Theme
1:18pm
August 3, 2015
Adorable Photos of Dogs Caught in Mid-Bath
Some look confused, others startled, but all of these incredibly cute dogs look just plain adorable. Wet Dogs is a series of portraits of dogs caught mid-bath. Bath time for dogs can be a vulnerable and messy experience as the expressions on their faces clearly communicate. These pooches are being photographed seconds before they shake the water off their fur.
Photographer Sophie Gamand’s Wet Dog series reveals another layer of the human-animal bond — one with shampoo mohawks and wet fur. The photographer wanted to capture the complex relationship between humans and their pets. Their is a lot of codependence between the two and Gamand wants others to see dogs for what they are: more than just animals, they are life companions.
3,058 notes
1:15pm
August 3, 2015
In order to calm down hyperactive puppies, many owners use classical music. When played over headphones, dogs react immediately and begin to settle down.
Not sure if this is research supported but if it is, I wonder if classical music would also calm hyperactive people?
I used to play the violin for my chickens when they were babies, and they’d fall asleep every time.
2:52pm
June 9, 2015
“When autistic people talk about not wanting to be changed, we’re not talking about wanting to remain static and unchanging throughout time…We’re saying “We don’t want to be changed” in the same way that a cat, faced with becoming a dog, would say “I don’t want to be changed.” The cat isn’t denying the important passage from kittenhood to adulthood. The cat is saying I want to grow as a cat, not a dog.”
—Mel Baggs, “What not changing us means” (via neurodiversitysci)
It is so weird when I read something and I’m going “Wow, right, that’s totally accurate,” and then I read down to the attribution and it’s something I had written ages ago and completely forgotten about.
6:33am
December 28, 2014
Disabled dog gets 3-d printed prosthetics. I hope they do this sort of thing for humans as well.
9:54pm
December 10, 2014
Some days are good… and some days you just feel like the only dog at a llama orgy.
oh my fucking god.
that dog’s face tho
8:40pm
November 15, 2014
CYBORGS! I love cyborgs! I am a cyborg! I love cyborgs of all species! Cyborgs rule!3 cyborg dogs investigate a strange ocean dog
3:57am
November 15, 2014
Is it my imagination…
…or do cats handle modern human technology better than dogs do?
Like if a dog is the type to get upset about things they don’t understand, then they’re going to get upset every time they see a DVD player open by remote control.
A cat, on the other hand… there’s a few cats who would stay interested in a DVD player opening and shutting no matter what. But most cats I know would eventually shrug and go “That’s the way the world works these days…” and move on.
I’ve never seen a dog shrug and move on.
Fey is the master of shrugging and moving on. Interesting technology holds her attention for a few seconds, then she figures it out and loses interest. This includes things like recorded bird song and stuff, stuff that would interest her iff it were real, but she rapidly figures out it’s not real and totally and completely acts like it doesn’t exist. Like she’ll look around the speakers for awhile, but when there’s no birds where they “should be” based on the origin of the sounds, it’s like “Meh, WTF, whatever, humans are weird and do weird things.”
And that’s her take on all technology that is new to her: She gets interested or startled or scared at first, then she investigates, then she does the “(shrug) whatever” thing that cats do so well.
I’ve never seen a dog go through that sequence.
I wonder what makes cats better about high tech stuff than dogs overall, though. I mean dogs have been co-evolving with us for longer, you’d think they’d get used to us inventing shit by now. You’d think it’d be “Oh that, that’s just that thing humans do all the time to entertain themselves, never mind that.” But instead we get barking and shaking and running away and stuff, that often does not get better.over time.
3:39am
October 19, 2014
Return to sender: No longer at this address
My mother is a wizard with plants
I kind of knew it already
But when my father was upset
Because he’d never see the morning glories
Bloom again in his life
My mother secretly coaxed
A morning glory vine
Out of season
To bloom, and climb, to bloom, and climb
And she took him outside
To show him the magic she’d done
And that’s how much my mother loves my dad
My flowers are my poetry
I coax the words to bloom and grow
And climb and climb into his heart
Even out of season
I use words to express the wordless
And that’s one kind of magic I have
And that’s how much I love my dad
But one of these days
I’m going to write a poem
It will be full of obscure mountain lakes
And treks across the mountains to the sea
And forest floors that were so much more
And owls hooting up in the trees
It will show him every place
That I could feel his love
Without the emotional bombardment
Of living in the city
And it will be a perfect poem
For that time and that place
It will certainly be better than this one
It will show him that I care for him
(As if he doesn’t know by now)
It will show the depth of love
That death can dredge up when you’re lucky
And then i will get a phone call or an email
It will start out:
“Go and take your dexamethasone right now.”
And I’ll have a sinking feeling
But I’ll take the syringe of steroids
And put it in my feeding tube
Then go back to the phone or the computer
Then they’ll say
“The news is bad
Your father has passed away
He was far too tired this morning
To check your blog today.”
And all that’s left of my magic
Will be words on a screen
Words he may have understood
But will never hope to read
From that point on forwards
We’ll be separated by time
We both will have existed
But from that point in time onwards
I will be here and he won’t
I wonder how much dexamethasone it takes
To avoid adrenal crisis when your dad dies
I wonder how much magical love it takes
To stand the pain you feel when you realize
That you will never talk to him again
You’ll never hug him again
You’ll never sit next to each other
With an elderly cat spread across your laps
You’ll never ask the questions
You forgot to ask when he was alive
You’ll never play with his beard again
And there’s so little time
There’s so little time
But I’m wrong
Like people are often wrong about time
Eternity is all around us
That’s all the time in the world
Eternity is where love exists
Outside of time and space
So even if he never reads my best poems
He’ll feel the love that went into them
Just as he feels the love
From that morning glory vine
He feels the love from his two pet dogs
He feels the love from his wife
He feels the love from his three adult children
He says he’s lucky to be surrounded
By so much love
So I’m terribly sorry, Ron
If some of my poems don’t reach you in time
And i’m terribly sorry Ron
If I try to Skype you and it turns out you’re gone
Just know I love you more
Than even the best poet can convey
I love you more than I could ever say
And love is the magic that made my mom
Able to grow those morning glories
And love is the magic that makes me able
To write poems daily after years of dormancy
And love is the magic that connects you to me
It’s the way we can feel each other’s love
Without any form of contact at all
I hope the place I built for you outside of time
And filled to overflowing with my love
Will see you through
And I hope that I’ll continue
Writing poetry to you
Long after you’ve gone
And I hope it reaches you in Eternity
Or wherever it is you’re going
And I hope that even the worst of it
Conveys this message:
I love you
I love you
I love you
[This is also posted in my main poetry blog, which has a comments section.]
1:37am
October 9, 2014
Wherever there is food, there is a pug.
Photos via Animals and Delicious Noms
7:48am
September 25, 2014
when someone says something so wrong that really pisses you off but you don’t wanna start an argument so you just sit there like
That dog is totally a grumpy stick.
9:36pm
September 16, 2014
Do dogs like music?
I had a dog who seemed to like riding in the pickup and listening to country. I’m not sure if it was just the music or the whole package at once, though.
11:09pm
September 7, 2014
ATTENTION ALL DOG OWNERS AND DOG LOVERS
DO NOT FEED YOUR DOG BUSY BONES!!!
See that adorable little fluff ball? His name was Gizmo, he was one of the happiest little pup pups that I have ever seen. He loved his family and every minute he cold spend with my mom.
One day, we gave him a busy bone as a treat. A few hours after eating it, he starting acting really odd. He wasn’t acting odd and barely reacted to anything.
We didn’t really think anything of it because he was a pretty odd little pup and we thought he just he had to poop or something. So we went to bed and everything like normal.
The next day, he was even worse. He didn’t move at all, and threw up everything he tried to eat or drink. My mom called the vet and they said to just let it go for the night because he was probably just a little ill.
Gizmo just kept getting worse and worse. He could barely life his head and laid around all day long. Finally, my mom brought him into the vet and she told them about what was going on and they decided to do an X-Ray on him.
After the results came in, they noticed a large blockage in Giz’s intestines. They called my mom so she could bring him in for emergency surgery.
After surgery, the vet came out with a sample of what was blocking his intestines. As soon as my mom saw it, she knew exactly what it was.
Busy Bone.
They said they extracted as much as they could, but it was hard because he was only about 10 pounds and surgery is hard on little dogs. We picked him up from the vet a few hours later so he could have a chance to wake up. When we picked him up, he was still under the anesthesia and not very responsive. We still brought him home because it was either that or leave him at the vet overnight alone.
When we got home, all of my other animals got next to the kennel to see what was wrong.
They knew.
About an hour after getting home, Gizmo passed away at only 4 years old.
I then wrote a very angry letter to Purina (the owners of Busy Bone) telling them what happened. I heard back the next day, and we started our claim.
They talked to Gizmo’s vet who told them is was definitely the Busy Bone that had caused his death. Purina paid us for the cost of the surgery just to shut us up and left us.
I am telling you this story as a warning, I know that Busy Bones are a popular treat to give dogs, but I am begging you
Please do not feed your dogs Busy Bones.
Gizmo’s life couldn’t be saved, but your dog still has a chance.
8:11pm
August 18, 2014
Max moves forward (some) on his new wheels: http://youtu.be/NVF0btKhmQc
Still his first try on the new Dogswheels cart. He figured out that he can move forward, but it’s all new and strange. Plenty of treats, and we’ll give it another go tomorrow when it’s light.
(Please ignore all the high-pitched nattering at dogs. ;) )