I would not wish this on anyone.

Just need to vent to people who will understand.

We’ve been working with a CSAT since mid April and my dog has finally gotten to be comfortable alone for 1 hour and some minutes. Suddenly after my senior girl passed away and I took a few days off training because I couldn’t function, he can’t even handle a few minutes. A few small things in the environment changed so I moved them back (gate, etc.) but it’s made no difference. I thought I was okay to leave him for an hour until the dog sitter arrived on Tuesday to make the time she has to watch him shorter, but he shocked me by going back to pacing and vocalizing again basically right away. My senior dog didn’t really interact with him or play but I’m sure he still misses her even though he seems to be normal, playful etc. Idk what the problem is, I’ve heard regressions are normal but seriously as soon as we’ve gotten a full hour to be safe? Gas is nearly 5 dollars I can’t keep paying someone $500/month to watch him for a few measly hours from the time I leave for work until my mom gets home. I only make $2.75 more than what the sitter charges per hour, really don’t know what I would do without my mom. I really wanted to be done with this before a year went by since we started almost right after I got my dog at 6 months old, but so far it’s been almost 6 months of training and I still have to leave in a very specific way, can’t transfer it to other people leaving yet, can’t leave out a different door or leave with anything different. I’ve worked so hard 5-6 days a week training and I feel like I’m completely starting over, he’s visibly struggling to lay down and settle even for 5 minutes again. Me and my mom used to do everything together and now we have to drag him with us and take turns going to do non-dog friendly things while he’s in the car. I can’t stand paying someone to watch him if we do something as a family like he’s a damn infant, he’s a dog. My other dog we brought her home while I was on spring break for a week, then we left her all day while at school and work and she was just… fine?? Rescue dog with troubled past too. This one came from a breeder. I keep telling myself just stick with the method and the trainer, it just takes time, but idk how much longer I can do this some days, especially now it seems our progress has completely gone down the drain. He’s already been on Prozac since before we started training, so March. I used to judge people that bought crates like Impact and forced their dog to deal with being alone, but now I see how difficult it is to deal with this the “right” way. It takes forever, is financially draining, and you better have people to help you. Most people don’t have all that and people aren’t exactly lining up to adopt dogs with severe issues like this, so surrendering to a shelter is not a solution either. I’m lucky enough that I can (barely) manage to help my dog properly. The bastard doesn’t even know how good he’s got it. I feel like giving up.