All good advice and I've been trying some of it. I have a friend in town who he visits once or twice a week to play with her terrier. I've left him with them for short periods a few times. It has never gone very well, but he calms right down when he hears me coming and is not overly excited just relieved and happy when I come in the door. I have nothing approaching a regular schedule or normal way to leave. I've only left him in the house by himself three or four times when I needed to to play with a chain saw or something else I didn't want him getting too close to. He pretty much didn't stop complaining each time. When I first got him he got a little carsick a couple of times and once when I needed to go to the grocery he refused to hop in the car so I just left him at home. He has never been reluctant to get in since and runs right to the door if I show any indication of leaving even though being left in the car are by far the most frequent and likely the most intense episodes he has. I briefly entertained the notion that he may have been left in a car and nearly roasted alive in his past life. He was as I said though initially prone to carsickness and taking your dog with you didn't seem to be the guy I met's style so unless he had multiple abusers it's not that likely. The trigger in the car can be just coming into a neighborhood that he recognizes like pulling into a parking lot.  If not that though rolling up the windows most of the the way is sure to set him off.  If I leave him so much as a millimeter of clearance he will slither out a window to get to me. The vast majority of our separations are fifteen minutes or less, but so far things haven't gotten a lot better. I recently ran into restaurant just long enough to grab a take out menu with my cousin standing right by the window to try to comfort him. She said it was the saddest thing she's ever had to listen to, but as soon as he saw me come out it stopped and the tail started wagging. I'm still trying to zero in on exactly what his concerns are.  Knowing where I am at all times is obviously very important to him, but being on his home turf eases it a lot. He will sometimes come to me to tell me it's urgent he get outside, but unless his girlfriend is also out he waits right by the door until I can get some shoes and whatever else I need to come out with him. Once I do come out though he's now gotten comfortable hunting/exploring several hundred yards away from me and even letting me out of his sight. If I sneak back inside on him though he'll be at the door within a minute or two. Having people he interacts with daily rather than weekly is obviously big too. Leaving him next door didn't just help the problem, it eliminated it. It wasn't a short trip either. I was gone the entire day hanging out with S&JFW at Wrigley.  When I did get back it was like I never left. He was not at all tired of playing with his sweetheart nor that anxious to get home. They had even been able to take him out to a lake he'd never been to before without him getting at all anxious. Bringing his sweetie with us to the store to wait in the car with him though didn't help much at all as I had hoped it might.  I still plan to get an emergency backup dog for him to hang with when I have to desert him though.  I never want to go through a dogless period like after I lost Price again.
 
 I apologize for getting off topic with my last post and failing to include any dog pix. Here are two to make up for it.
 



I guess technically though with my avatar I've got a dog pic in all my posts.