because CJ is just a bit too rambunctious for Peanut. So we put CJ in the master bed/bathroom and Peanut got the "guest suite" area. We put a screen door over the hallway door and blocked it so she couldn't get out. At first she struggled against the door wanting out. On the 3rd day I went looking for her to put her in there, couldn't find her anywhere, figured she had figured out what was going on and was in hiding so she didn't have to be "locked up" again. Ended up finding her sleeping on the bed in the guest bedroom! She had figured out that she was going to be locked in whether she liked it or not, so she went to the most comfy spot before I could even lock her in! After the painting was done, after a few mornings she realized the door wasn't going up again and she could go back to her old daytime sleep spot.

I'm sure Monte is not stupid - matter of fact he's probably too smart for his own good like another blackie I once knew - so I think he'll figure it all out quite quickly and calm down and may actually grow to like the basement! A few nights of torture for you might mean long term peace and quiet for you and the rest of your gang.