boogetyboo

Our dog is a mixed breed, big old baby at 10 years old. He's always been sweet, pulled his punches playing with tiny dogs, very soft mouth when he uses it etc. if he ever accidentally hurt one of us he'd immediately look concerned, try to lick you better etc.

But he's old now and getting cranky. I've been trying to explain to my partner that getting all up in his grill used to be playful for him, but now you can tell it's kinda pissing him off. He's started to get a bit snappy if he puts his face in his after repeatedly giving signals he doesn't want it.

I said 'don't put him in a position where he hurts you - we'll all be upset but it's going to be your fault'.

When I got a big dog I paid attention to the breeds he came from (not bully breeds but still) and made sure I learnt his visual cues. I've also made sure I've adapted as he's gotten older and his behaviours change.

I say all this because while he is my baby, he's still a large animal with a significant bite force. There's nothing historically about his breeds to worry about, but that doesn't matter. I've put a lot of effort into making sure he's safe, and my vigilance hasn't changed. He's a lovely dog, but he's a dog.

Now add a breed type with built in aggression and lock jaw. I strongly believe that the people who decide to get these dogs don't do any of the above. They're blindly playing with fire and they have no smoke alarms.

I just don't understand. If you bring a living creature into your life, you owe it to them and everyone around to make sure it can interact safely. I've watched people let their dogs almost attack mine because they haven't seen the cues. I've stepped in because I have. Like how the fuck do you not know when your dog is not happy but I can see it a mile away? It's so bloody negligent.

Anyway, big rant. But this dog would've shown signs of being on edge and that would've been bad enough with any dog. But these breeds? Why risk it?

... Do you have footage of this?

I guess it helps you can't see their faces. The hands you can see are special.

I think we're the only middle aged couple with no kids on this street and adjacent ones. Every couple I've seen even remotely near our age when we walk our dog either has children or a pram.

Did try to make friends with some new neighbours a while back that were roughly our age. Very friendly first chat, they were both enthusiastic about greeting us - they approached us first.

The first thing they asked was whether we had children, when we said no they were visibly disappointed and seemed to lack interest in furthering the conversation.

Real estate advertising, surely?

2003 Canberra bushfires. My little city was made to burn.

2019 Black Summer bushfires - see: whole fucking country either on fire or enveloped in smoke. I owned a tonne of masks before Covid hit.

We've been lucky in the last few bushfires seasons since but it won't last.

Your link disproves your own point.

Go get ready for school.

I've never seen it called the best film of all time?

And I'm a woman.. And most women I know really like this film.

I've decided you're 14.

No one wants to fight you on something so silly.

It's a good film by any measure - cinema is either art or entertainment. Sometimes it's both, but it doesn't have to be. If it doesn't match whatever standards you've devised for yourself then...cool.

What is art to one person is not to another. What entertains one person bores another. It's subjective.

If you want to fight people on this point, you're either very young or insufferable to be around.

Driving past a school the other day this is what I saw re the kids waiting for the bus/to be picked up

None of them were talking to each other. Just staring at their phones. Just seemed sad.

Went to the movies the other day. Two women in their 60s were regularly lighting up the row by reading text messages and their message tones kept going off throughout. When the movie ended and me and my friend were discussing what we thought of it, those two just sat silently playing with their phones.

I'm regularly almost side swiped driving by soccer mums my age (late 30s) looking at their phones rather than the road, with a bunch of kids in the back, all on their phones.

They're important devices and critical for the world we live in. But it's not healthy to be indifferent to the world around you while you stare at these rectangles, all the time.

It's not just one generation. The boomers are shocking. But we're letting down alpha.

.. Yes?

I think it's the sexual assaults and domestic violence that people are referencing.