#Virtual dog training

[freyavlocke]

Is Online Dog Training Effective? Will It Help My Dog?

Is online training a better option for you and your dog? Find out how it could help you. #dogbehaviour #dogtraining #dogs

Does online dog training work? I often get asked why I continue to do online dog behavioural support sessions, even though the lockdowns have long ago ended. When online dog training took off. Photo by Sarah Chai on Pexels.com During the first few years of covid, in people’s bid to stay healthy, everything went online. From food shopping, to doctor’s appointments, to dog training. Online…

[coaching124]

Virtual Dog Training: Master Obedience from Anywhere Join our virtual dog training program and unlock the secrets to a well-behaved furry friend from the comfort of your own home! Our experienced trainers will guide you through personalized sessions tailored to your dog's needs, covering obedience, behavior correction, and more. With convenient online classes, you'll learn effective training techniques and build a strong bond with your canine companion, all without leaving your living room. Sign up now and unleash your dog's full potential!

[prskcards]

[A Lively DJ Appears?]- KAITO (trained)

[avnnetwork]

Ensure Your Dog's Safety and Comfort This Fourth of July with the Halo Collar GPS Virtual Fence

Introduction

The Fourth of July is a time for celebration, filled with barbecues, fireworks, and gatherings with loved ones. However, while we enjoy the festivities, our four-legged family members may find this holiday overwhelming and stressful. The loud noises, flashing lights, and unfamiliar activities can turn what should be a fun day into a nightmare for our dogs. This is where the Halo Collar GPS Virtual Fence comes into play, providing a solution that keeps your dog safe, secure, and stress-free during the Independence Day celebrations.

Understanding the Fourth of July's Impact on Dogs

For many dogs, the Fourth of July is one of the most stressful days of the year. The sudden and loud explosions from fireworks can trigger anxiety and fear in even the most laid-back pets. Dogs have acute hearing, and what sounds like a minor pop to us can be a terrifying boom for them. This often results in dogs trying to escape, hiding, or exhibiting signs of severe anxiety such as panting, pacing, and excessive barking.

In fact, more pets go missing on the Fourth of July than any other day of the year. The combination of fear and confusion can lead to dogs running away from their homes, putting them at risk of injury or worse. As responsible pet owners, it's crucial to take steps to ensure our dogs are protected and comfortable during this time.

Check out the following video :

Introducing the Halo Collar GPS Virtual Fence

The Halo Collar is more than just a GPS tracker—it's a comprehensive safety and training system designed to give your dog the freedom to explore while keeping them safe. Unlike traditional fences, the Halo Collar creates a virtual boundary that you can customize to suit your property. If your dog approaches the boundary, the collar will gently guide them back, using customizable feedback like sound, vibration, or static correction, depending on your dog's needs and training.

How the Halo Collar Keeps Your Dog Safe on the Fourth of July

Real-Time GPS Tracking

One of the most significant features of the Halo Collar is its real-time GPS tracking. If your dog ever leaves the designated safe area, you will receive an instant alert on your smartphone. This allows you to act quickly and ensure your dog's safety, even in the chaos of the Fourth of July celebrations.

Customizable Virtual Fence

The Halo Collar allows you to create virtual fences anywhere, whether you're at home, at a friend's house, or on vacation. This flexibility ensures that your dog always has a safe space, no matter where the holiday takes you.

Stress-Reduction Through Training

The Halo Collar also serves as a training tool, helping you reinforce positive behaviors in your dog. Leading up to the Fourth of July, you can use the collar to train your dog to respond calmly to various stimuli, including fireworks. Over time, this can significantly reduce their anxiety and help them feel more secure during the holiday.

Preventing Escapes

With its gentle feedback system, the Halo Collar deters your dog from crossing the boundary without causing harm. This is especially important on the Fourth of July when the sound of fireworks might tempt even the most obedient dogs to bolt. The Halo Collar ensures they stay within the safe zone, giving you peace of mind.

Tips for a Stress-Free Fourth of July with the Halo Collar

Early Training: Begin using the Halo Collar well in advance of the Fourth of July. This will give your dog time to get used to the virtual fence and the feedback system, making it easier for them to stay calm during the holiday.

Create a Safe Space Indoors: Even with the Halo Collar, it's a good idea to create a safe, quiet space indoors where your dog can retreat if they feel overwhelmed. Make sure this area is away from windows and doors to minimize exposure to the noise and lights of fireworks.

Provide Distractions: Keep your dog occupied with their favorite toys, treats, or a puzzle game. The more engaged they are, the less likely they are to focus on the fireworks.

Stay Calm: Dogs are highly attuned to their owners' emotions. If you remain calm and relaxed, your dog is more likely to do the same. Use soothing tones when speaking to them and avoid reacting to the fireworks yourself.

Why the Halo Collar is a Must-Have for Dog Owners

The Halo Collar isn't just for the Fourth of July—it's a year-round solution for dog owners who want to ensure their pet's safety while giving them the freedom to explore. Whether you're taking your dog on vacation, to a new park, or just want the peace of mind that comes with knowing they won't wander off, the Halo Collar is an invaluable tool.

Versatility and Portability

The Halo Collar is portable and can be used anywhere. This means you can set up a virtual fence at home, at a friend’s house, or even in a campsite. The flexibility ensures your dog is safe no matter where your adventures take you.

Comprehensive Safety Features

In addition to GPS tracking and the virtual fence, the Halo Collar offers activity tracking and a built-in nightlight, ensuring you can keep an eye on your dog in low-light conditions. These features combine to offer a comprehensive safety solution for your pet.

Peace of Mind

For dog owners, there's nothing more important than knowing their pet is safe. The Halo Collar provides that peace of mind, allowing you to enjoy your Fourth of July festivities without constantly worrying about your dog's well-being.

Real-Life Success Stories

Many dog owners have already discovered the benefits of the Halo Collar, especially during the Fourth of July. For instance, Sarah, a dog mom from Texas, shared her experience:

"Last year, our dog Max bolted during the fireworks display and we spent hours searching for him. It was terrifying. This year, we decided to try the Halo Collar, and it made all the difference. Max stayed calm and within the yard the entire time. The real-time tracking was a lifesaver, and knowing he was safe allowed us to actually enjoy the holiday."

Stories like Sarah's are common among Halo Collar users, who appreciate the combination of safety, convenience, and training capabilities that the collar provides.

Conclusion

The Fourth of July should be a day of celebration, not stress—especially for our dogs. With the Halo Collar GPS Virtual Fence, you can ensure your pet is safe, secure, and as stress-free as possible during the holiday. By combining cutting-edge technology with thoughtful training, the Halo Collar offers a comprehensive solution that allows you and your dog to enjoy the Fourth of July to the fullest.

Invest in your dog's safety and peace of mind this Independence Day and beyond with the Halo Collar. It's more than just a collar; it's a lifeline for your dog's well-being, offering freedom, safety, and comfort all in one.

[wiseinsights]

Effortlessly Protect Your Pup: Setting Up a Virtual GPS Fence with One Tap on the Halo Dog Collar App

Introduction

In today’s digital age, technology has brought about innovations that make pet ownership easier and safer than ever before. One such groundbreaking tool is the Halo Dog Collar, a smart device designed to give you peace of mind while granting your dog the freedom to roam safely. With the ability to set up a virtual GPS fence with just a single tap on your smartphone, the Halo Dog Collar offers a simple yet highly effective way to keep your pet within safe boundaries.

This blog post will guide you through the effortless process of setting up a virtual GPS fence using the Halo Dog Collar app. We’ll also delve into the various benefits of this feature, share real-life success stories from satisfied pet owners, and provide tips to maximize the effectiveness of this powerful tool.

Understanding the Halo Dog Collar

Before diving into the specifics of setting up a virtual GPS fence, it’s essential to understand what makes the Halo Dog Collar a standout product in the pet tech market.

The Halo Dog Collar is more than just a tracking device; it’s a comprehensive safety system for your dog. Developed by experts in pet safety and training, this collar combines GPS tracking, activity monitoring, and customizable virtual fences into one sleek device. The collar is designed to be comfortable for your dog to wear while providing you with real-time data about their location and behavior.

Check out the following video :

Key Features of the Halo Dog Collar:

GPS Tracking: The collar provides accurate, real-time location tracking, so you always know where your dog is.

Virtual Fences: Set up boundaries that trigger alerts or corrections if your dog strays too far.

Training Tools: The collar includes gentle feedback options, such as sounds and vibrations, to guide your dog’s behavior.

Activity Monitoring: Keep track of your dog’s daily activity levels to ensure they are getting enough exercise.

One of the most compelling features of the Halo Dog Collar is its ability to create virtual fences with just a single tap on the Halo app. This function is what sets the Halo Dog Collar apart from traditional GPS trackers and physical fences.

Step-by-Step Guide: How to Set Up a Virtual GPS Fence

Setting up a virtual GPS fence using the Halo Dog Collar app is incredibly easy. Whether you’re at home, in the park, or on vacation, you can establish safe zones for your dog in just a few moments. Here’s how:

Step 1: Open the Halo Dog Collar App

Start by opening the Halo app on your smartphone. If you haven’t already downloaded the app, it’s available for both iOS and Android devices. Once the app is open, make sure your Halo collar is connected to your phone via Bluetooth or cellular data.

Step 2: Access the Virtual Fence Feature

From the app’s home screen, navigate to the "Virtual Fences" section. This is where you can view existing fences, modify them, or create new ones. The interface is designed to be intuitive, so even if you’re not tech-savvy, you’ll find it easy to use.

Step 3: Set Your Fence Location

To set up a new virtual fence, tap the “+” button or the option to create a new fence. The app will prompt you to select a location on the map. You can either use your current location or choose another spot by dragging the map to your desired area. This is particularly useful if you’re setting up a fence at a place other than your home, like a park or a friend’s house.

Step 4: Define the Fence Boundaries

Once you’ve selected the location, you’ll need to define the boundaries of your virtual fence. The Halo app allows you to draw a custom-shaped fence by tapping on the map to create boundary points. Alternatively, you can choose from predefined shapes like circles or squares. The app will automatically calculate the area within the boundaries and display it for your review.

Step 5: Save and Activate the Fence

After setting the boundaries, simply tap “Save” to activate the fence. Your virtual GPS fence is now live, and your dog’s collar will notify them if they approach or cross the boundaries. You can monitor their location in real time and receive alerts on your phone if they stray too far.

That’s it! In just a few taps, you’ve created a safe zone for your dog, no matter where you are.

Benefits of Virtual GPS Fences

The ability to create virtual GPS fences with the Halo Dog Collar offers numerous benefits for both you and your dog. Let’s explore some of the key advantages:

1. Enhanced Safety for Your Dog

The primary purpose of a virtual GPS fence is to keep your dog safe. By establishing boundaries, you can prevent your dog from wandering into dangerous areas, such as busy streets, dense forests, or unfamiliar neighborhoods. The real-time alerts allow you to act quickly if your dog leaves the designated area, giving you peace of mind.

2. Flexibility and Convenience

Unlike traditional physical fences, virtual GPS fences can be set up anywhere, anytime. Whether you’re at home, visiting a friend, or traveling, you can create a safe zone for your dog with minimal effort. This flexibility is particularly valuable for dog owners who live in apartments, have large properties, or frequently take their pets on trips.

3. Cost-Effective Solution

Installing a physical fence can be expensive and time-consuming, especially if you have a large yard or live in a rented property where modifications are restricted. Virtual GPS fences eliminate the need for costly installations and maintenance, providing a cost-effective solution for keeping your dog secure.

4. Customization and Control

With the Halo Dog Collar app, you have complete control over your dog’s boundaries. You can easily adjust the size and shape of the virtual fence to suit your needs, ensuring your dog has enough space to roam while staying within safe limits. Additionally, the app allows you to set up multiple fences in different locations, which is ideal for multi-property owners or frequent travelers.

5. Training and Behavioral Guidance

The Halo collar is equipped with gentle feedback mechanisms, such as sounds and vibrations, that can be triggered if your dog approaches or crosses a boundary. These cues help reinforce your dog’s understanding of the boundaries without causing stress or discomfort. Over time, your dog will learn to stay within the safe zones, making the virtual fence an effective training tool.

Real-Life Success Stories

The Halo Dog Collar and its virtual GPS fence feature have garnered praise from countless dog owners who have experienced the benefits firsthand. Here are a few success stories:

Sarah and Max: A Travel Tale

Sarah, an avid traveler, loves taking her Golden Retriever, Max, on road trips across the country. However, she always worried about Max’s safety in unfamiliar places. After investing in the Halo Dog Collar, Sarah was able to set up virtual fences at every campsite and rental home they stayed at. Max could explore new environments freely, while Sarah enjoyed peace of mind knowing that Max was safe. “It’s like having an invisible fence wherever we go,” says Sarah. “The Halo collar has made our travels stress-free.”

John and Bella: Suburban Adventures

John lives in a suburban area with open spaces and busy roads nearby. His energetic Border Collie, Bella, loves to run and explore, but John was concerned about her venturing too far. With the Halo Dog Collar, John set up a virtual fence around his property, allowing Bella to roam the yard without the risk of escaping. “Bella gets to enjoy her freedom, and I don’t have to worry about her running off,” says John. “It’s the perfect solution for active dogs.”

Emily and Cooper: Apartment Living

Emily lives in an apartment complex with limited outdoor space for her Beagle, Cooper. She was hesitant to let Cooper off-leash in the shared courtyard until she discovered the Halo Dog Collar. Now, Emily sets up a virtual fence in the courtyard every time they go outside, giving Cooper the freedom to play without the risk of wandering off. “It’s amazing how easy it is to set up a fence with the app,” says Emily. “Cooper loves the extra space to explore, and I love knowing he’s safe.”

These stories illustrate how the Halo Dog Collar’s virtual GPS fence feature has transformed the lives of dog owners, providing them with a reliable and convenient way to protect their pets.

Tips and Tricks for Optimal Use

To get the most out of your Halo Dog Collar and its virtual GPS fence feature, consider the following tips:

1. Regularly Update the App

Make sure your Halo app is always up to date. The developers frequently release updates that improve functionality, add new features, and enhance security. Keeping the app updated ensures you’re getting the best performance possible.

2. Test the Fence Before Use

Before relying on the virtual fence in a new location, it’s a good idea to test it out. Walk your dog around the boundaries to see how the collar responds and make any necessary adjustments to the fence settings.

3. Monitor Battery Life

The Halo collar relies on battery power for its GPS tracking and feedback mechanisms. Regularly check the battery level and recharge the collar as needed to ensure it’s always ready to protect your dog.

4. Customize Feedback Settings

Every dog is different, so customize the feedback settings to suit your dog’s personality and training needs. Some dogs may respond well to sound cues, while others may benefit from gentle vibrations. Adjust the settings to find what works best for your pet.

5. Use Multiple Fences

If you frequently visit different locations with your dog, take advantage of the Halo app’s ability to store multiple virtual fences. You can easily switch between saved fences or create new ones as needed, ensuring your dog is always protected.

Conclusion

The Halo Dog Collar’s virtual GPS fence feature is a game-changer for dog owners who want to provide their pets with freedom and safety. With just a single tap on the Halo app, you can create a secure environment for your dog to explore, whether you’re at home or on the go. The ease of use, combined with the flexibility and peace of mind it offers, makes this feature an invaluable tool for any pet owner.

By following the simple steps outlined in this blog, you can quickly set up a virtual GPS fence and enjoy the numerous benefits it brings. With the Halo Dog Collar, protecting your pup has never been easier—or more convenient.

[echowisdom]

One Tap to Keep Your Best Friend Safe: How to Create a Virtual GPS Fence with the Halo Dog Collar App

Introduction

In today’s fast-paced world, the safety and well-being of our furry friends are paramount. With technological advancements, pet owners can now rely on smart devices to ensure their dogs are secure and happy. The Halo Dog Collar is one such innovative solution, combining GPS, training, and activity tracking into a single, user-friendly device. One of the standout features of the Halo Dog Collar is the ability to create a virtual GPS fence with just a single tap on the app. This feature provides peace of mind, knowing your dog is safe within the boundaries you set, and it’s incredibly easy to use.

This blog will walk you through the steps to create a virtual GPS fence using the Halo Dog Collar app, explore the benefits of this feature, and provide tips on maximizing its potential. Whether you're a tech-savvy pet owner or someone who’s new to smart pet devices, this guide will help you make the most of this fantastic tool.

What is a Virtual GPS Fence?

Before diving into the “how-to,” it’s essential to understand what a virtual GPS fence is and why it’s beneficial for your dog. A virtual GPS fence is a digital boundary that you set around a specific area, such as your yard, a park, or any place you frequent with your dog. Once the boundary is set, the Halo Dog Collar monitors your dog’s location in real-time, alerting you if they approach or cross the defined boundary. This feature ensures that your dog remains safe within the designated area and gives you peace of mind when your dog is off-leash.

How to Create a Virtual GPS Fence with a Single Tap

Creating a virtual GPS fence with the Halo Dog Collar app is designed to be intuitive and straightforward. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

Step 1: Open the Halo Dog Collar App

Ensure your phone is connected to the internet and open the Halo Dog Collar app. The app is available for both iOS and Android devices and can be downloaded from their respective app stores.

Step 2: Connect to Your Halo Dog Collar

Before setting up the GPS fence, make sure your Halo Dog Collar is charged and connected to the app via Bluetooth. Once connected, you’ll see the collar’s status on the app’s home screen.

Step 3: Navigate to the GPS Fence Feature

On the app’s main interface, look for the GPS Fence feature. This is typically represented by a map icon or a “Create Fence” button. Tap on this to begin the process.

Step 4: Select Your Desired Area

The app will display a map of your current location. You can zoom in or out to adjust the view. To create a fence, simply tap on the area you want to define as a boundary. The app will automatically generate a circular or polygonal fence around the selected spot.

Step 5: Adjust the Fence Size and Shape

You can customize the fence by dragging the boundary points to expand or shrink the area. This feature allows you to create fences that perfectly match your yard’s layout or any specific area you choose.

Step 6: Save Your Virtual Fence

Once you’re satisfied with the fence’s size and shape, tap the “Save” button. Your virtual GPS fence is now active, and the app will start monitoring your dog’s location relative to this boundary.

Step 7: Monitor and Enjoy Peace of Mind

After setting up the fence, the app will notify you if your dog gets close to or crosses the boundary. You can also track your dog’s activity and location in real-time, ensuring they’re always safe.

Check out the following video :

Benefits of Using the Halo Dog Collar’s Virtual GPS Fence

Now that you know how easy it is to set up a virtual GPS fence, let’s explore the benefits of this feature:

1. Enhanced Safety

The most significant advantage of a virtual GPS fence is the added layer of safety it provides. Whether you're at home or on the go, knowing that your dog is within a safe zone gives you peace of mind. The app’s instant alerts allow you to react quickly if your dog ventures too far.

2. Convenience

Setting up a traditional physical fence can be time-consuming and costly. A virtual GPS fence eliminates these concerns, allowing you to create and adjust boundaries within seconds, directly from your smartphone.

3. Flexibility

Virtual GPS fences are incredibly flexible. You can create multiple fences in different locations, perfect for when you travel or visit friends and family. This feature ensures your dog is always protected, no matter where you are.

4. Training Tool

The GPS fence can also be used as a training aid. By setting boundaries, you can teach your dog to stay within specific areas. The collar’s gentle feedback helps reinforce this behavior, making training more effective and stress-free.

5. Activity Monitoring

In addition to safety, the Halo Dog Collar tracks your dog’s activity, including steps, distance traveled, and calories burned. This data helps you ensure your dog is getting enough exercise and maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

Tips for Maximizing the Use of Your Virtual GPS Fence

To get the most out of your Halo Dog Collar’s virtual GPS fence, consider these tips:

1. Regularly Update the Fence

As you and your dog’s needs change, don’t hesitate to update or create new fences. Whether you move to a new home or your dog’s play area changes, the app allows you to easily adapt the virtual boundaries.

2. Use Multiple Fences

Take advantage of the app’s ability to create multiple fences. Set up different boundaries for various activities, such as a walking route, a play zone, or a rest area. This ensures your dog is always within a safe zone, no matter what they’re doing.

3. Combine with Other Training Tools

The Halo Dog Collar offers other training features, such as sound and vibration feedback. Combine these with the GPS fence to reinforce positive behavior, helping your dog learn and adapt to boundaries faster.

4. Keep the Collar Charged

Ensure the collar is always charged so it can effectively monitor your dog’s location. The app provides battery status updates, so you’ll never be caught off guard with a low battery.

5. Monitor Activity Levels

Use the activity tracking feature to keep an eye on your dog’s exercise and rest patterns. If you notice unusual behavior or changes in activity levels, it might be time for a vet visit.

6. Stay Updated with App Improvements

The Halo Dog Collar app is regularly updated with new features and improvements. Keep the app updated to ensure you’re benefiting from the latest technology and enhancements.

Conclusion

The Halo Dog Collar’s virtual GPS fence feature is a game-changer for dog owners. With just a single tap, you can create a safe and secure boundary for your dog, giving you peace of mind and your dog the freedom to explore within safe limits. The ease of use, coupled with the collar’s other smart features, makes it an indispensable tool for modern pet care.

Whether you’re at home or on the go, the virtual GPS fence ensures your dog’s safety is never compromised. It’s more than just a boundary; it’s a safeguard for your best friend’s well-being. By following the steps outlined in this guide, you can quickly set up and start using this feature to protect your dog and enhance their quality of life.

Embrace the future of pet care with the Halo Dog Collar, and give your dog the safe and happy life they deserve.

[morgsandmore]

My area of expertise: I can do Nothing™ all damn day

[despazito]

could u elaborate on "parrots make bad pets"? not disagreeing (far from it) just interested to see your take! looking to learn more about this

(i've gotten this ask before so please don't mind i'm just gonna paste a writeup i did a while ago)

There’s a blog run by an animal behaviourist who specializes in parrots that i really enjoy reading, she has a very good writeup on the state of companion parrots as an industry: The Inconvenient Truth About Cockatoos

so basically the average person usually cannot meet the needs of a parrot, especially medium and ESPECIALLY large species. they are long lived, extremely social and intelligent animals who are very demanding if you are their only companion. in my mind the most 'ethical' pet parrot setup is having some pairs of budgies in a dedicated bird room filled with foraging enrichment and doing some basic command training as a bird-human bonding activity instead of cuddles.

most pet parrots are hand reared or even hatched in incubators by breeders and are never given a chance to be raised by their parents, and virtually none stay with their parents until a natural weaning age before getting sold. which is wild considering it is fucking ILLEGAL to do that to puppies or kittens.

A parrot isn't really born wired for human companionship in the same way that a dog or cat is. they imprint on their parents which sets the blueprint of their kin, and they generally want to only form extremely close bonds with others of their kin. To get a very people-oriented parrot, it has to think it’s people.

This is different from the socializing practiced in raising cats and dogs or acclimating ferals to people. socializing means exposure to things so that the animal doesn't grow up to see the target as a threat, and ultimately that the target is something that can be very rewarding to spend time around. A dog raised with its mother and socialized to people still understands that it's a dog, it can get along with other dogs, but can also form strong bonds to people. They actually read both dog and human body language and legitimately have an awareness that we are different species.

The companion parrot is raised to think it’s people, and as a result many lose the ability to form bonds with their own kind. in fact the reason many breeders remove eggs or chicks from the nest is arguing that the parent birds don’t really know how to raise their chicks- because they themselves were hand reared and never learned how to parent from their parents! it seems that, like us, parenting isn't perfectly hardwired in parrots and they need to learn the skill from their families, oftentimes even staying to help their parents raise younger siblings!

That's why it's not at all uncommon for pair bonded breeding birds to be sold as a completely separate product from companion birds in many aviary operations. there's so many ads for people selling breeding parrots that fucking hate humans or are semi tame specifically listed for sale as breeders not as pets:

then their babies are bred for the pet market so they are taken either before or right after hatching to get hand reared and imprinted onto humans, because a parrot-bonded parrot just won't be as interested in forming those close human companionships you see in viral videos. this isn't the case for all aviaries, i want to acknowledge there are smaller scale breeders who have tamer breeding birds, but big producers can have borderline feral pairs and the point i'm trying to make is when you socialize a parrot to either the human world or parrot world, it's often at the expense of the other.

most trouble starts once the parrot begins reaching the age of sexual maturity. they stop being openly cuddly to most people, and will try to pair bond with their primary caretaker. It's not uncommon for this to lead to aggression towards other family members because parrots don't share partners, they can even do this to babies they are jealous of!

But a human can't become a suitable mate substitute for a parrot, and some of their mating behaviours such as regurgitating on you can seem straight up gross so the human then shuns the parrot and shuts down their advances. this can make your bird become very sexually frustrated that can lead to more unwanted behaviours and even health emergencies such as prolapse. we lead them on by stroking their chest and backs (only something bonded pairs do, you are essentially jerking off your parrot when you do this..) then reject them with no other outlet for their natural urges, and spaying/neutering isn't an option either! so they're stuck in a psychological purgatory of being unable to fulfill their instincts. and if they're in an understimulating environment and left alone for most of the day in addition to all that, frankly i think that's just an awful life to give to an animal we allegedly love!

we essentially alienate them, and when they don’t have people around to meet their extremely high social needs because you work a 9-5, even if there are other birds around, the lonely or frustrated human-bonded parrot can become depressed and self mutilate.

parrots that were left with their parents, are raised as parrots, and weaned at their own natural pace overwhelmingly do not exhibit these destructive behaviours.

 a productive relationship with a pet parrot is one that fosters independence, not dependence, on the human companion. the most responsible parrot owners should strive to act more as a zookeeper to their parrot instead of cuddling it and creating a ‘velcro’ bird glued to the hip, and socialize with them via training sessions instead of letting their birds indulge in pair bonding behaviours like petting and preening which leads to sexual frustration and aggression or self mutilation.

Ultimately I believe any parrot hand reared and imprinted onto humans is some degree of psychologically damaged and suffers from the parrot equivalent of a developmental trauma, they have been robbed of a normal parrot life and it cannot be undone.

SO many parrot rescues are completely flooded with unwanted pets, many with tough behavioural challenges (for example it's not uncommon for parrots to be reactive to an entire gender, so that cuts the adopter pool immediately in half). and these patterns can be difficult to break especially without the aid of a behaviourist. and the thing still has another 40 years of life left in it but nobody wants to adopt because it's another "crazy bitey bird that hates everyone", has reached sexual maturity so it's no longer as friendly, and it's much easier to start from scratch so folks choose to just buy another baby and keep the cycle going.

And none of that even touches on the rampant poaching that keeps supplying the trade in many parts of the world. and that's why everyone should have domestic chickens or pigeons.

[yandere-daydreams]

Title: Obedience Training.

Pairing: Yandere!Illumi x Reader (HxH).

Commissioned by the very lovely @h2o2-and-baking-soda.

Word Count: 1.6k.

TW: Kidnapping, Prolonged Imprisonment, Physical/Psychological Abuse, Pet Play, Dehumanization, and Controlling Behavior.

The ring was beyond repair.

It was the ugly kind of damage, too – the gold chipped and dented, some parts entirely flattened while others had scratched and tarnished to the point of virtual unrecognizability. The jewel itself (a diamond the color of the sky just before sunrise and the size of the nail on your pointer finger) had been pried out of its casing and polished with the blunt side of the hammer you’d pilfered from collection of one of the more forgetful servants. Any fragments that might’ve been worth salvaging were then washed down the sink of your en suite, and the near-microscopic remnants glistened against the table’s dark mahogany – twinkling whenever they caught the ample sunlight.

It'd been his mother’s ring; albeit, one of countless. Breaking it in such an obviously deliberate way had been a stupid thing to do, and a part of you must’ve known that while you were doing it. A part of you must’ve basked in the idiotic rage of it all, must’ve been dying to see what Illumi would be like when he couldn’t hide behind those big, blank eyes and that unreadable expression. As hazy as it seemed, you could remember being excited to see how Illumi would react, what he thought he could do to you that he hadn’t already put you through.

Now, though, standing next to him as he evaluated the damage, watching as those dark, glossy eyes skirted from the splintered wood to the decimated ring to the sparkling residue…

You weren’t excited, anymore.

Several seconds passed in silent paralysis. Images of braided rope and rusted chains and broken legs flashed through your subconscious, but he managed to draw you out of your spiraling thoughts with a low hum, a startling click of his tongue. Finally, he turned toward you and raised a hand, and you braced yourself for the feeling his fist around your neck, two fingers piercing the fragile bone of your skull, his pointed nails clawing out your eyes and leaving you to ble—

His palm came to rest on top of your head, petting over your hair gently. “Sweetheart,” he muttered with a tone as warm and as affectionate as a corpse in a snowstorm. “Would you come with me?”

You opened your mouth, but closed it again just as quickly. You nodded, the gesture stilted and jerky, and Illumi offered an approving smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes, letting his hand fall to your wrist. He pressed a lingering kiss into the top of your head before tugging you gently towards the door.

Neither of you spoke as he guided you through the halls of his mansion. Usually, you could count on running into one of the sociopaths that made up his family or a member of their bloodthirsty staff whenever you left your room, but today, his sprawling home seemed to be vacant, lifeless, as empty as the killers who dwelled inside of it. Steadily, you moved downward, the marble walls turning to rough stone, the filtered sunlight soon traded out for the artificial glow of dim gas lamps. He didn’t drag his feet or try to prolong your walk to the gallows, but he didn’t rush, either, didn’t seem to be in any rush to carry out your inevitably punishment. Eventually, he came to a stop in front of a simple wooden door – unremarkable in every aspect save for the deep well of dread it managed to dredge up inside of you.

With little ceremony, the door was pushed open and you were ushered inside of ahead of him. Your attention quickly fell onto the object most immediately in front of you: a dog crate.

It was almost shockingly mundane; not overly massive, but big enough for a large pitbull or golden retriever, the bars thin but close together and the bottom cushioned by a small bed with pink and white paw prints splattered across it. A handful of miscellaneous items had been laid on top of it. Your attention caught on the collar, first, the cutesy type with a bell and fake (or, knowing Illumi, very real) gemstones studded into the leather and a matching leash, and then headband with what couldn’t be—

Illumi moved past you, approaching the crate and taking up the undeniably, indisputably dog-eared headband. He turned it over in his hands once, then twice, before speaking. “Strip.”

It sounded like gibberish; partially muffled by the static buzzing over your conscious mind and made even more difficult to process by your own unwillingness to do so. “What?”

“Strip,” he repeated. “Or I’ll break every bone in your right hand.”

It was the specificity of the threat (paired with the implication that your left wouldn’t be long to follow) that had your shaking hands reaching for the hem of your shirt and hauling it over your head. You looked towards him for approval after every shed article, but he only seemed to notice your obedience at all when you stood bare and vulnerable in front of him, completely unprotected from both his prying gaze and the chill of the damp dungeon air. You started to move towards him, but he stopped you with a quick shake of his head, a new softness to his expression. “Kneel.”

With a shallow breath, you complied, lowering yourself onto your knees. Now, now, he took his time, his terrible eyes raking over your trembling form as he came to stand in front of you. The collar was fastened around your neck deftly, the leash allowed to hang loose and pool in your lap. He was more careful with the headband – meticulously lining it up with your ears, your face before sliding it into place with a satisfied hum. In a very distant, very muted way, you found that you were surprised less that your hitman-turned-kidnapper would have a pet play lair hidden away in some dark corner of his basement, and more that the aforementioned kidnapper would use that pet play lair to dress you up as a dog, rather than a cat. Illumi was as cat-like as a man could be – silent and skulking, prone to digging his claws into what he loved most – but the more you thought about it, the more sense it made. Cats were smart and sly and perfectly capable of surviving on their own, whereas dogs were stupid and clumsy and almost painfully reliant on their owners. People get cats because they want something that can choose to love them back. People get dogs because they want something that doesn’t have another choice.

“I--Illumi,” you managed, his name still awkward and bitter on your tongue. “I… I’m really sorry, and I’ve learned my lesson, and—”

One second, you were staring at his feet, and the next, your head was snapped to the side, a searing pain stitched deeply into your cheek. His open palm slipped downward, cupping your chin and tilting your head back, forcing you to face him properly. “Good pets don’t talk.” His tone was shockingly sweet, coercive, as if he was trying to explain something very simple to a very stupid child. “Good pets only follow commands. Can you do that for me, puppy?”

Tears were starting to gather in the corners of your eyes, a tight knot lodging itself at the base of your throat, but you did your best to keep both at bay. You started to nod, then thought better of it, straightening your back and squaring your shoulders, trying to communicate the only thing you could seem to think – please don’t hurt me please don’t hurt me please don’t hurt me – without giving him a reason to land another blow. In the end, he rewarded you with the ghost of a smile, his free hand held in front of your mouth. “Good puppy. Now lick.”

You hesitated, but the steady ache pounding in your cheek was enough to make you swallow your pride. Your tongue darted out from between trembling lips, and with no small amount of trepidation, you lapped over the back of his closed fist. He let you begin to pull away before moving – before forcing two fingers into your open mouth and pressing the pads of his digits into the back of your throat. You gagged, your body instinctually recoiling, but he didn’t relent, his thumb digging into your jaw as he held you in place. Your hands shot to his thighs, the tears you’d forced back resurfacing and flooding down your cheeks, but he didn’t budge, didn’t pull away until you were gasping and breathless and utterly humiliated. Finally, he drew back, wiping his spit-soaked digits on your shoulder as his eyes moved from your open mouth to your hands, still balled around the fabric of his pants. “I have something upstairs for those,” he said, voice dripping with all the warmth and affection he usually denied you. “I’ll forgive you this time, puppy, but good pets shouldn’t be able to grab.”

He reached down, taking you by the leash. You were too detached to resist as he half-led, half-dragged you towards the crate. This time, you couldn’t stop yourself from shaking your head, from stammering out little ‘no, no, no’s as his fist curled around your collar and forced you past the metal gate and into the confined space, suddenly so much smaller than it’d seemed from the outside. You had just enough time to scramble for the door before Illumi slammed it shut, letting the clasp fall into place and leaving you withering inside the makeshift cage. You couldn’t stop yourself – hands curling around the bars as you looked toward him with your most pleading expression, but Illumi only shook his head. “You don’t have to sulk. Maybe, with some time, we’ll be able to move your bed somewhere warmer.”

He paused, his grin widening into the first real smile you’d ever earned from him.

“After you’ve proved you can be a good dog, of course.”

[sinkovia]

Coffee Shop: VII

Simon Riley x Fem!Reader

You work at a small cafe that Simon starts visiting when he’s not deployed.

Coffee shop Masterlist

The next morning as Simon lay in bed, he clicked on the link you texted him about the adoption website. Navigating to the section for dogs, he was surprised to find only one listing – the last puppy up for adoption.

It was a male German Shepherd puppy, approximately two months old. Knowing the pup was too young for K-9 training, Simon decided that having a companion at home would be comforting until then. Quickly filling out the online form, within ten minutes, the puppy was officially Simon's.

The shelter informed him that his new furry friend would be ready for pick-up at noon. Simon went about his morning routine, enjoying breakfast and engaging in a rigorous workout until it was time to pick him up.

Leaving the shelter, Simon stared at the small canine now occupying the passenger seat. The puppy looked up at him with big brown eyes, tilting its head to the side. Simon reached over and noticed the collar was blank.

“No name, huh?” he mused, and the puppy yawned in response.

"Like a little ghost," Simon remarked, and the puppy turned its head, seemingly considering the suggestion.

"Should your name be Ghost, hmm? Well, that might be a bit confusing on base." The puppy whined and laid down in the seat. 

"Ghost Jr.?" The puppy didn't seem convinced, and Simon nodded, "Yeah, it doesn't have the same ring to it."

Simon reached for his phone and snapped a picture of the puppy, deciding to seek suggestions for a name from the team by sending it to the group chat Johnny had created.

Ghost: Name recs?

Johnny: Bartholomew

Captain: Bloody hell, Soap...

Johnny: What about Ghost Jr.? He has your eyes, L.t.

Gaz: Doesn’t really have a ring to it, mate.

Ghost: Thought so too.

Captain: That little pup does look like a Riley.

Ghost looked at the message and back at the puppy.

“What do you think of the name Riley?” The puppy stood up and started walking over to Simon, nestling himself in his lap before closing his eyes.

“Okay, Riley, I gotta drive, mate; you can't sleep there.” Simon picked him up and placed him back on the passenger seat, but Riley got up and made his way back into his lap.

“Bloody hell. Fine, just don’t move around or I’ll crash.”

Simon picked up a few things for him on the way home and set up a corner of the living room for him. After finishing, he sat down on the couch and took a few different pictures of Riley, sending them to you.

When Simon's name lit up on your phone, you eagerly grabbed it, swiping it open to reveal his notification. Your mouth dropped at the sight of the adorable puppy.

Y/n: WOW, you actually adopted him!? He’s so cute!! Did you decide on a name?

Simon: Riley.

He sent another picture of Riley, the puppy looking down at the camera, lifting his paw up, and you nearly melted.

Y/n: Riley is such a cute name for him. Have you bought him any clothes or toys?

Simon smiled as his eyes read over the message. So, you think his last name is cute, huh?

Simon: Riley is my last name.

Simon: Clothes? Dogs need clothes?

Y/n: Oh, I didn’t know that. The name suits him. He’s like a mini you :)

Y/n: They don’t need clothes, but it makes them look really cute. He might need little shoes since it’s getting colder.

Both you and Simon found yourselves smiling at your phones as you texted back and forth. The conversation shifted, and you asked him about his day. You even sent him a picture of your cat Missy, to which he replied.

Simon: She looks hateful.

Y/n: No, she doesn’t! She looks cute.

Throughout the day, you and Simon exchanged a few pictures. Simon shared more photos of Riley, curled up next to him while watching a movie. In return, you sent a picture of yourself in your garden, busy planting new flowers.

This led to Simon asking more about your garden, and you gladly shared details about your favorite plants and flowers. You took him on a virtual photo tour of your backyard, showcasing a thriving fruits and vegetables garden. 

Simon: What type of stuff you growin?

Y/n: Some onion, garlic, potatoes, cabbage, cauliflower, zucchini, carrots, and some others I can’t remember off the top of my head.

Y/n: I even have a cute little apple tree! 

You snapped a picture of Missy sunbathing next to your basket full of produce. Simon smiled at the stretched-out cat, leaning over to show Riley the picture.

“You fond of cats?” Riley started nibbling on the hem of Simon's jacket.

The following day, in the afternoon, you found yourself finishing the batch of apple strudels you had baked, only to realize you had made too much. A sigh escaped you as you surveyed the pan filled with the pastries and glanced at the abundance of produce you had harvested the day before. The realization hit that, being just one person, much of it would go to waste before you could use it all.

You decided to put some of the strudels into a container. Grabbing an extra basket, you carefully arranged half of the vegetables you had picked yesterday.

I'm sure Simon wouldn’t mind a free delivery?

With a small basket and container in hand, you made your way up his driveway and rang the doorbell. Simon peeked through the peephole and cursed when he saw you on the other side.

“Just a second.”

He quickly retreated to his bedroom, donning sweatpants and a hoodie before returning to the door, opening it.

“Hi, sorry to bother you so randomly in the day. I just wanted to drop these off since I had extra.” Simon looked down at the basket in your hands, and then his gaze went to you. He was about to thank you when Riley went between his legs, walking to you. Your eyes grew wide, and you put the basket down on the ground.

“Hi Riley, aw, look at how cute you are.” Simon smiled down at you, loving the way his last name sounded when you said it. Riley was licking your face, and you laughed.

“Would you like to come in?”

“Are you sure? I wouldn’t want to intrude if you're busy.”

“Wasn’t doing much before you came.” 

Simon had been lying in bed, watching a Gordon Ramsey cooking video in nothing but his briefs.

“Okay,” you smiled up at him, and he reached over, grabbing the basket you brought. You picked up Riley, and both of you walked inside. 

Simon's living room bore witness to his minimalistic approach to decor, featuring only a couch, a TV, and a coffee table. As you stood in his living room, the blank walls and empty space caught your attention.

“Sorry love, don’t really know how to decorate.” You laughed, placing Riley down.

“There’s actually a Ross not too far from here. Maybe you could get a lamp… or two. Maybe a painting?” You glanced around, noticing the absence of a dining table or any items on the counters in the kitchen.

“If I didn’t know any better, I’d think this house was for sale.” Simon laughed, placing the basket you brought on the counter.

Simon raised an eyebrow. “Never heard of a Ross.” You turned to face him, eyes wide, “You're joking, right?”

“Dead serious, love.” You pulled out your phone and showed him a picture of the Ross building. “You're telling me you’ve never been inside one of these?”

Simon shook his head again. What was the big deal about this store?

"They have everything in this store! Furniture, clothes, skincare, shoes, purses, home decor, even some spices and snacks, but I wouldn’t trust it. You have to go, Simon! They even have clothes and toys for dogs.” Glancing at the time, Simon looked back at you.

“You have anywhere to be right now?”

“No, I don’t really have things planned on the weekends besides spending time with Missy.”

“You think she’d mind if you were gone for a few hours.” Your smile grew as you caught on to what he was hinting at.

“No.”

Simon placed Riley in the large cage he had bought, and the drive to Ross took only around five minutes. The short trip to the store became a chance for Simon to discover more about your interests and preferences for small talk of course, not that he wanted to know more about you, of course not.

As you walked into Ross, you rambled on about various pieces of furniture and decor, grabbing a cart and leading Simon towards the furniture section. Simon's eyes widened as he checked the price tag for a nightstand.

“Are these things broken or chipped? Why are they so bloody cheap?”

You laughed as Simon added the nightstand to his cart. Navigating through the store, you selected a stylish black lamp, and Simon followed suit, placing it in his cart. Moving on to the decor aisle, you looked at various candles, allowing Simon to sample a few before he settled on one with a pine scent. 

You continued adding small decor items for Simon's coffee table – throw pillows, throw blankets, a rug, a bookshelf, minimalist frames, place mats, and even a skull wax warmer with some clean linen scented melts. Your choices filled the cart with a mix of stylish and cozy additions for Simon's home.

In the kitchen aisle, you insisted on essential items – a fruit basket, organizers for his pantry and fridge, additional pots and pans, and more cooking utensils. Simon, who only owned one pan and one of each silverware, recognized the practicality in your suggestions.

In another aisle, he saw you looking at a cat mug before putting it back and wandering into another section. He quickly grabbed the mug and placed it at the bottom of his cart before making his way to you.

“You ready, love?” You hid something behind your back and nodded, “Yeah, I’ll meet you up front. I just need to look at something real quick.”

You found yourself in the doggy section of the pet aisle, examining various toys and outfits for Riley. Noticing he only had one rope chew toy, you felt compelled to get him more. You selected a little squeaky bone chew toy, a tuxedo, a sweater, and some adorable little shoes – perhaps a size too big, but too cute to resist. To complete the ensemble, you even chose a fluffy bed for him to sleep on.

Doubt crept in – was this too much? Should you put something back? Would Simon find it odd? Shaking off the uncertainty, you shrugged and placed everything in your cart. As you made your way to the registers, you spotted a clearance aisle filled with past holiday-themed items. A cute black and white skull mug caught your eye, and you picked it up.

He asked you to draw skulls on his bookmark, and he really liked the skull wax warmer. I’m sure he’d like this.

 Placing it in your cart, you walked to the registers. Meeting Simon at the front after both of you finished paying, you helped him carry his bags to the car while he handled the nightstand.

When you returned to Simon's house, you dove into helping him unpack everything in the living room. You organized items, rearranged furniture, and experimented with different placements until the layout felt just right.

While you were busy making his home feel cozier, Simon had taken charge in the kitchen, using the ingredients you brought to prepare a meal. He made oven-roasted vegetables and steak, with guidance from a Gordon Ramsey video. Pulling the newly purchased mug from the Ross bag, he washed it and filled it with ice water.

Unbeknownst to Simon, you had stationed yourself on the floor behind the couch, secretly dressing Riley in a little tuxedo. Just as you finished putting on his tiny pants, Simon walked over with two plates, setting them down on the coffee table. Trying to conceal Riley, you quickly grabbed some black kids' sunglasses from the bag and placed them on Riley before picking him up and showing Simon.

“He looks like the dog from the bookmark! I couldn’t find a toy assault rifle, though.” Simon paused for a few seconds, looking at Riley and you holding him up with a big smile. He laughed and picked Riley up, your hands brushing against each other for a moment.

Simon couldn’t ignore the way his heart skipped a beat, feeling your hand against his. A foreign sensation of touch, yet Simon found himself yearning for his hand to linger against yours a few seconds longer.

“I have to show the boys this.” Simon laughed, handing Riley back to you so you could hold him up. He took a picture from the side, excluding you, but the moment he sent it, the boys bombarded his phone with questions, asking if those were your hands and if you two were on a date.

“I also got him another outfit, it’s this sweater and some little shoes for when you take him outside when it starts snowing.” Simon smiled as you gestured towards the other outfit laid out on the couch.

“Thank you, love, for spending your money on him. You really didn’t have to.” You smiled and got up, sitting on the couch.

“It’s no problem at all. I wanted to see him dressed up.”

“He’s definitely going to be a ladies' man at the dog park now.” You laughed, finally noticing the two plates on the coffee table.

“Oh! Is this for me?” Simon walked over to the kitchen, bringing your new mug. “No, it’s actually for Riley.” He approached you with a grin and placed the mug down on the table in front of you.

Your eyes grew wide upon seeing it. “Oh my god! I was thinking about getting this mug at Ross!”

“It’s yours, love, and I cooked dinner for us as a thank you for spending your day helping me spruce up my place and for sharing your garden with me.” You smiled, looking at the delicious meal in front of you. Simon had used the potatoes, carrots, and everything you gave him. The aroma filled the air, and you realized how hungry you were. Almost forgetting the mug you had bought him, you dug through the bag and pulled it out.

“I almost forgot. I actually got you a mug.” When you handed it to him, he smiled, looking at the little skulls.

“You know me so well.” You smiled up at him, and the moment lingered for a few seconds before Riley tried to jump on the coffee table to get to the food.

Simon put on a movie, and both of you enjoyed dinner together, sitting on opposite ends of the couch and sipping from the cups you had bought for each other. After finishing, you insisted on washing the dishes he used to cook, despite his multiple offers to handle it. You expressed gratitude for his effort in cooking, considering the least you could do was tackle the dishes.

Once done, you both indulged in an apple strudel, using the moment to learn more about Simon—his favorite color, a few favorite foods, little details that brought you closer. As the night grew late, you decided it was time to head back home.

“I should really head back home; it’s late.” Despite spending the day with you, Simon felt a twinge of disappointment at your leaving.

“Let me grab my keys; I’ll walk you home.”

“Oh, are you sure? I mean, I only live a few houses down.”

“I insist; it’s dark out. You only live a few houses down anyway; it’s no bother.”

Strapping Riley to a leash, the three of you walked to your house. You pointed out various flowers and plants around your front door, and Simon mentally noted them down, remembering the ones you said you didn't have.

“I had a lot of fun today, and thank you again for cooking and for the mug.” Simon shoved his hands into the pockets of his jacket while Riley sniffed around your flowers.

“I should be the one thanking you; my house doesn't look like a prison cell anymore.” You laughed and lightly shook your head. “Maybe next time you could come over, and I could show you how to grow a thing or two. You could meet Missy.”

“Sounds like a plan, love.” You smiled and kneeled down to say goodbye to Riley.

“I’ll talk to you later, goodnight Simon.” You grabbed the keys from your pocket and unlocked your door.

“Goodnight, love.”

When you closed the door behind you, Riley let out a low whine. Simon turned and began walking away.

“I know, Riley. I feel the same way.”

[celenawrites]

After Hours: CH1 — Another Work Day

Pairing - Simon 'Ghost' Riley x F!Reader, previous! Phillip Graves x F!Reader

Warnings - Office AU, Hurt/Comfort, Angst, Eventual Smut, Slow Burn, Misunderstandings, Sexting, Praise Kink, Dry Humor, etc.

Summary -

Life has been out to get you ever since you found your ex cheating on you. To add salt to your wounds, your beloved pet dog goes missing while you try to recover from your nasty breakup and your company has been overloading you with piles and piles of paperwork you can never seem to finish; along with a bunch of babbling interns who can never take a hint when it comes to shutting the fuck up, along with a scary, firm-handed supervisor who seems oddly interested in getting to know you better, despite your reluctance. 

Chapter Summary -

Just another day at work with your unique team.

Read on AO3? | Masterlist | Navigation

As you put up the final poster of your missing dog near a park, you ruefully recall how this wretched week had begun. 

You were two months clean of your no-good, chauvinist manwhore of an ex when you decided to leave your beloved golden retriever behind at your empty one-room apartment as you set off for a long commute to work. Granted, your life has become lonelier than usual with the remnants of your estranged partner scattered around the space - like his red toothbrush in the bathroom stand, the ukulele still hung up on your cream walls, or the crystal ashtray he used whenever he decided to smoke a cigar and set off the smoke alarms in the small (you prefer to call it ‘cozy’, despite his many protests) living room, forcing you to open up the windows and air out your room, hoping that the neighbors don’t lodge a complaint against you in the RWA.

But you have set up a routine, which is not perfect by any means - yet you make do with it. It also helps that your dog Butters is just an absolute ray of sunshine, always up for a walk and playing fetch to cheer you up whenever you get off work. After a long day of work, playing with him was all you had been looking forward to - until you noticed your ajar door and felt your world come to a standstill. Fearing the worst, you burst inside and frantically check around for any stolen valuables you may have to report to the police. So much for a chill night after work. 

Luckily, it had seemed no one had broken in and you had just forgotten to lock your doors in your hurry to catch the morning train. But the silence and the lack of your furry friends sets off alarm bells in your head. You quickly call out his name, hoping to catch a glimpse of that golden fur, but to no avail. Frantic, you rush out of your apartment as you yell for your companion. When you fail to locate him anywhere in your block, you resort to asking your neighbors in case any one of them had spotted him throughout the day. Some of them are peeved at you disturbing them, but they’re quick to pity your dejected figure, tears welling up in your eyes as the day catches up to your weary body. 

With aching legs, you make your way to the park you often frequented with Butters and in the plethora of crowd of people and pets alike, you attempt to search for your dear doggo and it is all in vain. With defeat weighing you down, you quickly dial for the police and lodge a report for your missing friend. Noting down your case number and the names of the staff in-charge, you sluggishly go back home and prepare a half-hearted dinner of heated frozen pizza, which you eat with virtually no appetite to satiate and go to sleep on the hard couch with swollen eyes and a migraine blooming between your temples as the empty bedroom still haunted you with not-so-fond memories. 

A week has passed since then, with no plausible leads to Butter’s whereabouts. The cops have even suggested you give up and get a replacement for him, which just made you all the more angrier at their blatant apathy. With each passing day, you lose your hopes of ever reuniting with your beloved fur baby; but you hope for Butters to be alright, wherever he is. 

Whoever has him, please take care of my baby, you silently wish as you stare at the blank screensaver on your desktop, activated due to your prolonged inactivity. Snapping out of your thoughts, you quickly press on the spacebar thrice until the Excel spreadsheets are visible again. Sighing at the banal tasks assigned to you, you quickly check your phone for any texts. Family and friends and classmates you occasionally stay in touch with;they all have texted you something or the other - a greeting, a link, a meme. And then there’s your ex, who has left you ‘on seen’ after you texted him to come and grab his box of belongings two weeks after your breakup. Whether it is because he is in denial over you growing a spine and breaking up with him when you caught him cheating, or because he believes that you would come crawling back to him and beg him to grace your life with his presence(which is a tempting thought that you frequently entertain, especially during lonely nights when you crave rough hands to caress you into a lull), you do not know and you don’t have enough fucks in order to find out either. 

“How’s my bonnie doin’?” a familiar Scottish voice asks, and you whip up your head to find Mactavish standing in front of your desk, all sunshines and smiles and mohawks as he greets you. 

“Hey Johnny, I’ve been better”, you rub the sleep from your eyes as you look at him with a slow smile of yours. John ‘Soap’ Mactavish was the first coworker you had befriended when you decided to join the tech security company One-Four-One. Director Laswell had asked him to give you a tour of the place and help you set up your work devices and he had taken on that responsibility with a toothy grin and a loud pat on your back, promising to show all there is to be seen and help you out whenever you find yourself stuck. With his easy going attitude and helping nature, it didn’t take you long until you found yourself looking forward to attending office, if only to spend some time with your coworker-slash-friend. 

“Worried about Butters, huh?” he somberly asks you, gently rubbing your upper arm in sympathy. 

“Yeah, I am just worried about him. I hope he’s okay”, your nose prickles with the fresh onset of unshed tears in your eyes and you bury your face in your hands as you try to take deep breaths and calm yourself down. Crying at the workplace never really ends well for you. 

“I know, lass. But I also know that Butters is a smart boy, he’d take care of himself just fine till he comes back home, yeah? So don’t you worry”, he consoles you, picking up your empty mug as he leaves you to collect yourself. 

“I’ll get you a new brew, and we can talk for a bit, okay? Be right back.” 

And then he leaves the common floor, hopefully going to the break room to get some new coffee brewing for the morning.

Seeing your distraught state, Kyle Garrick, the temp hire, gets up from his desk and drops off some raisin cookies at your desk to go along with your cup of oncoming java. When you protest, he winks at you and asks you to save the treat for yourself - all the more exasperated with Johnny and his grubby hands that are always eager to snatch away his snacks. That makes you laugh a little, and he smiles at you as he makes a beeline for the bathroom. 

Feeling a little lighter, you decide to work on the neglected spreadsheets just a tad bit longer till Johnny comes back, each hand holding a cup of coffee and a grin on his face that tells you he has some much needed gossip to keep your mind off from your constant worries. 

It is an hour before lunch break when Joseph, the new intern, approaches you at your desk. 

“Hello-”

“No.”

“I didn’t even say anything!”, he whines out, and you are reminded once again that he’s still a college student, despite his monstrous height and unusually deep voice. 

“You don’t have to”, you reply, your eyes barely leaving the screen as you typed away and responded to him, “I can tell you have come here to bribe me into doing your work again, and my answer is no. I am too busy to deal with you.”

“You don’t have to do anything, I swear! I already did the work!” he claims, and you turn to face him with an arched eyebrow and a speculative expression on your face that gives away that you’re having a hard time believing him. 

Joseph is a nice enough guy - he always greets you and is kind enough to use his height to pull down things for you that are kept on the too-high cabinets, and he is intelligent enough to keep up with almost all the technical jargon being passed around by some of your haughty teammates during daily meetings and project discussions, as well as suggest some truly out-of-the-box innovative ideas that has transformed how the team worked for the better. But he’s a terrible procrastinator, often finding himself finishing tasks at the eleventh hour; while prolonging tasks until the last minute does lead to him coming up with amusing and original ideas, it leaves room for him to commit quite a few silly mistakes and errors that one might overlook on an initial run, unless a senior staff member is asked to review it. 

And ever since Laswell went on leave and appointed Price as the acting Director in her stead, you have been swamped with towers of paperwork and meetings while also managing meetings, work sprints and other team issues - basically acting as Price’s right hand as he tries his best to manage the team without letting it implode on itself. Add in your messy personal life and you are already tired enough to sleep at your desk by the time the day is over and hope to never move. (Price has at times found you slumped up against your keyboard, softly snoring with dark eyebags as he noted how you probably needed a much-needed break from it all, despite knowing very well that your absence in the office for more than a day would probably cause unending chaos he won’t be able to manage on his own.)

“I have finished the report. I just need you to go over it once to make sure I haven’t messed up anywhere, else Simon would tear me a new one!”, he pleads with you, and you recall that his uncle, Simon Riley, is one of the founding members and is responsible for overlooking the interns they had hired and tracking their progress. You also remember how the behemoth of a man had almost made you pee your pants when Johnny first introduced him to you, all in his brooding glory. 

You have half a mind to reject his request on that basis alone, afraid to attract his attention onto you. But then Jo looks at you with his puppy brown eyes(a complete opposite from his uncle’s brilliant blue eyes) and furrowed brows, his lips downturned as he looks at you with pure hope and you find yourself sighing as you finally acquiesce, “Fine, just mail it to me before you leave for lunch, and I will send you the finished file before the deadline.”

He fistbumps the air and promises to you, “I will pay for your coffee! And a snack too! For a week! You’re the best!”, before he leaves you to your own devices. 

You sigh out in exasperation, leaning back into your ergonomic chair and feeling your back stretch in discomfort. You swear Joseph might give you a few gray hairs by the time his training period is done for good.  

You check your drawers for spare snacks, well aware that you’d have to skip lunch if you want to complete your pending work and help Joseph out with his report. 

Skipping lunch proves counter intuitive when you find yourself in the common break room and groan at the empty coffee jug, half-heartedly making a fresh batch for yourself and for your forgetful colleagues as well. While you wait for the java to slowly percolate and drip down into the empty pot through the freshly-changed filters, you look inside the freezer in hopes of finding some frozen food you can microwave, or at least find a spare ice cream for you to munch on. 

Unsuccessful in your search, you instead nibble away at the granola bar you found stuffed inside one of the spare drawers, when one of your coworkers decides to join you in the break room. You pause as you see Simon ‘Ghost’ Riley, the cyber sec guy, enter the room and stand a few feet away from you as he eyes the whirring coffee machine with interest. You find it hard to even exist in his larger than life presence, as his giant stature almost compels you to hunch your shoulders and curl in on yourself - a poor attempt to hide away from his intimidating figure, like a doe-eyed prey trying to shy away from an apex predator, and futilely hoping for it to forget about you if you try your best to blend into your bland, uninteresting surroundings. 

You always feel odd whenever you interact with Riley. Mostly, you do not know what to feel about him. He’s silent and deadly, and the horror stories you have heard from the fresh batch of interns about his anger and his need for perfection has cemented his image as a strong and fearsome, unapproachable figure into your mind just fine. Standing at 6’2 with broad shoulders and veiny arms visible thanks to his summer tees and thick thighs that bulge whenever he wears those tight black jeans that only makes you all the more curious-

The ‘mindless’ rambling aside, his appearance is enough to put the fear of God into you. Add his rough and not-so-friendly demeanor along with his deep voice, and you have got one very attractive asshole who you can never approach no matter how much you’re compelled to make a move on him. You almost thank him for it, because mixing pleasure with business will only ever land you in trouble, if you’re being honest with yourself. 

He nods at you and you are forced to acknowledge him with a calm greeting, as your fingers silently drum against the marble island of the kitchen. 

“Didn’t have lunch?” he asked you with his gravelly voice, and you wonder how many girls have swooned (and possibly gotten their panties wet) when he addressed them so casually. You’re pretty sure he can read a grocery list and make a girl wetter than the Atlantic just fine. 

You shake your head, “Had some catchin’ up to do, sir.”

His eyes appear darker than usual, despite being his softest feature yet, “Skipping meals won’t do you any good, you know. Better to eat a proper meal than whatever you’re having right now.”

“I know”, you tell him, well aware that whatever excuse you use here would just land you in hot waters with the weirdly overprotective man anyway. You’d rather not get lectured by the man today. 

Whether it is because he might make you cry, or turn you on - you do not know and are not eager to find out either. 

The ceasing of the brew trickling into the glass pot allows you to divert your attention to the caffeine concoction you have just created. Pouring some of the hot liquid into your cup, you see someone push their mug beside it. Looking up, you see Simon standing beside you with an amused look on his face. You blink at him in confusion, and he gently shakes his glass, begging for some much-needed coffee. 

He explains himself, “Had some of the early morning brew, tasted like dogshit.”

You laugh at his sudden crassness, finding it too funny to clarify that the morning brew was made by his beloved friend, Johnny. Mactavish would’ve chewed him out for that if he was there, but he’s having one of those few days wherein his meetings made it hard for his schedule to sync up with Simon’s. 

Taking a slow sip out of white mug, he replies with a wry smile, “Yours always tasted better anyway.”

And then, he exits the scene and leaves you in a puddle of pure confusion, with one question looping in your mind - When has he ever tasted your coffee?

You’re thankful Simon has already left and cannot witness your flustered state at his sudden remark. 

Author's Note -

Happy breaking out of writer's block to me!

Finally able to write and post something after a month of inactivity and contemplating about abandoning this blog all together. Glad I persevered through it though.

I came up with this after reading a dozen or so fanfics throughout the week while worrying about landing a job where I am interning. Very original, I know. I also think this would be a relatively shorter series, given how it is more lighter than some of my other works and WIP materials.

Also, I am hoping to stick to a schedule in order to hold myself more accountable and write more consistently. So expect new updates every 2nd and 4th Sunday/Monday :>

Until then, have a great week ahead. I have to sleep if I want to wake up on time and start work. ;-;

[coaching124]

Virtual Canine Coaching: Transforming Dogs and Owners Anywhere, Anytime

In today's fast-paced world, the demands of modern life often make it challenging to attend traditional dog training classes. But fear not, because virtual dog training has emerged as a convenient and effective solution for busy pet owners seeking to cultivate a well-behaved and obedient canine companion.

[seat-safety-switch]

Working at a dog daycare (for cash, under the table) has taught me a lot about man's best friend. Primarily, it's that dogs have one hell of a PR team working the job. For one thing, virtually every pup would sell you down the river in exchange for a single bite of Snausage.

Like many of my part-time jobs, I came by the dog daycare gig honestly. I realized that their parking lot was empty most of the day, except at pickup and drop off, and then proceeded to fill up that parking lot with shitbox cars.

Sure, it's a lot of work to shuffle them in and out, but it was better than paying for parking, a concept which I avoid with an almost religious fervour. They figured out what I was doing around month three ("What's with all the puddles of oil and coolant in the parking lot?" "Why are all the cars out there brown and tan?") and I had to think fast.

Turns out my definition of "think fast" is simply to tell them that I'm the new dogwalker, and then pick up a batch of leashes from the front. Pleasure walking is something I usually avoid, because I get enough of it already trying to get back from wherever my car has broken down, but in this case it was really nice.

Pleasant spring weather. Slowly taking in the city instead of being in a go-go rush all the time. A squadron of dogs at my command, pissing in unison on whatever lightpole I so deem a suitable victim. And getting to scope out alleys and parks for additional unguarded street parking spots, without drawing the attention of nosy neighbours and bylaw enforcement like usual. Everyone loves a guy with like thirty dogs.

Will I keep doing this forever? No. Eventually it's going to get cold again. For the time being, though, it breaks up the monotony of the day. And the other day, I found an old Honda lawnmower that someone just threw away in the alley. A Honda, can you believe it? I'm thinking of starting my own dog-operated lawnmowing business, if only I can manage to train the little bastards into adjusting a carb properly.

[nostalgebraist]

thoughts on xDOTcom/CorralSummer/status/1823504569097175056 tumblrDOTcom/antinegationism/758845963819450368 ?

I mostly try to ignore AI art debates, and as a result I feel like I don't have enough context to make sense of that twitter exchange. That said...

It's about generative image models, and whether they "are compression." Which seems to mean something like "whether they contain compressed representations of their training images."

I can see two reasons why partisans in the AI art wars might care about this question:

If a training image is actually "written down" inside the model, in some compressed form that can be "read off" of the weights, it would then be easier to argue that a copyright on the image applies to the model weights themselves. Or to make similar claims about art theft, etc. that aren't about copyright per se.

If the model "merely" consists of a bunch of compressed images, together with some comparatively simple procedure for mixing/combining their elements together (so that most of the complexity is in the images, not the "combining procedure"), this would support the contention that the model is not "creative," is not "intelligent," is "merely copying art by humans," etc.

I think the stronger claim in #2 is clearly false, and this in turn has implications for #1.

(For simplicity I'll just use "#2", below, as a shorthand for "the stronger claim in #2," i.e. the thing about compressed images + simple combination procedure)

I can't present, or even summarize, the full range of the evidence against #2 in this brief post. There's simply too much of it. Virtually everything we know about neural networks militates against #2, in one way or another.

The whole of NN interpretability conflicts with #2. When we actually look at the internals of neural nets and what is being "represented" there, we rarely find anything that is specialized to a single training example, like a single image. We find things that are more generally applicable, across many different images: representations that mean "there's a curved line here" or "there's a floppy ear here" or "there's a dog's head here."

The linked post is about an image classifier (and a relatively primitive one), not an image generator, but we've also found similar things inside of generative models (e.g.).

I also find it difficult to understand how anyone could seriously believe #2 after actually using these models for any significant span of time, in any nontrivial way. The experience is just... not anything like what you would expect, if you thought they were "pasting together" elements from specific artworks in some simplistic, collage-like way. You can ask them for wild conjunctions of many different elements and styles, which have definitely never been represented before in any image, and the resulting synthesis will happen at a very high, humanlike level of abstraction.

And it is noteworthy that, even in the most damning cases where a model reliably generates images that are highly similar to some obviously copyrighted ones, it doesn't actually produce exact duplicates of those images. The linked article includes many pairs of the form (copyrighted image, MidJourney generation), but the generations are vastly different from the copyrighted images on the pixel level -- they just feel "basically the same" to us, because they have the same content in terms of humanlike abstract concepts, differing only in "inessential minor details."

If the model worked by memorizing a bunch of images and then recombining elements of them, it should be easy for it to very precisely reproduce just one of the memorized images, as a special case. Whereas it would presumably be difficult for such a system to produce something "essentially the same as" a single memorized image, but differing slightly in the inessential details -- what kind of "mixture," with some other image(s), would produce this effect?

Yet it's the latter that we see in practice -- as we'd expect from a generator that works in humanlike abstractions.

And this, in turn, helps us understand what's going in in the twitter dispute about "it's either compression or magic" vs. "how could you compress so much down to so few GB?"

Say you want to make a computer display some particular picture. Of, I dunno, a bird. (The important thing is that it's a specific picture, the kind that could be copyrighted.)

The simplest way to do this is just to have the computer store the image as a bitmap of pixels, without any compression.

In this case, it's unambiguous that the image itself is being represented in the computer, with all the attendant copyright (etc.) implications. It's right there. You can read it off, pixel by pixel.

But maybe this takes up too much computer memory. So you try using a simple form of compression, like JPEG compression.

JPEG compression is pretty simple. It doesn't "know" much about what images tend to look like in practice; effectively, it just "knows" that they tend to be sort of "smooth" at the small scale, so that one tiny region often has similar colors/intensities to neighboring tiny regions.

Just knowing this one simple fact gets you a significant reduction in file size, though. (The size of this reduction is a typical reference point for people's intuitions about what "compression" can, and can't, do.)

And here, again, it's relatively clear that the image is represented in the computer. You have to do some work to "unpack" it, but it's simple work, using an algorithm simple enough that a human can hold the whole thing in their mind at once. (There is probably at least one person in existence, I imagine, who can visualize what the encoded image looks like when they look at the raw bytes of a JPEG file, like those guys in The Matrix watching the green text fall across their terminal screens.)

But now, what if you had a system that had a whole elaborate library of general visual concepts, and could ably draw these concepts if asked, and could draw them in any combination?

You no longer need to lay out anything like a bitmap, a "copy" of the image arranged in space, tile by tile, color/intensity unit by color/intensity unit.

It's a bird? Great, the system knows what birds look like. This particular bird is an oriole? The system knows orioles. It's in profile? The system knows the general concept of "human or animal seen in profile," and how to apply it to an oriole.

Your encoding of the image, thus far, is a noting-down of these concepts. It takes very little space, just a few bits of information: "Oriole? YES. In profile? YES."

The picture is a close-up photograph? One more bit. Under bright, more-white-than-yellow light? One more bit. There's shallow depth of field, and the background is mostly a bright green blur, some indistinct mass of vegetation? Zero bits: the system's already guessed all that, from what images of this sort tend to be like. (You'd have to spend bits to get anything except the green blur.)

Eventually, we come to the less essential details -- all the things that make your image really this one specific image, and not any of the other close-up shots of orioles that exist in the world. The exact way the head is tilted. The way the branch, that it sits on, is slightly bent at its tip.

This is where most of the bits are spent. You have to spend bits to get all of these details right, and the more "arbitrary" the details are -- the less easy they are to guess, on the basis of everything else -- the more bits you have to spend on them.

But, because your first and most abstract bits bought you so much, you can express your image quite precisely, and still use far less room than JPEG compression would use, or any other algorithm that comes to mind when people say the word "compression."

It is easy to "compress" many specific images inside a system that understands general visual concepts, because most of the content of an image is generic, not unique to that image alone.

The ability to convey all of the non-unique content very briefly is precisely what provides us enough room to write down all the unique content, alongside it.

This is basically the way in which specific images are "represented" inside Stable Diffusion and MidJourney and the like, insofar as they are. Which they are, not as a general rule, but occasionally, in the case of certain specific images -- due to their ubiquity in the real world and hence in the training data, or due to some deliberate over-sampling of them in that data.

(In the case of MidJourney and the copyrighted images, I suspect the model was [over-?]heavily trained on those specific images -- perhaps because they were thought to exemplify the "epic," cinematic MidJourney house style -- and it has thus stored more of their less-essential details than it has with most training images. Typical regurgitations from image generators are less precise than those examples, more "abstract" in their resemblance to the originals -- just the easy, early bits, with fewer of the expensive less-essential details.)

But now -- is your image of the oriole "represented" in computer memory, in this last case? Is the system "compressing" it, "storing" it in a way that can be "read off"?

In some sense, yes. In some sense, no.

This is a philosophical question, really, about what makes your image itself, and not any of the other images of orioles in profile against blurred green backgrounds.

Remember that even MidJourney can't reproduce those copyrighted images exactly. It just makes images that are "basically the same."

Whatever is "stored" there is not, actually, a copy of each copyrighted image. It's something else, something that isn't the original, but which we deem too close to the original for our comfort. Something of which we say: "it's different, yes, but only in the inessential details."

But what, exactly, counts as an "inessential detail"? How specific is too specific? How precise is too precise?

If the oriole is positioned just a bit differently on the branch... if there is a splash of pink amid the green blur, a flower, in the original but not the copy, or vice versa...

When does it stop being a copy of your image, and start being merely an image that shares a lot in common with yours? It is not obvious where to draw the line. "Details" seem to span a whole continuous range of general-to-specific, with no obvious cutoff point.

And if we could, somehow, strip out all memory of all the "sufficiently specific details" from one of these models -- which might be an interesting research direction! -- so that what remains is only the model's capacity to depict "abstract concepts" in conjunction?

If we could? It's not clear how far that would get us, actually.

If you can draw a man with all of Super Mario's abstract attributes, then you can draw Super Mario. (And if you cannot, then you are missing some important concept or concepts about people and pictures, and this will hinder you in your attempts to draw other, non-copyrighted entities.)

If you can draw an oriole, in profile, and a branch, and a green blur, then you can draw an oriole in profile on a branch against a green blur. And all the finer details? If one wants them, the right prompt should produce them.

There is no way to stop a sufficiently capable artist from imitating what you have done, if it can imitate all of the elements of which your creation is made, in any imaginable combination.

[robfinancialtip]

In this informative video, Kaaren Thompson from Karma Dog Speak shares her experience with the Halo 3 Collar, a groundbreaking innovation in the world of pet technology. As a seasoned user of the Halo Collar, Kaaren provides a comprehensive Halo Collar review, shedding light on the collar's impressive features and enhancements.

Kaaren introduces us to Cosmo, her furry companion adorned with the cutting-edge Halo 3 Collar since its release on September 1st. This collar has been a game-changer in Kaaren's extensive journey as a Halo dog owner.

The Halo 3 introduces exciting new elements, including a range of vibrant colors like Orchid, Sunburst, gray, and white. With a new magnetic charging port, this collar is not only stylish but also waterproof, allowing dogs like Cosmo to enjoy a dip without compromising functionality. The collar's GPS satellite technology has seen incredible improvements, offering a global connection via AI, Bluetooth, cellular, and Wi-Fi. This means your pet can roam freely, regardless of your location, and stay connected to the network.

One remarkable feature Kaaren highlights is the Halo Collar's beacon functionality, serving as both a keep-away and stay-in zone. This innovative capability provides pet owners like Kaaren with the ability to create boundaries indoors and outdoors, ensuring safety and training.

Kaaren shares personal anecdotes, including instances where the Halo Collar played a crucial role in bringing back an escaped dog, demonstrating the collar's effectiveness in real-life situations. The collar's remote feature allows Kaaren to call back her dogs with a simple signal, promoting positive dog training and providing freedom for dogs in various environments.

Beyond the technology, Kaaren emphasizes the positive impact the Halo 3 Collar has had on her relationship with her dogs, providing a unique sense of freedom and safety. The collar's waterproof design and magnetic charging port add to its durability, making it an ideal choice for outdoor dog activities.

The Halo Collar isn't just a tracking device; it's also a reliable dog activity tracker, ensuring that your furry friend stays healthy and active. With a focus on dog safety, this collar combines technology and practicality to offer pet owners peace of mind.

Whether your dog is a water enthusiast or an escape artist, the Halo Collar proves to be a reliable companion. Kaaren encourages viewers to consider this best outdoor dog collar for its flexibility, global connectivity, and the peace of mind it brings to pet owners. Remember to follow Kaaren on her social media channels for more insights, and if you found this video helpful, feel free to like, subscribe, and join the conversation.

🐶UNRIVALED FEATURES!🐶 CHECK OUT THE GAME-CHANGING FEATS OF THE NEW HALO COLLAR 3:

✅ New PrecisionGPS(™) Technology ✅ New Active GPS Antenna ✅ 24-hour Battery Life ✅ Auto-connect to Any Cellular Network Worldwide ✅ New Perfect Fit System ✅ Magnetic Charging Port ✅ New Colors: Orchid and Sunburst

NEW COLORS Halo Collar 3 is available in 4 vibrant colors: ✅GRAY ✅BLACK ✅ORCHID🆕 ✅SUNBURST🆕

CHAPTERS: 00:00: Halo Collar Overview 02:55: Halo Collar Features 04:06: Virtual GPS Boundaries and Active Tracking