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C/P from a group regarding inclusivity in the dog world, an interesting discussion I had to comment on:

I am a black balanced- LIMA- trainer. I have stated, in the past, that being militant regarding +R training is a problem rooted in racism as well as furthering problems that disproportionately affect disadvantaged groups. For some examples:

Cost. Already stated higher in the thread, but dog training costs money and so does higher education. I have a dog that needs to be trained. Which will I do: buy a choke chain for $10 at my local Walmart, or sign up for dog training classes at PetSmart for over $100? A clicker might only cost $1 but no one knows how to use them.

Time. Balanced/heavy handed board-and-trains might be several thousands of dollars, but people really like the idea of their dog being perfectly behaved in two weeks. Petco’s training classes are structured for it to take AT LEAST eighteen weeks for you to get to CGC, despite being 10% of many board and train facilities’ cost. If my dog is screaming in its crate while I’m out and I’m in a rental, I cannot wait however many weeks it will take for +R to get that behavior to stop.

Perception. I am a black person with a doberman. I am viewed as dangerous with my well behaved, quiet dog at a strict heel. Now try that same picture with my dog pulling, lunging, barking, acting a complete fool. Knowing that most dog owners do not know how to train the dogs they have, and knowing that most PoC are well aware of how a badly behaved dog makes them look to other people, can you really be surprised that someone wants results as cheaply and quickly as possible?

Complications. So you have a young GSD who’s a bit of a punk with other dogs and you need to contact someone to fix the problem. Well, PetSmart and PetCo both say that they can’t take a dog with aggression issues, so your cheaper options are out. Now what do you do? You want your chihuahua to be nicer to strangers that come into your home, but the local trainer says they don’t have the insurance to handle bite risks. Now what? While us in the industry know how to locate someone who IS capable of handling these more complicated problems when the easy options are out, most people don’t even realize that other options exist.

Ignorance. This is both regarding the owner AND the trainers giving advice. In an area with incredibly strict BSL laws, I had a client once with a pit bull who I can only describe as happy-aggressive. He was so happy to see people that he would lose control and start landing several level 3-4 bites if he could reach them. The owner had asked her family for advice and they told her to get an E-collar. She went to PetCo for an E-collar and was told by the trainer there that E-collars are exactly the same as using a taser, and thus she should buy dog training, except her dog was aggressive so she couldn’t buy dog training there. Would you believe this woman, ignorant and feeling out of options, started using her taser on her dog? To this day I’m impressed she didn’t kill him doing that before someone gave her my number. The kicker is that this woman didn’t even seek out this dog, her kids brought him home and she felt too bad for him to give him to a rescue because the laws in the area called for him to be euthanized. The family was black, in a mostly-black area, and the trainer who gave her such shockingly disingenuous advice was white.

Available dogs. It’s something I’ve spoken about before, but if you KNOW you are dealing with a population that is frequently forced into poverty, why are we surprised that most are not getting pedigreed purebred dogs with nice genetic temperament? They rescue, but with the rising rescue costs of 400-600$ in some areas, many just get the free dog from a friend’s litter or pay a hundred or so for a dog they saw on craigslist or whatever. Then we consider the breeds of these dogs- majority of the “pet overpopulation” is going to be chihuahua types and pit bull types, both of which can be weird with dogs and humans if genetic temperament and socialization is poor, and we put them into the hands of someone who doesn’t actually know what they’re doing. Here in New England a lot of dogs are imported from the South or even from other countries, and they’re sick or shy or aggressive and are going home before any of these problems are even remotely close to being fixed. Now I have clients who are spending all of their money making sure their dogs are healthy and are at their wits’ end because this dog they love so much is attacking their neighbor’s kids.

Speaking as someone who doesn’t use +P on my dogs outside of an NRM until they’re over a year old, and only if that’s required (outside of emergencies), yes, it’s true, the majority of pet dogs are perfectly trainable with +R ideals IF they are mentally stable IF they are in capable hands IF there are no additional complications IF the person is willing to invest the time and money into these things. But many times people seek out dog training AFTER the dog has an ingrained bad habit, and the person needs that habit to stop NOW.

[foxflightly]

angy meme but tangy

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*How I feel lately

Tiny unit

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“The Singing Hills”

My coffee table book is now available for purchase in hardcover, dust-jacket, and soft cover formats. It features 40 pages of selected works of photography from each month of 2019, listed by month and featuring each piece’s accompanying snippet of poetry beneath the large photos.

You can pick up a copy here directly through blurb.

[foxflightly]

Actual Breeder Search Advice (Honestly)

Every single dog breeder on God’s Green Earth will tell you that they breed for mental and physical soundness. Each and every one. All of them. That doesn’t make it true.

Don’t buy from anyone you wouldn’t return it to.

Withholding information? Dodging questions? Get iffy when you ask for documentation rather than just taking their word for it? Hmm. I wonder why.

Don’t make decisions you can’t justify to yourself.

Common sense gets you far.

If your gut says leave it, then leave it. There will be another dog.

[foxflightly]

queer girl starter pack

[foxflightly]

Speaking on that. 

So I saw a post recently that was like “How to convert the gendered form of witchcraft to a non-gendered form” which essentially was -take the uterus out of the chalice & make it about “passivity” because that’s the gendered concepts that Gardner used-.

And that left a bad taste in my mouth. For my secular witchcraft practice, I was offended by the gender stereotypes & binary gender in the witchcraft I was seeing / reading about. Partially because I have the wibblies myself, partially because I came from a place where gendered norms were strictly adhered to and violently held if necessary. I’m tired of that bullshit.

So what I did when I rebuilt my practice was…

remove the concept of gender entirely from my witchcraft practice.

I don’t mean I “selected & replaced” I mean I removed the concept. There’s no concept that tools are, because of their form or function, anything more than what they are. Tupperware holding my water doesn’t “signify” anything because it’s job is just the hold the water present. 

So things like “balancing the circle”, is not a concept I have.

I don’t have a ditheistic hetero deity pair that I have to please in my spellwork to get it to work.

I don’t have the concept of a gender on the witch practicing the witchcraft, it’s just not relevant and non-existent. You are a witch, you’re not a gender that is then practicing as a witch.

I don’t have specific roles in any of my rituals to play, and even though I’m by myself, I’m not doing ANY roles in my witchcraft. Like I’m not play acting or doing ritual stand ins. 

So when people argue that witchcraft is gender specific, this concept doesn’t fucking exist for my practice. Gender literally is not relevant. Anyone could practice my form of witchcraft if I chose to teach them and bring them into the practice, without needing to have specific gendered titles (Priest/ess, because I’m not in a priesthood), without needing to wear or stand in as particular gendered gods, without needing to purchase specific marked tools, without needing to walk through a Holiday set meant to reinforce gender rules. It’s gone. All of it.

When I’m doing my witchcraft, I’m not thinking about “okay what gender am I, what activities can I do as this gender, etc.” I’m not out here putting yonic imagery in my witchcraft either. I’m not utilizing period blood for spellwork. I’m not out here worshipping my “body to create life” either. Like this stuff here, is just seriously NOT relevant to my practice. Not in it, not important, not remotely there.

Like you can do this. You can build an entire practice without needing to “replace” the gendered stuff with yet another symbolic reference to the gendered stuff. You don’t need to lean in on the secondary layer of binary gendered crap (passive / aggressive). You can just remove it. You don’t need to operate in a box. Build a practice without it. Don’t even lean on that stuff as a template. Say no. 

[foxflightly]

One of The Planets Are In Retrograde... Now What? ⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is a bit of info about what all might go wrong when a certain planet is in retrograde and hopefully how to avoid everything going to hell. Good luck my dears!

Mercury~

The trouble maker everyone hears about and dreads, Mercury rules communication so expect a lot of extra drama in your life for a bit. Technology and messaging will probably also be more of a hassle.

What to do or don’t ~

•Double and then triple check that important work email or text.

•Be careful what you say to others and listen well when people are talking to avoid misunderstandings

• Back up all your devices if you can, you’ll be happy you did later!

Venus~

Just like the beautiful Goddess herself, Venus rules love and beauty. Except so romance blues for the time being. You might also notice you feel more self-conscious during this time.

What to do or don’t ~

• Don’t touch your hair!! I see you with that hair dye! Also no bangs... just don’t

• Avoid making changes to your Physical appearance

• be careful with any love decisions at this time.

• Don’t text back that jerk ex, they’re an ex for a reason!

Jupiter~

Jupiter rules your money and financial stuff so you might notice that $20 in your wallet trying to get you to spend it. Don’t! Transportation will be a struggle. You might also find yourself having trouble in school or your business.

What to do or don’t~

• get you car check if your car check out just to be safe and make sure you’ve got a spare

• don’t overspend! Be extra frugal if you can.

•prep for some public transport troubles

• pick up that school book and reread those notes, Study! Study! Study!

Saturn~

I see Saturn as a strict parent that’s always trying to push you to do your best, Saturn is all about responsibility ,Discipline, and boundaries. you’ll probably notice you understand things better during this time. It’s a great time to work on you and plan some goals for the future.

What to do or don’t~

• work on yourself at this time

• be understanding with yourself and and past failures

• let go of that baggage you’ve been holding onto

• get out of your comfort zone a bit

Neptune~

Neptune is all about magic and fantasy. Illusion and dreams. You may find yourself seeing the the truth and uncovering hidden things. A good time for understanding your dreams!

What to do or don’t~

•do some self discovery about what you really want

•use your intuition, you might learn something you didn’t know before.

•look towards the truth

Uranus~

Uranus rules change and liberation. A great time to do some protesting about what you feel is right. Expect a little shove in the right direction.

What to do or don’t~

• look for areas where change is needed in your life

• overcome your fears or try and face them head on, you’ve got this!!

Pluto~

Pluto rules the dark and the shadows. Pluto also rules the underworld. This is a great time to focus on your darker self and understand it better.

What to do or don’t~

• embrace the shadows use them to empower yourself.

• work on self care for the things that cause you darkness

• rewinding, reflecting, reviewing, reevaluating

You’ve got this I believe in you all and send many positive vibes! Love ty self and love ty earth 🌍

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️





[foxflightly]

When will banksy

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im reading about cowboy phrases and sayings and like 95% of them are just solid life advice

[foxflightly]

real tired of hearing the vegan vs. omnivore arguments when the real superior diet in terms of both cruelty and ecosystem is locally sourced

beef and pork from a farm 10 minutes away from you is more ethical and less detrimental to the environment than quinoa grown in ecuador. the future is food forests. the green revolution is food forests. if we manage to survive this apocalyptic hellscape all of your food, plant and animal, is going to come from within half an hour of where you live. plant a vegetable garden in the meantime

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If I am to be an Orphan by choice then I will be Queen of my own Kingdom.

[foxflightly]

The "crystals have no historical or traditional meaning" argument is kind of irritating when actually a lot of crystals have been revered by ancient cultures. It's also important to consider that sometimes when you make that argument, you aren't just erasing European thought, but usually ancient closed or indigenous cultures.

Here's a rundown on crystals in ancient cultures.

Lapis Lazuli was used in Islamic Orient to protect from the evil eye, in Persia as a symbol of a starry night, in Europe to banish spirits of darkness, and in Buddhism to represent freedom.

Rose Quartz was considered magical and powerful by Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and even used in that same fashion in the Middle Ages.

Amethyst was used by Ancient Greeks and Romans, Catholic Bishops also wore it to stop mystical intoxication.

Tanzanite is considered by the local Maasai people to be a spiritual stone and to aid in compassion.

Sunstone has been discovered in Viking burial mounds and the native people of Oregon used it for trade.

Turquoise represented the heavens in Ancient Persia and it was sacred to the Aztecs. It also has a long history within the Navajo nation and their jewellery.

Just because a crystal isn't your culture and belief system doesn't mean it isn't someone else's, or that it isn't an object which can make someone else feel closer to their ancient roots or religion. Just say you don't use crystals.

[foxflightly]

My sociology professor had a really good metaphor for privilege today. She didn’t talk about race or gender or orientation or class, she talked about being left-handed.

A left-handed person walks into most classrooms and immediately is made aware of their left-handedness - they have to sit in a left-handed seat, which restricts their choices of where to sit. If there are not enough left-handed seats, they will have to sit in a right-handed seat and be continuously aware of their left-handedness. (There are other examples like left-handed scissors or baseball mitts as well.)

Meanwhile, right-handed people have much more choice about where to sit, and almost never have to think about their right-handedness.

Does this mean right-handed people are bad? No.

Does it mean that we should replace all right-handed desks with left-handed desks? No.

But could we maybe use different desk styles that can accommodate everyone and makes it so nobody has limited options or constant awareness that they are different? Yes.

Now think of this as a metaphor. For social class. For race. For ethnicity. For gender. For orientation. For anything else that sets us apart.

[foxflightly]

I love that the internet saw people comparing women and other alienated groups of people and went, “they’re dating,” and, “they support each other.” We’re improving as a society.

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Lough Key- a lake in Ireland

© malte heitmueller