refugeed-kim - Tumblr blog

[refugeed-kim]

Dogblr, I once again summon thee!

Out of the blue we'll have to relocate in Leipzig, Germany and we need some advice as I know Italian dog culture is quite different to the rest of Europe.

How hard is to find places for rent when you have a dog? Does Leipzig have good dog parks? Is it okay to bring dogs in public places like restaurants and cafés? How is the general culture around dogs?

Also if anyone has any tip about Leipzig per se, it would be amazing and really appreciated! Thanks!

[refugeed-kim]

We finally have the confirmation that Kim is indeed 4 years old and not 7!!! Wo-hooo!!!

[refugeed-kim]

YES YES I NEED THIS SIGN IN EVERY SINGLE PARK PLEASE

This is my daily struggle, I had so many arguments with people with off-leash dogs (in a mandatory leash area!!!). Thanks to this behavior I'm struggling with Kim being anxious/aggressive with other females as she often gets involved in unpleased interactions with free females while on leash. And every single time that I ask for the dog to be at least recalled, I'm being called names and insulted of course.

Also 9 out of 10 their dog isn't really that friendly at all.

[refugeed-kim]

Treat face

[refugeed-kim]

My dog is the bestest dog in the world the most quiet lovingly cute relaxed dog lady

My dog: growls angrily because I said "marrrrrrmalade" too loud

[refugeed-kim]

Two hot takes:

I think a lot of positive reinforcement communities are way too engaged in trying to defeat punishment based training. I get why, but I think it's the wrong approach. I recently joined a very large R+ Facebook group and the majority of posts are about punishment. I think the focus instead should be on reinforcement! Explain it, demonstrate it, prove it! I don't know why you would spend time talking about punishment methods when instead you could show the huge success of reinforcement methods. The diminishment of punishment methods will be a natural consequence.

I think the argument used against animal rights proponents that "dogs love doing X" is absolutely pointless and I don't know why it keeps getting trotted out here basically every week. Animal rights proponents do not care if the dog "loves" doing the sport in question, the issue they have is that animals are used by humans at all. They believe it is unethical to selectively breed animals, so claiming the dog "loves" to do the activity they are selectively bred for is not the winning argument you think it is. Perhaps it may convince some middle of the road people to agree with animal sports, but in my view it's a waste of time to follow that road. Instead we should be focused on communicating the mutual relationships humans have with animals – have always had – and how it's important to maintain good ethics in animal welfare and sustainability. Parroting that the animals we breed for specific purposes "love" their purpose is just stupid and anyone with basic critical thinking skills will see through it.

[refugeed-kim]

Kim's first bath!!! I'm so proud of her, she started off as hating water with her core, to throwing herself into the stream face-first.

Dried salmon is an excellent incentive to try new experiences :D

[refugeed-kim]

@pocketdogs thank you a lot for the explanation! I came to the conclusion that Kim could be a bit intimidating due to her size and that people probably preferred to avoid interactions with an owner that is speaking another language (which is sensible considering most of our connationals don't understand a single word nor in English nor in Slovenian). During the second part of our vacation we were in a less tourist-y area and most of the owners were more chill about interactions off leash or on the longline.

Still very interesting to come in touch with a different sensibility to dogs compared to the Italian's.

Also we learned that there McDonalds don't accept dogs inside and we were baffled!

Dogblr, I've got a genuine question for thee:

We're travelling in Slovenia for our belated holidays and since we arrived, despite crossing a lot of dogs and owners... not a single one let theirs socialise with Kim.

I'm trying to understand if it's something cultural, as in Italy the custom is to let your dog greet other dogs you might cross in your walk (that unless your dog requires space or you want to avoid an interaction with a specific dog of course).

While here in Slovenia people even changed sidewalk in order to avoid us, despite both dogs being pretty eager to socialise and not showing any red flag for aggression.

So, is it normal here to just avoid socialisation between dogs? Or one just avoids the dog they don't know?

[refugeed-kim]

Dogblr, I've got a genuine question for thee:

We're travelling in Slovenia for our belated holidays and since we arrived, despite crossing a lot of dogs and owners... not a single one let theirs socialise with Kim.

I'm trying to understand if it's something cultural, as in Italy the custom is to let your dog greet other dogs you might cross in your walk (that unless your dog requires space or you want to avoid an interaction with a specific dog of course).

While here in Slovenia people even changed sidewalk in order to avoid us, despite both dogs being pretty eager to socialise and not showing any red flag for aggression.

So, is it normal here to just avoid socialisation between dogs? Or one just avoids the dog they don't know?

[refugeed-kim]

The urge to say "hiiii" in a high pitched voice when a dog sniffs you

[refugeed-kim]

Snow!!!

She's so beautiful I can't 😭🧡

[refugeed-kim]

*Kim being petted by a toddler*: this is fine, I don't enjoy it but the human is tiny and is not bothering me

*Kim being petted by an adult male*: I am going to rip your limb off. I am enduring this just because my owners are watching. Just wait. When you less expect it I'll be there. Sleep with an eye open, bitch.

[refugeed-kim]

It happened the same thing to us despite Kim not being small (she's 18kg), the peak was when a guy refused to call back theirs because he was "flirting" (aka barking endlessly because he was left to himself) with mine. This kind of people use their dogs to push their misogyny onto AFAB individuals. I was called hysterical, overprotective (Kim BITES) and bossy just because I expect people to have done the bare minimum training to their dog and don't want dangerous interactions in our lives. Dogs are just another tool that this kind of person uses to extert power over others that are perceived as "weaker", and it's so infuriating that they bring their animals into this shit.

Thanks to this kind of bs, now my standard response to "My dog is friendly!" is "Well, mine isn't!". Suddenly everyone started calling back their dog when I say it.

Related to what I just reblogged, I have to share this because I’m still baffled (and angry):

Took Kermit out to do some rabbiting in our usual area, a few hours later than I normally do. At that time of day, I occasionally run into other dogwalkers, which is not normally a problem.

A guy and his girlfriend were biking on the levee above us, and their bully mix started trotting down to where Kermit and I were in the field. I picked Kermit up and called, “Please call your dog!” The guy responded, “She’s friendly!” And I said, “My dog is small, please call your dog!”

There was a pause, then the guy dropped his voice an octave and said, “No. I’m not going to call my dog. You’re an idiot. Put your dog down. My dog is friendly.”

The interaction went downhill from there. We went back and forth a few times, with him continuing to call me stupid and refusing to call his dog, and praising his dog whenever it got closer to me (it was interested in Kermit, not acting aggressive, but was also a 60 pound bully mix so I was not going to let that interaction happen). I finally told him to fuck himself and started walking back to my car.

My car was not close, and the guy screamed at me the entire time. Calling me names, calling me stupid, mocking me for being afraid of his scary attack dog. Commanding me to stop and come back and put my dog down. His dog followed me all the way back to my car; I yelled at it once when it got too close to me. I put Kermit in my car, put my hands on my hips, and stared at the guy until he finally stopped screaming at me, called his dog, and biked off. His girlfriend was dead silent the entire time.

I have had all manner of reactions to me asking someone to call/leash their dog, but this is the first time someone tried to turn it into a power play. I think what made me a target was a) I’m female, b) I didn’t immediately comply to his orders, and c) my dog is small.

In this particular case I don’t think pepper spray or kicking the dog would have been the correct answer. When I disengaged the guy was content to stay on top of the levee and cuss me out from there. If I’d touched his dog, he probably would have come down to engage with me personally. We were remote enough that the only other person present was his girlfriend. The speed that he escalated in response to a reasonable request, and how comfortable he felt ordering me around, really worried me.

This is the worst/most aggressive response I have ever dealt with. And I think it would have gone differently if I’d had Bindi (a large aggressive dog) or been a man. He would have respected me more. Instead he felt the need to put me in my place.

[refugeed-kim]

Yippee!!!

[refugeed-kim]

Beach body

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I'm so tired of other dogs going stalking mode at Kim, and their owner doing absolutely nothing to stop them. They don't even care that my dog is showing clearly hackles! Except when she finally reacts, and barks/growls/fake bites it's our fault and she isn't "well behaved". It's so infuriating and exhausting

[refugeed-kim]

Up in the mountains, away from cities and anxiety