Hi folks,
I read through the basic guides and came away with a few good recommendations, but I'm not sure how to narrow it down to choose the right one.
Living situation: * 1000-square foot apartment, all linoleum, except for my carpeted bedroom - but I'll have a roommate, so I expect to spend a lot of time in my room with my dog * The dog is large and sheds a fair amount, but he's a short haired bully/boxer mix. Currently he is the only dog but that may change in the next 6 months and if so the dog will likely either be a cocker spaniel (long coat) or a lab (short double coat) * Roommate has 3 rabbits. At least one of them sheds like crazy. They should mostly stay in the rabbit run in her bedroom but there's likely to be some rabbit hair floating around * I think my bedroom carpet is low pile, wall to wall. But I'm new to this lingo lol so I'm going to attach a photo in the comments if possible. * My budget is $500 USD.
I'm thinking I need a canister vacuum with a turbine or electric nozzle. I want something that will obviously be able to handle excessive amounts of pet hair, but will still last a good long time - this is my graduation and housewarming gift to myself and I don't want to be buying a new vacuum next year, lol. Here are the options I'm considering:

1. Kenmore 400 - my concern is that it just won't last very long
2. Miele Classic C1 Turbo - will this be able to handle my carpet effectively? It's not a lot of carpet but that's the area that will be vacuumed the most frequently
3. Sebo Airbelt K2 Turbo Canister - again, worried about its ability to really clean carpet
4. NaceCare Henry Xtra 160 HVX160 - the only downside to this is that I think it's hideous lol, but I'm willing to overlook/repaint that for the vacuuming experience of my dreams!
5. NaceCare Petcare Canister Vacuum HPC160 - I like that it's made with animal hair in mind. It's the most expensive option on my list though!

Thanks for any insights/wisdom you can offer - I originally came in planning to get a Shark, because my parents' old one works really well, but I've since learned that I know nothing lol so!!! Help!!!

"Here he is; Our Lovelorn Phantom, the Bewitching Blaze Survivor, Herald of the Heart and Phoenix of Passion. The Enigma of Eros, Cel Aria."

Bio
Name: Celestial "Cel" Amare Aria
Age: 18
Sexual Orientation: Homosexual
Race: Brazillian-Caucasian (French)
Demigod Conundrums: ADHD and Dyslexia

His name was given to him by his mom. She told Cel that he would 'grow to shine brighter than the stars.' "Amare" means "Love" in Latin, it was given to him by his father for reasons unknown. Cel believes it serves as a reminder that "love" is always with him.

Family	Age	Description	Relationship
Father: Eros	Old enough to steal your girl	The god of Love, Desire, and Pleasure.	Cel finally had the pleasure of meeting his father after falling into a coma. It goes without saying, but Cel loves him with all of his heart and wants to make him proud. Eros is proud that Cel is growing and does love him, even though he never explicitly said it. Their relationship is likely better than that of most demigods with their immortal parents.
Mother: Andrea Aria	41	An emergency room nurse practitioner. She looks no older than 25 and is one of the most gentle and caring women you'll ever meet. Her arms are open to all who are in need.	Andrea was always away working while Cel was growing up. This led to them not growing as close as some other parents with their children. Nevertheless, Andrea loves Cel more than anything in the world, and vice versa.

Family is an important facet of life, especially to Cel. Once he learned the words 'mom' and 'dad' he began to daydream what it would be like to meet his own father. After talking to Eros he still wasn't satisfied and would give anything to talk with him again! He holds each of his family members in high regard and keeps in contact with them as much as he can! He consistently writes letters to his mom while at Camp and is planning to attend NYU in the Fall in part to stay close to her. There

Name	Relationship	Description
Seth Westley	Boyfriend	[Redacted]
David Ruiz	Best Friend	A friendship forged in the fires of love and war. That should be a metaphor, but David and Cel quite literally became friends through constant clashing of their respective powers in an effort to train. What began as a mentor-mentee relationship blossomed into a strong friendship that could last even a Styx Oath. Cel is so proud of the man that David has become and is so happy to call him his friend. He's had some pretty bad experience with mentors, and David made up for all of that. Together, with Jules, they make up 1/3 of Triple Threat.
Jules Morgan	Best Friend2	It began on a fateful day when a motorcycle lunatic crashed into a tree and began crying over his lost love. Cel offered to show him around Camp and the rest is history. Jules has made Cel countless prototype weapons for testing. Some that work, others that don't, and many that probably violate some kind of international war laws. Cel has watched this guy grow (metaphorically, not literally) from a machine crazed sociopath into a machine crazed sociopath with a girlfriend. Any time with Jules is sure to be a riot, with a bunch of insults sprinkled in for good measure. With David, the three boys make up Triple Threat, their brotherhood.
Walker Marshall	Old (emphasis) Friend	Both of these guys have been around for an insanely long time. Walker was at Camp Half-Blood before Cel even got there, so they've known each other for a while. Cel is trauma bonded to him after everything that happened with the Son of Metis (see; statues, Medusa, etc). He views Walker as a strong ally, and a loyal friend. They had their rough patches during the aftermath of the war over the throne of Olympus but all of that is water under the bridge now. It's hard to keep friends at Camp Half-Blood, people always come and go, sometimes never coming back. Cel is grateful for that constant southern drawl he knows is always around the corner at the Demeter cabin.
Sadira Andersen	Budding Buddy	This little one somehow managed her way into Cel's dreamscape after his mysterious three-month blip from reality. She saw deep cut secrets that Cel didn't share with the world. Trauma of his past that eats at him every day. The girl is the mediator and Cel wants her to focus on being a kid. They don't know each other well, but Sadira is definitely on Cel's radar. She may not know it, but he's looking out for her.
Quincy "Quinn" Rockford	Crabby Comrade	Quinn is an enigma to Cel. One moment, they're brash and abrasive like the back side of a sponge, the next a broken child trying to heal parental trauma. Cel gave Quinn a present for Christmas because he wanted to let them know they were seen. He let them know about the secret burrow of bunnies near the Eros cabin as well. Cel understands their abrasiveness and respects it, but also keeps his distance because of it. You can't help someone who doesn't want it, and Cel isn't going to drag himself through the thorns of Quinn's attitude until they're ready to open up. He's always there for the kid, though, they just need to say the word.
Amelia "Mel" Hayes	Tattooed Twin	Another friend as old as Cel's time at Camp. Amelia is a constant laugh, her personality is crazy and infectious. Together in a trip to Atlantic City they both shoplifted an entire store (love and humor) then proceeded to get tattoos together. If Cel needs a partner in crime, aside from Seth, he knows he can always count on Amelia for a good time. He loves hearing her shout insults from across the way and the roar in her iconic laugh. There's nothing better than a good laugh, after all.
Harper Morales	Magazine Mate	Since meeting Harper has been nothing but kind to Cel. She was there after the entire Capture the Flag debacle when Lupa Hines punched him in the face for his emotional assault. It was a rough time, what with Seth not talking to Cel and a lot of irritation at his powers going around, but Harper was such a breath of fresh air in that trying time. Her personality always has Cel feeling light and happy. He's constantly impressed by her work with The Camp Half-Blood Chronicle. He's even thought about stealing her for his own magazine.
Booker Fink	Prankster Pal	New friends never hurt, it was always an avenue for new beginnings. Cel first met Booker when he decided to throw lightning bolts at Cel's boyfriend. But- that was training, Cel couldn't blame him for anything that happened during training. They reunited at David's birthday party and seemed to hit it off in an smooth way. Booker seems to want to train with Cel. Cel wants to hear more about what past came with Booker. Who knows where their friendship will grow from here.

Appearance
"I heard he got burned alive but he said it only made him hotter" - Walker Marshall

Faceclaim	Height	Build	Weight	Hair	Eye Color	Piercings
Right Here	6'2	Muscular, but lean. His body isn't burly due to muscles, he's more toned than built.	How rude of you to ask!	Wavy and Light brown; Normally left to be messy and do its thing. Although, his hair never seems to get too unruly	Deep Red	Both ears are pierced. with doubles. Cel usually sports a simple stud and a small hoop. (Note: This is NOT his Faceclaim)

Description:
"It's so easy to get lost in those red eyes." - David Ruiz

• A visage of his father, some even may even for the other. Passerby who have met Cel describe him as one of the most striking people they've ever seen. The son of love turns heads wherever he walks. His face is a mastery of divine artisanship. Smooth, as if he was sculpted directly from marble by the great artisans of past with perfect symmetry. His tanned skin is soft, lacking any imperfections of the sort. His lips were the color of fresh rose petals and give way to the most illuminating, tantalizing grin some may ever see. It casts an inviting, enticing light on any who lay their eyes on him and held the power to warm the coldest of hearts and disarm the fiercest foes. This smile is both mischievous and sincere, imbued with a flirtatious charm so infectious that you can't help but smile back. His most captivating feature, though, are his deep red eyes. Intensely red like the embers of a dying star or the last traces of a sunset dipped in fire. A color so deep its like every valentine in the world was drained and distilled into one vibrant mixture. These eyes are a paradox of loving warmth and imminent danger, smoldering with unimaginable depth that seems to dip into the very soul of whoever Cel casts his gaze upon. Half-lidded and flirtatious, it is a gaze so hypnotic that sometimes the entire world falls away and you become the sole focus of his universe. His hair is a cascade of silky strands the color of valentines chocolate. A strand never out of place, always appearing painstakingly styled yet moving effortlessly with Cel's every action. It framed his face perfectly, accentuating each and every feature to bring it to life. He stands tall, exuding a presence that commands attention and respect. His body is sculpted with lean, defined muscles that speak of agility and strength, a testament to his prowess in battle and his divine heritage. Each movement he makes is fluid and graceful, a dance of power and elegance that mesmerizes all who watch him. His hands are both delicate and strong, with long, tapered fingers that move with an almost magical grace. Whether he's wielding a weapon or simply reaching out to a friend, his movements are always precise and elegant, hinting at his extraordinary control and dexterity. Those who get close enough to him may even notice he smells faintly of chocolate. Cel Aria is a intoxicating blend of divine beauty and otherworldly charm, a welcoming smile that leaves everyone who crosses his past feeling uplifted. A demigod whose appearance and presence leave an indelible mark on the hearts and minds of all who encounter him.
• In the past Cel never cared much for his attire. As he's grown and weaved his way through the life, he gained an increased interest in the world of fashion. Now his closet is nearly bursting at the seams with clothes of each and every category, from thrift store to designer boutique, and even some from the bottom of a dumpster. He often opts for a comfortable, yet stylish outfit in his day-to-day. However, finding Cel wandering the campgrounds in sweatpants or a workout outfit is far from uncommon. Even if he has become somewhat of a fashionista, nothing beats the classics.

Outfits

• Outfit 1
• Outfit 2
• Outfit 3
• Outfit 4
• Outfit 5
• Outfit 6
• Outfit 7
• Outfit 8
• Outfit 9
• Outfit 10

Equipment/Accessories:

• Amare and Virtus: Twin-knives enchanted by Brandon to turn invisible whenever Cel does. Sadly, the knives only stay invisible when they're in his hands. Whenever they aren't in use, they appear as beaded bracelets on his wrists.
• Eros' Ring: A ring given to Cel by Eros. It's now Cel's most prized possession as it was given to him straight off of his father's hand. It's rose gold with grey in the middle and fits Cel's ring finger perfectly.
• Heart-Breaker: Cel's celestial bronze sword with a small, ring shaped hole through the base. A normal sword from the armory that doubles as a ring in its dormant form. When Cel needs to change between the forms, he flips ring to make it into a sword. To go back to ring form, he slides his finger through the hole at the base.
• Heart-Seeker: A gift from Cel's friend Jules. It's a simple compound bow with a matching a magical bracelet. It's mystical gimmick is that the arrows it fires home in on targets. The lock on mechanism is through the bracelet, which cools slightly on Cel's wrist once he finds a target. It's dormant form is an bow shaped charm that hands from the bracelet. It's activated by pulling the charm off the bracelet.
• Boots of Aria: Greaves gifted to Cel by Simon. When he crouches, his jump gets exponentially stronger. When jumping from a full crouch he can jump 6 feet in the air!

Abilities and Skillset:
"I hear the training dummies actually line up to be his target." - Harper Morales
Abilities:
Domain:

• Amokinesis - "Love's Puppeteer" - The ability to manipulate a target's emotions, specific to the domain of the user's godrent. (For Eros - Love Manipulation/Amokinesis).
  • This is Cel's bread and butter ability. As the son of Eros, Cel has a great deal of control over his father's domain. He is incredibly proficient with his amokinesis and can manipulate a person's love and their desires to fold to his whims.. From giving them a hormonal overload, to enhancing their attraction, even turning a flicker of interest in a person to an inferno of passion or removing a persons will to fight, all are possible with the power of love.
• Emotional Fortitude - "Sanctuary of the Mind" - A trait where some children of Emotional gods are immune to magical attempts at changing or manipulating their emotional and mental ability. This does not mean demigods with this trait are immune to non-magical means, however. With enough experience, users can share this immunity with others—one other for intermediate users, and two others for masters.
  • An evolution of Cel's amokinetic powers. His familiarity with the manipulation of emotions has lead to him becoming immune to magical attempts to mystify his mind. Tough luck to anybody who wanted revenge.
• Scent Manipulation - "Essence Weaver" - The ability to manipulate fragrances. Although beginners are only capable of dissipating or spreading a smell, intermediate users are capable of manipulating their own scent to mimic fragrances they have encountered previously. Many users have been observed using this power for stealth and concealment, to avoid alerting wild animals when hunting, to confuse monsters in combat, and to segregate waste more efficiently. Masters of this ability have been known to mimic powerful and exotic smells, like those associated with monsters. That said, these fragrances are approximations at best and cannot be used to copy the unique scent of an individual.
  • This is a new one for Cel. The ability to manipulate his own smell and the smells around him is odd, a foreign ability. He's not sure how it manifested, but is grateful to his father for the blessing. Hopefully Cel will begin to gain a master over it soon.

Godrent Minor:

• Summon Bow and Arrows - "Archer's Call" -The ability to summon a bow and a quiver of arrows. The user can produce up to 10 of arrows at any given time, but they are fragile. After 30 minutes (5 turns), they will dissolve and leave no trace. Though made of iron and wood, these weapons are still capable of slaying monsters.
  • When Cel focuses he can summon a bow into his hands or arrows nocked into his bowstring. He likes to think of it as a blessing, or allowance, from his dad. It really comes in handy in a pinch!
• Arrow Enchantment - "Cupid's Quill" - The ability to enchant an arrow such that it can induce a particular emotion in the target. The arrow appears gold if imbued with love magic, and it appears leaden if imbued with apathy magic. When a person is hit by these arrows they do not sustain any physical damage, although they will still feel pain from the impact. The affect fades after a small period. If the arrows fails to meet a target it causes a small explosion.
  • A new gift from Eros which allows Cel to imbue his amokinetic powers into arrows. This allows Cel a new outlet for utilizing his emotional powers to incapacitate enemies without expending energy.

Godrent Major:

• Invisibility\* - "Vanishing Act" - The ability to turn invisible, including one's attire and held items.
  • The most iconic ability in Cel's arsenal and, arguably, one of the most powerful. Countless mischievous acts have been made possible because of the invisible man. Being able to disappear has turned Cel into a deadly stealth fighter.
• Sensory inhibition - "Sensory Saboteur" - The ability to inhibit the senses of a target. Should this effect take hold, it will wear off after 12 minutes (2 turns).Although this power is most associated with temporary blindness, other symptoms include dampened hearing, clogged noses, etc.
  • Cel's ability to temporarily blind his foes has grown to now impair other senses. While stealing sight is the easiest for him to do, Cel is slowly learning and becoming more comfortable with mangling the other senses of his opponents. He hopes to master the sense of hearing next.

* Denotes modmail/custom power.
Skillset

• Gymnastics: Cel was in gymnastics for a few years when he was younger. He can still do a backflip! This helps him do acrobatic movements while he fights.
• Knifework: Playing with knives is generally frowned upon, but anything goes at Camp Half-Blood. Cel has become incredibly skilled with dual-wielding knives, as well as throwing knives. Practice makes perfect! and, while Cel may not be perfect, he has definitely improved over time. He can carve nearly anything!
• Swordsmanship: Cel has added sword play to his repertoire of fighting skills. While he is no master, Cel is definitely able to hold his own with a blade, even against the likes of David Ruiz.
• Archery: Cel is a natural archer! His aim is perfect and he can make some of the most difficult shots look easy. A bow is definitely the weapon that Cel finds the most comfortable in his hands.
• Basketball: Not pro-level, but Cel isn't bad. Basketball is his favorite pastime outside of training and video games in his cabin. He'd always dreamed of playing varsity basketball in high school and achieved it just this past year,
• Fashion: Cel has gained an eye for clothes. He enjoys perusing catalogs and store windows, looking for the next exciting piece to add to his collection.

Personality:
"Cel doesn't need to flirt; he just breathes and people fall head over heels for him. It's ridiculous." - Amelia Hayes
Where the was once uncertainty masked in the frame of an insecure kid there is now a confident, strong young man. Cel has come into his own, accepted his divine heritage, and found confidence in who he is. He stands tall and proud, his head held high with a smile and light that could rival the sun. He's playful, flirtatious, even. Talking in smooth tones that could soften even the coarsest personalities. Cel enjoys having fun conversations with friends. He'll talk animatedly about subjects for hours with those he's close to.
His mischievous smile isn't just for show. Cel enjoys finding fun things to do that may not necessarily be the best. A trait he gained from his father, who was known for causing lots of mischief. (Looking at half the myths about Zeus' affairs). If someone suggests a midnight snack run, Cel will offer to lead the charge (invisibility does come in handy).
Never one to shy away from a challenge. He has been known to get into trouble with his fellow campers for taking things (in their opinion, of course) a bit too far in friendly camp games. Cel is competitive when it counts, but never a sore loser. He loves when the people close to him are having a good time. Cel is the life of the party, and often the planner. Gatherings with those he's close with are some of the most joyous moments for the son of Eros. Nothing is better than having you friends around.
His friends are regarded with the utmost care. When Cel loves someone, he truly does and tries his best to be there for them in any way. New people and new friends are always something Cel looks for. He is personable, always finding ways to make the person he is talking to feel like they are his entire focal point for the time they are together. When faced with a problem, Cel no longer will shy away from straight-up confrontation, preferring to handle issues outright then letting them stew into an even more poisonous problem.
Cel's Spotify Playlists:

• Vibey and Thrivey - Vibey songs.
• bop it - Bops, of course.

Fun Facts

• Cel is ambidextrous because he broke his arm when he was 7.
• He smells somewhat like decadent chocolate.
• When Cel blushes his face doesn't get red, however his eyes turn light pink!
• If he was going to eat his last meal on death row, Cel would want a Churrasco style Brazilian steak dinner.
• Cel is fluent in Portuguese (as well as French due to his divine heritage).
• There is a birthmark shaped like a 'fat duck' (according to young Cel) on the back of his armpit.
• He named his dog 'Bowser' because he wasn't allowed to play Mario as a kid.
• Before a basketball game Cel has a habit of tapping his shoes together twice like in the Wizard of Oz. He also won't buy any basketball shoes other than red ones.
• Cel's nerdy micro-obsession is the history of Cleopatra and her love life.

Backstory

"I expect you to make mistakes. I expect you to fuck up time and time again. I expect you to learn from them. If you do that, what father wouldn’t be able to say they are proud of their son?” - Eros, The God of Love
When Cel was born and Eros subsequently had to leave Andrea alone to raise a child on her own, his mother made it her mission to make sure her son knew he was loved. His childhood was relatively normal. No monsters followed him around and Cel found that he had a lot of opportunities afforded to him, more than other kids. Teachers always said he was such a joy to have in class and the other kids seemed to be drawn to him, wanting to be his friend.
As Cel found his way to Camp Half-Blood, he was immediately swept up into countless events. His first experience with true danger was in The Olympics where Cel was tasked with venturing to the underworld and capturing Cerberus, the guard dog of Hades. His group failed the task and one of his former friends was cursed by the river god, Acheron, in exchange for their safe return home. This event proved to Cel just how weak he was, and just how easy it was to die trying to play the hero when you could barely grasp how to use your powers. Cel swore that he wouldn't allow himself to be that weak any longer and sought to grow stronger. He found himself training under one of the most sadistic beings at Camp Half-Blood, the former Hades counselor Derek Ward. For some reason, Ward had an intense dislike for the son of Eros, but he trained him nonetheless. It was brutal, Cel almost died a few times, but it definitely turned him into a stronger person.
The first test of Cel's resolve as a hero came when he found himself on a quest to Ikaria in order to find the entrance to the newly reopened labyrinth. Upon their arrival, many things happened including Cel yelling at the guide sent to them by Pasiphae, goddess of the maze. This led to his group having to venture into Ikaria on their own to find the entrance of the maze. The trio found their way to the junkyard of Hephaestus where Talos tried to kill their party. With help from the luck-empowered Felix Branwen, Cel was able to shoot an arrow directly into Talos' control panel, stalling the automation to give his fellow quester's enough time to run into the labyrinth for safety. Cel, however, was burned alive by the automations fire where he was sent into a magical coma and confronted by Bellerophon. A deal was made between the forces of Pasiphae and Cel, where he swore a Styx Oath of fealty to them in exchange for them healing the burned Son of Eros. However, some good did come from this coma as Cel was finally able to meet his father. It was, quite literally, the greatest moment of his life.
After arriving back at Camp, a whirlwind of events happened. Camp was attacked by statues, Zeus cursed the Apollo campers, and Seth charmed his way into becoming Cel's boyfriend. Eventually, life settled down and everything went back to business as usual. Life, it seemed, would remain calm. But demigods never held calm for long.
Cel enjoyed a long period of peace without much happening. He met David and Jules and the trio instantly became close. They went on some jobs together, Cel did some on his own. He and Seth enjoyed each other's company daily. Camp Games were quite fun, even if they did sometimes end in a loss and with you getting socked in the face by a scorned rival. Overall, though, Cel didn't have much turbulence in the time before his senior year. That is until he accepted a job to investigate an anomaly. Together, with David and Ciara, Cel ventured into the unknown and the trio disappeared for a three month long blip with no explanation. When they returned with no explanation, turmoil hit Cel's relationship. He and Seth suddenly found themselves at opposite ends of a seemingly endless chasm. None of Cel's friends were able to offer him any consolation for what happened, Cel's own brothers even ignored his problems. Eros, for the third time in Cel's life, met him and gave him his blessing. He assured Cel that everything would end up all right, that there was beauty even in the pain life brought. So, Cel left Camp and returned for his senior year. He accomplished his dream of playing for the varsity basketball team, established a fashion magazine with his friends, and got up to some of your average demigodly shenanigans (near expulsion, anyone).

Now

It was odd spending his birthday in New Argos, definitely not how Cel envisioned his eighteenth. When Cel thought of eighteen he saw a massive party with his friends on the beach, Seth at his side with loud music and fun outfits. They'd all dance and eat some of Cel's favorite foods, tearing it up all night until the sun came back into the sky. New Argos was a far cry from the beach at Camp Half-Blood. Some of his friends weren't even there to help celebrate. So, yeah, it wasn't ideal. But Cel was going to make the most of it.
He gave invites to every camper that came to New Argos for the games, no room for discriminating between guests when the pickings were slim. It was going to be a party at New Argos' version of Central Park. As a New Yorker, Cel found the park to be less cool than the real thing, but it would have to do for now. Some decorations were set out on tables, pizza boxes were stacked high, and games borrowed from Harper's sleepover available for play. Cel wasn't dressed in anything super flashy, a simple 'Bluey' themed oversized t-shirt and black shorts. He wasn't worried about looks tonight, all he wanted was to have a good time.
A large speaker was blasting his favorite tunes as Cel waited for the guests to show up. Hopefully they would, nobody wants to spend their birthday party alone!

My stepdad: •The one big thing that makes me feel valid is that, when I was 11, my stepdad fingered me in my bedroom. I won't go in to too much detail or anything, it's unimportant. But the entire time he just stared at me and everything was silent, like he was waiting for my reaction. Our relationship has always been odd, so I wanted it. But eventually I got scared and told him something, I don't remember what it was but it got him to stop immediately and he apologised too. I don't remember much after, as in I don't know if he left my room or I left first, but I immediately went to the bathroom. Which was when I discovered I was bleeding.
•Around this time, for some strange reason I would repeatedly say to him "fuck me daddy." This would either be in person, or over messages. I remember once, when I was in school, I messaged him that. He told me to stop in case one of my friends saw. I don't know why he didn't tell me to stop for other reasons.
•One day, after telling him that in person, we were in my parents bedroom. I was sat on his bed and he was in front of me in his weird chair. He then started going in to detail about how I wanted him to fuck me, I can't remember exactly what he said, it was like I zoned out. Everytime I try to recall it now it literally feels like bugs start to crawl up me, I don't understand why. I remember the last part, and his really disgusting hushed and gentle voice. He asked if I wanted him to "cum inside of me", or he was just explaining how that would finish. I'm not really sure.
•Still around this same time period of me being 11-12, I would ask him to 'squish me.' The reason why we would call it that is because I would be on my back, my legs would be up all the way to where my head is and he would be on top of me in a way that would 'squish me'. Basically like that one sex position. I would usually be wearing my school uniform when that would happen, so a skirt. During the 'squishing', he would push down on me, so our crotches would basically be against eachother. I don't know why, but I would continuously ask him to 'squish me' and during it I would even say the whole "fuck me daddy" thing. Only recently have I realised that he was probably just pretending to fuck me.
•Other things had happened around that age too, like how we would talk about how many times we masturbated a day and compare it to eachother. Sometimes if I was abruptly going to my room, he would ask if I was going to go masturbate, since we were 'close like that' I would tell him. He would often recommend me NSFW Instagram model accounts. I was once tricked in to sending feet pics to this guy, which really isn't that serious and whenever I brought it up with friends they find it fucking hilarious. But the detail I always leave out is that, I did bring that up with my stepdad and he proceeded to tell me that he already knew. Which means he was spying on me through the crack of the door. If that already didn't bother me, I don't understand why he just allowed me to send those pictures, if he was watching why the hell didn't he stop me?
•I'm pretty sure this also happened around the age of 11 as well, recently, a memory resurfaced but I barely remember it. Basically, I was sucking on his neck. I don't remember who said it, but either him or my mum spoke up and laughed, saying that I needed to stop otherwise I would "give him a hickey." The reason why I wouldn't be surprised if my mum was in the room at the time is because she doesn't care about what he does. She knows everything and just doesn't fucking care.
•I'm very sure that, around that age, my parents begun to expose me to their loud sex. I wouldn't be surprised if it started even younger, however. Obviously, I tried to bring it up with them at the ripe old age of 11 and my mum immediately shot me down with a "it's natural." This only stopped recently, around this year, because I had a big panic attack over hearing them and my mum finally felt guilty. I started getting panic attacks over it the minute it started, maybe the panic attacks were a sign of the trauma when I was younger, but I'm convinced it is now. I heard it so many times that I began to get paranoid every night, I would start to hear it even if they weren't upstairs (I sound crazy, I know.) I would get so anxious every night in case I would hear it, to the point I started to really resent them from it. I know fine well I could just go to sleep before them, but sometimes they even woke me up with it, on numerous occasions.
•I'm convinced my stepdad wanted me to hear it. Around the time of it finally stopping, I got mad because i was hearing it again (I'm unsure if it was due to me hearing shit or they actually were) but it caused me to take my bedding and go downstairs to sleep. In the morning, I was rudely awoken to my stepdad slamming the door open and storming past. He's not usually like that when people are sleeping, so it instantly gave me the impression that he was pissed off and the only reason I can think of is that he was angry I wasn't there to listen.
•He used to tease me for my paranoia to. As a way to discourage them from getting intimate, I would leave my door open at night. This happened around this year, but I was doing that again and I messaged my stepdad if they were actually going to sleep. It then somehow turned to him making a dig about how he knew I gets anxious at night and when I asked why he sent me "In case me and your mam have sex. 😜" Before, I tried to resolve this issue by begging them to just tell me if they were gonna have sex or not so I could sleep downstairs (because I was gonna find out the hard way anyways.) And they kept on refusing? Which just gave me the impression that they wanted me to listen more.
•Around 11 again, he would often tell me details about his and my mums sex life. Like how he was always good at pulling out and the only time he would wear a condom is right when he was about to finish. But the reason why my sister came to be was because he just failed to pull out that one time and my mum refused to get an abortion. Another time, he went on about how him and my mother had sex during her period and how they had to use towels and they didn't enjoy it because it was too messy.
•I don't know if he did things before the age of 11, my memories are very faded and it's like there are major gaps throughout everything. I'm worried that he did, however. When I was very young, I remember having no accidents at all during the night. But then, around the ages of 9, I would have an accident basically every night and would get a lot of water infections. I know that's a classic sign of child sexual abuse, but I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything.
•Another reason as to why I believe more things had happened to me than what I know of is because I always seemed to know what sex was when I was young, but I wouldn't know the name or anything specific about it like how to get pregnant or what cum was. Though, even though I didn't know what it was, it was like I always thought about it, I could never not think about sex, it was disgusting. This stayed until I was around 13. I remember where I even asked my 'boyfriend' at the time, we were both around 8, if he wanted to have sex, and I have no idea why.
•Over the years, he would flash me frequently. Everytime, I would always believe it was an accident because he'd never acknowledge it, besides from that one time which he always jokes about it and blames me. Everytime he would flash me, it would either be because of a convenient hole in the crotch of his pants or because he was wearing very lose fit shorts and it would just be hanging out. The more I think about it, I'm very sure he would have been able to feel such a thing, especially when it was poking out of the hole, but it was like he was just oblivious.
•For some strange reason, when I was younger, I would make comments about small dicks. I don't know if I was commenting on his dick specifically, but he would always say the same thing. "Width matters more than length."
•Recently, around 16-17, he made a joke about how he listens to me masturbating. Once he noticed how shocked I looked, he then went on saying about how my vibrator is too quiet to hear.
•Around 17 again, I went to use the shower. The shower I use is the one that's connected to my parents room. When I locked the door, he got madish and started making comments about it. I had to defend myself, saying how 'the door would open on it's own if I didn't lock it'. Eventually, he backed off.
•I don't understand the point in the fucking door and lock to my bedroom anymore. Whenever I decided to lock my door, my parents start shouting at me through the walls, asking why I locked my door. My stepdad barely knocks, it's like a tap and he doesn't even wait sometimes. I remember seeing a past message from an old friend saying how he tried to walk in when I was changing and that he knew I was changing. I didn't explain myself, I really wish I did because I don't remember this.
•(Around 17.) We were messaging eachother and it somehow turned in to him hinting if I saw this one animated video, it was a porn one. I said no, and to that he sent me a screenshot of it. It wasn't anything bad or anything, just the start of it and nothing was revealing, he then asked if I was sure. And how he was surprised that I hadn't.
•(Around 17.) I don't really get my period, we still don't know why. But as I was getting a lot of blood tests, my stepdad was trying to check things off the list of what it could be. One of those being that my opening is just extremely tight I guess, because he asked if I ever tried penetrating myself. I admitted that I did, but I couldn't get it to exactly go in. Which he then decided to make a comment saying how It's just my 'technique'. I wonder if the only reason he asked that was to see if I ever tried anything out of morbid curiosity.
•(Around 17 again.) He randomly bought me dildo's once, I didn't ask him for them, he just bought them for me and it was wildly uncomfortable. Once he gave me them, he asked if I wanted him to show me how to use them. I said no, which he then said something about how if I ever did then I could ask him. I worry what would have happened if I did say yes.
•When I was around 14, I went glamping. I ended up having to share a bed with him. One of the nights, I woke up to his hand just on top my crotch. I tried grabbing it and moving it away but it just fell back down on to it. I don't know if he put it back there on purpose. I still question if it was a dream, I'm very sure it wasn't because I remember going back to sleep, but it still just bugs me.
•Around 17, I was upset for some reason and he was comforting me. During this, he randomly grabbed the inside of my thigh. I usually just wear a shirt and boxers, so he basically just grabbed my naked thigh but I don't know if he was doing it in a comforting way.
•Usually when I draw, I have my knees up to my chest so it's easier to use my tablet. Considering what I wear for pyjamas, I can always see him looking at my crotch when he comes in to my room. If he really can see everything I don't understand why he doesn't just tell me to put my legs down.
•He's made a lot of uncomfortable jokes over the years too. One of the ones that upsets me sometimes is that, when he was measuring me for a binder, I was constantly moving around because it was uncomfortable since I was just in a sports bra. As he was leaving, I think I told him about how it was uncomfortable for me or something along those lines. He then turned around and shouted "oh come on, it's not like i was fingerings your pussy or anything."
•Very recently, I asked him if I looked okay before going to college. After a bit of back and fourth he said "I wouldn't kick you out of bed, maybe you could find someone in college who would do the same."
•Other times when I asked him if I looked okay, he'd go on tangents about how my ass is great or how he would date me or be too nervous to talk to me if he was my age.
•One of the more recent jokes was when I dropped a mayonnaise lid on my lap. Nothing got on me, but my stepdad turned to me then turned to my mum and shouted "if anyone starts accusing us, just tell them it was mayonnaise!" Or something like that.
•I remember after we watched the new mean girls film, he started going on saying about how he wanted to rewatch it for the Halloween seen (if you know you know) for the 'panty action'. Which rubs me the wrong way because I'm very sure the girls are supposed to be around my age.
•I'm very sure he also made this fake account, pretending to be one of my old groomers that I tried to cut off, just to message me about nsfw topics and ask for pics. It's a whole long yap about paranoia and just suspicions so I won't get into it though. If I tried to provide all the evidence I have, it'll take forever and there's no point.
There's definitely way more things that he's said, joked and done. But I'm only now beginning to realise that they're not okay. Even when I was younger, I was sort of uncomfortable around the jokes so I would just zone out, leading me to not remembering them now.
My mum: •I remember when I was very young, around 11, we were in a store and she was obsessed with the idea of getting extra money. She wanted to do this online thing where she would dominate men or something, it was fucking weird. She went into detail about how she was researching it and instead of telling these men to so sexual stuff, she would make them do good things like pick up litter etc. When we were in this store, she made me look at the dog collars together and choose one out, I remember she even asked me if she thought it would be a good fit for the guys.
•She constantly goes on about her only fans now, I don't know why she wants me to know about it so much. She keeps on going into detail about what her plans are for photos and stuff and I just think it's very odd that she's telling me about it all. She's doing everything in her power to stop my brother from finding out, he's in his 20s, I don't understand why she's so happy to let their minor child know about it but not him. I remember when she was first starting it up, she got offended because I didn't want to wear a cosplay she used for one of her photoshoots. Another time she was going on about her plans for another cosplay thing, but this character happened to be a child, which I pointed out to be weird that she would think to do that. Her response to that was "yeah, if he was a girl." Like wtf.
•She wanted me to help take photos for her aswell, the thing is these were going to be out in public around a store that was really close to our home. She kept on saying it was fine if I didn't want to and that the photos weren't going to be sexual, but once I said no she seemed a bit upset. Which I don't understand because even if the photos aren't explicitly sexual, it's still a fetish thing that she wanted me to take pictures off. She also tends to take photos of her chest when other people are around. Like once I was sitting next to her and she just started taking photos of herself for her onlyfans, (I know this because I asked and she said that was what they were for), I'm just worried because I think I was in the frame a bit. Another time we were at my grandparents and she started taking obvious photos of her chest in front of me and my grandma. The thing that makes me feel sick is that she was wearing one of my shirts when taking them.
•I remember once which was also recent, she just randomly told me about how she was writing porn or something. I don't know why she felt the need to tell me that.
•She got mad when I wouldn't share my underwear with her. She tried to hide her anger but I could just tell she was frustrated when I said no. I remember her arguing with me, saying something like how she let's me share her clothes all the time. (Which isn't exactly true, she just gives me shirts that she doesn't want anymore from time to time.) I don't know if that's normal though and if anyone else shares their underwear with their parents. But I just think it's more uncomfortable than sharing clothes.
•My parents always used to expose me to their sex lives, I remember once when I was 11, after they finally stopped I heard my stepdad say a comment about how he liked the choker my mum was wearing. The thing is, the choker she was wearing was my choker. It's stupid because yeah it's just a choker, it's pretty far away from everything. But I hate the fact that she wore it during that, call me pathetic but I'm really sensitive to sex now. I never wore it since and even thinking of wearing it again makes me sort of upset.
•This isn't really major but when I was 14, I bugged her into buying me a new hoodie. Due to dysphoria and personal preference, I love really baggy hoodies. (I also needed it to be big enough because I needed it to be able to go over my blazer, stupid school rules it's too long to explain.) We got into a semi-argument over it and she kept on pressuring me to buy a more smaller size. She then said I needed to start 'showing off my body more' which I find really odd considering I was 14 at the time and why would I need to show it off.
•She would always ignore when people would catcall/harass me. I'm sure everyone is familiar with that, but I remember once after a man called me an ugly bitch for not acknowledging him when I was 11, when I went home my mum just played it down. Another time, when I was around the same age, I was being threatened by a bunch of pedophiles online. They kept on threatening me, saying how they were going to post my accounts on pornhub so people would come down, kidnap and rape me. When I showed my mum this, she defended them saying that they're probably just 16 year olds. Every time I would have a weird interaction with a man, she would say how we just have 'powers' to attract weird people and it's just who we are. Though I never see anyone else describe it like that and it just makes me feel like she enjoys when that happens to me and her.

TLDR: American Airlines sent my bag to Dallas after I canceled my flight, leaving me stranded in the airport for 50 hours. They showed no empathy and claimed I needed to cancel my bag separately, acting like sending an unattended bag was normal procedure.
___________
May was such a horrible month for me. I found out that I had to move to a new apartment before June (another whole damn story), I ended up getting a flare up of tendonitis in my wrists and ankles due to moving to an apartment that was 4 floors up (I was stair climbing for daaaays), work was a nightmare for some reason this month, and the one thing that kept me going was thinking that I was going to go away on vacation to Texas/Oklahoma and cross those states off my bucket list that I'm working off of since I want to see all 50 states before I'm 50 years old.
It was going to be my second time flying solo. The first time I took Frontier which was good enough but pretty basic with its amenities. American Airlines seemed like a step up from them. I was planning to see San Antonio, Austin, Dallas, Oklahoma. I was going to Jensen Ackles' brewery "Family Business", Voltaire's concert on Friday night in Austin and about 30 other places on my never-ended itinerary. Despite the nonsense I had been dealing with all month in May, I was counting down the days till I could skip town and head off to Texas to see a man about a concert.
I always fly out of Raleigh instead of Richmond, due to Raleigh having cheaper flights and more direct flights than Richmond. It's an easy enough 2 hour drive.
However, on the way down to Raleigh though, my trip started with a bump-- literally. My tire popped in Macklenburg County in Virginia. At first I didn't even know where I was but the secretary at what Google said was the closest tire place helped me figure out my coordinates as I panicked on the side of the road. I was certain I was going to miss my flight, but she also did some math and said they could totally get me to my flight on time. I was a little frazzled when I got back on the road, but I checked my watch. It was a good thing I left early; I was still on schedule. Everything was gonna be fine. I just had to make it to the airport on my new donut of a tire and everything would be smooth sailing. No trip ever goes without a few bumps on the road, I reminded myself-- superstitiously, I believed getting the trip's one flaw out of the way early would mean that the rest of the trip would run great.
I got my first txt message while driving the last hour there that my flight was delayed a bit. So I was even more ahead of schedule despite the flat tire.
Then I had to catch the bus from the economy parking lot, wherein I must have looked nervous because the nice couple on the bus asked me if I was running late. I told them about the tire and said my flight was at 2:45. They said I would make it there in no time.
"Just relax, it's gonna be a great trip!" the woman said and smiled at me. I believed her and settled my nerves a bit. They even helped me figure out what terminal to get off at when I didn't know when to get off the bus.
Then, when I got into the airport, the lady helping at the ticketing electronic kiosks asked me to volunteer to check my bag. She said that they were asking for volunteers now, but it would probably be mandatory later on, just based on where I was sitting in the plane and the fact that they didn't have enough overhead compartments in that area of the plane. I was still a bit frazzled from the mess with my tire and with my tendonitis still aggravating my wrist and my ankles, I just said sure, whatever, I volunteer as tribute. I'll help out and take one for the team. Famous last words. I realized later on that if the airports are offering something for free, it's like a faerie offering you food -- DO NOT TAKE IT.
But I do remember that I had also just gotten an email from American Airlines about there being numerous delays that day and flight plans maybe changing a lot. I asked the lady at the kiosk what would happen with my luggage if the flight was cancelled and how I could get it back in that event. She said, "No, no, no, it's fine, it's only delayed right now, you're fine."
THIS-- LADIES AND GENTLEMEN -- IS WHAT IS KNOWN AS FORESHADOWING!
When I got to the baggage check-in, they only asked about anything fragile, perishable, breakable. In all the mix ups that had happened that morning, I was just happy to be dropping my bag off and not dealing with it anymore, and did not think to grab my keys out of it. Again, I was just trying to be helpful. So off my bag went, with my keys-- this again, is FORESHADOWING.
A few more TSA checkpoints and I WAS AT THE TERMINAL!!!! YAY!!!! FINALLY!!!!!
Considering all the moving bullsht in May, tendonitis flare up in wrists and ankles, flat tire, delayed flight, possible flight cancellation... Someone had switched on the EXTRA ADVENTURE setting on this trip. For hours it ended up being just lots of stress, waiting, delays, bumps in the plans and me hoping and praying I'd get to Texas that night. If anyone had known how to toggle that switch back to the default easy setting of vacationing, that would have been wonderful!
But I figured when I finally got to The Family Business Brewery, I needed to go find Dean Winchester and ask him for help on lifting this trip's curse. At least it was themed well for a Supernatural trip.
I got to the airport around noon - Flight 2381 - 2:45 but changed to 3:54. Then the flight ended up getting delayed another two hours. Then there was talk that it wouldn't fly at all. I was getting frustrated and kept repeating in my head, "I. Just. Want. To. Be. On. The. Plane. In. The. Air!!!"
And then it got delayed five more times, from what little information I had at the time it was most likely due to the weather. Dallas had high winds and thunderstorms that day. If I ever got on the plane, I would be getting there in the middle of the night and still have the four hour drive to Airbnb in Austin, because I was flying to Dallas but starting my trip in Austin. I was so stressed I ended up going for a terminal pub crawl.
And then the news came that all flights were cancelled to Dallas for the rest of the day. I had no place to sleep in Raleigh. They wanted to reroute me to Austin but my rental car was still up in Dallas so I would have been stranded in Austin once I landed, they also said since it was a connecting flight in Charlotte with only a very minimal window of time to get off one flight and get on another, if I went with that option I would have to really hope everything went exactly as scheduled or I would be stranded in Charlotte. And also, when the person I called from the airline was checking the flights, they were all booked to Austin anyway because I think a lot of people rerouted to there. We finally settled on getting me on the very early 5:20am flight on Friday morning to Dallas but I was going to have to stay at the airport all night until that flight. I told myself it was fine, I could just sleep on the plane for a few hours.
One of the two Airbnbs for that week insisted I cancel my reservation because he didn't want to take my money after all of this. He had been talking to me throughout all the delays and I think he just felt pity for me at that point. It wasn't even my idea to try to get the money back, but he said he felt so sorry for me that the airline had me stuck in the airport all night.
Suddenly, a friend I knew through Facebook but I don't think I've ever really met in real life reminded me he lived in Raleigh. Joseph said I could sleep at his place Thursday night after he read about my trouble at the airport on my Facebook and I was more than grateful for his assistance.
But when I walked back to my car to drive over to him, I realized my car keys were in my checked luggage. God damn it. This day would just not quit with the bad luck. I was so exhausted, I just layed in the parking lot next to my car exasperated, feeling like Barbie in the Barbie movie where she's just laying on the ground, Jesus take the wheel, I'm done.
I finally asked him if he could pick me up instead. He said to meet him back at the terminal. So I caught a bus back to the terminal. I thought about getting my keys from my checked luggage so he wouldn't have to drive over (though he said it was only a 5 minute drive and he was fine doing it), but then I decided the bag was safe enough. I didn't want to bother the airline staff when I was going to have to recheck it at 3am for the 5:20 flight the next morning anyway. It was fine where it was -- I'd be back the next morning, grab the flight and keep the vacation going one way or another.
I slept over at Joseph's house that night. However, he said he was going camping that weekend and he was leaving the house on Friday morning and wouldn't be back until Sunday. So I could only stay there on Thursday night, which was fine. I wasn't sleeping in an airport like I thought I was going to have to do and I figured I would be on a plane the next morning anyway. Everything was just a little delayed, but it was fine, it'll be fine, EVERYTHING IS FINE. I felt like the dog sitting in the burning kitchen in that 'everything is fine' meme.
It was allll sooooooo adVENturoUS... whimpers...
Then, when I was laying in bed at around 10pm, I got an email saying that my 5:20 on Friday (AA 2605) was cancelled. They rebooked me for Saturday 5:20 (AA 2605), which made me think the weather in Dallas must be so bad that all the flights were cancelled on Friday. I figured that was the only reason they would rebook me a whole 24 hours later. But I was going to be missing the concert on Friday night, half the trip was over, I had no place to sleep on Friday night since Joseph would be on his camping trip. I just decided to call it and say I couldn't consent to the Saturday automatic change. I called to cancel. Customer service asked me if I wanted to fly on Saturday and I said there was just no way I was going to be able to do that, I was just not going at all now. Customer service said they would refund me the money for the flight, I just had to put it into the website when I get back home.
Then I ended up trying to recoup what money I could from all my rentals for the week. Overall, I lost a few hundred from nonrefundable stuff from Airbnb, Turo car rental -- I don't even want to know how much money I lost, I haven't counted yet.
The trip was obviously cursed. I was just going to have to head back home on a tire donut, no trip taken, pay my parking stub for the privilege of waiting through all this nonsense and vow NEVER to use American Airlines EVER again. Well, first I have to get back to the airport and pick up my checked luggage and pray they didn't lose it cause my car keys were in it.
Folks were starting to comment on my Facebook that the amount of issues with this trip felt a bit supernatural -- like, could some force in the universe be trying to keep me out of Dallas for my own sake -- lol, not sure but it definitely felt like my guardian angel kept putting hurdle after hurdle in front of me all month, trying to keep me out of Texas for my own good. I really wasn't happy, but I wasn't in crisis mode yet.
This had been the worst trip of my life. I lost hundreds on nonrefundable stuff, but I got back what I could already. I was so depressed, but what could I do but question why I choose the travel lifestyle in the first place.
At least my friend had a very nice bedroom I vacationed in... I took a few selfies of myself, imagining the Texas landscape behind me. Alas, no beautiful desert sunsets for me.
We decided to get a late start to the day and sleep in a bit because I figured there was no point in going to the airport at 5:20 (or 3:20 if the 'two hours early' thing applied) because if none of the flights were taking off the next day and I was just grabbing my bag and going home, I could at least take it slow.
Joseph dropped me off at the airport, we said goodbye and he headed off to his camping trip in the mountains.
When I got into the baggage claim area, I was already a bit upset and I forgot my manners a bit and got down to business right away. "So you have my bag, my flight got cancelled, I'm not going anymore, I need to know where to pick it up."
The black woman working there with bronze twists (I wish I had gotten the names of these people but it didn't occur to me at the time) starred me down, giving me a metric ton of side eye and drawled out, "Good morning to YOU too" in dripping sarcasm. She then took my ticket, looked for my bag and told me as if it was no big deal. "Your bag was sent to Dallas on the 7:45 plane."
I just blinked, not comprehending what I heard her say. "What do you MEAN it's in Dallas?!"
She didn't seem to have the time to deal with me panicking. She said cancelling my bag was up to me and I should have known to do that when I had called about my refund the night before. She looked at me like I was stupid for not knowing this. But who sends an unattended bag, alone, to a far away city when the person is not going there and there will be no one to pick it up. In what world is that a normal thing to do?
And so I began rocking back and forth, realizing my keys were in the bag. I had no way home. I was stuck there. I still couldn't believe it... THEY SENT MY BAG TO DALLAS!!!!!
"All this panicking that you're doing right now isn't helping," she just said, as if I was being a bother to them all. Okay, but when you're stranded at the airport and the bag with your keys is god knows where, I personally believe that is the perfect time to panic.
She said there SHOULD be a flight coming back with it today, but they didn't really know and couldn't be half-assed to find out. She just gave me a ticket with information on how to claim it if it ever did show up again.
If. my. car. keys. ever. did. show. up. again.
When I told my friends on Facebook about this, they were as confused as I was "up to you to cancel your bag????? I never heard that in my life!!"
And "my partner flies many times a year for business and says there is no such thing as cancelling your bags, and your bags should automatically be held if you are cancelled".
And joking about the utter absurdity of it: "Gosh, I can’t go to Texas, but there’s no reason why my luggage shouldn’t still get to go! It deserves a vacation!"
And "Cut to your bag in an airport bar, surrounded by people chanting 'Shots! Shots! Shots!'"
My. Bag. Had. Taken. Its. Own. Vacation.
They had room for my bag on the 7:45 but not me?!
Another friend commented on my Facebook with: "What airline is this? I have been flying for around 50 years and used to fly often for business I have never heard of having to cancel a bag. It is always done in conjunction with the ticket. Since the TSA took over i thought all language had to be associated with a passenger by regulation [....] I don’t know what kind of made up nonsense they told you but I have never heard of and can’t find anything about canceling a checked bag. It is on them for security reasons."
And yeah, isn't that a security risk? If I was a passenger, I sure wouldn't want an unattended bag flying alone -- what a great way to give someone an opportunity to set off a really explosive day. TSA is all about its checkpoints and unattended bags in the airport lounge, but get them on a plane unattended and its fair game.
Not sure what I was going to do then, and having had the super mean lady dismiss me because she didn't want to be bothered, I wandered the terminal, found a corner to go cry in and sat dumbfounded at what to do next. A nice security guard came over to me, asked me what was wrong and I told her everything.
She then said, "We'll figure this out. Let's go talk to Harry at the baggage claim. I know Harry. He's a good friend of mine. He'll figure this out!"
So off I went to go meet Harry!
From the start of our conversations, Harry was good people. Harry did some digging right away, finding out that the flight that my bag was supposedly on landed in about 2 hours from then. He told me I would get a text message from the airport that they had secured my bag. It would let me know what flight it will be coming back on. I just needed to be patient because it looked like I was going to be there for the next six hours at least. He said to come back around noon to get more information.
Whenever I went back for updates throughout the day, the lady with the bronze twists gave me this really snide pissed off look. On one occasion she even told me, "Move!" when I was standing in her way around the baggage conveyor belt. Like, I'm sorry that I forgot my manners for a moment there, and I didn't greet your highness with a good morning, but you have done absolutely nothing for me after stranding me in an airport all night. She hated me and I honestly couldn't figure out why.
The weather was just horrible in Dallas so they didn't know when there would be flights out or when I would get my bag back. They said that it looked like there would be a couple of flights coming back that day, but they were not entirely sure when with all the delays.
I waited around until noon (I couldn't even go in the terminal because I didn't have an active ticket so I just had to sit around the lobby), but then when no text came confirming they had my bag, I went over to them and they said that they have to help everybody else with the flight that just came in before they could help me out. I was freaking out by this point, just hoping they could at least tell me what flight my bag was planning on coming back on. Just a flight number. Anything!! I was already envisioning myself playing out Tom Hanks' part in The Terminal movie. I was absolutely stranded at the airport until I got that bag and my keys that were in it back. I had no idea what I was going to do.
Harry was eventually able to locate my bag. He gave me four different flights that it could come back on and sent a message over to Dallas to send it back asap. Depending on the weather, I have four chances to get it back by the end of the day.
Flight # and time: 1888 - 627pm 979 - 839pm 1605 - 1013pm (my birthday, lucky numbers for me) 542 - 1221am
Harry said it wasn't my fault as well. When he first figured out what happened, he was completely confused as to why they would ever do that. Because literally it makes no sense to send someone's luggage to a place that they are not going anymore.
"You're not going to Texas at all?" He asked.
"No. And I told them that when I called them last night. I told them I can't fly on Saturday. I have no place to stay tonight."
Not one of my friends had ever heard of a bag cancellation but that was the story half of the people working there were still going with, but even Harry said that didn't make sense. They were just making it up and trying to gaslight me into believing it. I was so tired of being lied to at that point, but at least Harry seemed to be on my side.
Half of the employees were acting like it was my fault that I didn't cancel the bag when I canceled the ticket. One even looked at me and said, "That was a really dumb move on your part, wasn't it?"
But when Harry looked at what had happened he just kind of sighed, rolled his eyes and said "I really wish people would check what they were doing before they put stuff on the plane" like he knew that what they had done was messed up. If it's my fault that this happened, then what did they have to check? And in what world does it make sense to fly a bag somewhere that someone isn't going? There is literally no reason why that would happen other than it was a mistake.
Harry mentioned that I was being "especially patient considering you've been here all day". But did I have much of a choice? But it did a lot to point out that I was being reasonable while everyone else I talked to all day continued to yell at me, act dismissive and roll their eyes when I asked for help.
Due to all the stress, the waiting, the confusion, the gaslighting and the exhaustion, I was just about losing it. Maybe the real trip was the mind we lost along the way ....
However, since I still had several hours of waiting for my bag left to go and I found out the Raleigh buses were free, I decided to go tour Raleigh as if I was in Texas. No amount of bullsh*t can stop Adventure Girl!
First stop - a burrito place my friend Sandra told me about! I might as well try the Tex Mex while I was in fake Texas. Pullen Park became the San Antonio Riverwalk. A spanish church was a stand-in for a spanish mission. The horses on the antique carousel? Well, obviously, Texas is known for its horses! I passed an Alamo car rental and I was pretty damn sure I was going to remember this Alamo -- and this entire nightmare of a trip!
When I got back to the airport, I talked to Harry again. No bag yet. The first flight and first chance was no dice. There were five other flights that night, with a new one added with connection in Charlotte. So the saga continued, but I kept track of the possible flights and times:
Flight - Time 979 - 8:39pm 522 - 10:10pm 1605 - 1013pm 1374 - 12:00am 542 - 12:21am
Harry said as long as none of the flights cancelled I had a good shot of at least getting it that night. He said Dallas didn't seem to be checking any of his messages though. I asked if there was a number I could call over there, but he said I had "a better chance of talking to the President of the United States" since Dallas was a utter mess that day, and possibly just because people at airlines are completely unreachable.
Harry seemed pissed that the folks who loaded my suitcase weren't paying attention to what they were doing. He gave me a phone number to call so I could check back in without having to go down to baggage claim every time, but there was not much point in leaving the airport since it was so late. I didn't want to be walking around Raleigh late at night. He also asked me to take a nap in the car once I get in the car, and I was like "I'd have to get IN the car first" and he was like "we'll get you in the car, don't worry about that." So maybe that was a good sign?
But he also asked if I knew anyone in the Raleigh area. I told him I lived two and a half hours away in Richmond and his face fell. So maybe that was a bad sign?
Harry said his shift ended at 7:00, so I was prepared for a new baggage supervisor to deal with eventually. I was not prepared for the new guy to be as much of a jerk as he was though.
The new Baggage Supervisor said that he had no idea where my bag was, it was "probably" in Dallas and he had no idea when I was getting it back. He didn't have time for any questions and didn't care at all. I really started to wonder if not caring at all and being generally rude to customers was a trait that American Airlines looked for in their employees during the hiring process.
I asked the new Baggage Supervisor who the supervisor was there and he just replied really snottily, "I AM the supervisor. You would be talking to me."
Okay, sir, but I'm pretty sure you don't own American Airlines. Like whoever owns American Airlines is probably on a yacht somewhere not giving a fk about their customers, while he was right there in front of me not giving a fk about their customers -- it was that slight difference that made me question his assertion that he was the only person I could speak to. I mean, if you are the top of the chain here, why are you working in baggage? Is this a weird hobby of yours? Just point me to who writes your checks, okay thanks.
He told me that it's "normal procedure" to send a bag without a person going to the city on domestic flights, and only on international flights would it be a problem if the person was not on the same flight, which seems hella racist, but okay. Terrorists can be on domestic flights too, you know. But I still didn't understand how they kept saying that sending a bag to another city when that person had canceled their flight and would not arrive in that city at any point was normal. This is not normal behavior, American Airlines. What were you expecting to happen? Who did you think was going to pick it up?
Again, I asked to speak to a supervisor because none of this made any lick of sense.
He finally relented and said I could go speak to the supervisor at the ticketing counter who was above him. It was about 9pm at this point, and I really wish I had gotten the name of the really obnoxious woman supervisor at the American Airlines counter I talked to next. Customer service at this point was atrocious, but she took the absolute cake.
First the supervisor woman at ticketing told me that the airline could not do anything because the first cancellation was an act of God and the second cancellation was on me because I told them I wouldn't go on Saturday if they had canceled Friday, but I never consented to flying on Saturday and I had no way to stay in Raleigh to wait for that flight. They were taking absolutely no accountability for this. None. I heard nothing all day from anyone other than Harry but victim blaming. They could ship my bag off to god knows where and then it was my fault and they couldn't offer any explanations, any apologies, any accountability.
She just said I should know that canceling a flight doesn't mean that the bag gets canceled. But no one else believes that a bag cancellation even exists. It was starting to get darker and darker, night was setting in and I was wondering where I was going to sleep that night and she didn't seem to care at all. How was I going to sleep in the airport without my stuff being stolen when I was there alone? I was a single female, traveling alone, and getting scapegoated by the airline that had shipped my luggage off without checking to see that I wasn't going to be traveling with it. And it was somehow, supposedly, all my fault.
It was turning into a nightmare scenario. My bag is not on any of those flights. They didn't know when they were sending it back. She said they might need to mail it back to me. She looked bored and like she wanted to go off shift and just shrugged and said, "It could take days, weeks, you may never get it back. The best thing you can do is go home and wait for it."
Again, feeling like I was going absolutely mad, I reiterated the fact, "I. Can't. Go. Home. My. Keys. Are. In. That. Bag."
She said the airline couldn't comp me a meal, or a motel room (I wasn't asking for much, I'm not picky, just a roof, a $50 motel where you can hear gun shots would be fine). She just continued to tell me that it was all my fault. I shouldn't have put my keys in my luggage and she really needed to go off shift, why was I bothering her?
"You know," she said, "You're not the only one waiting for their bag. Dallas is a mess right now. You're just going to have to wait."
"Okay," I said, "I get that I shouldn't be allowed to skip the line, and that getting Johnny's shorts back to him is important, but. I. AM. THE. ONLY. PERSON. STRANDED. IN. YOUR. AIRPORT. CURRENTLY. FORCED. TO. LIVE. IN. TERMINAL. TWO. Maybe we can triage the situation and deal with the emergencies that are in front of us first?"
"Like I said," she reiterated. "You really should just go home."
I felt like I was losing my mind. "I. CAN'T."
The situation had gotten so desperate that I said exasperatedly maybe I should just fly to Dallas and pick up the bag myself. And the supervisor was muttered "that's not a bad idea, at least you wouldn't be in front of me". Like literally that was an actual plan. Because they couldn't just send the bag back on the next plane. But then we both realized that the bag was probably not even in baggage claim, it's probably stuck in the system backstage somewhere.
I called up my friend Joe Gergis, because after being at the airport for two days, patiently waiting for my bag to get back, seeing all the flights that it could have been on and getting talked to by these employees as if I was a nuisance when they were the ones who had taken my bag and shipped it off to parts completely unknown, I was just absolutely losing it. While the lady brushed me off to help another customer, I had a complete melt down with Joe on the line, screaming about the utter insanity I had been forced to deal with all day, the unhelpfulness, the gaslighting, the victim blaming, the sheer fact that I had absolutely no idea what I was going to do now.
I was honestly terrified. I was in shock. I was stranded at the airport and none of the people who stranded me there gave a damn.
Like why would they make a policy where they can just send the bag wherever. It doesn't make sense if the person isn't going on the flight, why would they want their bag there?? Make it make sense.
But they were still claiming that it was my fault because I shouldn't have put my keys in my checked luggage. And I should have canceled my bag. Even though I didn't realize that the cancellation didn't work for both of those things, my ticket and my bag.
And I didn't know if I could get any kind of refund because they were claiming that the first cancellation was an act of God which they claim no responsibility for, and then the second cancellation was me saying if you can't fly me on Friday I literally can't fly on Saturday.
I still had to figure out a way to get a key for my car. It the lady was telling me it might take weeks to get the bag back, what the hell was I going to do? Joe tried to calm me down the best he could, but people were starring at me on the phone as I paced and yelled during my utter meltdown and panic attack. I was screaming and crying and causing a scene because no one at that airport was helping me at all.
Everyone at American Airlines has been yelling at me, telling me it's my fault, gaslighting me, and telling me that there's nothing they can do and they don't know when the situation is ever going to get fixed.
After about 20 minutes, the lady was done helping the other customer. So I went up to talk to her and she was just, "if you want me to help you, you better not bring any of that attitude over here. I will talk to you but I will not deal with that nonsense." And because I was so frazzled by her basically yelling at me at that point, I asked Joe to help me talk to her because I didn't even know what I was supposed to be asking her at that point. My brain was just completely fried. So he asked her two questions, trying to figure out what our next move was. And then she said "you get three questions, those were your first two." Like I'm sorry, you stranded me in a foreign city at the airport and have absolutely no issue with any of this, and now you are saying that we only get three questions like you're some God damn genie or something. Our last question was who can we speak to that's above her basically, and that's when she gave us the number to what I believe is customer service? At least she said that it was someone to speak to above her.
Joe was a godsend because he realized how much I was flipping out and how I couldn't sleep in the airport all night. He managed to get me a hotel room with some credit card points he had and told me to go get the shuttle outside. We were done talking to the supervisor woman, she was absolutely no help and was actively making the situation all that much worse.
I couldn't believe that almost every single one of the American Airline employees had been yelling at me all day (except Harry). Like they really didn't care. At all. It was clearly obvious. It was disgusting. The fact that anyone would treat their customers that way is really messed up. The fact that they would treat another human being like this was appalling.
Me and Joe talked a bit about how I was going to need to get a key made for my car the next day just to go home. But honestly, with my brain fried, he said the most important things for me to do right then was to eat some dinner, shower and sleep.
The transportation dude from the Fairfield Marriot picked me up and I must have looked haggard because he asked me what was going on. I told him everything and he was shocked. He told me the airline obviously messed up and this was the biggest nonsense he'd heard from them in a long while. He was such a sweet gentleman. I was almost in shock just being treated so kindly after dealing with American Airlines jerks all day. I could have cried just by that simple kindness.
When I got to the Fairfield, Kelli (who had spoken to Joe and got the whole story from him) greeted me warmly, asking if I needed anything, showing me human kindness and courtesy. I told her that being there felt like coming home after being through a huge battle.
"Don't you worry, baby girl, we got you," she said and again I just wanted to cry in relief. But the sheer fact that American Airlines could not show me any kind of sympathy after they fked up, but that hotel was so gentle and empathetic was a startling contrast. One of those companies cares about its customers and the other just wants to take their money, screw them over and victim blame them. The transport dude even offered to buy me McDonald's when I couldn't remember the last time I ate.
I still didn't know what I going to do, but the transportation dude told me, "I know you're in a bit of a pickle right now, but things will turn out all right. You just gotta see what happens tomorrow."
That hope was all I had to hold onto, but I still didn't know what was I going to do. The situation just kept getting deeper and deeper. The hotel staff and Joe all told me to sleep, but I was freaked and ended up just pacing a lot until the wee hours. I was worried I was never getting home, my cats only had food until Tuesday/Wednesday, and I would lose my job if I didn't get back to work soon. I just felt like I was running out of time and options, and the airline kept showing me they didn't care and telling me it was all my fault. Their gaslighting, condescending tone and unhelpful behavior was wearing me out. I was breaking down. I felt so alone, out of my depths and like the airline could have done all these simple, easy things for me and they couldn't care enough to help me out of the situation that they caused by being careless with my luggage.
I just wanted to go home. I laid in bed shaking while trying to sleep and it hit me that this was me being absolutely terrified. I figured if it was going to take weeks to get out of this situation, something big was going to have to give out, I was going to lose either my car, my cats, my job or my sanity.
I cried myself to sleep that night.
The next morning, I woke up and tried the phone number to baggage Harry had given me. He answered, checked my tag and said he finally had good news! He said my bag was coming in on the 11:30 flight! Harry was so happy for me. We love Harry, heh.
I talked to Harry when I got to the airport. He rechecked my tag and confirmed the flight it was on just landed and my bag was on it. He seemed pissed on my behalf, said none of this was my fault and caulked it up to "laziness". Pure laziness. He said he's been back and forth with these people for months now. He was shocked at how I said I was treated and said I never should have been talked to that way. He gave me the website to file a complaint. Several people were telling me to hit them where it hurts is social media, so I guess that's my next step. Gotta annoy the hell out of them on social media until this policy changes and I get some kind of compensation for what they put me through and the way they talked to their paying customer.
Then I waited for my bag, and when I first saw it come off the baggage belt, I scooped it up and fell on the floor crying. I was overwhelmed with relief, sitting there shaking, crying, hugging it. American Airlines had also unzipped it a bit, but thankfully the keys were still in it.
I could just picture my suitcase saying, "I know you're still upset about not getting to go on vacation, but let me tell you about MY trip..."
I ran over to Harry's office, peaking my head in, grinning ear to ear and told him, "I got my bag back, Harry! I'm going home, I'M GOING HOME!!!" In retrospect, it's really sad when the best thing you can say about an airline is it finally let you go home, but Harry was really happy for me.
On the way home, I had to stop for four hours to fix the donut of a flat tire on my car, and I just had a good long time to think about the utter nonsense that I had just experienced over the past 50 hours of my life, the non-trip, the gaslighting, the unprofessional behavior from more of the American Airlines employees, they way they implied that the situation wasn't as bad as I was making out to be, how stranded I had felt and how I didn't know why they all hated me.
In fact, at one point during all of this, I remember I had thought of going up to the woman with the bronze twists and apologizing to her for I don't even know what, because I had been so helpless and I was willing to do whatever I could to get her to see that I didn't intend to upset her, I was just in a helpless situation and I really needed some support from the staff. I had been willing to grovel for their help because that's how stranded and attacked I had been feeling. I don't think it would have helped though, because the whole time I was doubted and shown no empathy at all.
If they had only said 'wow, we messed up, but we're going to take care of you until we fix our mistake' I would have been able to let this go. To be attacked continuously by these employees and their utter rudeness all weekend just added to the stress I was already feeling. I felt like there was no one I could turn to and my concerns were completely ignored. Oh I'm so sorry, my terror and panic were bothering them. The staff truly needs to receive training on handling customer issues with some kind of empathy and clarity.
I am still going to see if American Airlines can compensate me for any of this nonsense in the form of a refund for my flight ticket, any kind of reimbursement or compensation for the undue stress and inconvenience they caused, but given their stellar customer service so far, I don't know how far I will be able to get with them. So my other alternative is to share this with social media and also to reach out to aviation regulatory bodies if I don't receive a satisfactory response from the airline. People should know who they're dealing with when they fly with American Airlines.
And above all, I would like a formal apology, because this was an utter nightmare that left me traumatized and terrified. I should never have been left to fend for my own after their egregious laziness caused such a massive mistake. Everyone I have talked to about this so far seems to be in consensus that this is absolutely appalling customer service and several have said they will not fly American Airlines ever again after hearing the whole ordeal. If American Airlines is going to ignore me and dismiss me, I have no problem speaking the truth about them, even if it hurts their reputation and their bottom line.

I apologize Mods if this has already been posted. Great article today, June 6, 2024, from usatoday regarding the increase of dog bites in America. Glad to see the founder of dogsbite.org, Ms. Lynn, providing her expertise. Go to the article to see latest statistics. Well, at least we are Talking about it on a public level. Still have a long way to go America...but keep plugging through soldiers...things can change, if we don't give up.
Article Text
Dogs are mauling and killing more people. What to do pits neighbor against neighbor
Cybele Mayes-Osterman
USA TODAY June 6, 2024
Anxiety still overtakes Santina Pado whenever a dog is not on a leash. Her phone’s heart monitor signaled a possible cardiac arrest on a family vacation last year when she saw one leaped to greet a woman standing next to her.
The moment brought back the sheer terror of being attacked by a pack of dogs on her daily stroll in rural Fayette City, Pennsylvania. A brindle boxer and four others leapt at her, teeth gnashing, and ravaged her arms, back, and leg. She collapsed, screaming, and suffered a heart attack.
"This is it," she thought. "This is the last day I'm going to have on this earth."
A passerby jumped out of his car and fired a gun into the air, scaring the dogs away. Pado later learned two of them had bitten people before. Yet their owner allowed them to run loose.
More and more in recent years, dogs have bitten, mauled and killed in America. Just in the past two weeks, a husky killed a newborn baby in Tennessee, and an 83-year-old died in the jaws of unleashed dogs in Alabama.
In the past decade, the number of fatal dog attacks more than doubled, from an average of roughly 40 a year to nearly 100 after the pandemic hit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of bites each year has also increased, experts say, from the most recent estimate 20 years ago of 4.5 million to untold millions today.
But how to stem the growing numbers of canine attacks is sharply divisive, pitting neighbor against neighbor, and advocates against condo boards, local councils and state governments. Some have passed leash laws or bans of certain breeds. A dozen states require that dogs have computer chips implanted with a record of any past aggression.
Some say dogs that attack or exhibit signs of acute aggression should be euthanized. Others say they can be rehabilitated and deserve the chance at happy lives, and that breed-specific bans are discriminatory, disproportionately impacting the poor and people of color.
Still, advocates and experts say the status quo is not enough and more must be done to save lives, particularly as millions more households took on pets since the pandemic – some 23 million by one estimate.
"You see how crazy this has gotten," Colleen Lynn, founder and president of DogsBite.org, a non-profit organization dedicated to reducing serious dog attacks. "It's happening more and more."
Lynn says it's time for government to step in and force better dog management. "Management means everything," she said. "It means training, it means euthanasia if you can't handle it."
Dog bites and fatal attacks can be 'completely unprovoked'
The details are crushing.
A 4-year-old riding his bike slain by a family friend's bulldog in Alabama. A man in Los Angeles fatally attacked by his own pit bulls. A stay-at-home mother in Georgia mauled to death in her yard as she tried to save her children from a pack of dogs.
A 3-month-old baby killed by the family dog in New Jersey, and two weeks ago, a six-week-old set upon as he napped in his crib in Knoxville, Tennessee. Parents Chloe and Mark Mansoor decided to donate little Ezra's organs and speak out on local TV to warn others.
"To just bring awareness that it could be any dog at any time – completely unprovoked," Chloe Mansoor told WVLT. "No matter what the history is."
The tragic toll in 2024 just keeps climbing.
Jim Crosby, a research associate at Harvard University's Canine Aggression Project who tracks dog bite-related fatalities, said there's no way to tell how many dog bites happen each year in the United States. ER visits due to dog bites decreased from almost 363,000 in 2012 to 317,000 in 2021, according to CDC estimates. But getting an overall bite total would require piecing together those estimates from hospital records with health department and industry records, including insurance data.
"None of those databases talk to each other," he said. "So, there's a huge issue with getting decent numbers and there's an even bigger issue with reporting."
Crosby and others who track dog attacks believe they have increased along with the boom in dog ownership during COVID. Even before the pandemic, the number of dogs in the U.S. shot up by at least 6.9 million from 2016 to 2020, according to the American Veterinary Medical Association.
Crosby believes other factors are also fueling the spike in attacks. He said dogs raised during the pandemic missed out on crucial socialization and interaction with other dogs as they holed up with their owners during extended lockdowns. Once their owners returned to office jobs, the dogs were left alone at home, further depriving them of social contact.
"We have been seeing a lot more problem behavior cases from the dogs that have come up and were adopted during the period of COVID," Crosby said.
He and Mike Shikashio, a dog aggression expert and certified dog behavior consultant, noted increased demand for dogs in recent years may have upped pressure on dog suppliers.
"Some of the shelters were adopting out dogs that maybe shouldn't have been adopted out," Shikashio said.
Crosby said with stretched resources, few shelters have the capacity to work intensively with individual animals over weeks to rehabilitate them, he said, and in some cases putting them down may have been better than adopting them out.
"Nobody wants to see animals needlessly killed, but there's also the public safety question," Crosby said.
Attack6-week-old baby fatally mauled in crib by family dog in Tennessee
Julie Castle, CEO of the Best Friends Animal Society, says society needs to do better and provide whatever resources are necessary.
"Why, as the wealthiest country in the world, are we talking about how to best kill our best friends rather than how to best save our best friends?" she said.
Castle said giving dogs "the right environment and the right routine" could produce "incredible improvement" in aggressive dog behavior.
Lawmakers turn to 'dangerous dog' legislation
The white scars that run from Kathleen Culpepper's elbow to her wrist are a permanent reminder of the day she was rushed to emergency surgery after her landlady's dogs mauled her in her front yard in Virginia.
A neighbor scared them away before they killed her, but not before they ripped her arm apart. In the ambulance, emergency medics couldn't start an IV because Culpepper's vein collapsed. Making the arm usable required two operations.
"It just was ugly," she said. "The guy just patched me together to hold the skin on."
The dogs had bitten her before, landing her in the emergency room. This time they were euthanized.
Virginia is one of a vast majority of states – 42 and the District of Columbia – that have "dangerous dog" laws on the books, according to the Animal Legal and Historical Center at Michigan State University's College of Law.
It's also one of a handful of states, including New Jersey and Louisiana, that require all dogs deemed "vicious" by a court be euthanized. Culpepper never pursued a court order after the first bite – she was scared her living situation would be jeopardized and she couldn't afford to move.
In almost all cases, a fatal dog attack is "going to result in the dog being killed," said David Favre, a professor at the college and editor-in-chief of the Animal Law Web Center.
If a dog is legally found to have a propensity for violence, "then you'll be able to keep the dog only so long as you abide by a set of conditions for protection of the public," Favre said. Those conditions range from muzzling a dog to barring a minor from owning it.
In at least 12 states and the District of Columbia, dangerous or potentially dangerous dogs must have a microchip implanted or, in some cases, be tattooed. Both Virginia and Pennsylvania maintain registries of dangerous dogs.
"The idea is that you're trying to prevent future harm," Favre said.
What will stem the number of dog attacks?
Florida is considering a measure named after a postal worker killed by five dogs in 2022, Pamela Jane Rock. It would force registration of dangerous dogs, require owners have liability insurance, and mandate the "destruction" of repeat-offending dogs.
Dog attacks on postal workers shot up to more than 5,800 cases last year, according to figures released last week by the U.S. Postal Service. That's 500 more than in 2022.
Lynn, president of the dog attack-reduction group DogsBite.org, wants more laws requiring shelters to disclose dogs' aggression records.
"So many people in the public don't even understand that they are getting a dog with a bite history when they go to a shelter, period," she said. "So, mandatory bite disclosure is a way that they can't get away with that anymore."
She and others say instituting bans and restrictions on dog breeds deemed more dangerous is another solution. DogsBite.org singles out "dangerous dog breeds, chiefly pit bulls," and says cities and counties in at least 14 states that implemented laws regulating dog breeds reduced dog attacks or dog bites.
Proponents of breed-specific legislation point to studies like one from 2019 that concluded bites from pit bulls are "more frequent and severe."
But opponents say such measures can come with a litany of problems. Jessica Simpson, senior public policy specialist for the Humane Society, said pit bulls are "a broad categorization of an animal and not a particular breed of dog" and are typically identified by appearance, which can be misleading. She said singling them out can contribute to housing instability for their owners and also discourage owners from getting help or training for fear their dogs will be seized.
"It's costly to enforce because people bring lawsuits, civil suits against this stuff and then obviously, it impacts resources," she said.
Advocacy organizations, including The Humane Society, and some legal scholars, say breed-specific legislation can be racist.
Ann Linder, an associate director of the Animal Law & Policy Program at Harvard Law School, concluded "pit bulls were perceived as most commonly belonging to people of color – specifically, young, Black males." A white paper published by the National Association of Insurance Commissioners said banning or restricting them, including through homeowner insurance exclusions, can effectively be a form of "redlining," discriminatory practices that have kept people of color from moving into white and wealthy neighborhoods.
A study of Denver's pit bull ban, in place for more than 30 years, also found enforcement primarily targeted the city's most vulnerable areas and communities of color – particularly where "racially diverse communities intersect with predominantly white neighborhoods."
The Humane Society advocates for replacing the laws with dangerous dog laws. Simpson said at least 21 states have banned breed-specific legislation.
Dog attack survivors face steep medical bills, crippling anxiety
After racking up $12,000 in medical bills and two years of healing, including six months of physical therapy, the lingering effects of the dog attack on Pado's daily life in Pennsylvania now are mostly psychological.
Even though the dogs that bit Pado had attacked others before, euthanasia is mandated in Pennsylvania only after a dog kills someone or a dog previously ruled "dangerous" causes severe injuries or its owner repeatedly fails to register, insure or microchip it.
In October, Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a law trying to discourage people from harboring dangerous dogs by doubling registration fees for them to $1,000 and jacking up fines for unlicensed dogs to as much as $500.
The dogs that attacked Pado during her walk in 2022 were put down afterward. She is still trying to return to her daily routine of walking a 3.5 mile loop every day. She recalled trying last year, setting off on the rural trail once again.
"I thought, I'm not going to let these animals stop me from doing stuff that I like."
But a mile in, anxiety overtook her. She called her husband to pick her up.
"That's my challenge, to see if I can do it," she said. "So far I haven't been able to do that."
Cybele Mayes-Osterman is a breaking news reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her on email at [cmayesosterman@usatoday.com](mailto:cmayesosterman@usatoday.com). Follow her on X u/CybeleMO*.*

Hi everyone. My beloved black lab Thor died in front of me a few weeks ago (exactly 2 weeks yesterday). He was almost 15 years old. When it happened, my other dogs were outside and they did not know he had passed. My husband and I took him to our emergency vet to have him taken care of. When we returned home, my other dogs looked around for a few minutes, then carried on which I found to be strange, especially from our nearly 13 year old boxer. They have been together for 12 years, so I was surprised she wasn’t more anxious. A couple days ago she started to get very anxious, making her signature goose honking noise that she makes when she is nervous or wants something. She is also following me everywhere now-though she has always been more of my husband’s girl than mine. She is also very mopey. She has some health issues of her own but I am wondering if she has realized that Thor is gone. Curious what everyone’s thoughts are about this and how I can help her if she is in fact grieving his loss.

My boyfriend and I got our puppy, who is now 12 weeks old when he was around 8 weeks old (from a shelter). We were told he is a German Shepherd/Boxer mix. We haven’t had him for very long obviously, and overall he has been a great puppy, but this past week has been a bit crazy. I want to preface by saying that we did our research before getting him, we do NOT regret getting a puppy, we knew what we were getting into, and we aren’t having any thoughts of rehoming- I’m just looking for some advice!
We started potty training the day that we brought him home and at first, he was doing great! 1-2 accidents/day and was consistent with going outside when we would bring him. Now it feels like he is almost regressing this week with 4-5 accidents/day even though we haven’t changed any of our habits or structures with him.
He also cries basically all night. We knew we would be sleep deprived with a puppy, but holy cow this dog does not like to sleep. We live in a studio apartment, so his crate is right next to our bed, yet almost every single night this week I’ve had to sleep on the floor next to his crate or else he SCREAMS at us. Is this normal? Should we be taking him outside and then trying to get him to go back in or is just sleeping next to him enough? He will be quiet up until whoever is laying with him tries to get up.
Finally his biting problem is becoming an issue but I’m not sure if it is developmentally normal or not. We can not get him to stop biting and a habit that started just this week is that if my boyfriend tries to hug me or kiss me, he starts barking and trying to attack him (in an excited/anxious way), almost as if he is being territorial over me. I’m not sure if this is normal, as I am the one home with him during the day right now, but we obviously want to stop this, we just don’t know how or if we should be super concerned about this.
Overall, he is an incredibly intelligent dog- he learns commands extremely quickly, he knows his name and listens when called, etc. We are just feeling as though he is regressing a bit over this past week. Maybe it’s totally normal but any advice is appreciated!

Hello there! Oi! It’s me! Ok, I’m not saying Rickle Pick every time. I was waiting for the hot dog war that has overcome this subreddit the past couple weeks to pass before I posted, but screw it! This is the third part of my accounts of my experience with a Neckbeard, a holy one nonetheless!
The next part after this will get a bit heavy on the schmexual side of things, as I’ll touch on some really weird situations that “happened” to Roger. But for now, have some high school drama and teenage cringy overreactions! Sorry for mistake, I no speak englisho. Thanks for reading and let’s get to the list!

Me: Your basic musician-type nerdy theater kid white guy! Tall, thin with medium-light brown hair. At the time, I usually wore a leather jacket and sometimes a hat (not a fedora, a Chaplin hat. Also, where I live, hats are an acceptable attire choice lol). I kinda looked like the Once-Ler from Lorax. At the time of this story, I was beginning to enter a dark part of my life, so I tried to solve the problems of others as to not think about my own.
Roger Beard: 168 centimeters of pure…heartbreak. Sigh… A light skinned mixed beardless beard, pathologic liar, jack of no trades, the most competent under achiever I have ever met and the perfect mix between athletic dumbass and neckbeard creep! He was sort of strong, had a dense body, chubby AND muscular at the same time and believed every girl that crossed his path had a thing for him. In this story, he had just been rejected by Rachel, his church crush (Chrursh?), and was on the market for a new targ- date. I meant date.
Rebecca: Small frame, pretty, feminine, dark skin and curly hair. Although she was on the “popular girls click”, she was very shy, and I had never really talked to her except for group projects and activities, as she was also new at our school.
Turkey: My elementary school former best friend, and the only guy in my class I knew from before I failed sophomore year. Got the nickname because he lived for a year in another country, which had a name that could be translated to Turkey in English. Was held back just the year before, and we reconnected when I suffered the same fate. White, large build, curly hair and big smile. Has one of the most contagious laughs I’ve ever heard. Was known to have a huge crush on Rebecca.

And now, as Mario would say: Let’s A-Go!

August 2018
As I walked into my classroom on that cold winter Monday morning, I immediately knew that something was awry. I knew this because Roger was… smiling? To put it in perspective, Roger almost never smiled, as his standard expression had always been the stoic broody face or, as I call it, the “I need to shit but this business meeting is only halfway done so I gotta look like I don’t need to shit” face. Roger only smiled in two occasions: when he was feeling better than someone or when he was talking to a girl. And the day had only started, so no way he’d find something to brag about OR someone to listen to the bragging. I was worried.
As I sat down in front of him, I extended my hand for our usual morning fist bump (because “real men don’t say “good morning”, that’s for ladies”) and was about to open my mouth, when he said “Check it out”, turned his phone towards me showed me a picture of him at a party (an actual party, with booze, girls and bad decisions), and he was sitting on an armchair, smiling weirdly at the camera, with a girl by his side.
Me: “Wow, was that last night?”
RB: “Yeah man, look who was all over me last night!”
I squinted and tried to recognize the person.
Me: “Is that Rebecca?”
RB, in a mocking manner: “Of course dude, are you blind? Dude, she sat on my lap!”
I tilted my head, confused: “That’s awesome dude! But why was she on your lap? Was she ok? How did she get there?”
RB: “Duuude, she was all over me for that entire party! Look at her! Also, any girl that sits on a guy’s lap must totally want him.”
Me: “She looks… a bit faded. Are you sure she was ok?”
RB: “Just a little, her friends took her over to where I was sitting, and asked me to take care of her, and I went to find a sofa or something, but there was a couple on the only couch there, so I had to pick her up, because she said she didn’t want to walk.”
Me: “So… you sat on the armchair and put her on your lap?”
RB: “Yeah, dude, she’s so into me, she kept trying to say my name and like caressing my chest and my face!”
I found this whole thing kinda weird, because I was pretty sure Rebecca was seeing Turkey, so this whole situation was kinda fishy…
Me: “Was there nowhere else for you to sit?”
RB: “No. I mean, there was a chair, but it kinda just made sense to sit her on my lap.”
Me: “That’s kinda weird bro, did you talk about it later? Did she say something?”
RB: “Yeah man, we almost made out. But her friends cock blocked me.”
Me: “Wait, for how long did you stay with her on your lap?”
RB: “About an hour or so, then their friends went to me and told me they were leaving and looked kinda mad at me!”
Me: “Dude, you sat for about an hour with a drunk girl on your lap until her took her away?”
RB: “Yeah… But she was totally into me!”
Me: “Bro, are you sure? If she wasn’t you know this could potentially blow back on your face, right?”
RB: “My man, even if she was uncomfortable and I somehow misread the signs, she probably doesn’t even remember it all! It’s totally okay, there is absolutely no way this could blow back on my face!”
Narrator: “Roger would soon discover that no, it wasn’t okay at all, and yes, it would totally blow back on his face.”
After that conversation, the first of the day (who the hell starts a conversation like that?), I had a feeling in my gut that Roger was, indeed, not out of the woods at all and, also, I had the potential to catch a stray from this whole debacle. Still, I tried to go on with my day and kinda forgot about that whole situation. Until Turkey came up to me on PE.
Turkey: “Hey Rick, you and Roger are friends, right?”
Me: “Oh, hey Turkey! Yes, we’re friends, I guess. Why do you ask?”
Turkey: “Dude, you have to tell him to stop. Right now. I’m telling you this as a warning, because if I even see him right now, I’m probably gonna do something bad.”
Me: “Wait, stop what? What the hell is happening?”
Turkey: “You don’t know? He’s been telling people that Rebecca and he made out last night, or something. I really didn’t understand the story people told me; this place is a freaking broken telephone.”
Me: “Woah, calm down, man! But yeah, that’s weird that he told people that but didn’t say anything about it to me… I’ll go talk to him.”
Turkey: “Rebecca is pissed. Try not to make things worse.”
Apparently, Roger had told a few people that Rebecca and he made out the night before, or something like that, and that she spent the whole night on his lap.
I was very curious about why Roger didn’t tell me about this, so I went to find him. Roger, despite hyping up his athletic abilities to anyone who would listen, never participated on PE classes. He acted like that was his way of going against the system, telling everyone proudly that he “found a breach in the system”. This meant that Roger was probably at one of two places: At our school library, where he liked to “play chess alone” to show everyone how smart he was, or at the classroom, doing God knows what, so I went to look for him and ask him what the hell was going on, and he was just... gone?
I mean, dude was nowhere to be found. I looked all over, and he seemed to not be at the school. Weird huh?
I then went to one of the schools exits, which was by the parking lot. This exit was the one people often used to sneak out when they wanted to do dumb high school kid stuff, so I figured he’d be there. The access to this exit was by a flight of stairs, which led to a closed gate, with a small dent on its bottom left part (this is how we got out). The thing is: on my way down the stairs, I heard a familiar punching sound. Roger was there. Just punching the fire door. Alone.
Me: “Hey Roger! I’ve been looking all over for you!! What the hell are you doing here alone?”
RB starting to wind up like a boxer: “I’m preparing (PUNCH). If Turkey wants to fight for her (PUNCH), I won’t just stand here (he started to punch harder, while looking at me in between each punch). I’m faster (PUNCH). I’m stronger (PUNCH). I’m better (CRACK).”
Wait... crack? That’s not the sound of a... ooooh. My dear reader, Roger Bacon had just broken his hand. Like, visibly. He was so intent on looking cool that he missed the soft metal, and punched straight into the handle, which was made of pure solid metal.
RB: “HOLY SHIT MY HAND OH MY GOD WHAT THE HELL”, he reeled, holding his hand, and looking at the weird shape it had taken. His fingers were also peculiarly bent, and his face went from “broody mysterious manly man” to “Help the mama's boy!”
I think that makes me a bad person, but I had to work really hard not to laugh at his face, because this moment alone tore apart his whole macho man bravado so suddenly, I was in shock. He screamed bloody murder, sounding like a curse version of Peter Griffin entering puberty as his voice modulated between higher pitched yells to lower shouts of anguish while he tried to keep the manly appearance.
I screamed a “HOLY SHIT” as I recovered from the shock and told him to come with me to the nurse’s office. I think we turned every head we came across on the way there, with people being curious about his screaming, while also disgusted and perturbed by his bent meat beater.
Immediately the nurse started taking care of him, as she also called his parents to inform them of what had occurred. He was taken to the school’s exit and left, still screaming “MY F*CKING HAAAND, WHYYYYY”. We could all hear him from the second floor.
Turkey and Rebecca asked what happened and why Roger was screaming in the halls while he waited for his parents, and I told them that he had an accident while showing me his martial arts skills. I also discovered that the two of them were dating for almost 3 months and that, in fact, Rebecca didn’t sit on Roger’s lap for an hour. She told me she and her friends were looking for a place to sit while they waited for their ride, and he’d been trying to talk to her the whole night. He eventually asked her if she wanted to play beer pong and, as she wasn’t aware of his reputation, she entertained him and, surprisingly, they actually won (that’s where the photo came from). He saw this as an in and tried to ask her to go to a more private place, but she just wasn’t interested. When she saw and armchair and was putting her purse down, Roger sneakily sat down on it, resulting in her sitting on his lap. She thought she had just not seen someone on the chair and looked back laughing, as she got up, but then she saw him with a fecal matter munching smirk and tore him a new one.
Rebecca: “I actually thought he was nice at first, and when I turned him down, I thought about introducing him to one of my friends. Thank God I didn’t. Creep.”
Turkey, with a cocky smirk: “Tell that dipshit that if he tries something with Rebecca again, I’ll break his other hand and piss on it.”
I didn’t see him for the next three days after that and, when he came back to school, he tried telling everyone that he broke his hand when he saw a blowtorch about to blow or some bullshit like that, I don’t really remember the whole story, but everybody already knew what had happened by then. People actually begun calling him “Maçarico” (Mahs-sah-rico, means Blow torch) after that, and never really stopped until graduation.
Roger spent the rest of the semester whining to me about how Turkey took his girl and how he should be thankful that his hand was broken, because if it wasn't he'd show him what he could do. I spent about a month trying to make him see reason, and then I thought better to just respond with blank affirmation and superficial support. I was starting to get fed up, and looked to find a new group of friends... finally.
Sooo that’s it for the second Roger Bacon story! Next time: How Roger Bacon lost his virginity! Or so he says...
I’m too lazy to write an outro asking for feedback. Bye!

Living in a suburban area of Europe, we had gotten us a pair of cute long hair Chihuahuas, which absolutely adored us. However, from time to time, my wife and me also wanted or needed to go to the movies or the theater without the dogs, sometimes even for a whole day, when we traveled to a city further away. To help us in these situations for a long time, we relied on relatives. However, as they were not directly around we decided, that we should get a dogsitter from the area.

So we setup a short ad in a local Facebook group as well as other local websites, looking for a dogsitter. Just a couple of days later, I received a WhatsApp message. A young woman from the neighboring village wrote she would be interested. She had experience with small dogs and availabilities on many weekends, as she was studying and needed time to learn and could use the cash. I talked to my wife and we decided to invite her for the next evening for an interview. She asked, whether we could time it according to the train schedule, because she did not have a car, and we were happy to oblige.

The next evening, just when I got home from work, the doorbell rang, and I opened the door to see a maybe 20 year old, roughly 1.7m tall sporty black women outside. Due to the summer heat she only wore jeans shorts and a tight fitting belly open top. This of course could not hide her D/DD breasts. "I am Becky, I'm here for the dogsitter position" she said, so I invited her in and took her to our deck, where my wife waited with our little fur babies. I immediately noticed, that Becky's eyes widened, when she saw my wife on the deck. As it was, as already mentioned, summer, my wife wore a black Bikini below a light, black beach dress. None of this could really hide her G-Cups and her petite but chubby/bbw figure. At first I thought she found my wife's dress to revealing, but closer examination showed, that it was more like she was checking her out.
While my wife asked Becky if she wanted something to drink, I excused myself for a second to get out of my work clothes into something more appropriate to the heat. I decided for a pair of beach shorts and a muscle shirt. When I got downstairs again after a few minutes, the two women were chatting and already the dogs seemed to like Becky. When Becky saw me she also seemed to have a closer look at my upper body and legs. (The regular swimming pays of nicely).
When we all were sitting around the table we asked Becky a couple of questions regarding her past experience with dogs and her general availability. She said, as she wasn't much of a party girl and preferred to focus on her studies, she is generally available most evenings and weekends. However of course she also has other clients as well and it's first come first serve with her. As we tend to plan our weekends often a couple of weeks in advance, this was not a problem for us. We also agreed on a per hour salary and agreed, that she could use our TV and everything whole she was at our place. Food however would be her own responsibility and she of course could not bring other friends into our house. As these were acceptable terms for everyone, we made a short contract everybody signed and we agreed on a first evening in two weeks time, when I needed to be on a business trip and my wife had a cinema evening with some of her friends .

Two weeks later, my wife called me in the evening after her cinema evening. She told me, that everything went well with Becky and the dogs. Unfortunately she had come home just a little to late for Becky to catch a train, and she would have had to wait for another hour for the next one. So she offered to take her home. As she had been out with the scooter, she had handed Becky a helmet and one of my motorbike jackets and away they went. At the beginning, Becky had held her around the waist, but my wife told me, that during driving, Becky's hands had slipped higher, so by the end it almost felt like she was holding her at the boob. But of course this could also be just a coincidence due to both of them wearing motorbike jackets and gloves. I jokingly suggested she had been groped and should think of appropriately punishment which she dismissed while turning on the TV. "Did you watch one of the porn channels?" she asked me out of the blue. "No I didn't, at least not in the last couple of months" I told her. We talk about stuff like this pretty open. "Interesting" she said. "That means it must have been Becky, who left it on. Maybe you were right about the groping after all". As it was already late, we told each other about our day and went to our respective beds.

For the next couple of months, nothing special happened. We booked Becky about once or twice a month, but when we came home, the TV was always set to normal channels and she also approached neither me nor my wife.
About half a year after we first hired her, my wife an me went on another date night. Unfortunately while still at dinner, before we could make it to our movie, I got an emergency phone call, that I needed to help in a really urgent situation in one of the nearby lakes. My wife didn't want to go to the movies alone, so I drove her home, loaded my diving gear in the car, kissed the wife goodbye and went on. While driving to the lake, I got a text from my wife: "Becky is naughty, I need to punish her." "Go for it" I answered without giving it to much thought.

When I was back from the emergency about 4 hours later, my wife was still awake, as she always is nervous and can't sleep, when I'm diving. But this time she also looked quite smirky. Then she told me the story.
She had entered the house, and was greeted by the dogs, but she did not see Becky, nor did Becky answer her calling through the house. She then went upstairs, just to find Becky watching porn a porn scene on our TV set, with two women pleasing each other while being fucked in turns by a sporty guy. Becky's trousers and panties were lying on the floor, as was her top. She was completely naked. All the while she was wearing noise canceling headphones and fucking herself with my wife's favorite vibrator, with my wife's buttplug in her ass. My wife was angry and turned on at the same time and after short hesitation she approached her.
I would have given anything to see the shock on Becky's face when my wife tapped her shoulder. She was so far in her own world, that she hadn't realized my wife was already home. "Please madame, please do not fire me, I'll do anything, anything" she stumbled. Anything?" my wife said, "We'll see about that". Now get my plug out off your ass and my vibrator out of your pussy and clean them thoroughly in the bathroom. And don't you dare putting on any clothes before I tell you. Becky did as she was told, and cleaned my wife's toys, while my wife made her way to the bedroom, removing her panties and here bra below her dress. Lying on the bed as if she was still fully clothed, she called in Becky: "Get your ass in here and close the door behind you little slut" she demanded and Becky obeyed, naked as she was. My wife grinned internally, her bisexual urges slowly taking over. "What were you thinking, masturbating with my toys in my living room" she asked and Becky got really defensive. "One of the dogs lost something below the bed, and when I looked down I found the vibrator and I git really horny. I don't have a boyfriend right now and my female friend I sometimes have sex with is on holiday, so I searched a little more and found your stuff, and then it all just happened to me, I did not know I was so needy, I already came 3 times and still couldn't stop."
"Did it occur to you, this stuff was none of your business?" my wife wanted to know, with Becky getting even more defensive. "I didn't mean to, I just got so horny…" "Get your face down between my legs" my wife demanded. Becky looked irate, "Do you want to keep your job?" Becky moved towards the bed pushing up my wife's dress and only now realizing, there was nothing underneath, and my wife's pussy was already starting to get wet. "Lick it or do you need another invitation" and Becky started licking. My wife had to admit she was really good at it and after a couple of minutes my wife came into her face. My wife got up, tossed the dress away and demanded "Now massage and lick my boobs" This time Becky instantly obeyed, got to her side and started pleasing my wife's G Cups. My wife meanwhile was a lot less gentle with Becky's Double Ds, slapping her nipples and massaging her rather hard. Becky moaned. "You like that? " my wife exclaimed, let's see about this. She inserted two of her fingers into Becky's pussy without further notice. Becky moaned once again, and my wife started fingerfucking her. "Put the vibrator into my pussy" she advised Becky who one again obeyed. The two of them went on for a couple of minutes before both of them came very hard. After they catched their breath again my wife told Becky: "You keep your job. But next time, you will come dressed as I say. " "Okay said Becky, got her clothes together and left.

I already got a huge boner, when my wife told me this scene , which she of course saw. She got it out of my pants started blowing it and said: "You like me fucking this young bitch?" "I do, I would have loved to watch and join in" I answered while she was getting on her knees. "Fuck my ass" she pleaded, and boy was I down for that. I got behind her, lubed my cock with a few thrusts into her pussy which already sent her moaning, before slowly sliding into her ass. Once in, I started fucking her slowly, while bending forward and also massaging her huge tits with my hands, making sure I got here nipples between my fingers. I wasn't to gentle. I was horny. I was massaging her tits with hard strokes of my hands while fucking her ass with passion and it took us just a few minutes till we both came.

We asked Becky in for the week after, telling her, my wife and me wanted to redo our date from the week before. However our real plans were a little different. My wife told her to wear a black nylon stocking, a maximum knee length black leather skirt and a black leathelatex top. She was not to wear a bra or panties. This was also a test, onto whether she was still willing to go down the route started the week before, or whether to drop this point for the future.
Also we on our side dressed a little more daring this time. My wife wore knee high leather boots together with a long black latex skirt, a black silk blouse and a black underbreast corsage, pushing her already large breasts even further up. With the blouse not fully closed you could almost see her nipples as she too was not wearing a bra or panties. Her dark hair combined with black lipstick and dark mascara, this style made her look like a queen of the night.
I myself went for a skintight black shirt, combined with a skin fit black leather jeans. To avoid accidents with the zipper, however I also wore black boxers below.
Becky ringed at the door on time as always. When I opened the door, I saw, that she had obeyed to my wife's instructions and she was looking hot. I also recognized, that she was looking at me, my outfit and also the developing bulge in my midst longer than necessary and definitely not disgusted but aroused.
I asked her in as always and she went into our entrance hall. My wife came downstairs looked at her and ordered her to lift the skirt. Becky obeyed and it was clear, she followed the instructions not to wear panties. "Okay" my wife told her. Becky's eyes had widened, when she saw my wife in her outfit. "You know the drill with the dogs. We already fed them, so just do the usual walks with them." Becky did not even flinch at the idea of walking through our neighborhood in these clothes. But well, she had been coming to our place on a train dressed like that.
Becky seemed almost disappointed when we left the house, but we wanted to go to dinner to rise our anticipation and we also wanted her hanging on the edge for a little longer. Instead we flirted with our waitress who seemed to be more interested in my upper body than my wife's. In low tone we traded some ideas, how to deal with Becky afterwards. We finally settled on a plan and after a good steak dinner and a bottle of wine, made our way back home. In the garage I took out my phone and checked on our bedroom cam, we sometimes use for "life shows" when one of us is on a business trip.

My wife then told me, she would wink at me, when I should come in, and made her way into the house. After the hello of the dogs had ended I could hear her "You, bedroom, now" in a harsh voice to Becky. It seemed like she obeyed instantly because just a few seconds later she appeared on my phones screen. My wife appeared behind her. "Judging from your dress, I think you want to hold your part of the deal?" "Yes, madame" was Becky's answer. "You know, we can just drop it, you continue as our dog sitter, and we play it like none of this ever happened. I am not mad at you" my wife checked to ensure Becky's consent to all of this. "Madame, this was the hottest night I had in months. I don't mind if we go on like this." "And are you also okay with my husband watching and joining in? He can see and hear you, but he is not recording" "Oh please, I would love that" Becky said. "Well, in that case, get rid of those stockings and lick my boots" my wife ordered and Becky obeyed. She started licking the boots and in that process of course her skirt fell onto her back and I had a perfect camera view of that surprisingly wide chocolate ass. I could hear a sound of surprise from below my wife's skirt, when Becky realized, my wife did not have any panties on.
My wife bent down a little and slapped Becky ass "You like that?" "Yes madame" Becky exclaimed. "Good, now get up and get me out of this blouse." When Becky started to get up my wife pulled Becky's top over her head, revealing her upper body. As she was standing with her back to the camera, I was not able to see her breasts. She wanted to open the corsage when my wife slapped her as again, this time s hard it left a handmark behind. "I told you the blouse, not the corsage." "Sorry madame" was all Becky said and she pulled the blouse out of the corsage, opened the buttons and freed those breasts I cherished so much. My wife turned herself and Becky around by ninety degrees, so I could start examining Becky's breasts as well. They were a lot smaller, but given her much skinnier, taller figure, the overall look of this young woman with enough ass and DDs was almost as arousing as my w's looks to me. "On your knees and lick my tits" my wife now commanded and Becky once more obeyed, only her short skirt just barely covering her ass and pussy. My wife pushed her upper body onto Becky's face, her head almost disappeared in between my wife's big milkers, only her long black hair visible. My wife moaned in anticipation and pulled her face back, pushing it to make her face the camera while still on her knees. "Last chance, If you want my husband to join, tell him now. If not, you can still say no, and nobody will be mad at you." My wife said in a much more soft voice, while still pulling Becky by her hair. "Please come and join us, Mister" Becky said into the camera.

I took that as the wink and turned down the camera, left the car and entered the house. By the time I entered the bedroom, Becky was still on her knees, but my wife's skirt now lay on the floor. Only in boots and the corsage, my wife with a slight bush around here pussy looked extremely hot. Becky was licking my wife's pussy like her life depended on it, and I already saw, that my wife's knees were about to get weak. A couple of seconds later a gasp left my wife's mouth, as she orgasmed and let herself fall backwards onto the bed, her breasts falling to both sides of her chest. What an arousing view. Becky also stared from her viewing point below. I grabbed here below her arms and pushed her onto my wife "Nobody told you to stop" I said with faked anger in my voice and Becks started to lick my wife's pussy again, kneeling in front of our bed. I walked over to our toy collection and grabbed a medium size buttplug and some lube. I made sure to lube it properly, while my wife pulled up Becky and made her lick her boobs once more. "I was told you like your ass stuffed" I said to Becky and her eyes widened when she saw what I had prepared for her. "Get that ass up in the air and pull the cheeks aside. But get rid of that skirt firs" I commanded. Becky obeyed while continuing to suck on my wife's tits. I could feel her body shiver from arousal and anticipation, when the tip of the plug touched her ass. It only took a slight push and in it went. My cock was now pushing against the trousers and my sweat started to get wet from my sweat, but I did not want to spoil anything for my wife. Both women were now on the bed and I placed myself behind Becky, and besides my wife's legs and started to carefully insert my left middle finger into my wife's pussy, searching for just the right point. With my right hand i was much less gentle and pushed two fingers at once into Becky's pussy. Both women gasped. "Nobody told you to stop licking my tits" I heard my wife's voice and Becky's head went down again. I could feel her hands searching for me. "Use them on my wife" I commanded and now Becky was gently massaging my wife's tits while she continued to suck her. I continued to fuck both women with my fingers and my wife started harshly playing with Becky's tits. It did not take long, and my wife exhaled loudly screaming out her second orgasm and only seconds later Becky collapsed over her, her orgasmic screams damped by my wife's breasts, as her head lay in between her.

I grabbed her by her shoulders an pulled her up. "No time to rest, now it's my turn. Get your mouth round my cock asap!" She turned around to me, unzipped my pants and pulled them down. The sudden release of outside pressure felt really good and I stepped out of my pants next my boxers were going down and I heard her gasp, when my 20 cm of thick meat jumped into her face with everything containing it now gone. She grabbed it with one hand and started licking it from below before cautiously taking my tip into her mouth. After a few seconds as she started to release it again I started to get impatient, but my wife had already recovered from her last orgasm and grabbed the back of her head. "You call that a blowjob?" She said and pushed Becky's head onto my cock until it was fully inserted. I felt her gagging but she did not protest. My wife forced her head to fuck my cock and after a few strokes we could see, that Becky now did it on her own, so she let her head free again. She went behind me, got on her knees pressed her tits into my ass, and started massaging my balls while with the other hand forcefully massaging Becky's tits again. That was to much. I gasped and unloaded into Becky's throat without warning. However she was a good girl and swallowed as much of the load as she was able to.

I stepped back from Becky and rested myself and my cock on the bed. But my wife took control again. She got up and went out of sight. After a few seconds I heard a bottle opening and she came back in my view, oiling her huge breasts and making sure I saw all of it. And she did not forget to squeeze a nipple and boy, was that a good show. She then proceeded to go behind Becky, also oiling her young tits. The show of those huge, oiled white tits pressing against Becky's back while my wife oiled her big black tits got me going again quickly. And boy, was I in for a treat. After both woman had their tits properly oiled, my wife positioned Becky to my left and herself to my right and they started to take turns titfucking me while not forgetting to play with each other's asses and pussies. I was rock hard again after just a few minutes. But that was just the beginning of this second round. My wife advised Becky to continue titfucking me, while she went and got herself a buttplug, which she made a show for me and Becky inserting it. All the while I had positioned Becky above me now, in a way I was able to fingerfuck her, while she continued with her titfuck. My wife went again, and came back with one of her vibrators. She positioned herself to our side, so I could watch her starting to fuck herself with it while she had a perfect view onto Becky an me. This continued for a couple of minutes before she stopped, crawled over to us and removed Becky's buttplug, only to replace it with the vibrator.
She fucked Becky's ass with the vibrator while her tits were dangling above my face. I did not need a second invitation. I grabbed one of her tits with my free hand and positioned her nipple onto my mouth, so I was able to lick, suck and gently bite her. Afterwards I grabbed the second one and I started to squeeze the breast with my hand and her nipple between my fingers. My wife moaned with excitement. Becky's titfuck however got more and more sloppy while her moans got louder and louder until she screamed out her orgasm and collapsing on top of me.

My wife did not really give her time to catch her breath. She rolled her down from me and placed her on her back, immediately placing her lap above Becky's face. The good girl knew what to do and started to eat her out. My wife meanwhile cleaned the vibrator with a wet wipe and threw it over to me. I took it, got up and got behind her, pushing the vibrator into her pussy for a couple of strokes. My wife meanwhile slapped Becky's pussy and said sharply: "Put these hands to use and pleasure my tits!" This was followed by a second, harder slap when Becky did not obey right away. After a few strokes with the vibrator, I removed it from my wife's pussy and also removed her buttplug. I replaced the buttplug with the vibrator and started fucking her ass with it, while inserting my cock into her pussy. The three of us quickly found a rhythm which led to Becky not only licking my wife's pussy, but also to bottom of my cock and my balls when I pushed in. My wife could not resist this very long and screamed out her orgasm, collapsing forward her head onto Becky's belly. I also couldn't last any longer, I left the vibrator sticking in my wife's butt and grabbed her hips with both hands and after two or three more strokes I also came.

We arranged us in bed when we heard scratches at the door. The dogs wanted in. Becky was absolutely tired. We let the dogs in and the five of us went to sleep. The next morning we were awoken by the dogs. We quickly dressed and let them out. We set down for breakfast and Becky thanked us for the night. She stayed our go to dogsitter for three years and while not every time, from time to time she also joined us in bed afterwards (and sometimes we invited her for this sole purpose). We also got to know some of her friends and I also got to fuck her. But those are tales for different times.

* Species: Canine* Age: 5yrs * Sex/Neuter status: Male* Breed:Boxer * Body weight: 65lbs* History: * Clinical signs: growth under mandible towards ear * Duration: 1 month * Your general location Colorado
About a month ago my 5 year old boxer developed a lime size bump under his jaw. This was from one day to another, he was not in pain still drinking, eating and playing. I waited less than a week to take him to the vet, by that time the bump had grown from small lime to almost baseball size. He was still unbothered, so I was thinking the worst since boxers are notorious for lymphoma.
I took him to the vet, she aspirated pulled out blood no puss but said she thought it was a salivary gland infection. We should do bloodwork and go from there. Bloodwork came back normal except for High BASO at 0.15K/ul. She gave me two options, start antibiotics and see how he did or surgery to open it up and drain it. I opted for the antibiotics, vet still made the appointment for surgery the next week. I couldn't and can't afford the extra $1000 that week so I cancelled. I will reschedule as soon as I have the money but right now I am dealing with my dad who had a stroke plus getting sued for a medical bill I thought my health insurance paid.
Anyway, my dog is acting fine. He has had a salivary gland infection before and it was totally different, he became lethargic right away, his breath smelled bad and he developed a fever. Stopped eating and drinking as well.
He has finished the antibiotics and the bump is still the same if not a bit bigger. He has no other symptoms aside from a bit of a cough after he drinks water and drinking more to the point where he throws up but he has been doing that for about two years now. Vet said it was normal since being a brachycephalic breed they tend to drink more. It just seems a little more excessive or I am just worried and see everything??? I don't know...
My question is what are the chances that this is in fact a salivary gland infection vs lymphoma? Shouldn't the antibiotics helped by now?

My next door neighbors have a boxer who I fucking hate. He is almost always barking at something when he is outside, and when I am outside in our fenced backyard, that something is me.
Well, I was doing yard work and he is barking at me as usual.. whatever.. but then I saw the most amazing garter snake!! She was huge, maybe 4 feet long! With a very clean yellow line and dark black, very beautiful.
I watch her unravel from her coils, and slip away like a shimmering ribbon.... into the neighbors yard, about 10 feet from the dog who is (still) right up against the fence barking in my face.
Now rather than marveling at the gorgeous and impressive snake, I’m suddenly terrified that this dog is going to attack it. Ordinarily I’d have peered through the fence to keep watching her, especially given how big she was (I still wish I could have double checked if I was crazy or not, it was that unusual).
But I know I can’t peer after her and risk betraying her location to the dog. I start to talk to the damn dog to keep the dog’s attention on me (not hard as it as is very singleminded when I am outside). After a couple minutes of this (and nonstop barking), I’m confident the snake must have reached safety and go back to trying to ignore the dog. I’m left with feelings of stress, resentment, and bereavement for lost opportunity, rather than the sense of wonder I should have had.
I love snakes. I used to own some as pets. And I hadn’t seen a garter snake since childhood, and never that long. Instead of getting to appreciate it, I was managing the ongoing disaster that is my neighbor’s damn dog.

Long story short, I have been looking for a very specific puppy breed for 2 years. Finally found the one I was looking for. However, he is 4 months old, hasn't had ANY of his vaccinations, and has been a completely indoor dog who still pees on pee pads. In the pics, he looks very attached to his current owner and he has a name that I want to change. He is a Boxer mix. Three questions please:
1) How difficult will it be for him to re-acclimate to me?
2) What challenges might I face knowing he still needs all of his vaccinations still?
3) How difficult will it be for me to change his name and train him?

This includes studio albums (minus Christmas in the Heart), Side Tracks, and I threw in Blind Willie McTell for shits and giggles

1. Desolation Row
2. Abandoned Love
3. Romance in Durango
4. Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
5. Brownsville Girl
6. Señor (Tales of Yankee Power)
7. Stuck Inside of Mobile with the Memphis Blues Again
8. Visions of Johanna
9. One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)
10. Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts
11. Tangled Up in Blue
12. Hurricane
13. Isis
14. Mr. Tambourine Man
15. Buckets of Rain
16. You're a Big Girl Now
17. Jokerman
18. Key West (Philosopher Pirate)
19. Simple Twist of Fate
20. Gates of Eden
21. Like a Rolling Stone
22. Changing of the Guards
23. Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands
24. All Along the Watchtower
25. The Groom's Still Waiting at the Altar
26. Man in the Long Black Coat
27. Love Sick
28. Cold Irons Bound
29. Mississippi
30. One More Cup of Coffee (Valley Below)
31. Queen Jane Approximately
32. Ballad of a Thin Man
33. Open the Door, Homer
34. Just Like a Woman
35. Subterranean Homesick Blues
36. She Belongs to Me
37. It Takes a Lot to Laugh, It Takes a Train to Cry
38. I Want You
39. It's All Over Now, Baby Blue
40. As I Went Out One Morning
41. My Own Version of You
42. It's Alright, Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
43. I Contain Multitudes
44. Goodbye Jimmy Reed
45. Crossing the Rubicon
46. False Prophet
47. Girl from the North Country (Original)
48. I've Made Up My Mind to Give Myself to You
49. I Shall Be Released
50. Pay in Blood
51. Nettie Moore
52. When the Deal Goes Down
53. Spirit on the Water
54. What Was It You Wanted
55. This Wheel's on Fire
56. If You See Her, Say Hello
57. Shelter from the Storm
58. Idiot Wind
59. Highway 61 Revisited
60. Don't Think Twice, It's All Right
61. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
62. Knockin' on Heaven's Door
63. Billy 1
64. Love Minus Zero/No Limit
65. Dirge
66. Most Likely You Go Your Way (And I'll Go Mine)
67. Duquesne Whistle
68. Mother of Muses
69. Black Rider
70. Positively 4th Street
71. From a Buick 6
72. On a Night Like This
73. Lily of the West
74. To Ramona
75. Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat
76. Tonight I'll Be Staying Here with You
77. Lay Lady Lay
78. Watching The River Flow
79. Blind Willie McTell
80. Braggin'
81. The Best Is Yet to Come
82. Girl From The North Country (With Johnny Cash)
83. Absolutely Sweet Marie
84. Temporary Like Achilles
85. Workingman's Blues #2
86. Wedding Song
87. You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
88. Bessie Smith
89. Katie's Been Gone
90. Yazoo Street Scandal
91. Goin' To Acapulco
92. Joey
93. John Wesley Harding
94. Every Grain of Sand
95. Mozambique
96. Oh, Sister
97. One Too Many Mornings
98. Political World
99. Silvio
100. Bye and Bye
101. Moonlight
102. Po' Boy
103. High Water (For Charley Patton)
104. Floater (Too Much to Ask)
105. Blowin' in the Wind
106. Summer Days
107. Lonesome Day Blues
108. Sugar Baby
109. Jack-A-Roe
110. Highlands
111. Black Diamond Bay
112. Not Dark Yet
113. Can't Wait
114. Make You Feel My Love
115. Tryin' to Get to Heaven
116. Tombstone Blues
117. Maggie's Farm
118. 'Til I Fell in Love with You
119. Sara
120. Precious Angel
121. Slow Train
122. Covenant Woman
123. Rainy Day Women # 12 & 35
124. Pledging My Time
125. Ain't Talkin'
126. I Feel a Change Comin' On
127. Tell Me That It Isn't True
128. To Be Alone with You
129. I Threw It All Away
130. I'll Be Your Baby Tonight
131. The Times They Are A-Changin'
132. It Ain't Me Babe
133. I Don't Believe You (She Acts Like We Never Have Met)
134. All I Really Want to Do
135. When the Ship Comes In
136. My Back Pages
137. Chimes of Freedom
138. Winterlude
139. If Not for You
140. The Boxer
141. You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go
142. Meet Me in the Morning
143. The Mighty Quinn (Quinn the Eskimo)
144. Wigwam
145. Caribbean Wind
146. Murder Most Foul
147. Tempest
148. Soon After Midnight
149. Roll On John
150. Tin Angel
151. That Old Black Magic
152. That Lucky Old Sun
153. I Guess I'll Have to Change My Plans
154. Spanish Harlem Incident
155. Down Along the Cove
156. Obviously 5 Believers
157. 4th Time Around
158. The Ballad of Frankie Lee and Judas Priest
159. Dear Landlord
160. Two Soldiers
161. Dirt Road Blues
162. Standing in the Doorway
163. Million Miles
164. Shenandoah
165. Crash on the Levee (Down in the Flood)
166. Nothing Was Delivered
167. Tears of Rage
168. Million Dollar Bash
169. Orange Juice Blues (Blues for Breakfast)
170. On the Road Again
171. Song to Woody
172. Bob Dylan's Dream
173. Corrina, Corrina
174. Forever Young
175. I Dreamed I Saw St. Augustine
176. Ain't No More Cane
177. Peggy Day
178. One More Night
179. Day of the Locusts
180. Sarah Jane
181. Masters of War
182. Going, Going, Gone
183. Something There Is About You
184. If Dogs Run Free
185. Down the Highway
186. When the Night Comes Falling from the Sky
187. I and I
188. Tight Connection to My Heart (Has Anybody Seen My Love)
189. Union Sundown
190. Tough Mama
191. Hazel
192. Never Say Goodbye
193. I Pity the Poor Immigrant
194. Oxford Town
195. You're No Good
196. House of the Risin' Sun
197. Man of Constant Sorrow
198. In My Time of Dyin'
199. Talkin' New York
200. Gospel Plow
201. Fixin' to Die
202. Baby, Let Me Follow You Down
203. Only a Pawn in Their Game
204. On a Little Street in Singapore
205. Tweedle Dee & Tweedle Dum
206. The Night We Called It a Day
207. I'm a Fool to Want You
208. Where Teardrops Fall
209. Beyond the Horizon
210. Jolene
211. Beyond Here Lies Nothin'
212. Life is Hard
213. Melancholy Mood
214. Skylark
215. Black Crow Blues
216. Ballad in Plain D
217. Outlaw Blues
218. Odds and Ends
219. Yea! Heavy and a Bottle of Bread
220. Too Much of Nothing
221. Long Distance Operator
222. Ruben Remus
223. Is Your Love in Vain?
224. Gotta Serve Somebody
225. I Believe in You
226. The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll
227. New Pony
228. When You Gonna Wake Up
229. Where Are You Tonight? (Journey Through Dark Heat)
230. Mr. Bojangles
231. Turkey Chase
232. Three Angels
233. Sign on the Window
234. New Morning
235. The Man in Me
236. One More Weekend
237. Father of Night
238. North Country Blues
239. Early Mornin' Rain
240. Billy 4
241. Main Title Theme (Billy)
242. Country Pie
243. Days of 49
244. I Am a Lonesome Hobo
245. The Wicked Messenger
246. No Time to Think
247. We Better Talk This Over
248. Baby, Stop Crying
249. True Love Tends to Forget
250. Tiny Montgomery
251. Don't Ya Tell Henry
252. Please, Mrs. Henry
253. Clothes Line Saga
254. Lo and Behold!
255. All the Way
256. Sierra's Theme
257. Percy's Song
258. I'll Keep It With Mine
259. When I Paint My Masterpiece
260. Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window
261. I Wanna Be Your Lover
262. George Jackson
263. Lay Down Your Weary Tune
264. Tomorrow is a Long Time
265. Things Have Changed
266. Series of Dreams
267. Dignity
268. Ring Them Bells
269. Shooting Star
270. Everything Is Broken
271. Most of the Time
272. What Good Am I?
273. Under Your Spell
274. Got My Mind Made Up
275. Dark Eyes
276. Thunder on the Mountain
277. Cry a While
278. Honest with Me
279. World Gone Wrong
280. Delia
281. Tomorrow Night
282. Little Maggie
283. Diamond Joe
284. Arthur McBride
285. Blackjack Davey
286. Frankie & Albert
287. Jim Jones
288. Apple Suckling Tree
289. Copper Kettle
290. Shot of Love
291. Death Is Not the End
292. When Did You Leave Heaven?
293. Clean Cut Kid
294. Don't Fall Apart on Me Tonight
295. Watered-Down Love
296. Heart of Mine
297. Dead Man, Dead Man
298. Sweetheart Like You
299. Unbelievable
300. Born in Time
301. Under the Red Sky
302. Disease of Conceit
303. Precious Memories
304. Seeing the Real You at Last
305. Stack a Lee
306. Sittin' on Top of the World
307. Property of Jesus
308. In the Summertime
309. Trouble
310. Driftin' Too Far from Shore
311. You Wanna Ramble
312. Young at Heart
313. Narrow Way
314. Scarlet Town
315. Stardust
316. There's a Flaw in My Flue
317. Trade Winds
318. All or Nothing at All
319. Why Try to Change Me Now
320. Some Enchanted Evening
321. Stay with Me
322. Autumn Leaves
323. Where Are You?
324. Full Moon and Empty Arms
325. License to Kill
326. Emotionally Yours
327. Something's Burning, Baby
328. I'll Remember You
329. Never Gonna Be the Same Again
330. Trust Yourself
331. Let's Stick Together
332. God Knows
333. Ragged & Dirty
334. Love Henry
335. You're Gonna Quit Me
336. Hard Times
337. Step It Up and Go
338. Froggie Went A Courtin'
339. Broke Down Engine
340. Lone Pilgrim
341. Blood in My Eyes
342. Living the Blues
343. I Forgot More Than You'll Ever Know
344. Alberta #1
345. Restless Farewell
346. Do Right to Me Baby (Do Unto Others)
347. Saved
348. Neighborhood Bully
349. What'll I Do
350. Polka Dots and Moonbeams
351. Up to Me
352. Gonna Change My Way of Thinking
353. Solid Rock
354. Pressing On
355. When He Returns
356. What Can I Do for You?
357. It Had to Be You
358. Stormy Weather
359. If You Ever Go to Houston
360. It's All Good
361. Forgetful Heart
362. This Dream of You
363. Drifter's Escape
364. Talkin' World War III Blues
365. Ballad of Hollis Brown
366. Man Gave Names to All the Animals
367. This Nearly Was Mine
368. Shake Shake Mama
369. Long and Wasted Years
370. Maybe You'll Be There
371. Nevertheless
372. Highway 51
373. See That My Grave Is Kept Clean
374. Man of Peace
375. Are You Ready
376. In the Garden
377. Saving Grace
378. Maybe Someday
379. Sally Sue Brown
380. Had a Dream About You, Baby
381. Ninety Miles an Hour (Down a Dead End Street)
382. Rank Strangers to Me
383. Wiggle Wiggle
384. Handy Dandy
385. Canadee-I-O
386. 10,000 Men
387. T.V. Talkin' Song
388. 2 x 2
389. It Gets Lonely Early
390. P.S. I Love You
391. Day In, Day Out
392. I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night
393. Sentimental Journey
394. But Beautiful
395. Imagination
396. You Go to My Head
397. It's Funny to Everyone But Me
398. Once Upon a Time
399. I Could Have Told You
400. That Old Feeling
401. My One and Only Love
402. Gotta Travel On
403. Belle Isle
404. Let It Be Me
405. Bob Dylan's 115th Dream
406. Motorpsycho Nitemare
407. With God on Our Side
408. Early Roman Kings
409. Bob Dylan's Blues
410. My Wife's Home Town
411. Rollin' and Tumblin'
412. The Levee's Gonna Break
413. Someday Baby
414. As Time Goes By
415. Mixed-Up Confusion
416. Honey, Just Allow Me One More Chance
417. Boots of Spanish Leather
418. I Shall Be Free No. 10
419. Why Was I Born
420. These Foolish Things
421. Pretty Peggy-O
422. Baby, I'm in the Mood for You
423. A Satisfied Mind
424. Final Theme
425. Take Me as I Am (Or Let Me Go)
426. Blue Moon
427. Big Yellow Taxi
428. You Angel You
429. Can't Help Falling in Love
430. Billy 7
431. A Fool Such as I
432. It Hurts Me Too
433. Take a Message to Mary
434. Time Passes Slowly
435. Alberta #2
436. Went to See the Gypsy
437. The Ballad of Ira Hayes
438. When the World Was Young
439. How Deep Is the Ocean
440. Somewhere Along the Way
441. Where Is the One
442. Here's That Rainy Day
443. September of My Years
444. Come Rain or Come Shine
445. In Search of Little Sadie
446. I Shall Be Free
447. All the Tired Horses
448. Nashville Skyline Rag
449. Cat's in the Well
450. Freight Train Blues
451. Bunkhouse Theme
452. Lenny Bruce
453. River Theme
454. Cantina Theme (Workin' for the Law)
455. Mary Ann
456. Spanish is the Loving Tongue
457. Minstrel Boy
458. Woogie Boogie
459. They Killed Him
460. Ugliest Girl in the World

Edit: Don’t mind any numbering or formatting issues

I just want to preface in saying that anything I see happen with the dog that I think is not right, I do stand up and voice my opinion about. I will always sacrifice my own and others comfort for the sake of an animals well-being. I continue to do the most that I can to help my GMIL be a better pet owner, and most importantly to get her dog what it needs.
Also, this ended up being a bit long, apologies!
She has two dogs, one yorkie 6-8yrs who’s (surprisingly, without training) well behaved, and she adopted a puppy in summer ‘23 who is a mix including at least boxer, lab, and chihuahua, but I’m not sure or what else. She’s now a year old and approx 12lbs.
GMIL does well with the yorkie as she’s quite low maintenance, but the other dog she struggles with. IMO, the biggest issue is that the dog never gets outside, has never had training, is never played with, and is thus completely lacking any physical or mental stimulation. Because of these things, the dog is very energetic (also because she’s young), barks a lot (which I don’t really mind having grown up with dogs, but GMIL minds/is embarrassed of it), and gets so excited when people visit (because if she’s lacking even leaving the house, she’s not socialized, she’s very sweet and not aggressive I want to add) that GMIL feels the need to hold onto her the entire time while she squirms or put her in a separate room completely. Additionally, yes, the dogs don’t even go outside to pee/poo. It’s all inside. GMIL puts down training mats, but since both dogs lack any training, they will go anywhere.
I have babysat the dog on a few occasions for a few hours, and I always take her outside for a nice while, play lots, and attempt to teach her basic things like sitting, successfully using treats to reward positive behaviours. Countless times I’ve shown GMIL the progress of simply getting the dog to sit for a treat, and she does not continue training when I leave. I’ve purchased several kinds of items like harnesses, leashes, toys, but none of them have been used by GMIL more than a few times. She says she doesn’t walk the dog because the dog is “bad”, that she “bites the leash and won’t walk with her”, to which I explain why, and that it’s due to the dog having any training or structure, and that you need to train a dog to walk using good behaviours by rewarding with treats.
Over the past few weeks, GMIL has mentioned looking into purchasing a shock collar for the dog. She says there is one that triggers for barking, and additionally has a remote to use whenever you feel the need to. Each time she’s brought this up, I immediately turn the idea down and explain to her why she shouldn’t, including that it’s not as effective as rewarding good behaviours and how it harms the dog physically and this mentally. She continues to bring it up because other family members are convincing her that it’s her best or only option to get her dog under control. I hate this idea. I even told her how my parents considered it years ago, but my mother made my father try it on first to see what it would feel like for the dog, and after that they decided against it. I suggested if she ever actually buys one, she do the same before it ever touches the dog (I say this assuming she’d not do that to herself, thus wouldn’t to the dog).
I just don’t know what else to do. I’ve suggested to my husband that maybe this dog simply doesn’t fit her lifestyle and she should look into rehoming to someone else (who of course we would look into on her behalf). If anyone has any suggestions on how to help the dog and how to persuade my GMIL to take the necessary steps to treating this dog properly, please leave a comment below. She loves the dog, the dog is otherwise perfectly healthy, non aggressive and well loved by friends and family. But, I know that what’s best for the pup comes first before all of that.

Hello! I need some outside perspective on a situation please. My husband and I live in a townhouse with our two small dogs. We have made many friends in the neighborhood and most people are really nice! However we have had some conflict with one pair of people with their pet.
The green area out front of our homes is shared. It is nice enough and lots of people here have dogs so there are pet waste stations and stuff out there for everyone to use. We are out there pretty often considering one of our puppies is still potty training. We have a couple who live in one of the houses here (who I will call Nancy and Jim) who have a large lab mix. Nancy works for the townhomes leasing office, so we met her when we signed for our home. When we moved in, I had asked Nancy if her dog was friendly and if my pup could say hello, and she said “not too small dogs. They make her nervous” so we have never approached them. I don’t ever approach any person or animal with my dogs without permission. There are both under 10 lbs, but that’s not my choice to make. The other reason we never approach is because they refuse to leash the dog. Our state is one with leash laws unless you are on your personal property. The outside area of our town home is not private to individual residents, it’s shared publicly with us all. It also is not fenced in.
We have asked them to leash the dog. Some of our neighbors have asked them to leash the dog. Even after their dog has been let out front and run over to other dogs and people who don’t want her there (either because their pet isn’t receptive to the off leash dog or they have kids or something) they refuse to leash it. They carry a leash around, and will sometimes attach it if they feel the need, but most of the time the dog is 10+ feet from them running or sniffing about. The off leash dog hasn’t caused immediate damage or direct harm yet, but did cause some minor incidents. For instance: going after our friends boxepit mix, maybe trying to greet or play or maybe not. Either way this dog didn’t like that. The boxepit mix is a big boy, so he knocked his person over while scared and trying to get away - no apology from Nancy or Jim. The boxepit mix is also my dog’s best friend and is super gentle and kind. He plays with our 4 month old 6lb puppy all the time and is so sweet. But this dog scared him and caused him to get defensive). Jim also walks the dog off leash on our road to get in and out of the parking lot and doesn’t stay aware of cars. This road is connected to all our garages, so we never know of there are back there until the garage door opens. Jim has stated that the wife has no control over the dog.
I had enough the other day because I wanted to take my puppy out and they were out there again off leash, so I couldn’t safely take the puppy outside. I have nothing against big dogs (in fact I love many of them!), but I don’t know this couple or their dog. A friend of mine just lost their dog on their own porch a few years back because another “totally safe” dog was off leash walking in their neighborhood. A friend in this neighborhood got bit by an out of control dog on their run for doing nothing but running by. I called the local animal control number to ask if they could be told to leash their dog by someone in authority instead of us and our other neighbors. They came and (presumably) told them this.
Tonight, my husband and I were out front of our place and Nancy decided to come ask if we were the ones who called. We aren’t liars so we said that we did. She started threatening us with: “Our dog is okay to be off leash and she’s going to continue to be off leash and if you keep calling animal control it’s going to be a very ugly neighborhood situation.” And saying how “if you read animal control, the dog doesn’t need to be on leash if the owner is in control, and we’re in complete control.” (Which is not true). She also told us that her “friend in the police is going to get my recording of my 911 call”. I didn’t call the police or an emergency line, just local animal control.
I don’t understand why they demand that the dog not be leashed. There is a major highway right next to us. And the dog has also been close to being hit by a car many times because they walk it off leash in our shared driving area. Many neighbors have either told us or this could directly that this makes them uncomfortable that they walk it off leash around here. I don’t like conflict and drama, but I don’t want their dog to be hit by a car or for them to get hurt or hurt another dog for no reason. Dogs are unpredictable and reactive so as much as we love them, they can’t really be trusted like this. Unless the dog is a working dog, they shouldn’t be giving that off leash freedom when they could hurt themselves and others. This dog is a pet, not a working dog.
Anyway, the rest of my neighborhood supports me, and my husband does too, but I’m an anxious person and I’m now questioning if I did the right thing. Also, what should I do next? I don’t want to start a neighborhood rivalry. I don’t even want them to get in trouble or anything. We just want them to leash their dog. AITA? Thanks for reading.

My wife only wants to have sex with me maybe twice a month tops. Usually once when she’s on her period. We have been together for almost 4 years. My problem is that when we were dating she told me how many partners she’s had in the past and it was almost 3 times the amount I’ve had, and I have 6 years on her. It makes my stomach twist knowing before me that she used to be more active and interested in meaningless sex than having intimate sex with her husband/partner. I don’t want to make her feel bad so I try to lower my libido by taking meds and eating certain foods. I don’t want to divorce. So I just feel doomed to have a sexless marriage. How can I shut off these intrusive thoughts about her promiscuous behavior before me, but not wanting to be that way for me? What should I do?
Edit: we have no kids. I always constantly try to help out in her life by taking care of the cleaning and cooking and taking care of the dogs. If/when we have sex, I always make sure she orgasms before me with toys and sensitive touches. I try to entice her with just being in boxers and doing manly shit like taking care of the dogs and chores and stuff. I’m running out of options …. She always tells me how handsome and sexy I am , but it’s always just words.

Hi!
I (29m) am seriously considering getting a Siamese kitten and have been doing some research, but wanted to check in here and get some feedback.
I have a 5 year old female dog (boxer, sweet as can be) and am single as of 4 months ago. My ex brought a 2 year old tabby into our family and my girl learned to live with this cat peacefully. They never fully bonded in terms of cuddling, but I’m of the opinion that if you raise an animal from a baby, it will adapt well to the household. The cat was standoffish, but my girl was always willing to connect. My dog is very gentle with smaller creatures (baby humans, cats, puppies, small dogs, etc) and knows how to adjust her play style.
I’m not too worried about my dog, but I just want to make sure Siamese cats can become affectionate with dogs who return the friendship.
I’m really excited about the potential for having a Siamese baby. I’ve heard so much about their adorable quirky selves and think it would be a great addition to my little family.
P.s., If anyone has any suggestions for places to rescue/adopt Siamese kittens in SoCal, please let me know (I’m in Los Angeles).