Kinda Freaking Out Over What’s Going To Happen Later Today Rn At 5 O’clock In The Morning Bc I Can’t

Rough day.

Service dogs and other disability assistance animals are a funny concept to me. Like of course disability itself isn't funny but the idea that sometimes people will have a highly trained live-in 24/7 professional medical assistant who also happens to be a beagle.

I don’t think I’ve talked much about having a service dog on here, but maybe I should

Boom used to be my service dog, I got him the summer before my last year of high school bcuz I needed a nurse 24/7 to ensure I could eat/sleep/stay alive due to a recent very traumatizing event in my life and my mom came up with the service dog idea.

Getting him was hard. And expensive. No trainers were up to my standards. I, who could barely take care of myself, had to train my own dog. The problem is no matter how hard I worked, my own family or other trainers would ruin it all by messing up my commands, by letting my dog do things I had trained him not to do. It wasn’t training anymore, I ended up simply having breakdowns because everyone kept ruining my dog. People close to me thought they could be an exception to the rules I had taught my MEDICAL AID because surely my DOG would learn the difference between them and strangers.

Eventually I brought him to school. Printed papers explaining what a service dog was and how to behave around him and I plastered them all over the place.

People barked at him, petted him, tried to grab his attention.

His harness was hot pink, patches and signs on it that very clearly said “DO NOT TOUCH” and shit like that.

Someone defaced one of the papers.

Going to school was already hard, I could barely leave the house, my mom had to accompany me to the school doors every morning and then a social worker at school would greet me there and take care of me throughout the day.

I had my own locker at a floor mostly unoccupied so I wouldn’t see other people much and my dog wouldn’t be too distracted.

But it was still to much and I ended up dropping out four months before graduation.

I couldn’t leave the house. I had Boom but he wasn’t perfect yet. People kept ruining him.

But eventually I managed to leave the house. Go to a shopping mall from time to time with him to just walk and have fun.

Too many times people came up to me to tell me the gear I used was hurting my dog. Too many times people came up to me to tell me that their own dog died. Too many people came up to him and pet him without even acknowledging my presence. Too many people telling me they wished they could bring their pets anywhere. Too many people disrespecting me and my service dog.

I stopped going out. I stopped being with my dog.

All this stress and trauma drove a wedge between my dog and I. I consider him my mother’s dog now.

I had to learn to handle myself alone when I went out. It took me years to learn to go out by myself. Only last year I started doing that.

My dog doesn’t live in my room with me anymore.

Having a service dog did still save my life. But those around me ruined that. They made it about themselves. They prioritized my dog over me. My dog that LOVES working. If you tell him “do you want to go to work” chances are he’ll get so excited he will attempt to do a backflip.

We used to have a deep bond. That bond is now broken. People took that from us.

So I guess what I’m trying to say is:

Let people and their service dogs alone.

You are not an exception.

You are not special.

You are disrupting the dog’s training and distracting it.

You are endangering a human life because you can’t resist petting the cute dog.

This isn’t about you. This is about a disabled person trying to simply live their lives.

You don’t know what you’re talking about, your advice is unsolicited and lacks understanding of what the life of a working dog is.

Just leave us alone.

My favorite interactions as a service dog handler is when you come across another legit team in a store and both teams are immediately aware of each other but the behavior doesn’t change. Naturally you give each other space but not in a way that inconveniences either of you. Handlers and dogs just going about their business undisturbed.

It’s such a nice change from avoiding unpredictable pets and over enthusiastic people. It’s a glimpse of what it’s like to be fully integrated into a society while also having your disability accommodated.

A pair of coyotes at the zoo throwing an absolute temper tantrum at the animals in the next enclosure being fed before them.

I just got described as an "ad hating commie" by someone because I said a minute of youtube ads is unpleasant. fully spent 5 minutes arguing and defending youtube ads. insane stuff

Riot is home safe after surgery!

So with Joann going under and as a Fashion/Costume Designer and a cosplayer I need a place to get fabric and notions, and I know many others feel lost as well

So I made a short simple list of online fabric stores as well as notions .

Please share with anyone you would like. If you have recommendations of things to add please let me know.

Google Docs

Fabric sources

There's only a few right now of ones I know and have used

I may add a few niche ones like Silk Baron but I am mainly adding ones with many options and maybe add a niche section later

More places with trims would be nice, or even patterns, historical, cosplay, or everyday.

All That Remains. Wild Dogs pulling the guts out of a freshly killed waterbuck. [<— Previous]

Cape Wild Dog | Paul Wild

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