#and now on to crufts

[megpricephotography]

Remembering that time a friend & I went to Crufts back in 2012 & we wandered around Discover Dogs (where you can meet the breeds) & I met a sweet red & white border collie & a small merle border collie & had a bit of a chat with their owner. I took a pic of the red/white:

And then... 2.5 years later in late summer of 2014, my dad, who likes dogs but was in no way involved in the Dog World, started going out with a women, who lived about 90 mins away from us & who had 3 border collies - a pup & 2 adults (she was actually also the one who found my Flynn).

First time I met her border collies, I kept looking at the red & white male in particular & thinking "That dog? Why is that dog familiar, where have I seen him before?". I didn't say anything all evening, cause I felt like I must be wrong (I knew she'd never visited our town before) & I wanted to avoid sounding crazy but it kept niggling & niggling me, that somehow I'd met him. Then dad's gf randomly mentioned she'd had both the adult dogs at Crufts for just one year & I suddenly I knew! Pulled the photo up & checked & sure enough: same dog! It's a small world!

Lovely old Hovis:

[fjordfolk]

not very often thankfully, but every now and then we'll have a walk that's strictly speaking perfectly okay but still just sucks. between pouring rain and the ice melting we spent 40 minutes wading up a rocky sheep-track-turned-riverbed in the dark, both dogs off leash but troj stayed behind me the entire time and spart barely two steps ahead. we spooked a hare and they didn't even bother to turn their heads to watch it run off in the distance. we ditched the path route down and followed the gravel road instead.

at least i'd turned the roborock on before leaving, so we came back to a freshly vacuumed main room and i plugged in a heated blanket for sparty for the evening.

[call-me-pup2]

Seen ur going away this weekend. Hot date or hookup?

Wouldn't you like to know 😛

[merosmenagerie]

Hoping for the curly coated retriever to take group tonight for the sake of the actual breed that SHOULD have become popular instead of the doodle and is instead in massive decline <3

[cypr1anlatew00d]

ooo you want to mark my order as shipped so bad.. you will NOT cancel you are a real & legitimate listing for the liquid sky movie tie in novel at a non-ripoff price..

[manyblinkinglights]

It is now time to get a garbage bag and THROW THINGS OUT. >:]

[peakyblinder]

good morning you beautiful bunch <3

[unpretty]

today was the day we finalized the migration of essential software at work from some old and busted shit that was ready to die at any time, to the new cloud version of the same software that we are no longer responsible for maintaining. which is good because no one was actually maintaining ours. it's just been slowly crufting into unusability for a decade. so anyway they set aside an hour for a teams meeting where they'd walk us through the different interface and how to go through normal processes.

"it's not that big a change," they said. "it's all the same stuff, it just looks a little different," they said.

they did not account for the fact that the primary user of this software is someone who doesn't actually know how it works or what it's doing. they learned how to do their job entirely through rote memorization. they know which buttons they are supposed to press in which order, and that is the full extent of what they know. they also did not account for the fact that this person's processes were learned thirdhand from other people who were not using this software normally to begin with.

it's like. imagine if someone had only ever used tumblr in the app. and you try to get them to use it in a desktop browser, but they cannot figure out how to post. and you go through explaining where the button is and how to format text and add tags, even though you could have sworn it was all the same in the app. but then they're like, "okay, but what's the phone number" and you're like "what" and they're like "the phone number to call to make a post?" and it turns out somehow they still had the ability to post by calling a phone number, and every time they posted on the app they called the post in first and then edited the audio post to transcribe it into text before screenshotting the text for a photo post. and nothing you can say to them will make them understand that none of that is necessary or correct. they shouldn't have even been able to do some of that. they can just type into the post box now, like a civilized person. "okay," they say, "but what is the phone number, though? because when i made my account my friend gave me this checklist and the first thing on it is to call the number."

so anyway we were on that teams call for almost three hours and they still don't have a handle on the new software

[great-and-small]

Speaking of breed standards, would you be able to give me some context on what the heck is up with the German Shepherd "stack"? I see a lot of GSD owners saying it's breed standard and therefore fine, but the slant looks so extreme in some dogs that I have some skepticism about it (and also because, of course, breed standards have nothing to do with animal health).

This is a pretty hot button issue and you’re right that there is a ton of bickering back and forth about it online. I’m happy to share my thoughts, but keep in mind that as a veterinarian I am biased towards function over form. I care way more about if a dog can do the things it wants/needs to do than how it looks. I won’t get into it here but I actually have real qualms with the distinction between “working line” and “show line” in some breeds.

My quick takeaway opinion- There are several orthopedic issues in the German Shepherd dog (specifically show lines) that have likely been exacerbated if not entirely caused by breeders striving for the classic “sloped back” look that is considered breed standard.

Now that being said, it is a fact that the three point stack (how a dog is positioned when standing) greatly exaggerates the angulation of the back and hind legs. You will often see comparison images like this one that show a dog in stack versus standing square and you can clearly see the top line looks more sloped when the dog is stacked. This image is from a GSD subreddit, a pretty dog here nicely demonstrating how the stance can change the appearance of the top line.

This phenomenon is what certain hardline GSD breed standard loyalists will point to when discussing this issue. They posit that the sloped back is essentially an optical illusion caused by aesthetic posing, and therefore a German Shepherd is no more prone to orthopedic problems than any other large breed dog. This is where I disagree.

You can easily find stark examples of a poorly put together dog in any breed or mixed breed out there, so when discussing my concerns with the GSD I will only use photos of titled dogs that are accomplished within the show ring. These are not random backyard bred shepherds, but champion dogs from acclaimed lines that will almost certainly be bred to pass on their genes. When breed clubs like the AKC award these dogs as exemplars of the breed, they tacitly endorse the conformation issues I’m about to discuss. So my beef is not with German shepherds or dog breeds in general, but specifically with breed clubs that refuse to examine whether their standard harms animals. An important disclaimer, not every breed club is like this and many take health concerns extremely seriously.

Dogs have a very different limb anatomy and gait to humans and a healthy dog is meant to walk on their paw pads. The “ankle” or hock should be upright and angled as you can see here in this nice-looking champion shepherd from 1902.

German shepherds can sometimes have a problem that is colloquially called “dropped hocks” where that joint is abnormally loose and in more serious cases can even be touching the ground, which is completely abnormal and something I would consider a serious physical flaw. A dog having dropped hocks/tarsal hyperflexion like this is proven to cause medical issues for these dog, but unfortunately the sinking joints also help to give the dog that “classic” sloping look that breed clubs love.

This dog “Ch Kysarah's Pot of Gold” won best of breed at the National dog show in 2015. You can see his hock is literally flat on the ground even when not stacked

And it’s not just one dog. Here is another champion dog (Cruaghaire Catoria), who got some controversy for winning best of breed at Crufts in 2016 despite an extremely abnormal gait.

Perhaps we could excuse the low hocks when the dog is standing as being the result of the stack, but it is glaringly obvious when she moves that this is no trick of her positioning. Her entire tarsus rests on the floor as she runs and in close ups you can even see bald patches there to suggest this is a “normal” gait for her. In this video, the announcers agree that this is the ideal gait for a shepherd. If I saw this gait in a friend’s dog I’d politely express my concerns for long term mobility issues and recommend an orthopedic consultation. To see it win best of breed is galling to say the least.

And lest you think the problem has been solved, here’s another from the National Dog Show in 2023

None of these dogs could charge athletically into a field and effectively herd sheep. If we are prioritizing aesthetic over function to the degree that a dog cannot do what it was bred to do, or more importantly that it cannot do the simple things that dogs love to do, then we have veered unforgivably off course. Not to put too fine a point on it but what the fuck is the point of a breed standard if it impedes the dog’s function in any way? We have no right. German shepherds are an incredible breed of dog that have stood by us humans in some of our darkest moments; I think the breeders and kennel clubs who claim to love them the most should work harder to ensure the “champion” dogs they are producing can live long pain-free lives. If we have to adjust our notion of what the breed is “supposed” to look like then so fucking be it.

This is too long already so I’m not getting into hip dysplasia, DM, carpal laxity, elbow dysplasia or other conditions that exist in the breed. If German shepherd clubs want to distance themselves from the notion that their breed standard is causing problems with canine health then they will need to stop publicly lavishing awards on dogs with medically concerning gait issues and start focusing on breeding dogs that can run around a ring without causing even the most casual of onlookers to realize “something’s not right there”

[max1461]

I remember a really formative interaction I had as a teenager. Well actually it wasn't formative, I was already formed. But it was... vindictory? It was a moment when I realized in a crystal clear fashion something I already implicitly believed.

I was talking to a friend of a friend of my parents, and she had been to Japan a number of times, and I was interested in Japan, and so we were talking about that. And we were talking about Japanese food, and somehow the topic of spicy food came up. And she was saying how it was hard to find spicy food in Japan. And she struggled for a moment to express why this was. She hesitated, and said something like "...I'm not sure how to say this, I don't want to stereotype, but... the Japanese, uh, the Japanese palate is not very, well, it's not very amenable to spicy food, I mean..." and she sort of looked at me expectantly for social approval of this potentially non-PC(?) comment, but instead of accepting or rejecting it, I simply suggested to her "you mean spicy food isn't very popular in Japan?". And as soon as I did she was like, "yes! yes! That's exactly what I'm saying!" and the conversation moved on.

In that moment I realized something like, well. We can chose to see and conceptualize the world in different ways, and there are certain common ways that seem deeply flawed to me, and I have a better way and I'm going to use it. Just, setting all social or political implications aside, you can think about the world in terms of essences or you can think about the world in terms of descriptions. You can add extra features to your model, develop a richer ontology of... classes and types and whatnot, or you can not do that, you can stick to a weak ontology and just describe. What is "the Japanese palate"? I don't know. What you mean to say is that spicy food is not popular in Japan.

And when you do this, you know, when you just describe, when you avoid essences, you also demystify. There's nothing here. I mean, there's something here, there's a fact, but it's not of any more import than it is literally of. Monster truck rallies aren't popular in New York and spicy food isn't popular in Japan. Things are just things, people are just people, events are just events. It's very hard to articulate what I mean here in language, because as all my thoughts this one is principally non-linguistic. I'm not sure I'm doing it justice right now but I'm at least approximating it. You don't have to, like. You can just.

I guess that's what it is. This is also why I don't like the term "the West", unless you're using it in some really circumscribed way. Because, what is this? What is this way of speaking, speaking in terms of essences and needless abstractions and muddled, conceptually loaded narratives when you could just say, you could just describe. You don't need all this cruft. And moreover it does a disservice, it does a disservice to people and the world, both of which are real and actual and not made of cruft and nonsense as you purport them to be. Well anyway.

[zooophagous]

I have some really exciting news. Tuunbaq has passed his OFAs and is ready to be a father! He's such a rare breed I know that it's only proper that he's paired to an absolutely stellar dam, and after weeks of googling we finally found one.

Introducing Borscht Kennels Antigone Angina van Kleinfelters Syndrome. AKC and Crufts champion standard poodle. This litter will be the first ever known litter of kishu-doodles for a companion animal that's bold and capable of all kinds of sports and field work while maintaining the biddable nature and hypoallergenic coat of the poodle.

I was looking for a merle dam but Antigone is just too spectacular to pass up. Now accepting deposits for puppies coming your way in summer 2025. Fifteen hundred up front. No refunds. Cash only.

[pawsitivevibe]

A Quick Guide to Dog Shows

I tend to see a certain amount of confusion about how dog shows work. So I'm going to break it down here. Note that this is based on the Canadian Kennel Club and might differ based on organization. It is basically the same as the American Kennel Club. If you watched Crufts, some of the classes and awards have different names, but operate in a very similar progression.

There are multiple "stages" in conformation. This is where I see the confusion.

CLASS:

So, you sign up your dog for a dog show. They are going to be entered under their BREED. Within their breed, they will be entered in a CLASS. A class is basically just a category under which they are judged. The main classes are usually:

6-9 month old dog (often called Junior Puppy)

6-9 month old bitch

9-12 month old dog (often called Senior Puppy)

9-12 month old bitch

12-18 month old dog

12-18 month old bitch

Open dog

Open bitch

Canadian bred dog (the dog was born in Canada)

Canadian bred bitch

Bred by exhibitor dog (the dog's breeder is also the dog's handler)

Bred by exhibitor bitch

These additional classes are also common:

Veteran dog (7+ years old)

Veteran bitch

3-6 month old dog ("Baby Puppy" does not compete for points, but may compete for "Best Baby Puppy")

3-6 month old bitch

Dogs within the classes will be judged based on the breed standard, but in the age based classes the judge will be keeping in mind that they are still puppies. Your dog may be eligible for multiple classes, so you choose the one you think your dog has the best chance of winning. For example, I have a 20 month old English Cocker Spaniel dog. He is eligible to compete in Open dog, because dogs of any age can compete in Open. He was bred in Canada, but I did not breed him, so I could enter him in Canadian bred, but not bred by exhibitor. I choose ONE class to enter.

Alright we're in our CLASS. Each class is then judged based on the breed standard. Each class will be judged for 1st through 4th place. The 1st place dog or bitch in each class will then move on to the WINNERS ring.

WINNERS:

The winners of the dog classes will compete for WINNERS DOG. The winners of the bitch classes will compete for WINNERS BITCH. There will also be a Reserve Winners Dog (2nd place) and a Reserve Winners Bitch. Note that the winners dog and bitch may be puppies.

BEST OF BREED:

The Winners Dog and Winners Bitch will then go on to the BEST OF BREED ring. They will be joined by dogs and bitches of their breed who are already show champions. Champions have already won enough "points" in previous shows to receive the title of champion, and do not have to compete in the CLASS or WINNERS stages. The judge will now look at the winners dog and bitch and all the champions, and choose 1 to be awarded BEST OF BREED, meaning they are the best dog or bitch overall. The judge will then choose a BEST OF OPPOSITE SEX, meaning the best dog of the opposite sex to the best of breed winner. If the BOB is a bitch, then all the male dogs will be judged for BOS. The judge will also look at the Winners Bitch and the Winners Dog to choose a BEST OF WINNERS between the two. The judge will also choose a SELECT DOG and SELECT BITCH, for the best champion dogs after BOB and BOS. Sometimes the judge will also choose dogs to be given an AWARD OF MERIT, to recognize exceptional quality in dogs who did not receive BOB, BOS, or Select.

BEST PUPPY IN BREED:

The judge will then call in all the puppies, dog or bitch, that were not defeated by another puppy. These puppies may have been entered in any CLASS, not just the puppy classes, because you can also enter puppies in Open, Canadian bred, or any other non-age-restricted class. The judge will choose an overall BEST PUPPY. However, if the BEST OF BREED dog was already a puppy, that dog will automatically be awarded Best Puppy as well.

GROUP:

Now there are many many dog breeds, and the breeds are divided into "groups", which is usually indicative of their function. Groups have different names and divisions in different organizations, but the CKC has 7 groups: Sporting, Hound, Working, Terrier, Toy, Non-Sporting, and Herding. Spaniels, setters, pointers, and retrievers are in the Sporting Group. Sighthounds and scent hounds are in the Hound group. Herding dogs are in Herding, and so on. Every breed within a group will have the BEST OF BREED sent to the BEST OF GROUP ring. Each of the BOBs of the different breeds will be judged against their own breed standard to determine which of them is the best. There will be a top 4 dogs awarded in each group.

There will also be a separate competition for BEST PUPPY IN GROUP. All of the BEST PUPPY IN BREED winners will compete for this. If a puppy was also the BEST OF BREED winner in a particular breed, they will compete in the group and puppy group.

BEST IN SHOW:

The 7 BEST OF GROUP winners will go on to compete in the Best in Show competition. Remember, they are being judged based on their own breed standard, and if they fit their own standard better than the other dogs fit theirs. So the best in show judge is looking to see if this Cocker Spaniel is a better Cocker Spaniel than this Shetland Sheepdog is a good Shetland Sheepdog. It's not a "this breed is better than this breed" competition. This is why you will sometimes unfortunately see an unsound dog win BIS, like a German Shepherd with bad hips or a Pekingese. The judge doesn't think they're actually the prettiest dog ever and what a pretty dog should look like, just that they best fit their breed standard. Unfortunately some breed standards emphasize traits that are unhealthy. A RESERVE BEST IN SHOW winner is also awarded for the "2nd place" dog.

There's also a separate BEST PUPPY IN SHOW competition for the BEST PUPPY IN GROUP winners to compete in. A puppy who already competed in the BIS ring might also compete in BPIS. However, if a puppy won Best in Show already, they will be automatically awarded Best Puppy in Show as well.

There may also be a Best Baby Puppy in Show competition, for the 3-6 month old puppies. They would have also had a group competition. The Baby Puppy category is meant to prepare future show dogs for the ring, so it is focused more on fun and providing a good experience for the babies.

A RECAP:

A dog will compete under their breed in a CLASS

Class winners will compete for WINNERS DOG and WINNERS BITCH

The 2 Winners will compete against the Champions for BEST OF BREED and BEST OF OPPOSITE SEX. The Winners will also be judged against each other for BEST OF WINNERS.

The Best of Breed for each breed in a group will compete for BEST OF GROUP. There are placings for 1st through 4th place.

The Best of Group of each of the 7 groups compete for BEST IN SHOW and RESERVE BEST IN SHOW.

[txttletale]

now i do think that d&d 5e is a bad ttrpg, like, generally. i would never recommend it to anybody in a world where pathfinder 2e exists with the sole design philosophy of 'doing d&d's thing but without 40 years of useless accumulated cruft and grandfathered in makework'. but i think that it's more specifically uniquely bad as someone's first TTRPG, a role into which it's basically been forced to by its cultural hegemony over the space

[heretical-cogitations]

Barkhammer 40k Part 2

Part 1 - for Primarchs 1 - 11

Just letting you all know the 40k is the yearly cost caring for his 18 dogs.

oopies got a bit more descriptive in this one...

Anyway back to the doggies

12 - Angron - Newfoundland

a sweet tempered, gentle and extremely well trained lil guy, now.

he was a rescue from a very abusive home and for the first year of 2 he was very guarded and aggressive but with time he has settled.

He is the biggest defender and guardian for his dog brothers and big E.

13 - Roboute Guilliman - corgi

a true lap dog through and through he loves being pampered and relaxing. Food stealer, specifically of cheese and cold cuts.

tidies his toys up once he is done. Don't get in his way he has a system.

Struggles to jump onto the couch and is helped by the others. Has regular visits with his parents and old litter, goes in fancy dress.

14 - Mortarion - ibizan hound

Morty was a v poorly pooch when he was little, but he pulled through despite the odds, lives with some lingering symptoms now and can't always keep up with his brothers.

because of that wasn't well socialised and so is quite a loner and territorial but will spend time and play after a while.

Loves attention but doesn't know how to ask, will stare at you and nudge a toy or his paw then glare. very funny but once you pick up on it he is all over you. (you're his friend now).

15 - Magnus the Red - Irish setter (he is very photogenic)

Look at this distinguished smart gent. Red, friendly and beautiful - maggy is a very placid dog

extremely smart watches the tv intently and when he was a puppy the only way to get him to sleep without him crying the second you left was by reading to him.

Likes to wrap himself around pert and keep him safe. Russ really likes play fighting with him but he gets a swift paw shove away.

16 - Horus Lupercal - Leonberger

Big E's favourite... he says he doesn't have a fave but its a bit obvious when he is allowed to on top of you and act like he is small dog.

a prize winning show dog that everyone loves he has won best in show at crufts he is just that charming and loveable.

He loves kids and babies, if it was up to him though, he would just want to run around with his brothers, but he will never say no to the treats and attention...

17 - Lorgar Aurelian - Bedlington Terrier

strange looking thing but easily wins people over with how cute and cuddly he is.

Has gotten lost in a flock of sheep with lambs before , also on a few occasions has walked off with other people because he wanted to play.

Very vocal dog but in the will answer back to you way if you ask if he wants a treat you get a lil woof in response.

18 - Vulkan - Great Dane

will find sunspots or anywhere warm and bask

very very gentle

loves everyone gets sad when other humans, dogs and animals don't like him back but he is persistent and ends up making friends everywhere he goes

19 - Corvus Corax - border collie

shy little guy with the cutest smile ever

hides in the house sometimes - this has caused many a panic when Big E thinks he has escaped or ran away only to have the top of his head tickled by the end of his tail (how the fuck did he get into the LOFT?!

very crafty, opens up with time but needs his space. (you feel like the dog whisperer the first time he comes over to you without you begging him or bribing him with food).

20 - Alpharius Omegon - indistinguishable legion of crusty white dogs

They just started appearing one day, some say big e just leaves the back door unlocked to let them in.

Others say they were the first dogs he got. No one truly knows , the dog never looks the same.

Even the other dogs are tilt their heads at the crusty ones, especially when they look like a smaller version of them...

[parsleysagerosemarytimemachine]

IRS Direct File

Hey, if you're in the US, it's tax season again!

Want to make it easy to deal with? And not pay someone else to do it for you? The IRS has continued to expand their free online services - if you live in any of these states (and don't have a more complicated situation), you can file directly with the government and cut out a lot of the cruft in the middle!

(That's almost half the country on-board now; if your state _isn't_ on the list, why don't you contact your governor and state legislature, and ask why they won't let the government money you spend on the IRS be used to provide government services for you...)

ALT

Here: IRS Direct File

Also, not to get political, but this would be a great time to do your taxes early, and support your professional civil servants by taking advantage of the services they provide. There's too many assholes out there who want to take it away from you, because they don't think the government should work for people; don't let them win. :)

[eggtrolls]

Can you restore the ‘Hazbin Hotel’ Wikipedia page ‘That’s Entertainment (Hazbin Hotel)’ on Wikipedia? The same person keeps blanking it.

Hi, thank you for your question! I appreciate the request - I’m actually really flattered! - but I’m not going to do that at this moment. This is actually a very interesting microcosm of Wikipedia backdoor activities and we can use it as a learning opportunity.

Background: anon said the same person (not the same person) keeps “blanking” the page and that’s not entirely true. People have turned into it a redirection page or a redirect (let me know if the terminology is too technical). A redirect is one of the series of pipes that keeps Wikipedia moving smoothly; it would be a massive time waste and hassle to have to enter every article title perfectly to search for it. This is also helpful when you have multiple names for the same topic. Okay great now we all know what a redirect is.

Timeline: on 23 July 2023, someone made a redirect for the Hazbin Hotel pilot.

Then on 6 November 2024, as if I didn’t have enough problems, someone turns that redirection page into a standalone article and adds a massive increase in characters to go with it. This page is user Hazbin girl. Remember this one.

And we all sort of putter around improving that until 6 January 2024, when someone redirects the page, which is currently using the title Pilot (Hazbin Hotel) to That’s Entertainment (Hazbin Hotel).

They also do a kind of sloppy job (see the tag about having not left a redirect). People add meme categories to it a few times, they get removed, and the activity goes back and forth until one of the admins gets fed up and reverts it back to a redirect to Hazbin Hotel on 13 January 2025. And I see the logic behind this - there is very little that is stated in the episode article that isn’t already stated in the show’s article. Between production, development, the actual episode summary, and the references, having an article for every single episode would be a massive reduplication of efforts. Wikipedia is also not a fandom site - what’s notable to fans of the show is not notable per our general notability guidelines. Some episodes get that but at this point, I don’t think the pilot of HH cuts the mustard. So the redirect from 13 January stands.

Then on the same day, someone reverts the redirect to restore the standalone article. That person is Debopamsikder. Also remember this name.

It’s fine to have a difference of opinion as to what should be on Wikipedia. We can work that out with community census-building which is a beautiful thing.

Here’s what’s not fine: sockpuppetry.

Shortly after the redirect is undone, both Debopamsikder, whose account had been created on 13 January 2025, and our old friend Hazbin girl get suspected of being sock puppets and get blocked. More specifically, they are suspected of being sockpuppets for a user who was blocked back in 2017 for, get this, creating multiple accounts to argue for articles about their favourite franchises. You can check out the original sockpuppetry investigation here

Conclusion: I’m not sure if this is the same person behind TotalTruthTeller24, although that would be wild, but I think it’s extremely poor form to ask me to wade into something like this and haha yeah man can you just fix it there’s no larger issue happening ahhahaha nooooooo don’t use critical thinking skills ur so sexy, someone keeps blanking the page that’s it I prommy. That’s simply not true, and now I have spent over 40 minutes digging into this because you want more fandom cruft for your favourite show to repeat information that’s already present or would get immediately removed for being non-notable to anyone but a hardcore fan. No thank you. Go write something on the fandom wiki and be done with it.