#animal abuse cw ?????

[thehmn]

My post about not hitting children got some responses from people who said “I agree and also some young children who get hit by their parents have no respect for adults who doesn’t hit them and become unruly”

As it turns out, the same goes for animals.

I adopted this girl, Ellie, a year ago. Her previous owners were devastated that they had to give her up but their situation was less than ideal and they lived in their landlord’s house and he was apparently very rough with Ellie and blamed her for everything his own dogs did.

When Ellie first moved in she responded strongly to us talking sternly to her. Even saying her name in a deep voice made her tug her tail between her legs and hide. But eventually she realized we were never going to hurt her no matter how sternly we talked and now, a year later, we have a very sweet but cheeky dog who loves us very much but has zero respect. She will jump on tables and when we shout “Ellie! No!” she just looks at us like “What?”

Positive reinforcement works pretty well but her early experiences with “discipline” means she clearly doesn’t understand when we are displeased with her. So thanks previous assholes in her life for making this unnecessarily difficult. You’re lucky she’s such a sweet dog who doesn’t let life get her down.

[theslowesthnery]

I find one who hurt you. I kill. I good kitty.

origin of dex-starr of the red lantern corps, powered by and channelling the emotion of rage

[saint-nevermore]

im going to hunt the extotic pet instagram influencer community for sport

[ageofdragon]

Mabari in Thedas

Something interesting showed up on my dash about the appearance of mabari. Mabari are short furred, strong built, intelligent dogs held in a very high regard in Fereldan. They are considered to be a mutt breed between a mastiff and a wolf, however they do look much more like pitbulls.

The thing that came up was that mabari's ears and tails, mabari do in fact have cropped ears and docked tails. The discussion was as to why? Cropping and docking are today often cosmetic and extremely unnecessary. Both procedures are often considered animal abuse, as it causes problems and pain to the dog who cannot consent to cosmetic changes. (In other words, please do not crop or dock your dog unless absolutely necessary to the dog's health.)

So why are mabaris' ears cropped and their tail docked? The reason is most likely because mabari are working and fighting class dogs. Cropping and docking has been done throughout history to preserve a dog's health in hazardous conditions.

Mabari are often used as hunting dogs, many dogs were cropped and docked to assure that their longer ears and tails did not get caught or torn when running through brush. Also so when facing another animal in a fight their ears or tail was not severely injured in the resulting scuffle.

Mabari are also warhounds, which again they would have been cropped or docked to make sure their enemies could not pull or attack the dog's longer features.

Mabari were also used as guard dogs or by Theodsian guards as trackers, in which their ears would have been cropped to stop the dog's ears from catching or being stepped on as they kept close to the ground. Much like pointers and hunting hounds.

Lastly, like Hawke's dog, many mabari would have been working on farms and ranches. Needing cropped ears and a docked tail so that they would not catch on farm equipment and when they chased off predators or pests from the farm.

It would make sense that many, if not all, mabari pups would receive cropping and docking at a young age by breeders to make them more sell-able to the working class. It would also be why few prize/pretty mabari would exist (with full tails and full ears), since really only Fereldan nobles keep mabari as a pet breed and many of them no doubt also use the dogs for work and military.

However cropping and docking have become obsolete and unnecessary nowadays with the introduction of animal health fields and casual/home lifestyles for pet dogs. Cosmetic docking and cropping is very much animal abuse though it is not considered illegal in some places (and is actually considered illegal in some countries), but there is a reason it shows up in the Dragon Age verse rather than just giving the mabari a certain, distinct look inspired by modern day cosmetic pet surgery.

[beck-a-leck]

I was showing my brother Kitbull and Moxie started watching it too 😍😭

[kaijutegu]

hi! i hate this! this woman’s clearly trying to adopt animals for social media fame! and she can’t even get her insta handle correct in her ad! she has a patreon AND a gofundme! her snake cages are g a r b a g e! she keeps at least two rabbits in this thing!

she for some reason thought it was a good idea to get red-bellied piranhas, even though they are extremely delicate fish that don’t thrive in pet homes! she thinks this is a big, luxurious cage for a boa!

i hate this SO MUCH! 

[local-hellhound-steals-spaghetti]

Sh*t has hit the fan in equestrian sport and I genuinely wonder if this is the beginning of the end of it's social license to operate.

I used to respect Charlotte Dujardin as "one of the kinder riders out there". Sadly it seems like this was all just marketing. She just happened to have a horse like Valegro that tolerated her harsh handling (she described him as "hard mouthed" which is a pretty good indication that he had poor training to start with).

But she was the golden girl of dressage and the UK's darling of the sport. Now the curtain is peeled back to reveal casual whipping of a horse's legs over 24 times, commenting how the whip "doesn't whip hard enough."

Methodical and not at all seeming angry or disregulated while the 15 year old on the panicked horse's back cries out. This is not a one off. It's a technique. I've seen it before. Instuctors that chase after "lazy" horses in riding schools with a whip so that the horse "doesn't get away with it."

What about horses getting chased around a round yard with a whip until rearing in panic and lathered up in sweat? I've seen that too, during an equine science program where we were supposed to be learning how to break in weanlings.

It just happens to be a Olympic gold medalist doing it and getting caught.

In the article it says "you can't force a 400-500kg animal to do something." You absolutely can and horses are regularly forced into things they don't want to do. They're flighty prey animals. They say "no" pretty clearly in competition rings but then the whip comes out, the spurs go on and the horse shuts down. Despite the blue tongues from lack of oxygen, mouths strapped shut with tight nosebands, bits that they can't escape from, froth and blood in their mouths, they continue. Because they have no choice.

When your training principle relies on negative reinforcement and positive punishment, escalation like this inevitably occurs. When your training principle is based in domiance, on "not letting them get away with it" and on "making them do it", this is where it goes. The horse's autonomy and feelings diminished into "naughty" or "just trying to be lazy" ... not fear or pain or just a simple struggle to do something they're not physically able to do.

And it becomes normalised, laughed off and accepted, especially when a gold medalist Olympian does it.

The only reason this is a scandal is because an elite rider got caught doing it. But this is not a one off or a "bad apple" this is what the entire traditional horse training model is based on.

The FEI is making a big show of this because they want to look tough on horse welfare so the Olympics doesn't throw out Equestrian sport. But just wait until the dressage kicks off. We will see the same tense, stressed out horses, toe flicking and hollow with hop-step piaffes that are an insult to the Classic masters of old.

The sport of dressage will crash and burn if it continues on its current trajectory. Equestrian sport will follow as a whole when the public realises these are not animals "enjoying their jobs". Unless the FEI allows for a huge paradigm shift where people can compete tackless and use positive reinforcement (actual +R and not the pathetic pat on the neck they pass off as +R), the sport will fall to ruin and the elites will have only themselves to blame.

[ladyloveandjustice]

I, too, like to indulge in the “person is shit except for that one person who they’d do anything for” fantasy because it can make for a fun dynamic in fiction, but the fact is, it’s not real. Melissa is absolutely correct here in saying that in reality, people who treat others like shit don’t have magical exceptions, and are very likely to treat their loved ones badly too. It’s especially true that guys who harass women at the drop of their hat won’t be suddenly cool with their girlfriend at home. ‘I can fix him’ is a mental indulgence, not an actual undertaking anyone should attempt.

I also like that Melissa is keeping Yuri’s feelings at the forefront- she’s not projecting her own disgust onto Yuri, she’s specifically says she will be there to help her when she can see Yuri is not having a good time. Unlike the rest of them, she knows she needs to put Yuri’s feelings first. That’s the kind of lady knight power fantasy I can get behind.

[justslowdown]

If I have to silently listen to another one of my coworkers say something like "I don't want to say they're AFRAID of me but my dogs KNOW I'm the boss, they'd never pull this shit with me" while handling a clearly terrified dog who doesn't know what's happening I'm going to murder

Did not know how lucky I was at my last job. Boss sucked but was kind to dogs at least, coworkers were nice, one was a +R trainer

We had time to go slow with dogs and a lot of owners brought in treats or Kongs since they were also training clients. A couple verified dog-friendly dogs daily could roam the grooming room while we worked

Here it's

I'm being paid (besides a dozen other complaints I have) to witness actual abuse and people talking about abusing dogs

Feeling justified because they're biting or squirming due to fear. No groomer can go back in time and make a pet owner condition a puppy to grooming and nails, but we also need to understand they're TERRIFIED, not misbehaving assholes. I AM GOING TO MURDER

Fucking. Manager saying the "I don't want to say they're AFRAID of me" thing slapped a sweet sweet, actually super well behaved, doodle we have for boarding in the face because she got excited and nipped her trying to play. This is an angel of a dog. She cowered and was subdued for the rest of the time I was walking her

I don't want to know what this woman does when no one's looking with the less socialized/trained/naturally cooperative dogs

These ladies all brag about how their dogs would never ever growl at or bite them and I'm like. Mine wouldn't either and have not

I have 5 and have had like 10 over the years. I give them clear expectations and boundaries without fucking hitting them oh my god it is not FAIR OR OK to skip teaching your dogs by showing them what IS desired and by understanding where they're coming from mentally

We had a Sibe in last month they were so sketched out by and thought he was gonna bite because he was aware. He looked and saw and wanted to know what we were doing. 0 aggressive or even fear reactive body language, they just prefer shut down scared dogs

I showed him and went slow enough for him to be comfortable and he was an angel. So glad he didn't need a cut so I was the only one handling him

I hate

I hate!!!!!!!! I need to call around to other places around here ffs

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for making my ex taking medication as a bargain chip for us to get back together?

This happened a while ago but I saw some posts about the right of someone to go unmedicated and now I feel bad and wonder if I was shitty 💊🧘‍♀️ mentions of death, pet endangering, pet death, untreated mental illness and if you call them a narcissist I will steal your left socks. Also not disclosing their diagnosis because you guys can't be normal about mentally ill people.

So me and J (about 25, I was 22 at the time. Name changed for privacy. Both of us is NB) had a extremely quick developing relationship where in 5 months we went from dating to living together. Don't judge me okay I was 20 when we met and I needed a place that wasn't my parents house. Sorry, this will need some context. J convinced me to drop college due to mental health and to move out of my roomies house for privacy reasons.

So three days before my 21th birthday, J lost her brother due to an accident, and we moved together anyway. One month after her brother passed her cat also passed away. That made the grief way worse and about 10 months into the relationship she tried to choke my cat because she peed in the wrong place. I told her I was going to leave her and in result she slitted open her arm with a box cutter.

Later she admitted to be hurting our two cats when I wasn't home by choking and almost drowning them.

By december of the same year I came out as aromantic and she was extremely shitty towards me from deceiving her because she thought I actually loved her but that was all a ruse. So we broke up for real this time but kept living together because well, it was unfortunately what we had and we couldn't move to our separate paths due to our income. That was january with until march/april more or less when she noticed i was pulling guys like no one and hooking up constantly (that was self harm but that doesn't justify it. In my defense I told her just because she would ask me repeatedly if I was hooking up with guys and always wanted to know where I was going). I also went back to college and started hanging out with other people that seemed to actually like me!

Keep in mind all this time she was unmedicated and when I tried to bring up she need therapy and medications she would shut me down, even before the break-up.

And then, by may she was crawling at my feet because she wanted me back. And I cared a lot about her. So I put in my conditions that unless she was medicated and on therapy by the end of july, I would never consider going back to her. And would you look at that, it actually worked because before june ended she was both medicated and on therapy and I said well you did your part, and went back to her, with her now.

Btw for all that matters I am 25 and broke up with her again from almost 2 years now but last time I talked, she was still on therapy and medicating herself, making a bitter remark on how "that's the only way people can stand her, that no one can stand her true self"

So, AITA for making my ex take care of her mental health before I considered going back to her?

What are these acronyms?

[angrywocunited]

the girl with dreads smoking weed around her cat lives in bremerton washington if anyone wants to report her for animal abuse

[kaijutegu]

I hate that Kickstarter only lets backers comment because I don’t want to give these people any money. I don’t want to give credence in the form of backer numbers to this idea. There’s one comment on there that talks about how unsafe this is- to recap, this is a Mason jar for a plant/betta combo that they tell you to put in direct sunlight (but it’s ok, they have an included shade so you can avoid algae, don’t worry about the fish)! You don’t need a filter, but a water change every month will be fine- why, you can go as little as two weeks between changes. You do need to feed the little guy a pellet from time to time, and he can sleep in the feeding tube!- and their response is that they have had success with healthy fish from their tests. They’ve already gotten more than twelve thousand dollars for these jars...

[monty-green]

Countdown to Season 3

[3 Days Left] Ko No Mono

[genderoutlaws]

just had a fucking. bizarro nightmare experience. saw my older sister for the first time in a long while and it was going really nice and then she started talking about her cat and like. she always wants me to take it but i can't with my apartment situation and i assumed she would have given it to a shelter or smth by now but. she very casually and happily in our conversation said she hates the cat and won't pet it and that she has phsyically beat it and now it's peeing everywhere and it's like yeah thats what fucking abused animals do

i just left a message at a local rescue explaining that the cat i want to drop off isn't even in my care right now and like the whole situation and how i think i can just lie to my sister and say i'll take the cat and just. bring it directly to the rescue. if i didnt live in an apartment with 2 cats where im not allowed to have another i would just keep her in a heartbeat. no animal deserves that but shes the sweetest little thing ive ever met with the smallest little meow. she's also enormous so the peeing issue literally came from her litterbox being too small. its just crazy i feel sick to my stomach over it

and my sister when i grew up she was this radical vegan/vegetarian very animal rights focused feminist and it's just. bizarre. she has a poster above her dining table that says stop animal testing. and with a smile on her face told me about smacking her cat

[cypric-rat-hyperfixation]

Friend of a friend is trying to become a breeder. I'm worried about it though because I suspect that he has the kind of cage they sell for rats at a PetCo and nothing more

[horsefigureoftheday]

There's no non-awkward non-buzzkill way to say this, but am I the only one bothered by some of the dancing horse animations from SSO? I don't play it, so I don't know the context, but some of them are just way too similar to abusive horse dancing. (And I know horse dancing is a long-standing tradition in the Americas, but some traditions are just not worth keeping around in their current form).

I doubt the SSO devs are even aware of traditional horse dancing, it's probably just the easiest way to animate a horse, but I just get such a bad taste in my mouth whenever this gif crosses my dash because I can't stop thinking about the irl abuse :(

These horses are trained with pain and force. They are whipped and beaten with sticks. No horse naturally moves so erratically.

I know a lot of horse people have strong opinions of Raleigh Link's channel, but she made an accessible break-down of horse dancing with lots of examples of how to spot it: