#can i pet that dog???

[biggest-gaudiest-patronuses]

getting older can be so amazing? you get more familiar with yourself. learn tips & tricks for troubleshooting your own brain. trial & error helps you build routines that minimize discomfort, maximize reward. your preferences/interests don't get set in stone, but you do find out which ones are going to stay with you in the long-term, and which ones are fun but transient joys to appreciate in the moment.

you learn that the world is so much more complex than you were taught, and that that's okay, and that there's an endless supply of things you can learn or watch or experience or think about if you want to. if you're lucky, you loosen up, stop putting so much pressure on yourself. if you're lucky, you learn to recognize that negative inner voice, and whack it with a baseball bat until it hushes up. if you're lucky, you learn to treat yourself gently, not because you are fragile but because you are worthy of gentleness. (i hope you are lucky.)

and some things will change. some things will get better. some things will get good. and maybe you start to recover from the dehumanizing stress of childhood/education. maybe you learn the power of your own autonomy. maybe you learn how to walk away from bad situations (which is a superpower even if you don't realize it yet). and you get to choose your own clothes. and your own food. and which relationships to pursue! and what you do with your free time. and with your life (but don't worry you get to choose that gradually). and that's crazy! and sometimes scary. and extraordinarily, indescribably precious.

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Learning anything about marine mammal training will make you re-evaluate so much of your relationship with your own pets. There is so much force involved in the way we handle domestic animals. Most of it isn’t even intentional, it just stems from impatience. I’m guilty of it myself!

But with the exception of certain veterinary settings where the animal’s health is the immediate priority, why is it so important to us that animals do exactly what we want exactly when we want it? Why do we have to invent all these tools and contraptions to force them to behave?

When a whale swam away from a session, that was that. The trainer just waited for them to decide to come back. If they flat out refused to participate in behaviors, they still got their allotment of fish. Nothing bad happened. Not even when 20-30 people were assembled for a procedure, and the whale chose not to enter the medical pool. No big deal. Their choice and comfort were prioritized over human convenience.

It’s almost shocking to return to domestic animal medicine afterwards and watch owners use shock collars and chokers and whips to control their animals. It’s no wonder that positive reinforcement was pioneered by marine mammal trainers. When you literally can’t force an animal to do what you want, it changes your entire perspective.

I want to see that mindset extended to our domestic animals.

[puppyeared]

the pullerrrrr

[toss-a-coin-to-your-stan-account]

doing great chat

[brainrotcharacters]

Mothers and fuckers of the ketchup and mustard household (I'm going even more insane than usual)

[ihatebrainstorm]

Batch 2 of commissions finished! They were all really fun to do :D Thank you again to those who comm'd me! o)-(

(Technically there were 3, but the third isn't a mech thingy so I'd rather just post the mech ones here)

[makaira-art]

The funniest what-if: Sokka finds The Jasmine Dragon one day and is like “I don’t trust prince angstbender one bit, I’d better keep an eye on him,” and visits every day until he realizes Zuko just wants to do his little job and keep his uncle happy so it slowly just turns into Sokka annoying “Lee from the tea shop” because he knows Zuko can’t do shit about it

[hellenhighwater]

look guys I'm gonna be honest--i love dogs but the tactile experience of petting a cat is better 99% of the time. Cat fur is so much softer and less greasy and just generally better than most dog fur. IDK if there's some ideal chinchilla dog out there that I have yet to lay hands on but man, dog fur textures are whack. Cats, at least when they're healthy, are so reliably smooth and silky.

[wioryz]

dog web graphics

requests are open!

[rhysintherain]

Can you imagine being the first group of humans who hadn't domesticated dogs to meet a group of humans who had?

Like, you're walking along and see another group of humans. And you're just about to call out to them when you realise they're being followed by a pack of wolves. Before you can get close enough to warn them, you notice that they're not being followed by the wolves, they're walking WITH wolves. On purpose.

One of the humans is carrying a wolf pup. Another has their hand on the head of a full-grown apex predator. One of the children is having a tug-of-war with a juvenile wolf over a scrap of rawhide. They all seem perfectly relaxed about it.

Did they give these people the benefit of the doubt, in spite of their dangerous company? Or did they hightail it in the other direction, telling the next group they met how they saw a human tribe that was also a wolf pack?

[ohpsshaw]

I've been veeerrrry slowly carving my way through BG3. But I think I keep getting captivated by the wrong scenes? Like when you had to dig up a dog's grave for a free steak.

My durge is a civilized nutbar tief-rogue named Typhus (because I forgot that’s just a disease and not something you name an English bulldog), and he’s only holding himself back from slaughtering innocents because of the Dark Urge to resolve friendly NPC storylines. He’s also a desperate slut who wants to get you out of those clothes so he can see your sexy, sexy character development. Whatever you’re into, c’mon. Yes, he’ll even let you put that in there.

[butchriptide]

I've seen people make human AUs and equate Winter's scavenger fascination with being like. a crazy cat person. and while that is really good and I do think Winter would and should be crazy about cats, I do think like... if you are going to give him an equivalent interest you gotta go nicher than that. Like, being a Cat PersonTM is a thing like half the population identifies at. You GOTTA go stranger. He needs to be regularly attending reptile conventions. He needs to daydream about owning a praying mantis. He needs to yell at underpayed PetSmart workers about how small the fish tanks are that they keep the bettas in. He needs to be offered the chance to hold a snake and he needs to talk to that snake like he's greeting the queen. He needs to show you photos of tarantulas please please please look at his pictures please of his tarantulas

[folklorespring]

Corgi named Elton is part of the "Antares" search and rescue team in Ukraine. He amongst other dogs helps finding people under the rubble. You can support this volunteer organisation, PayPal: K9.poisk@gmail.com

[sobbdeep]

BE THE PERSON YOUR DOG THINKS YOU ARE 🐾

[qwertyprophecy]

A pure exploration game set in a strange, quiet world. Download for free on itch.io!

I made this game back in 2017 but it appears I never posted the trailer here. A great opportunity to suggest anyone who hasn't played it give it a try!

Recommended for travellers passing by, curious historians, and those who find comfort in the slightly unsettling.