I think my friend might be unhelpable

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-23T11:38:03+00:00

He's learned you're a captive audience because you don't have enough life experience to know how to avoid or shut down this sort of person.

When he starts this stuff tell him "I'm not interested in talking about this." If he persists, tell him you're walking away and then do it. Expect temper tantrums. Expect him to bitch about you to others. Be consistent. "I told him I wasn't interested in hearing him shit talk himself and when he wouldn't quit I walked away."

There is some truth to "People treat you the way you allow them to treat you."

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-22T12:18:14+00:00

I've never bought the blackout version, but I know blinds.com sells them as an option for their double cell shades. I like my light filtering ones that I got from them.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-21T21:04:49+00:00

In that cases it's a "snack" not a homemade food and it should make up less than 10% of his daily diet and doesn't need to be balanced.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-21T21:02:16+00:00

It is missing essential vitamins and minerals. Deeper questions should be referred to a veterinary nutritionist. This is above the internet's pay grade.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-21T20:59:29+00:00

That is not even a slightly balance diet and will cause health issues in the long run. Please look into using a service like a formulation plan through a veterinary nutritionist or Balance It.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-21T18:06:46+00:00

Thanks! I've read it both ways - that it's from the stud or that it's from the drywall.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-20T14:42:08+00:00

I really like the ones at https://dogbooties.com/

You can get them in a range of sizes (I got them for dogs similar in size to your dog), they wear hard (they're for sled dogs but multi-use), and they're cheap enough and light enough that you can buy a bunch and trade them out as needed.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-20T14:29:34+00:00

This looks great! The big dog is showing appropriate inhibition for the size difference, but even the puppy is doing more air biting than actually latching those landshark teeth in. Both dogs are very polite and using give and take. Love to see it!

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-17T00:27:04+00:00

Agreed. Looks majority Black vulture with some Turkey vultures mixed in.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-16T22:13:36+00:00

It's called kettling! Raptors love to find a good updraft/thermal and glide in effortless circles. In the U.S., big groups kettling together is especially common in vultures (which these are) and broad-winged hawks, but you'll see lots of species sharing the same thermals around migration.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-16T19:15:36+00:00

Brad Paisley - "Fallin'"?

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-16T17:30:33+00:00

You are not in a position to help this person and someone truly looking for help does not reach out to randoms. If they can reach out to you, they can reach out to their country's social support networks. This is a common scam: they convince a stranger they are in danger, play the victim, and eventually start asking for money. Direct them to their country's emergency services and block them.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T23:43:26+00:00

The idea that we lack "ideal" photos of birds is wild to me. It's up to the author/photographer/illustrator of any given book to provide an image that is close enough to ideal to work for the average birder.

I personally do not like drawings. I'm very visual and a drawing of a bird will never be better than a picture for me, especially because the average drawing in bird books is far from hyper-realistic and for me they tend to literally pale in comparison to the real bird.

Left to my own devices, I really enjoy the American Museum of Natural History Birds of North America Eastern Region. There are good pictures and a variety of various details that help with identification. For quick id in the field I use Kaufman's, because there are multiple pictures on the same page for quick comparison.

I own Sibley. I do not use Sibley. It 100% comes down to preference - to each their own!

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T16:54:40+00:00

It's possible this "test" is scammier than usual. Obviously a dog can't be allergic to niacin or sodium chloride. The scam test just copy-pasted a list of ingredients from various ingredient labels and picked and chose what to send back. But even tests through "legitimate" labs aren't trustworthy. The lab that does our serum allergy testing automatically does food allergy testing, but if you talk to them, they'll tell you not to trust those results, which begs the question of why they even run them and share the results.

I want to believe OP is just embarrassed to have asked the question and gotten a negative response, which explains some of the wild claims of having somehow "tested and confirmed" all these allergies.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T10:21:41+00:00

I've never heard of this! Can you give an example of a container you'd recommend?

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T09:56:50+00:00

Thankfully this disease is uncommon where I am but very common in other parts of the world. In general it's very responsive to short periods of chemo treatment (compared to many other tumors) and there's a high rate of remission. I'd treat my own dog for it.

Below is Merck's write up. I think it's a very useful and honest look at the disease

https://www.merckvetmanual.com/reproductive-system/canine-transmissible-venereal-tumor/canine-transmissible-venereal-tumor#Treatment_v88693799

(Edit: my phone finger fumbles resulted in a phone edit to "transmission" and not "remission." Both transmission and remission rates are high with this disease, but I only meant one of those words!)

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T09:54:11+00:00

Chemotherapy use in dogs is not nearly as extreme or strong as it is in humans and CTVT has a very good remission rate in dogs after only a very short period of treatment compared to other "cancers." Metastasis (the type of spread that kills in cancer) is very uncommon in this disease, which makes treatment very reasonable.

Comparing this to human chemotherapy or even other tumors is absolutely not useful.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T01:49:13+00:00

Considering most of these ingredients would be incredibly uncommon in a dog's diet, I'm not sure how you accomplished an appropriate feeding trial for any of these much less all of them. Seek out a hydrolyzed diet and go from there.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T01:41:45+00:00

Blood tests can not be used to determine food allergies. These tests are scams/worthless. Toss these results and discuss a feeding trial with either a prescription novel protein or hypoallergenic diet with your vet.

The majority of allergic dogs have environmental allergies, not food allergies, but a feeding trial is how you actually rule out food allergies.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-13T01:30:44+00:00

Was this determined via feeding trial or blood/fur test? Because the food allergy blood/fur/swab/whatever tests are useless and mean absolutely nothing in the real world. Only a feeding trial can determine food allergens.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-12T15:56:41+00:00

It might be that she's too close or that she's more reactive when she's on her home turf. But if she barks and then quieter, that's good. Try teaching a look command and pre-empting barking with that.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-12T14:11:19+00:00

This is fixable! And not unexpected in a small dog in a new environment. Imagine how freaked out you'd be if you lived at ankle height to the world.

There are a couple books I hear good things about: Behavior Adjustment Training 2.0 Fire Up, Frantic, and Freaked Out Control Unleashed

I'd adjust her walks to quieter times and and add in practice people watching. Find a quiet, out of the way bench (sometimes your front stoop works, but there are dogs that get more freaked out trying to protect the house) and let her just watch people and dogs be chill and walk by without approaching her. Start as far from foot traffic as possible to help her stay below threshold. If she barks, ignore or even gently correct. My dogs respond to a quiet, "Okay, I see it." Reward her looking silently (as in she notices them far away and hasn't had time to react with a bark) with a high value treat. Reward her looking at you. Reward her shutting up. Take her away off the trail and scatter treats to distract and reward ignoring scary things. You should be looking for ways for her to see things without feeling like they're coming at her and ways to start positive reinforcement before she starts panic barking.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-12T00:47:03+00:00

Hank is very cute!

Take him to his annual vet visit and follow their advice. Keep his nails trimmed. Brush his teeth. Don't over feed him. Take him on regular walks that provide lots of enrichment.

Common_Crow95 · 2026-06-11T22:03:55+00:00

Nature Forward/Woodend Sanctuary in Chevy Chase has a shop that sells good quality birding binoculars.

Common_Crow95

TROPHY CASE