Hey y’all. First post and all, so thanks for reading.TL;DR: We are moving and made the decision to rehome our chocolate lab; the children are upset about this, as well as the move.My wife and I have 5 kiddos. About a year and a half ago I decided we should get a dog. I suffer from PTSD and thought “this will be good for me and for the kids”.Turns out I was wrong. The dog itself is a sweet dog. But as you can already imagine, she was super high energy. She was a rescue after Hurricane Harvey, and had a little bit of anxiety, which presented a few months after we got her. She chewed the frame off our back door, chewed toys, books, furniture, everything. We are currently in a tent rent house. She eventually outgrew most of the chewing, but we quickly found out we are not a dog family. The kids wouldn’t really care for her, I was working all the time and didn’t have time to run her, etc.I recently got a new job, which has afforded us the opportunity to purchase a home (which was already in the plan, but was waiting for the right time). However it would be a long commute from our current house. Searched for about 6-8 months, and last month we found a damn near perfect house, which shortened my commute in half or more, had enough space for everybody, in near mint condition, in a nice part of town, etc. However, the seller requested a quick close. Like 30 days.So we made the decision to bite the bullet and move. So we’re packing and doing all the nonsense involve in moving. Part of the decision also was to rehome the dog. Our reasoning was: we don’t have time or energy to keep up with her and give her the attention she needs, the kids never showed any enduring interest in playing with her or helping with the upkeep, and my wife is a little overwhelmed with the littles (there are some issues the kids are in play therapy for).Some closer acquaintances agreed to take her, as they were looking for a dog after their own chocolate lab passed away a few years ago. They picked her up today.Everybody was crying. The 1 y/o was yelling “NO DON’T” over and over, the 12 year old is upstairs crying, even my wife was sad.So now I feel like a total asshole for not only uprooting us and making the kids mad about the move but now the dog.We also heard today from our 5 y/o boy’s play therapist that she made a CPS referral because he demonstrated some highly sexualised play in his session yesterday. I don’t know what the fuck to think about that. I’m alternating between “who do I need to murder” and “maybe the therapist read too much into it”.I was a police officer, and have worked these types of cases before, so I definitely understand the seriousness and all, but maybe I’m just feeling the “this happens to other people” thing. I don’t know. I have no idea where anything could’ve happened to him because the only times he’s by himself is at church childcare, where they are constantly monitored and supervised, or at home when he’s playing with siblings in a different room. Or with a babysitter (who we trust and is always with the rest of the kids).Maybe this wasn’t just about the dog. I’m just so overwhelmed I’m feeling a bit numb. And my wife just said that she agrees with me when I said I think all the current family trauma is my fault. She’s even more shook by the therapists call than I am.Not sure what my question was. Help? Suggestions? Don’t know. Thanks regardless. via /r/Parenting https://ift.tt/2BQxb2G
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