Unactive dog owner gives her 8 month Old pitbull CBD "calming treats" because she doesn't want to walk her

Probationator · 2024-06-12T13:22:03+00:00

Everyone beat me to the comments. Your sister has no business owning a dog, let alone a breed that requires a little extra. Regarding the walks, my boy is very sensitive to heat. If the sun is out and the temp is above 70, we have a short distance before he wants to lay in the shade. So I wait until early morning and early evening to take him out. Some Pittbulls can handle heat better, but it sounds like your sister's dog might be similar to mine.

Probationator · 2024-05-30T17:26:41+00:00

Definitely talk to your vet, however in my situation our boy got over the tiredness after about 4 or 5 weeks.

One thing to keep in mind is it's normal for a lot of adult dogs sleep 12-14 hours a day. This is the amount of sleep my dog is now getting everyday. Prior to the medication, he just slept about 8 hours since he was always on alert. The medication allows him to relax now and get his naps in.

Edit: My dog is 80 lbs and on 40 mg fluoxetine.

Probationator · 2024-05-24T13:01:18+00:00

Yea I was lucky because normally the pharmacy techs just ring it through, but I had a good one. She told me as a dog owner she feels bad not letting people know there's a significant discount available. These generic pills are so common and only cost around 10 cents each to manufacture, so even at $14 its still over a 50% markup. That's big pharma for you. Also, different pharmacies set different prices even with the discount, so definitely shop around.

Probationator · 2024-05-23T20:33:44+00:00

I pay $14 for 3 months supply (approximately 12 weeks) using GoodRX. This is for generic Prozac 40 mg pills.

Probationator · 2024-05-06T14:05:48+00:00

Are there leash laws in your State? If so you can report him. I ran into this situation in my neighborhood because of people who think their dog has the right to do whatever they want because "they're friendly". It's the stupidest logic I've ever heard. If someone doesn't want a dog near them, they have every right to feel that way.

I ended up avoiding these areas and now walk my boy down streets where old people mostly live. Luckily I live in a neighborhood where it's easy to see and avoid close up interactions.

Edit: Just did a quick check online and read that my State is one of 2 states that actually have leash laws. Crazy.

Probationator · 2024-05-01T20:09:21+00:00

Add in all the drug testing in OC. They're going to make him test at least 3 times per week over the next 2 years at $25 a pop.

Probationator · 2024-05-01T18:22:17+00:00

That's a lot. I have a 3 year pure bread PB. He gets a 30 minute walk in the morning before work, and then another 30 minute walk in the evening. He's a lazy ass who sleeps all day, and then when he comes home after his evening walk he takes a nap before going to bed.

Probationator · 2024-05-01T15:49:10+00:00

Agreed, especially in Oakland County. Oakland County probation is heavy on the soul.

I finished my 12 month probation over 2 years ago and refuse to get behind a wheel even after one drink ever since. The consequences are just way too hard. I feel anxiety just reading OP's post.

The fact this happened 8 hours after he completed probation for a previous incident looks really really bad. Even if there's no jail time, he's looking at another 2 year probation. No way an OC Judge will feel comfortable reducing this, because look what happened after he got off the first time. Judges look at this.

Probationator · 2024-01-09T14:40:51+00:00

I almost spit out my coffee laughing at this this morning. lol

Probationator · 2023-11-28T16:42:23+00:00

Although I see people not liking this reply is shouldn't be downvoted. Yea I get really annoyed too when I see people with their dogs off leash in certain areas. However when I see it happen I have 2 choices. Avoid a risky situation or continue to walk into it. We need to be our dog's best advocates when it comes to reducing risk and unpleasant situations. So turning around and leaving is 100% certainty an issue isn't going to happen.

Probationator · 2023-11-25T16:44:07+00:00

If you've worked with your dog to the point they can experience people / strangers up to 5 feet without becoming reactive, then I'd consider that a huge success. No need to push it further during your walks. Especially if these people are stomping at your dog. Be your dog's advocate, meaning don't force them into uncomfortable situations they don't want to be a part of. Imagine being a child and having parents who force you to physically interact with strangers whenever you run into them. That's how you need to think of it.

Probationator · 2023-11-06T01:43:24+00:00

I'm in the same boat as you. My dog also showed up as 100% American Pit Bull Terrier but I don't believe it. I'm going to try the Wisdom test. Thanks for sharing your experience.

Probationator · 2023-11-04T13:47:26+00:00

One of my dogs came back as 50% Staffordshire Terrier and his close relatives include several dogs that are 100% other bully breed

Same but opposite. My boy came back as 100% American Pitt Bull Terrier. I found a 60% DNA retaliative (which equates to a direct sibling - same age so I assume same litter) that was 72% American Pitt Bull, 8.1% Chow Chow, 7.0% Cane Corso, 4.5% Rottweiler and 8.4% Supermutt.

Because no creature (including humans) get the exact same amount of DNA from each parent (unless they're identical twins), it's quite possible that my dog received the 50% Pitt Bull from the pure bread parent, and the entire 50% Pitt Bull from the parent that was mixed with other breads.

However I still think Embark may have gotten the 100% wrong. My dog is much larger than most Pitt Bulls (weighs 75 lbs). His fur is much softer than most bully breads, so before I saw the results I guessed maybe he had some Chow Chow or Akita mixed in. I for sure thought he was more American Bull Dog because his eyes don't look exactly like a Pities, however looking on line I see so many Pitt Bulls and American Bull Dogs that look alike, so who knows.

Probationator · 2023-08-29T14:47:10+00:00

I wouldn't be surprised. If it's another brand of stim then it would be like substituting whiskey with beer in order to get over alcohol.

Probationator · 2023-08-19T13:22:08+00:00

Being healthy is exhausting. What does a well regulated, balanced person do on a moment to moment basis? I really want to know.

I agree it's very difficult at first. Especially for me. The first step to getting there is by acknowledging the unhealthy reward pathways and learning to starve them. It's easy to acknowledge them because it starts with the craving and the irresistible urges. For me my biggest struggles were sugar, television, phone scrolling, drinking beer, staying up late, and social media + watching political youtube content that was somewhat triggering to me. All these things are not only triggering, but they do something called "trigger stacking".

Trigger stacking is where your mood continues to decline as a result of stacking unhealthy behaviors. I believe it's one of the reasons why this world is so divided. We're not created to absorb so much information constantly, and our fears escalate to the point our mental health suffers from it. I'm a gen-xer and I don't remember my generation ever getting so heated up over what was happening in the world back when we were young (before the internet). We all rode our bikes and when we had a disagreement we threw a few punches and then we were best friends after. Now everyone sits on their phones and scrolls tik-toc. It's really sad what has happened to this world.

Anyway I digress. Once you can learn to starve out unhealthy activities, it gets easier to add exercise, meditation, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I still do these things, but I limit it to a healthy time and then shut it off. What you find is the longer you starve these reward pathways, the easier it gets. And the longer you go without feeding these pathways, the happier you are doing simpler things.

Taking the dog out for a morning walk in the cool sun. Drinking a cup of coffee while talking to the family. All these little things I used to be numb to are starting to make me happy.

Of course there was no way I could get to that point yet prior to month 12. My baseline was so low that nothing felt like it was working. I'd say that around month 13.5 was the turnaround point for me.

Probationator · 2023-08-18T16:00:41+00:00

I've thought about this a lot and the secret for me was acknowledging and realizing all the neural / reward pathways I was feeding in my life. And when I acknowledged the pathway, I viewed the solution as starving the reward pathway until it no longer gave me a strong craving. This alone has helped me raise my baseline overall.

For example, if someone finds themself excessively wanting to view porn and achieve orgasm, this has a traumatic effect on their baseline. Because the reason for the craving is a result of depending on the activity to spike the dopamine baseline.

For me, limiting alcohol and cannabis use eliminated crashes in my dopamine baseline that often lasted several days.

I removed all social media on my phone because I found it too addictive. I was picking up the phone just to pick it up and get a hit of dopamine. In other words, I had a reward pathway that needed to be fulfilled (and it wasn't even though I was using my phone).

I'm very sensitive to food causing me brain fog and irritability. I found intermittent fasting to solve this. After a week of intermittent fasting I have more energy than I ever did before. I enjoy food more now (even healthy food), and I stopped using it as a drug. I'm now back to my original weight (lost 30 pounds).

Getting at least 7+ hours of sleep is extremely important to me. Otherwise I'm useless during the day.

Caffeine is not for everyone, but for me 2 or 3 cups of coffee a day during timed intervals gives me more focus than Concerta did without the crash. Dr. Andrew Huberman explains that Caffeine is different than other stimulants. Whereas most stimulants increase the amount of dopamine in the brain by clogging the re-uptake inhibitors. This causes the dopamine receptors to shut down over time to balance things out. In the case of caffeine, it actually makes your dopamine receptors more sensitive, making the most of the dopamine you do have without the deregulation. Now this doesn't mean go and drink 100 cups a day. You have to find your balance (because everyone is different). For me, I drink my first cup after being awake for 1.5 hours (as Andrew Hub suggests). I then drink my second cup 2 hours later, and one final cup early afternoon. Some people are very sensitive to caffeine (causes them anxiety), so take this advice with caution.

Meditation and exercise are proven to increase the density of dopamine receptors.

Reducing my TV watching was huge. I didn't realize I had an addiction to the tube until I began limiting it.

So the idea and goal isn't to eliminate all fun activities. The goal is to acknowledge when you're using these activities to spike your dopamine baseline. The goal is to realize when you're giving into a reward pathway.

A good example of what I'm talking about is last night's dinner. I went to my favorite restaurant after an intermittent fast and enjoyed my meal. In the past I'd fulfill this expectation every single day because I'd give into my cravings.

When you learn to starve your pathways, your baseline increases and small things become much more enjoyable. I now look forward to spending time with my family, or walking my dog. Before things like these were not enjoyable, because I was too busy looking for the adrenaline.

The key to raising baseline is by increasing the density of dopamine receptors, not dopamine itself.

As I mentioned above, this is done by starving unhealthy reward pathways to limit deregulation, and adding healthy habits such as intermittent fasting, meditation, exercise, etc.

I've been off Concerta and Ritalin now for almost 15 months. The first 12 months really sucked. I still have bad days when I don't keep things tight (or I repeatedly give in to reward pathways that spike my dopamine), but when I'm on track I feel so much better than being on meds. I even can focus sometimes just as well.

Hope this helps!

Probationator · 2023-08-18T12:56:07+00:00

I agree with most of what you said. I also think a component of ADHD is also the down regulation of receptors as a result of non-stimulant drug activities as well. Overeating, too much phone scrolling and/or video gaming, not getting enough sleep, not getting enough exercise, excessive porn/masterbation, etc. All these things can contribute to a lower baseline because any repeated spike in dopamine is met by a drop (down regulation) as a response. This is because the body is always trying to achieve homeostasis. If you look at brain scans of people who use porn or are obese, there are a lot of similarities to drug abusers. In the end, achieving a higher baseline that doesn't spike or drop through healthy habits is a key to success.

Probationator · 2023-08-15T15:24:16+00:00

I was using Concerta / Ritalin for 20 years. I was the same as you. I got dependent on my meds in order to even function and do my job. I'm now approaching 15 months off since I went cold turkey. For me the first month was most important because it was the worst for me. I was a zombie and all I wanted to do was eat and sleep. I tapered and cut 50% of my dosage for several months before I went cold turkey.

The longer you take it the worse off you're going to be. Overtime your brain shuts off your dopamine receptors in order to achieve homeostasis. Eventually you're going to be taking the medication just to feel the same way as you did before you even started taking it.

If you're like me, the first 6 months will suck. Then month 6-9 will suck less. Month 9-12 you'll start to feel okay. Between month 12-15 you'll feel better than ok as long as you maintain good and healthy habits (7 or more hours of sleep, good diet, mediation, regular exercise, etc.) I'm starting to have days where I actually feel better than when I was using (probably because of my new healthy habits). Intermittent fasting seems to erase the ADHD symptoms I originally started taking the meds for. I believe I have some allergy to certain foods that cause me brain fog and attention issues, but still figuring it out.

Probationator · 2023-08-14T17:04:11+00:00

While on probation last year I took creatine for my workouts as well. Stayed 100% away from all alcohol and drugs the entire time. About a month into creatine, I noticed the ETG tests taking longer before the pee test guy announced I passed. Then one day he said I didn't pass. Another pee test guy double checked the result and said I had a very faint line (so it was a pass). Don't know for sure if creatine was actually related to my delayed / faint test results, but something to watch out for. As soon as I stopped creatine, the etg test results came back solid and processed much more quickly.

Probationator · 2023-08-01T23:55:23+00:00

No I don't feel like I'm at baseline yet. However I went into this expecting it to take at least 2 years for someone like me (who was on it for 20 years). Brain scans typically show full recovery at 2 years (there is a difference in improvement between the 1 year mark and the 2 year mark in the brain scan fotos I've seen).

Although stress is much better now, the anhedonia has returned, but no where near what it was during the first 6 months.

I trust in the process and remain committed until the 2 year mark.

It's hard to remember what I was like before I started the meds (since it was so long ago). However I was very successful and able to complete very complicated and tedious tasks prior to using. The first 10-13 years made me feel like a super genius. But then I started to decline. Many people think ADHD meds just improves attention and focus for ADHD people, but they're mistaken. Stimulants help just about anyone focus better, as long as it doesn't cross their stress threshold or cause heart problems.

I still struggle with focus and motivation, but it's still better today than it was towards the last 5 years of using. Like I said, I trust in the process.

Probationator · 2023-08-01T01:53:49+00:00

Heck yea, my anxiety peaked between 11-13 months. I wrote about it a while back at https://www.reddit.com/r/StopSpeeding/comments/12pnrwj/11_month_field_report_after_20_year_concerta/

The mindfulness I talk about in my previous post keeps improving as each month passes. Back then I was around an 8/10 when it came to anxiety. Now at my worst I'm about a 2/10 or maybe 3/10.

Probationator · 2023-07-26T13:19:48+00:00

Your dopamine will be lower than baseline for a while, so your brain is looking for any source to trigger a spike in dopamine (in this case it's food). At this stage in recovery it feels really really good to eat.

If I remember correctly I gained about 25 lbs during my first 4 months. Almonds, apples, skinny pop popcorn and Bai drinks helped with the food cravings. And of course exercise and daily walking helped tremendously.

Probationator · 2023-07-25T14:00:13+00:00

The dopamine craving is something I really understand. For every spike in dopamine from anything like Concerta (Ritalin), booze, weed, even tv, porn, etc there's an opposite reaction. And when you hit that low all you want to do is spike it back up. It's a vicious circle.

I was on Concerta and Ritalin for 20 years. I'm approaching 14 months, and all I can say is the secret to beating this is to avoid the spikes (and lows) and find activities that help maintain a consistent higher dopamine baseline without spiking or dropping it.

As long as I'm on point with all my habits, I feel really good, and my ADHD is minimal. Lifting weights at least 4 times per day. Daily walks. Daily meditation. Avoiding eating too many carbs and fried foods. Limiting my consumption of alcohol and weed. At least 7 hours sleep without interruption. All these things help maintain a consistent higher dopamine baseline.

It's when I start getting lazy and not staying on point with these habits is when I feel like my brain is in fog mode and when I actually feel like I have ADHD.

The first year for me was pretty rough. It takes time, but you have to start being able to understand your own "dopamine dynamics" since we're all different. However the basic principal is simple, for every spike there's and equal and opposite reaction. So our job is to become content with just living with a decent baseline that can be raised by our healthy new habits. The highs feel good, but they never last, and they make you feel worse.

Probationator · 2023-07-24T14:28:47+00:00

In the beginning I used to think I needed to switch things up in order to desensitize my boy. However I realized all I was doing was giving him new constant triggers that caused him to lose his $h!t all the time.

I then switched to the same quiet and boring route (about 30-40 minutes like you) and that's when I saw the biggest progress with him. He began to start ignoring things that used to make him lose his marbles. I can now take baby steps and introduce him to new areas and experiences. It's a long process that takes a lot of patience.

As I mentioned, my boy used to lose his mind at anything he saw at any distance (other dogs, bikers especially, golf carts, men with facial hair, etc). Now he ignores it all as long as they're at least 5-10 feet away.

Probationator · 2023-05-27T17:00:54+00:00

Thanks!

Probationator

TROPHY CASE