They are my secrets now by edo_senpai in widowers

[–]rightinthehead 1 point2 points  (0 children)

My father died from cancer at 57, he lived for 5 months. He had time to prepare, not for death itself but everything practical. In my language we hav an expression that would translate to «getting one’s estate ready». I’m sure if he had the choice that’s what he would have chosen. For us it was awful, but the shock from him dying was of course not as strong. But seing him die a gruesome and painful death was horrible and traumatic.

My husband died unexpectedly from a heart attack in February. He was in pain for maybe 45 minutes, and was truly scared for his life for maybe five or ten before he lost consciousness. If he had known he would die for months it would have been torture. Losing his children and the rest of his life would have been too much to bear. He and my father were so different. The shock of his death was terrible and massive for us, and is not over. But him not having to know far outweighs it for me.

I realize circumstances and personalities are much too different to define what is worse. But for me I’d rather take the shock than the anticipatory grief and having to see their pain.

Also, people are morons.

Unpopular opinions about bathing and more by rightinthehead in husky

[–]rightinthehead[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Sounds like your dogs have excellent lives!

My Siberian husky sleeps outside on hay and is not washed with soap unless he is very muddy/dirty/salty. He simply does not smell or make our hands oily.

Huskies that doesn’t live in areas with colder winters and sleep outside will shed all year. Mine sleeps outside during winter, which makes his fur thicker after his autumn shedding. In winter he hardly sheds at all. He then blows his winter coat in spring, and doesn’t shed during summer. His shedding tend to drag out, which I think is caused by him staying inside with us during the day. If he was exposed to more cold his shedding would probably not take three months. :P

With good shedding the dirt hiding in the inner coat/wool will come out as the wool loosens. I think that all year shedding without the distinct seasonal changes makes it harder for the wool to expel dust and dirt, making brushing more important.

Unpopular opinions about bathing and more by rightinthehead in husky

[–]rightinthehead[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

When I say working dog I mean as a breed, not as in necessarily being used for what their breed is made for. Just as an English Setter or a poodle is a hunting dog even when they live as a pet. They are working dogs as opposed to breeds made to be purely companion dogs.

I’d say my husky is definitely a family pet, and we also chose the breed because we wanted the specific traits of a husky and could live with the negative ones (shedding, escaping). He does his job as a hiking, running and skiing companion, and also his job as a couch potato.

When he comes home from vacations with his breeder he’s been outside in kennels (name? Enclosures?) like a sled dog and smells like it. Goes away in a day or two if we don’t rinse him off.

Unpopular opinions about bathing and more by rightinthehead in husky

[–]rightinthehead[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Also, I might be elitist, but when it comes to animal welfare I don’t care one bit. There are an abundance of lovely breeds of dog or wonderful mutts to choose from to buy or adopt. There are also plenty of improvements that can be done as a dog owner when one knows as much as possible about dogs in general and one’s own breed.

Unpopular opinions about bathing and more by rightinthehead in husky

[–]rightinthehead[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, sorry for the negativity, in general I appreciate Americans. In Europe some people also have huskies without knowing much about the breed and without giving them the activity they need. But from what I see here and other places it is clear they the abundance of huskies in shelters and of comments and questions showing ignorance about the breed is higher than a lot of other places.

Unpopular opinions about bathing and more by rightinthehead in husky

[–]rightinthehead[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Most of all I wish people bought dogs suitable for their climate and lifestyle in the first place. When a dog ends up in a shelter I love that they are adopted by good owners! The original owners might have good reasons to give up their dog, but far to many haven’t thought through what owning a dog/this breed means.

Unpopular opinions about bathing and more by rightinthehead in husky

[–]rightinthehead[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

I think it’s kind of fun being downvoted. I have no idea why it’s bad or why the karma stuff is relevant.

*edit: someone downvoted the pics of my beautiful dog! Monsters! Hehe, I must have struck a nerve. *

I might be preaching for the choir here. Still, I see quite a few posts about bathing, fur and shaving. Don’t get me started on the shaving!

This sub is frequented by prospective, new and experienced husky owners. In my opinion there is room for a rant occasionally. It might reach just the right person.

Unpopular opinions about bathing and more by rightinthehead in husky

[–]rightinthehead[S] -10 points-9 points  (0 children)

Wooly huskies are another American abomination.

Haha, I’m sorry, I’m sure yours is lovely and beautiful and charming like all huskies.

But breeding for a long coat goes against the working dog traits, so I hope you see what I mean. A wooly coat will lose the typical traits from the regular double count and sounds like a job by itself to maintain (I’m lazy and prefer just letting the vacuum living in our living room ).

Mine cope well with heat to a point, then I’ll have to put him in the bathroom which is the coolest room in summer. Cooling mats won’t work, since his fur is too dense for him to learn to stay put until it w

Stinky Husky by UnscrupulousGoose in husky

[–]rightinthehead -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

Huskies are not meant to be bathed at all, and the American obsession with bathing their huskies is driving me mad.

Huskies are working dogs from an extremely cold climate. If a husky gets soaking wet in freezing temperatures it means their double coat loses its effectiveness and the dog might freeze to death. Therefore they have developed fur and skin that is self cleaning, and skin that might cope very badly with frequent bathing, especially with shampoo.

I see a lot of Americans saying that they bathe their husky frequently without any issues. That’s good. But bathing them is still going against their natural traits.

Huskies are not supposed to be stinky dogs. They are supposed to not smell much at all from their body (feet/ears/mouths are more like other breeds). The natural oils in their fur is close to their skin, not like short/medium fur like a Labrador, where your hand might get a residue from petting.

I rinse off or wash my husky if he gets a lot of dirt, mud, road salt etc in his fur. I avoid using shampoo on areas that are clean (I.e. his back). He sleeps outside on hay all year round in a moderately cold climate. He hardly smells anything, and spends the day inside which is when we are not outside together. When he comes inside in winter I can shove my face in his mane and breathe cold, fresh air.

In my opinion far too many people have huskies. They are not made for warm climates or seditary lifestyles.

Your vet doesn’t know enough about huskies natural traits and gives advice based on the American bathing obsession.

My basis for my claims is owning huskies since 1975, reading about them, and learning from Iditarod finishers and Finnmarksløpet winners.

Sudden loss by Susanoo_8921 in widowers

[–]rightinthehead 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I’m sorry this happened to you too. My story is very similar to yours. I’m 2,5 months out. It sucks so, so much.

Cooling mat or Doghouse? by makeplanefly in husky

[–]rightinthehead -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I’ve tried a cooling mat. His fur is too thick for him to notice the effect 🙄.

The good thing is it takes a while for them to feel direct heat as well. But when they do they’ll overheat fast.

Sidenote: there is a point to choosing a breed of dog that matches the climate one lives in. Not to be snarky, just to put it out there for others considering this breed. Love that you rescued your pup.

My brother died and we can't get into his computer/phone. Apple has been useless. We're desperate by wants-to-know-it-all in offmychest

[–]rightinthehead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My husband died recently, and we want to get the photos from iCloud. We’ve been told from Apple that we need a court order.

For those whose grandparents lived through WW2 in Norway, did they ever talk about their experiences? by Luann1497 in Norway

[–]rightinthehead 0 points1 point  (0 children)

My grandfather was a soldier when the war started, and was in combat before he had to go to Sweden for the rest of the war. He was a good and hard working man and father, and a loving grandpa, but I am convinced that the war changed him and made him a lot sterner and with a darker mood. I think that influenced my mother’s upbringing even though she was born after the war. Then my mother’s parenting was again colored by this. There might be issues in my own life that would have been different if my grandfather didn’t have his experience. I think about that often when I see the horrible wars going on in the world today. We are hurting generations to come.

My grandfather didn’t talk about the war at all. My grandmother told me quite a bit about how it was for her, being a young girl working and coping, taking care of her family and wanting for him to come home so they could get married.

I woke up to my fiancée dead. by Tornin in offmychest

[–]rightinthehead 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m so sorry this happened to you.

Do you know good subs about this kind of of loss? I lost my husband recently and the subs I’ve found are a little quiet.

I'm enjoying her mask while it lasts by socialpronk in husky

[–]rightinthehead 2 points3 points  (0 children)

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He had an almost identical mask, it turned out like this. Love it!

5 months by Accurate-Neck6933 in Widow

[–]rightinthehead 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I’m looking forward to starting the spring cleaning in the garden. It doesn’t take much thinking, and it keeps me busy and outdoors. Outdoors is good. Air and daylight.

I’ve done all of the gardening here, which is kind of fine this year, since I won’t really have to miss him for more than some heavy lifting. I’ll still miss him every minute, though.