Thanks for moving this thread. Yes, I think we're officially out of the "might have to give him up" section!
It's going pretty well. We had a couple pretty big setbacks last weekend when we left him alone for a couple hours. When mom and I took Riley for his walk, Gunner bent the blinds up again (I'd had a storage ottoman sitting on top of a cedar chest to block his access to the window - he knocked down the storage ottoman to get to it!) and we heard him bark a couple times as we were coming back. He couldn't have been at it for too long, though, because we didn't hear any complaints. Then, when we went to the store, he'd clawed the **** out of the area rugs that I had down to protect the carpet seam and almost had the baby gate knocked completely down by the time we got home.
That was pretty discouraging. He also lunged at a couple other dogs when I had him out - two different occasions - so that was a completely NEW wrinkle. (Think I have that figured out, though. Will post about it in the appropriate section.)
But now this past weekend, he was an angel again. We decided that mom would stay home with Gunner while I took Riley for his walk. We thought that maybe it was just too much for him, still -- getting worked up when we leave to walk Riley, then getting worked up
again when we left a little while later to go shopping. That seemed to help. Seemed to keep him a little calmer. I also started taking Gunner second, instead of taking him first like I'd been doing. I've tried to wear his butt out as best I can right before we leave him alone and I think it's taking just enough of the edge off. I ordered a backpack for him, to burn more energy than I'm able to do just by going for a real brisk walk, so that should help a bit, too.
I also decided to leave the blinds open for him. I told mom that he obviously wants to look out the window (that's why he's trying to move the blinds) so the obvious solution is to let him.
Talked to our vet. We took him off the Clomipramine because it wasn't doing anything, anyway. She doesn't want to try anything stronger just yet and neither do I. The backpack was actually her suggestion. She also suggested one of those DAP plug-in thingies, so we have one of those going now. She suggested putting one of my t-shirts on him when he's left alone, too, though I haven't tried that yet. She said to keep doing everything we've been doing and eventually we'll get there. She agreed with me that rehoming him is not an option. She said that seeing him with me is enough to convince her that he'd never recover.
So we just have to hang in there, deal with the setbacks when they happen and keep working on it. All in all, I think we're making really good progress. We haven't seen the neighbor lady who complained about him. I don't know if she's out of town, or what. (Haven't seen any moving vans, though, so we're not that lucky yet! lol.)
(Sorry for the longwinded update!)