hi i look after my aunts three westies weekdays as she has not been well and cant play with them and take them out as much as she would like. westies are great dogs fun, friendly and cute. all my aunts are vocal (usualy when they want something or see a squirrell) and love attention. the youngest (2) is a nutcase, she has loads of energy and is also very boisterous. i can wrestle with her and throw her around like my rottie where as the oldest (7) is much more lady like and polite. the 5 year old is sort of inbetween bouncyness wise.

sounds like your doing a good job so far training wise and yes its fine to keep him in the living room with everyone else as long as he gets some alone time too. its best to slowly increase the amount of time you spend away from him. so when you do leave him for long periods it wont upset him. if you are really worried about him getting too clingy baby gates are great for keeping him out the room but he can still see and hear you and wont feel left out.

as for the barking when you leave the room thats normal puppy anxiety and if you ignore him he should soon get over it once he understands that you are coming back, but try not to make too much of a fuss about leaving as dogs will pick up on this as a sign you are leaving and will get worked up before you have even left. i have always give my dogs a treat before i leave so they are distracted when i go and associate me leaving with a nice tasty treat. then you leaving becomes a good thing.