Here are updates to a couple of recent blog posts:

With regards to XCOM 2, I installed this mod to improve my characters' aim, and this one to make the mission timers configurable. This has made the game feel significantly more fair-- no more missed shots when pointing a gun at an alien's head from three feet away.

And, with regards to the "missing dog" scenario, we got her back later that day via exactly the means given with my "Ferrari thief" analogy; namely, someone found her and posted a picture on the Humane Society web site.