four year old rescue who never had separation anxiety in three years with us has been panicking every time we leave for the last 17 days following an apartment move and i cannot figure out which of the seven things that changed simultaneously is the actual trigger

Nori is our 4 year old mixed breed (looks like a sheltie / spaniel cross, embark says about 30% american staffordshire, who knows), 42lb, adopted from a city rescue at roughly 18 months old, with us for almost three years. she has been a textbook easy dog from day one. crate trained in the first month, settled alone in the apartment from week 4, comfortable being alone for 6 to 8 hour stretches by month 3, no destructive behavior, no vocalization, no accidents, nothing on the doorbell camera but her sleeping in her bed when we left. for two years and ten months we have not thought about separation anxiety as a category that applied to our dog.

17 days ago we moved from the apartment we had been in for the full duration of nori living with us to a new apartment in a building three miles away. the new place is bigger, nicer, has a real yard for the first time, and on paper is a strict upgrade. nori has not slept through a single night since we moved in. and starting day 3 in the new place, every single time we leave the apartment (this includes runs to the grocery store, 20 minute walks without her, going out to dinner), she has been escalating into what is clearly genuine panic. doorbell camera shows her pacing, vocalizing (full howling, not just barking), trying to dig at the crate door, trying to dig at the bedroom door if she is uncrated, and on the worst incident peeing on her bed within 15 minutes of us leaving. she has never peed in the house in three years. she is a different dog when we are gone.

the problem with diagnosing this is that seven things changed at the same time and i cannot isolate which one is the trigger. one, the physical environment is new (smells, sounds, sightlines, layout). two, my partner started a new job 12 days ago that has him out of the house 5 days a week from 7am to 6pm where his old role was hybrid and he was home 3 days a week. three, the new apartment is on the second floor where the old one was on the ground floor and the building has a much busier hallway with footsteps and dogs and elevator dings she can hear constantly. four, we changed her crate location (the old crate spot was in our bedroom, the new one is in the living room because the bedroom is smaller now). five, the new place has hardwood floors throughout where the old place had carpet and the sound profile of her own movement is different. six, we had a 5 day stretch right before the move where we were boxing things up and she was crated more than usual during the day to keep her out of the way of the movers. seven, our schedule of dog walks shifted by about 90 minutes because the new neighborhood walking route times work differently. i have no idea which of these is the load bearing trigger or whether it is all of them stacking.

what we have tried in the 17 days. crating her with a frozen kong (eats it in 8 minutes and then panics anyway). leaving the radio on (she has never needed it before, does not help now). adrenaline neutral departures (we have always done these, no change from before the move). practiced short absences (5 minutes, 10 minutes, 20 minutes) and she does fine for 5, escalates around 10, full panic by 20. a thundershirt that she had never needed and that does seem to take the edge off but does not solve it. she has a vet appointment thursday but it is with our generalist not a behavior specialist and i want to walk in with a real plan rather than just "she is anxious now."

my actual questions. one, for people who have diagnosed post-move separation anxiety in a previously settled adult dog, how did you isolate which environmental change was the actual trigger vs the noise around it, and is that even the right question or is it always going to be the cumulative load. two, what is the protocol order people have actually used that worked (we have a thundershirt and a kong, what is the next move and the one after that). three, when is the threshold to involve a certified separation anxiety trainer (CSAT) vs trying to manage it ourselves with the framework from the malena demartini book that i am halfway through. four, what is the threshold to ask about medication options at the vet thursday vs trying a 4 to 6 week behavioral protocol first. five, is anyone going to tell me she is just going to adjust over the next 30 days on her own without intervention or is that the wrong frame. she is the easiest dog we have ever owned and watching the doorbell footage of her panicking is genuinely breaking my heart and i would rather throw real resources at this now than wait and see if it gets worse