General chit chat

Hello @Mazarita, I hope your thoroughly enjoying your visitors as you don't get the opportunity to do so very often; so I think you should grab those horns and ride them all the way 😄

I do get very discouraged by the everyday, accepted methods of the Human Race. With baiting and trapping it is quiet well known that it is not just dogs that are affected. But that's the way it is.

I think my mind may be starting to release a little of the fear, at first I had made the instant decision that walks had to stop. That I would encase my dogs in my bubble of safety and never take them off my property again. But that is not fair to them . . . or to me; which is probably why I felt so angry. My World is small enough already.

My young dog is one of the renowned 'Pit Bull' breeds, he needs exercise or he may develop bad behaviours . . . as any dog may do so. I can think of nowhere, where I can let him run free; you should see him run Mazy - it's like he turns the dirt into water and it splashes wherever his feet touch, it's like watching freedom itself 🙂 and his muscle ripple as he bounds, the picture of youth and health!

But I have changed my decision, I must do what I can for him. I have long known that Freedom is a myth. Teaching him that will be one of his hardest lessons. I will have to bridle him, the only thing I can think of is to start some 'lead work'. The walks will have to be longer, he will have to lose some of his youth and gain the maturity of being restrained.

But I will not give up, I will keep trying, for continuing to strive is the only real freedom we have.

Hi @Former-Member, 4.30am here and I'm awake again for a while after four hours sleep, as is my current pattern.

Your latest post makes me appreciate, once again, your courage in facing up to big fears. Good on you for turning around and being able to confront them just one day after they became intense on your previous forest walk. Your description of your young dog's speed and youthful physicality is wonderful. You are right that we are all on 'leads' to some extent in our life.

I have always been a very anxious person deep inside in so many ways. Especially as I've got older, my world has indeed become 'smaller' due to it. My own 'bubble of safety' is where I live a fair bit. At times when I was younger I too was able to muster strength (mostly in bravado) to dive into things despite big fear. But I found that I was 'burning up inside' with anxiety a lot of the time, was very stressed in my body, and had acute physical health problems arising from it. It also destabilised my moods a lot. So I have needed to somehow take better care of myself. My 'stepping back from fear' response is not ideal but it keeps me feeling a lot saner and physically less troubled than I used to be. But I do admire courage in the face of fear in others.

The words at the end of your post seem like a very 'quotable quote':

"continuing to strive is the only freedom we have."

Love your posts, Niqueeta!

Good Morning @Mazarita, it's 7.30 here and I'm awake, a bit earlier than usual, but then I went to bed a little earlier than ususal. I think that might be something that happens naturally to me in Winter. I've woken to my inverter screaming it's high pitched annoying alarm for no power 😞 I've been pretty slack, I used to actually turn the inverter off every night, . .. I'd better get back into that habit + I'd better check the fluid level in the batteries! I bought the batteries brand new late last year and they're not cheap items, I started off being very good with them, but haven't been maintaining them at all for quiet some months. Winter time I tend to 'run out' of power due to less hours and strength of the Sun. Nights become somewhat unbearable without power, for without it I can neither watch DVD's or talk to my friends here!

We are all brave, everyone on the Forum and everyone not. We all face fears, big ones and little ones, there's no avoiding it 🙂 I can amaze myself what I will do for others, my Child, my dogs and when I had them my Family and Friends. Just as you are doing right now for your Mum and your friend . . . and what everyone on this Forum does for everyone on this Forum 🙂 I guess with my young fella my biggest fear is that he would in some way live up to his breeds reputation. I looked after a lot of them when I worked at the RSPCA many years ago, they were all from the pits and stayed with us while their owners went through court cases. They would come to us in terrible condition, the wounds and infections were really quite horrific. We would tend to those wounds, feed them and nuture them knowing they would never be returned or rehomed, that it was merely a matter of time before they would enevitably be euthanised. They were all beautiful souls, not an aggressive one amongst them; you couldn't have them anywhere near another animal, and we had these charming wooden wedges called 'jaw breakers' which was the only way to unattach them if they did 'lock on' to anything. But I noticed certain traits amongst them, that may not be so well known about the breed. Loyalty, Love, Courage, Determination, so much goodness in them. It was not the individual dogs fault that they had been taught to fight to recieve positivity from their owner. They will do anything for their owners, so I work on that, believing my young fella will do anything for me - that means being gentle, calm (we're still working on that 🙂 ), kind and considerate . . . and he is

I was always referred to as quiet and shy, for like you anxiety was always burning within me. During early school years I was one of a few in a 'special' class within my class; it felt like I was forced to wear a giant Dunce cap in sit in the naughty corner - but I was not naughty, just quiet and confused. I will never forget one time in early schooling, I was not game to raise my hand and lost control of my bladder. I got in so much trouble, made to march into the playground and fetch a pail of sand, then sprinkle it over the wet area, march to the Office and had to wear a bright pair of bloomers for the entire day. I don't have many memories of school, but that one stuck. Throughout my life I've had many, many bladder and kidney infections - I think it was from 'holding on'.

You say I'm brave being able to walk in the Forest and wanting to camp on my own, Thank you 🙂 I admire you bravery being able to have coffee, dinner visits with your friends. One persons strength is anothers weakness - if only we could combine every energy on this Planet, we would have everything 🙂 So let us share each others striving for strengths to help each others weaknesses, for then we can be twice as strong, twice as brave and I think that will lead to twice the happiness 🙂

Great idea F&H, wonder if we can get a moving, flickering one