Chasing Daithi

Alex | she/her | I guess I’m doing this again? Daithi | Born 10/14/2015 | Border Collie | Male

[chasingdaithi-blog]

Back to Dogblr after a decade, I suppose?

It’s just that all other socials are toxic af, but I really truly miss seeing what other people are doing with their dogs, and I miss feeling “like a dog person.” So here we are.

Daithi’s 10 now, and I’m 30, which means he’s been my foundation for a third of my life. After a ton of instability, we’re kind of back to the beginning - spending more time together than apart, training in classes where we’re guided less by knowing what we’re doing and more by just wanting to do it together. I feel really lucky for our bond - tried and tested over a decade of life shifting underneath us.

Recently the old boy had a night where something was wrong, but no matter how hard we tried: we just couldn’t understand what it was. So I did the most millennial BS possible and finally ordered the fluentpet buttons. I’ve been reading and researching them for about a year, and that night just pushed me over the edge. With our background in cognition and psychology - I’m hoping the buttons will be somewhat intuitive, as they follow along the same concepts we’ve worked on the past. But should they not be Daithi’s thing - I feel pretty confidently that will be on me as the trainer and not a full dismissal of the idea of AAC for all dogs. SO we will be working on that.

When I was 14 and just starting to get into the research on dog cognition and training - the approach in my head that made sense was to use my mom’s dog (Silas, 9 at the time) to just *learn.* He would be my guinea pig, and I would be better for the *next* dog. In some ways this makes sense - as we shift into senior years Daithi is constantly giving me even more than I can give him. He’s building a legacy. His inheritance to me will be a wealth of experience and knowledge fostered by his support, patience, and love. But as with Silas, Daithi’s senior years and the training and work we have continued to do together have thus far been a sweet and gentle development of an even deeper bond. And so we are here, building our legacy, and also wanting the journey to never ever end.

[king-the-pathetic]

Straight up wriggling

[dozydawn]

nimble, a border collie-papillon mix, wins the 12” class in the 2024 masters agility championship. the first time a mixed breed has won at westminster ever.

[ch40s0w1]

context explaining why the announcer is screaming, this is supposed to take a high level competitive agility dog 40 seconds

[sandersstudies]

This video makes me cry every time it’s on my dash and I can’t even iterate why.

Like the dog doesn’t even know it’s a competition and she’s made history. She(?) just is happy and knows she made her owner happy too.

[solely-ashes]

The face of a being with only a wind storm between their ears, moments before unleashing it unto the world

[severeprincesheep]

always a pleasure to see this girl on my dashboard

[sugar-pink-poison]

I LOVE YOU NIMBLE

EVERYONE CONGRATULATE NIMBLE

[leyfin]

sobbing and crying at the woman who stole a meth addicted kitten from her dealer and then she and the kitten got clean together

[leyfin]

thats love baby!!

[styro-sometimes]

TUMBLR STORY TIME.

I volunteer for my local shelter and when the weather's good, we do a free vaccine clinic every Friday. Free distemper, free rabies, cats and dogs. We hand out free food from the pet pantry, we give people leashes and collars, we do whatever we can to keep people's animals at home and healthy. Every animal that can stay home and be fed and be vaccinated is an animal that we can keep out of the shelter.

We get all kinds of folks, sometimes we even get backyard breeders but we don't do any judgment, because we want people to come and get their dogs vaccinated, because one parvo case costs $7000+ and the whole year of Parvo vaccines for hundreds of dogs costs less. It's just harm reduction, everything we do is harm reduction.

So anyway, this one day this woman comes up to the vax clinic and she is high as fuckin' hell, just obliterated fucked up, smoking a joint in line, and she has this TINY pibble puppy with her, maaaaybe four weeks old. This thing is so fuckin tiny and wormy and lethargic, and she's like, "Hey I heard I can get her shots." and we're like, oh fuck this puppy is gonna die. Like straight up, we were all like, fuck that dog is gonna die. So we gave her wormer, we gave the first distemper shot, and I put together a whole care package: wormer to take home, puppy milk replacer, puppy wet food, a leash, a harness, some blankets, toys, we gave her instructions on how to get the puppy eating food, and we told her to come back in 3 weeks for the follow up vaccine. And we were all like, well fuck, that puppy's gonna die, goddamnit, that's so fucked up. But you know, we did our best, and we hoped we'd see her again.

And in three weeks, you guys, she showed up. And she was still high, but like, half-high this time. Smoking a cigartte in line but like, could focus, could ask and answer questions. And she'd taught that tiny puppy how to SIT and had her walking on a leash. We found out that it took her three buses to get to the clinic, and she told us all about how she got the puppy eating right, got her stool solid, she was taking her on walks... The puppy looked so good, you guys. I almost cried, it was so big. Really happy puppy. At the end of the visit, we were like, ok, see you in three more weeks for the next distemper.

So three weeks later, she shows up, and she's sober, and she told us, "You know, I was really fucked up the day I bought that puppy, I wasn't sure I was going to live, and I bought that puppy and she was too young, and I didn't know what I was doing but y'all were so nice to me, and you helped me so much, and I knew that I had to give this puppy the best life I could, so I moved back in with my grandma, and I'm getting clean, and I'm on methadone, and I'm going to rehab next week, and when I get back, I'll come back and visit you guys again."

So I just wanna say. Sometimes it's hard to find a reason to get clean for yourself. Sometimes you gotta do it for a little critter that depends on you.

[lastoneout]

[akdogdriver]

Happy dogs

Iditarod - Ceremonial Start in Anchorage 3/7/26

[fairycosmos]

for about a month in the early 2010s people used to say things like climate change is real and gay people deserve rights. does anyone remember this

[seagulley]

i see the hoopers people are back at it again with their jedi mind tricks

[appenzellerlouis]

[blignick]

[seagulley]

"there is a very high level of terrier here"

[blueboyluca]

I really admire this handler's approach. Their dog is clearly new to Crufts, overwhelmed by the environment, and very nervous. When the dog did not want to do the weaves, he took the elimination and kept running, which then built the dog's confidence. Then towards the end he also just kept running when the dog missed another jump, and played with the dog at the end as a reward. Definitely a better approach for a nervous dog, who now has had a mostly positive experience rather than an experience where environmental pressure is compounded by handler pressure.

[fjordfolk]

the problem with the algorithm vs interest based flow of the internet these days is how it has affected the rumour mill. can't get any good gossip these days. had this been 2016 we ALL wouldve known why the gsd failed the health check

[fjordfolk]

and by right about now, people would've realized that the gsd judge placed the left dog BOS and the right dog 2nd to last in a minor class, and we'd have a whole new exposé brewing

they're robbing us of so much content

[grison-in-space]

Aren't longhaired GSDs supposed to be a fault, or have I forgotten my GSD lore? Either way, holy roachy hell, Batman!

[fjordfolk]

Both varieties allowed in FCI(/germany/i assume the uk) but! not interbred apparently.

[capesandshapes]

As a former librarian I'm actually required to remind you that many libraries that subscribe to Libby are opted into a program that lets you subscribe and access magazines for free with no wait

And that this is actually a really fun, low cost way to not only access news and larger cultural magazines, but also to get free patterns for many different crafts that you can screenshot if need be and that lower the financial barriers to entry for trying new things

From my experience working in both academic and public libraries, many libraries are use it or lose it funding-- I have to say this because a lot of patrons feel guilty for how much they use the library and how often they're using it funny enough, but the worst thing you can do for libraries is not try out new features and not use what's already given to you as much as possible.

The numbers that come as a result of your patronage are how most libraries justify their continued existence in times of financial hardship, which sucks but, go check out some magazines on Libby!

[heatherwitch]

My resolution last year was to do one thing before bed that would make my morning feel easier, and that’s become a daily habit that I’m carrying into this new year.

Some nights even filling up the kettle and setting an empty mug out for my morning tea felt hard. But I was always thankful for it in the morning.

Other nights, one thing would lead to another, and I’d wake up in a clean house with everything ready to go.

And, on a rare few nights, the one thing that I could do to make my morning easier was going straight to bed and allowing myself to rest.

What stayed the same each day is that I would take a moment to think of what I could do for my future self and do it, even after a hard day. And I would wake up knowing that I had done my best and any effort—no matter how small—was a kindness to myself.

[one-bite-is-undercover]

I’ve been doing a lot of “a treat for future me” moments lately.

[heatherwitch]

That’s a great way to look at it, and I love this artist! (Anna-Laura: instagram / website)

[seagulley]

I've been experimenting a little bit with leaving a snuffle mat out while working with the dogs, and I find it fascinating to compare how Kaija and Irbe differ in their response to it.

Kaija will first fully clear the snuffle mat before coming to me and beginning work, but after that she won't think about the mat again unless I put more food there for her. Meanwhile Irbe will briefly check out the mat and eat a few pieces of food but then leave the rest to come train. However if at any point she becomes confused or overwhelmed with what I'm asking from her then she'll leave work and go back to the snuffle mat.

This very clearly lets me see how Irbe is feeling throughout the training session, and I think the difference in the dogs' responses is interesting in general. Though I'm not really too sure how smart it is to be doing this and whether it would build good or bad habits long-term.

*The food in the snuffle mat is the same as what I'm rewarding with (kibble).

[fiollaigean]

how to cover letter:

polite greeting (it's me, boy)

introduction (i'm the ps5)

establish credentials (speaking to you inside your brain)

establish purpose (leave the girl, we don't need her)

describe what you can bring to the organization (cowboy times in space)

[fjordfolk]

soon......