Thanks for the thoughtful responses everyone!
It took nearly 7 months of searching but I finally found a better housing situation via Craigslist: $850 per month for my pup and I which includes internet and utilities! I can also bike to work (8 miles) or give in to the 10 minute, 4 mile car commute.
In retrospect there were several factors which made it tough for me to succeed at first.
My early search efforts were hampered by not having easy, immediate access to internet service at home. With the combination of high rent, a drive to reduce my spending in all categories, and a strong disdain for Comcast, I went without the internet at home for several months and used a local library for free internet.
This didn't work well - the library hours were difficult to integrate with my schedule - so I found a low cost internet hotspot service and used that at home to search Craigslist. This made a huge difference in my search process: I needed to spend some money up front to save more money later. With my housing costs cut in half, that service has more than paid for itself!
Another key was getting my housing filters and new posting alerts saved in Craigslist which took a fair amount of tweaking.
Finally, I sped up my application process by creating a document template to quickly respond to Craigslist housing ads. I spent an hour one evening responding to dozens of housing postings using my saved filters and the template, which ended up paying off and working out.
So with some luck, time, and persistence I'm now much closer to my savings goals.
If anyone else is out there struggling to find more reasonable housing in the area, I recommend lots of patience. It'll work out eventually but it may take longer than you'd like.
Hang in there!