ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

When I was a zookeeper, I was always experiencing a euphoric awe when an animal did something really animal-ish, like when the wolves would howl when I approached them in the morning. It was the basis of my cognitive dissonance. Anyway, I get that same feeling from companion animals, too! Specifically when dogs are REALLY sniffing something or trying hard to communicate with me, and with cats I feel that way when they have a flehmen response or when they do acrobatics through the air during play. 🥰

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

Someone I know is having a baby, and I ran into their spouse. We were talking about how the due date is close, and I said I recommended something like mealtrain dot com (preferably something less corporate) where friends and family can sign up to drop off meals on your porch or sign up for other things/chores without disturbing the new parents. He looked at me, perplexed, and asked why they wouldn't be able to cook their meals after having a baby.

Oh.

Oh, no.

Nevermind. Good luck, dude!

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 4 months ago (edited 4 months ago) to random

When dogs want to force someone else to move a certain way, they don't touch-- they use "body blocking". If you want to control their movements, then you can do so most effectively by body blocking. Body blocking is as simple as blocking a path by stepping in the way. If a dog is barking at someone, for example, and you want to move them away against their will, then stand (facing the dog) between them and what they're barking at. They will probably try to move around you because you are blocking their line of sight. Step to the side when they do so you block their path. They will probably try to go around you the other way, so step that way now. You are blocking with your own body and are keeping your hands off them. When you get really savvy at this, you can even make dogs backup by stepping or just leaning towards them, and you can make them follow you by leaning away. This is really important to teach kids so they don't grab. It is also really important to teach this to others at a protest, because cops move you around this way, and you can move them around this way. Whoever the cops are facing is who they are manipulating.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 10 months ago to random

I'm starting a new business offering exclusive tours for rich people!

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 7 months ago to random

My kid read a book about two kids who connect when a mother dies. They release a balloon with a message in it (so it can make it to heaven). But it is taking every ounce of self control I have to not say the balloon then lands on the ground and kills the animal who chokes on it, actually.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 9 months ago to random

It is very important to brush your dogs and cats.
People who think their cats don't like brushing just don't know how to brush their cats...yet.
If they bite the brush, then they don't like how you are brushing at that moment, or they don't like the brush itself.
Brushes should be soft and should not be the wire ones unless there are protective tips on the wire ends to blunt them.
Use short strokes, to mimic how another cat might groom them. Get consent first, because they might not be in the mood. Let them sniff it, etc. Try a few strokes and then pause to see if they liked it before continuing-- don't just go until they stop you by attacking the brush.
Just like with petting a cat, certain areas are preferable to others, so concentrate on preferable areas before going for the sensitive bits. Cheeks, under chin, around ears, neck and head-- all good. Stomach and base of tail and rear and hip area are all more cringe. Their reaction of throwing their butt into the air when you brush or pet the base of the tail is not usually a pleasant reaction-- folks misunderstand the sensitive reaction that can get too intense.
A couple studies show that people who think they know cats usually pet cats in ways that cats don't like as opposed to folks who aren't sure and are more careful. People tend to go for areas that are too intimate for strangers-- especially folks who identify as cat people. Stick with the head and back.
Of course there are exceptions, and cats are varied with diverse preferences. I have a cat who loves belly rubs...from me.
When you brush over the glands in their cheeks, they release pheromones, which is soothing. Sharing a brush shares pheromones, which helps to establish a group scent between cats you are trying to introduce to each other to integrate into one household, or to re-establish a group scent when one has been away.
Grooming is social bonding as well as for hygiene.
A geriatric cat needs to be brushed more, as they get arthritic and groom less. But be careful of sore joints. Cats who vomit hairballs should be brushed more.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

Just your occasional reminder that "bush meat" is a racist term. It is a way to make hunting wild animals seem shady in a way that is only applied to Africans. In the USA, deer is bush meat.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 3 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

I got to talk about my favorite subject (hyena genitals) today! I'll do it here, too.

Hyenas are matriarchal with the youngest females ranking highest under the matriarch.

All female spotted hyenas have penises. They use the fully functional (psuedo) penises to mount, pee, give birth, and prevent non-consentual intercourse (since it literally has to open up). The females with the erect penises are submissive and the dominant female is the flaccid one.
Pictured below is a female.

Also, BOO👎 to “Traditional” Chinese Medicine because it peddles hyena genitals and ain't even traditional.

Read more about #hyena genitals here, via Gender Inclusive Biology:

https://www.genderinclusivebiology.com/newsletter/all-female-spotted-hyenas-have-functional-penises-and-mount-both-male-amp-female-hyenas-gender-showcase-9-12

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

Avian flu jumped to cows and now people.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

It is a misunderstanding to think cats don't love us like dogs do, or that they are less social, or that they are lower maintenance and need less attention and care. Cats don't even like it when we go out of our way to greet the dog but not them. They get separation anxiety. They sleep when they are stressed or bored (relatable), so we often misunderstand these emotions in cats. Cats feeling superior, or not needing us, or not caring, makes me so sad for cats, knowing all this to be false.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 7 months ago to random

I used to think parents who accidentally left babies in cars to die were doing it on purpose, and maybe some are, but when I had babies, both my husband and I were so sleep deprived that we were hallucinating, and some babies are very quiet in cars. There was more than one occasion when we both walked away and then were like, oh fuck! We'd run back out to the car to get them because we forgot them. To be fair, we only forgot them for like a minute, but it happened more than once. New parents need more community help than our culture provides.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

If there was no internet, and no power, would you still have your work/art? Or would it be gone?

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 7 months ago to random

I am autistic, my spouse has ADHD, my daughter is only autistic but is selectively mute, and my son has both autism and ADHD. I would say that my son has the biggest hardships by far because autism and ADHD have conflicting support needs so that tempering one often makes the other worse, or what's similar overlaps and exacerbates everything. #AuDHD folks are so hardcore. They have to do the hardest work, IMO. 👏👏👏

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

Antique clothes are so small not because people were smaller but because the extra small clothes were worn less so they survived.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

I am just wondering why people get dogs who are bred so specifically but then put them in a life that goes against their nature. Like, why do people have St. Bernards if they aren't rescuing people in the Swiss Alps? Do you really think you can make them happy in your condo?

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago (edited 1 month ago) to random

My daughter just had the best the doctor experience while getting her brain tumor removed in Roblox (game). Whoever the random kid was playing the surgeon really knew their stuff and aced bedside manner.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

Time to watch "Station Eleven" again.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 10 months ago to random

If you're mad at folks in power dictating your life, then have you tried no one dictating anyone's life? :anarchy: :anarchistflagblack:

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

Remembering how I got fired from my daycare job in my early 20s for being sick too much but also because I didn't act neurotypically with the kids. The kids liked me most, so what does that tell you?

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

Someone was complaining that their neighbor is socially awkward and comes over to just hang out too much. He will come over and chit chat and not leave. She wonders if he is autistic. We suggested being very clear about when it is time to leave and when she doesn't want any visitors (working from home, etc.). She said he is nice and she doesn't really mind but she worries her husband won't like it, so she goes out of her way to roll her eyes about it when she tells him, because she doesn't want her husband to think she likes some other guy's company.

...

What?!

Why are people like this?

I don't get it.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

I keep thinking about "The Zone of Interest". It is the best Holocaust movie ever made. It is how it really was-- no one talking about it. Normal people-- not monsters. Cognitive dissonances noticed and silently struggled with. A lot of it is eerily relevant today. I think everyone should watch it.
#Holocaust
https://youtu.be/GFNtVaAuVYY?feature=shared

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

Dogs are like those sphinx gates in the movie adaptation of "The Never-ending Story" (terrible compared to the book, which is one of my top 5 favorite books of all time, even as an adult, and the book's Uyulala is way cooler than those sphinxes). Anyway. You can't fake it. Dogs see right through you. Rather, they smell right through you. They can literally smell human emotions. If you're scared of them, they will get scared about you and be weird with you. Don't force people who don't want to interact with dogs to interact with dogs.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 1 month ago to random

The Israeli state is fascist and is committing a horrific genocide, with the help of the USA, which dabbles in fascism. There are A LOT of similarities with the fascist Nazis, and it is not antisemitic to say so. It would be antisemitic to assume Jewish people are Zionists or vise versa, and it would be antisemitic to call a Jewish person a Nazi (Jewish hatred defines Nazism). But what is happening in Gaza shares a lot of similarities with the Holocaust, moreso every day. It is making me sick. I don't know what to do.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 2 months ago (edited 2 months ago) to random

In case people I really like are wondering why I unfollowed them, it's always because you called (or boosted someone else calling) Jewish people Nazis. I will not use the Holocaust Inversion Trope, not even against fascist, genocidal Zionists, because it hurts Jewish people who are not fascist or genocidal or Zionist to see it, and I care about the requests of the Jewish diaspora not to do this. Nazis, by definition, want to exterminate Jewish people. What is happening in Israel is not about killing Jewish people, meaning the genocide that is actually happening is not towards Jewish people. Talk about similarities all you want to, due to the shared characteristics of fascism, genocide, imperialism, and an ethno-state. But both of us are not Jewish, so we do not have the right to dabble in antisemitic tropes as insults. I was sad to see you go.

Edit: Holocaust Inversion includes "Final Solution" appropriations.

ItsTrainingCatsAndDogs, 2 months ago to random

This genocide against Palestinians has a uniquely USA-ian flavor, which functions by gaslighting. Like racism in the USA, they deny it is exists as it is executed. This has USA all over it.