I've been doing mega research about dog breeding and where to source Next Dog. I'm kind of annoyed, because I had sourced a breeder and all looked perfect for scheduling, but now the breeder had decided they no longer wish to breed Biewers and and concentrating on their breed of first love instead. Five months went from "countdown to next 2025 litter after AKC placements!" to website now defunct, facebook updates nil. DISLIKE. Must start research again. 

I want a dog that is portable; hypoallergenic; people focused; smart enough or trainable enough to do agility, scent-work, some type of active human-dog activity of equal interest. I want a healthy dog, or best chances of healthy I can get, knowing just how expensive vet work can get. I expect huge expenses at end of life no matter where I get dog - I just want best chances of solid health for known conditions I can find. B lived for 16 years; hoping to meet or exceed that with next dog(s). 

Unpopular opinion: The majority of registered "Best Practice" dog breeders are not actively useful for people looking for dogs. They are ensconced in their hobby space, and sell the dogs that they don't want to keep as part of their breeding program as cast off consequences. 

There are four solid reasons dog breeders give to buy from them instead of back yard breeders, rescues, or the pound. 

1. "You know what you are getting with a purebred for health/temperament". 

This is rationalized  by "Good" dog breeders demonstrate this by both health testing and winning conformation titles with their breeding pair.
Thus a dog must be trainable, meet breed standards, and have tested DNA to be bred. I like and approve of this.

The  health guarantees mentioned in contract are all suuuper weak though. They are are mealy mouthed as anything, and usually start with offering a replacement dog only if you give back the dog with the health condition. If you have bonded with a dog that has a health condition that was guaranteed against, they should just give you the second dog. What are they going to do with the first dog? Euthanize it? The money or replacement dog is for the heartache your poor breeding program just put the family though, after going through a purebred breeder to avoid it. So many have stupid clauses in them that you must continue to feed your dog some MLM dog food for the guarantee to remain in effect.


2. "Dog breeders breed to better the breed"

OK. Another way of saying this is they breed to choose the best of the litter to continue the line. This means there "pick of of the litter" won't be an open option for anyone who is NOT a breeder. Taking two dogs that meet breed standard will not always produce more dogs that do. You have to deal with recessives and other faults coming out from further back breeding lines. So even having a sire and bitch with clean health testing doesn't necessarily mean your dogs health testing will be solid -- but it's a better chance. I will note that EVERY website lists this as their goal in breeding, most without specifying exactly how they are trying to better the breed. This is one of the questions I ask breeders, and frankly few have any good answer. None have specific goals of breeding on their websites, just "bettering the breed".

3. " Dog breeders don't make money on breeding" 

 This one is PR as far as I can tell, at least after the first litter. Showing their dogs is frankly a hobby. It's a hobby that builds into breeding, but it's a hobby that lets them travel, socialize, and compete. First vaccines and worming for puppies is a couple hundred of the three thousand plus charged; yes, time spent socializing puppies and cleaning is also billable, and the extended time with mom to three months does cost more. Does it cost 30k more? Not unless that's your business, and by definition, you are making money from your business. All of the breeders that I have looked at charge more for dogs with confirmed proper conformation coloring as well. It's not a set price per effort per puppy, nor is it assumed that all the puppies will have the traits bred for and the faulty puppies listed as discount. It's upcharge, upcharge, upcharge. At least until no one buys the puppies after 16 weeks, then it's discount, discount, discount. 

4. You can complete and show with your purebred AKC registered dogs...

Most purebred breeders won't issue you actual papers for your puppies until you spay/neuter and agree not to compete. Many also charge more for non-breed standard smalls rather than charging less and changing their breeding practices to avoid this. Another common practice even in the "AKC or breed recommended" breeders. Except most breeders have contracts saying that you... can't? Because they don't want their kennel to be associated with your showing efforts. It's so weird! If you want to start say, rally, or scent work, you need an AKC registered dog to officially compete in more events. But most breeders have in contract that you won't, unless you pay them additional money? Amounts ranging into ridiculous. So that lowers the requirement to buy from an approved AKC breeder. Go IBC instead and then cross register. Ditto for breeding. All have weird contracts that say they are for the good of the dog, in aggressive fashion. Like... instead of "If you need to rehome your dog, call us instead and we will take the dog back". its... "If you rehome this dog not to us, you must give us $2000 in damages". None of the contracts I've seen are dog focused. 


Sigh. I'm just frustrated. The only approved BC Biewer breeder has just opted out of breeding, so it will either be out of province or an IBC registered breeder instead. It was so perfect! The previous breeder had good lines, good form, and was on the way to my parents house for pick up ease to avoid flying. US breeders of good repute are complicated now by the border rules, and the fast tanking exchange rate. Back to the drawing boards. 

 ( Pet Loss Grief )

This has sparked some interesting conversations about consumption of media. Specifically, the intersection of fast reading and aphantasia. I hadn't really thought about how most people synthesize their experience of narrative in books. I am almost completely aphantasic - I do not see pictures in my head when I talk about things - with extreme effort  I can fleetingly summon a millisecond geometry of outline of say, "apple", but then it slips away. When I think of "apple", I hear, taste, and experience the 'crunch' in my head, with a side dictionary table of types/definitions/connections (green/red/mealy/baking/etc). Versus someone else, perhaps being able to see an apple in two or three D, needing description in the book on which apple they should be picturing.

When one applies this difference to reading, it explains why I can read so much faster than many, without "speed-reading", or skipping reading all but the first sentence of a book. All of the visual character description, so necessary for visual readers to feel like a novel is not self insert, is completely useless to me. Authors spending pages on descriptions of vast landscapes bores. If I read it fast enough that the table definitions of connections associated with the words (mountain scene: general concept: OC, description of internal landscapes, sensations, of thrist/tiredness/heat)  I engage more, but the purely visual descriptions yield simply a blob labelled OC in my head that is much more weighted with their narrative/actions/cultural background than any visual description, and a flash or two of the described scene (characters in hayloft, then gone; focus moves to the connections and interactions between characters instead; described sensation, mismatched expectations, etc. This preference absolutely changes the writing styles that  I like to read.

If I don't read fast enough or with enough focus, the words just don't come together. 

Audio books are a different way of engaging with the story, but don't always work either, as they don't always read out the "she said suspiciously" etc, relying on my interpretation of their version of suspicious tonality. This is a Bad Choice with my interpretation skills. The lack of the written word availability to be chewed on can complicate, and the pacing feels incredibly slow, as I read at a speed of at least 3x audio speed to knit the story together in my mind.

Videos with subtitles are best, as you get both the text and someone doing the hard work of picturing things for you. Perhaps that is why I like the audiovisual studies thing so much.



How does this engagement method work with non-fiction? I have almost no interest in non-fiction when not doing specific research into issues that I am interested in. Non-fiction is approached with several read throughs of each short paragraph, systemically identifying tiers of information importance and then working to memorize what's needed, or find the elusive core concepts of the chapter, followed by immediate application of ideas until I retain. This lack of internal visual systems explains why learning chemistry was so hard for me -- it requires the ability to hold and rotate molecules in your mind to thrive - I needed to use a software application to even approach this skill. 

In retrospect, these last few paragraphs have been a solid example of application of logic and intellect to distance myself from my feelings and how much it sucks to not be able to retreat from them when I am not actively giving space to engage with them at home. It's damned inconvenient to have so many of them that they can't stay in their lane of "home safe ok to process now" space. 

 One of the things that I love is sipping a well made flat white while enjoying an inspired bakery item in a cafe with good vibes. I like observing   people between reading my book chapters, feeling all the other life narratives that are going on around me, the focus and hum of city life.

In Victoria, that cafe was the Loft and Ladder by the RCM. The Loft and Ladder had a lovely selection of food and drink at reasonable prices, and the vibe was very family. Sara and Brett remembered your name, your drink, and invited you into their circle of small rituals. Regulars often volunteered to go grab whipping cream from the store when it was busy, bussed the tables, or entertained their inquisitive coffee shop little; they made space for others to contribute as they willed, or didn't will. I liked it.

In Vancouver, this cafe used to be the Elysian on Broadway. I spent more days than not getting a coffee there during my work breaks, quietly listening to the good willed banter of the barista's. Not only was the coffee good, they had a lending library, a secluded dog friendly garden, table service, and house made food. Unfortunately, the pandemic seems to have cycled through the staff entirely. The prices are way up, the lending library is gone as is the table service, the demeanor and detail mindedness of the staff have dropped, and the vibe no longer suits. That made me sad to learn, so I've been using some of this funemployment time to review other shops.

Kafka's (main and broadway): Closed - Reboot has moved now to Emily Carr district. 

Monks Coffee and Bar (Kits) - closed. Now a brunch place, LoCal. This was a sad, as I had used this as a steady meet up place for folks in decades past. I loved their open mic nights.

Aphrodite's Pies: Switched management/sold to new owner last year. 

Our Town: Closed (and Closed again after second mod reboot)



Mount Pleasant Coffee Shops:

Kranky's Cafe: 

Hours: limited - closes at 5pm.
Selection: limited - good quality coffee/latte basics, but not many custom or signature drinks up my alley. Bakery items all in house. Talked with the owner and custom drinks are more of a Fall thing. They have line ups and summer custom drinks are all cold things.
Price: OK for 2023.
Nice seating area outdoors, limited indoor. Cheerful vibes.

The Paper Crane:

Hours: very limited - closes at 3pm some days.
Selection: limited - OK coffee/latte basics, some house made bakery items.
Nice seating area outdoors, chill vibe.

Starbucks:

Hours: Extensive.
You get what you expect.
Few outdoor tables - frenetic vibe, right next to a busy bus stop on and an intersection set that has almost accidents every few minutes.

Gene:

Hours: Open until 7pm.
Seating: very tight, but lots of outlets inside, and lots of benches without tables outside.
Selection: Limited. Barista's not very familiar with coffee drinks outside of latte and cortado. Expensive.
Vibe: very business.

Bean Around The World

Hours: Open until midnight
Seating: Extensive, good for studying. Limited outdoor (two small tables)
Selection: OK coffee selection, french pastries surprisingly high selection of things to nom on.
Vibe:  quiet feel, semi relational.

Nemesis:

Hours: Limited. 8-4 pm, definitely student centred.
Seating: Extensive, indoors and out. Assigned seating -- the coffee shop seats you after ordering, which is a choice. 
Selection: Nemesis makes good coffee, but I wasn't impressed with the pricing or the vibe. The music is extra loud to discourage people from attempting to study there, and the seating is crowded together, with the pressure to move on quickly post drink from the assigned seating. Vibe: Trying for hip and trendy with their flower shaped coffee hut. Busy. Not appealing. Impersonal.

Cafe Artigiano:

Hours: 6:30 am -6:30 pm
Seating: Extensive
Selection: Standardized, but good service. No problems with table service, warming up pastries, or butter. Well done coffee pour.
Vibe: airy connective. Best vibe so far - the staff like each other and like their job.

Other Mentions:

Craft Coffee in NWest has a good drink menu and a soft social vibe. Love their Mexican Mocha.

Platform 7 in Kitsilano put some work into their deco, also have a good pour system with many options on how to make your coffee. Vibe is mixed.

The best thing I can say about Only Coffee in Kits was that their Spotify list was very well selected for a chill focused vibe, and that their décor was minimalist. Coffee itself was disappointing, way too much milk for a flat white.

Convivial Coffee in Stamps Landing had a delightful selection of home baked goods. Their scones reminded me of Ireland, and the family feel was embued in every choice they had made about seating and decor. Coffee? Eh. So far, the best candidate for tucking in with a book in the Fall though. Family feel, definitely a community hub, hosts small concerts throughout the year. 

Some days I just feel extra autistic.

What do I mean by that? It just feels like I'm some other species, like social assumptions/expectations don't land and I'm furiously taking notes, having feelings about things, and taking more notes.

Thoughts in no particular order, possibly bullshit, but just stream of consciousness about this.

For instance, the expectation that "it takes a village to raise a child" has been a really interesting deep dive this week.
( Read more... )What mostly generates undertones of surprise is just how righteous everyone acts from all these angles. Indignation that they are expected to help/won't help/won't help in the way idealized. Pushing and pulling and attempts at narrating ideal ways of connection and support when rarely the narrator even bothers to see things from the other angles. Exhausting, fascinating, usually with none of the above discussing desires, extrapolations, or really anything with any of the others involved beyond labels of "rudeness/selfishness" all around.

Starting a tag to track my media consumption.

So far in 2023:

Books:

Gideon the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
Harrow the Ninth - Tamsyn Muir
Lost in the Moment and Found - Seanan McGuire
Sweep of the Heart - Ilona Andrews
One Fell Sweep - Ilona Andrews
Sweep of the Blade - Ilona Andrews
Sweep in Peace - Ilona Andrews
Blood Scion - Deborah Falaye
A Christmas Message - Debbie Macomber

Research:

Inventing Eastern Europe - Wolff - Introduction/Chapter 1
Analytical Chemistry - Skoog - Chapter Six


TV:

Criminal Minds - Season 13 - First episode

Other:

Podcast - Han and Matt (polyamorous relationship AskAuntie)