u/AllTheEggsIVF

Hoping for some advice and to make this as concise as possible. We have a 60lb 7 year old mix (black mouth cur, lab, pit, boxer?) typical shelter rescue we adopted when he was about 10 or 12 weeks old from the humane society. Very sweet but he is always been extremely anxious. Scared of the wind, his shadow, any little noise. Reactive on the leash. At home - literally trips us getting in our way…despite all the training and treats.

We live in a metro city, very walkable neighborhood where there is a lot of foot traffic (families and dogs) walking about 10 feet away from our front door all the time. We have a small home (imagine the equivalent of a large 2 bedroom apartment layout) with a huge backyard.

We have hired a trainer to help us understand how to work with him many times. It’s hard/embarrassing to take him on walks since he’s so reactive. We can’t even talk to neighbors without him losing his mind. We play with him in our backyard to wear him out. We hire a weekly hiking service to take him on 4/5 mile walks. When we leave town we board him at a huge farm that only takes about 15 dogs at a time. Or he also stays with our friends who live in a large suburban home away from street. He thrives in both places.

We have a toddler and can’t have people over for playdates since he will not stop barking. Despite knowing our friends for 3 years and seeing them weekly - he acts like they’re strangers.

I’m 8 months pregnant and his anxiety has gotten worse. I know there could be a correlation but I just don’t see this getting better. It’s truly hard but he gives us more stress than he gives us joy. He’s very sweet but I feel like we have one day a week that’s good and the rest are just high stress. We have fostered so many dogs at our home before and have a lot of experience with dogs since childhood but this is just different.

He is very sweet, loving and frankly makes me feel safe with his ferocious bark. But it almost reminds of the HS/college toxic relationship where you keep hoping something is going to change or get better if you’re patient and love them hard enough.

Im mentally and emotionally exhausted and literally don’t know what more else we can do. More/diff type of meds? Keep him confined to back of home? Hire a walker for every day? Find him a farm? Wait until new baby is here and assess?

We love him and can’t fathom the thought of finding him a new home (especially because we have had him for so long) but I just don’t know if we are even the right family for him.

Overthinker here! We don’t do screen time unless it’s during hair brushing time in the morning. About 10 minutes and generally Spanish educational something, bluey, Mr Roger’s, Daniel tiger, ms Rachel etc. nothing over stimulating.

However I notice the parents around us from her daycare to ballet and gymnastics class are all showing their kids Disney Pixar movies and shows etc. Classes are mixed from 18 months to 4 years old. Yesterday I was in a mom/kid ballet class and I was the only mom who had never watched frozen. All I know is Elsa is blonde and that “let it go” song that I wish to not have in my head.

Was wondering if maybe we need to let loose? Will my 3 year old feel left out? Is that a thing at that age? And if I do let loose with watching a movie - do I break it up in time increments? Or a full experience?

Lastly if we do a movie - any suggestions as to what to start with? I’m in my 40s so my knowledge is old school Lion king, Beauty and the beast, Aladdin and recent ones like Up, Encanto, Luca. Bonus points for diversity of any kind since we a multicultural and progressive family.

Thank you for any and all advice!

Last week I did a lot of driving around from Decatur to West Atlanta and midtown areas and I noticed a very specific pattern of panhandling across all of these areas. In multiple locations, individuals were out with young children, holding very similar signs, and they appeared to share a common background or origin.

At Collier and Hills a young woman (20s) and her 3 kids and baby were out under the hot sun. This was Friday around 1:30pm so not sure if kids are supposed to be in school? Then there was a dad (early 30s) who was over by Scott and N Decatur area.

Somehow this situation feels entirely different and honestly quite exploitative of the kids involved.

Does anyone know if there is a coordinated panhandling group or specific organization operating in the area right now? Curious if others have noticed this shift recently.

Hi all! Hoping for some advice. We have had our dog for 7 years. We adopted him as a puppy from the shelter. He's a 50lb lab black mouth cur pit mix of sorts. He's been loved and pampered since he was a puppy. Doggy daycare until he was 2. He has a tiny geriatric 15 year old yorkie sister who is also spoiled. He is truly loving and a very sweet dog.

But he's anxious AF. We have worked with trainers to understand him. He's been on the max dose of Prozac for 5 years and it's still not effective. He is a Velcro shadow dog, gets underfoot and in the way, ends up tripping us or our toddler, is afraid of the wind or whatever weather or noise element.Barks at anyone he sees including the walker who he has seen every Friday for 3 years in a row. We live in a metro area and our house has a good amount of pedestrian traffic about 15 feet from our front door. We have had to block windows with film because it was constant triggers. We have to take him on solo walks (not as a family) because he is highly reactive and lunges and barks at anything. It's embarrassing since we have a very family friendly neighborhood.

We have a 3 year old toddler and even she has started telling him "no barking" and “go to your bed.” His anxiety is making all of us miserable. We don't enjoy his company unless he's cuddling with us in silence. It’s genuinely sad.

When we travel he stays with our who adore him. Their house is away from the street. Or we board him at a farm, which is a one and a half hour drive from our house. He thrives outdoors.

I already have anxiety so I feel horrible but his anxiety makes mine worse. It puts me in such a bad mood. I'm just at my wits end. I would have never considered rehoming him but frankly it's really wearing on me. Even my even keeled husband is worn out. Not sure what else to do.

Anyone have any advice?

Police in Cobb and Douglas counties are searching for a man accused of molesting at least nine children along the Thornton Road corridor. Investigators describe the suspect as a man in his 30s standing over 6 feet tall who wears basketball-themed clothing.