Get Well Soon

While I don’t go looking for trouble on the Internet, I can’t say that I always make smart decisions to avoid it either. Sometimes I have my social justice warrior nails tapping the keyboard quickly, other times I really feel like my 60 cycles around the sun has some relevant information to bestow, and then there’s the random boredom factor where I just miss being a social butterfly and want to interact with other sentient human beings. To that end, I try hard not to burn too many bridges, especially in the local WOM groups when the real possibility exists that you are going to run into one of your neighbors (even as housebound as they come, somehow people still show up at my doorstep for the oddest reasons .. usually misdelivered packages.)

Of course the practice IS Loving Kindness and Compassion but in truth my impetus for not being in it to win it, is more apt to fall into the dsyautonomic train wreck reasoning rather than any noble truths. Point blank, my heart isn’t happy when I’m off-center for any reason. And unless I want to poke the PVC bear, I had best find a way to find Radical Self Soothing.

Which brings me to the happy huge Schnauzer group that my husband and I scroll night and day. With over 100k members that group is never short on memes, puppies, or the circle of life. And while it is mostly filled with easy pickings, there are the occasional CRATE YOUR DOG as the answer to world peace (and literally any question new owner’s may ask) .. where I feel COMPELLED to at least offer that Bitz has slept in our bed since day 1 and we’ve never had a problem. Knowing full well I won’t convert the cage-crew, but for those on the fence I want them to know there is ANOTHER PATH.

There’s also the ongoing sub-plots of kibble versus home cooked food, bark collars versus ANYTHING ELSE BUT THAT ARE YOU A SADIST!?, raw chicken bones or carrots and who has pet insurance — on any given scroll through the SchauzerHood. Mostly I steer clear of the obvious shock and gnaw of telling people they shouldn’t give raw chicken bones to their dogs. Because I realize they have their set of special data points and they are going to believe what they want to believe. There’s also enough members and mods in the group, who will turn an eyebrow up when folks say they want input on a bark collar so I’m off the hook there. I will however offer up my 12 weeks to Leash Free video to anyone who has a “problem” dog. I figure Bitzy runs around in the background of most of the footage, it qualifies as being Schnauzer adjacent.

Granted most of the animosity I encounter online comes from NASCAR commentary where I make an outrageous statement like .. Good Luck Bubba! before a race on his own team’s page. But aside from the racist trolls who I ignore unless it’s a special occasion, I am not blind sided often by the odd comment. However last night I must say I was taken aback.

On a thread where the OP asked merely about flea pills, my answer mentioned that we do not have a high incidence of heartworm in my neighborhood so since there was not a need for a monthly pill (flea and heartworm are often combined) we did not treat Bitzy for fleas on a regular basis. Somehow that comment drew the ire of a few members. One paw-parent said I must have mosquitos because I had a pond in my yard. I was surprised that someone had fished (small pun intended) to see that my previous posts indeed included pictures of Bitz at the koi pond. And whereas my gut instinct was to fire back a brash list of how-dare-you, I took the approach that it was a helpful and useful question and took the opportunity to post a vector map of heart worm hot spots in the country as well as the breeding cycle of mosquito fish. Because I am nothing if not thorough. Several cordial exchanges followed where we each learned a little bit about each other’s earnest attempts at navigating not only flea and tick season but also vaccine schedules. Through which I learned that we already DO give our dogs the Lepto vaccine, which is somewhat controversial especially with little dogs. Who knew? But while our small non-sequitur convo was delicate and light, another member took offense at our tête-à-tête.

I was informed by this new commentor that reading my comments gave her an aneurysm and that I should do research before ever getting another pet and that I was the cause of of veterinarians pulling their hair out. Graphic gal that she was with clearly a complex health package. Instantly my brain went on the DEFENSE. Who was this young person daring to take on my crone wisdom? Do I mention my pubmed research skills? Call out her rude hijack of my sidebar? Can I work in that I use to train with Bill and Dick Koehler or how many AKC competitions I won in the 1980’s? Do I mention that as a chronically ill zebra myself I have a keen understanding or risk/benefit especially in light of side effects and impact on the other regulating systems of the body? There was so much to say and I was prepared to say it all, with footnotes, pie charts and links to my TED talk or in this case How to Toilet Train Your Cat. Because she wasn’t dealing with an armature, I had the DEETS. (Unless of course you trolled for my previous comment on the board where I asked if anyone was using Garlic Juice instead of DEET mosquito spray for their yard and was it dog safe?)

My youngest suggested I actually ignore the comment and turn my attention to literally anything else. And I agree that would have been a wise option. I was determined to make SOME statement. But what?

Then it occurred to me .. MEMEs. Meme’s are the fast food delivery answer to today’s TL;DR mentality. I love my click/art/comedy. If I am remembered for anything it would be that Mom could Meme with the best of them. (Especially after I stopped calling them mem-may.)

So I jumped over to pixabay grapped a get well card with enough blank space to embelish, then found a schnauzer face and pulled up my G’Mic filters for some Graphic Boost. And dawned my Hallmark hat for some sincere condolences. Because THAT is what I enjoy. Humor brings me back to center more readily than Om Mani Padme Hum.

Having said that, I should add that I will certainly follow up with my vet this week, to see if he recommends that we give heartworm pills to our pack. It hasn’t been the consensus in the past, but the demographics are changing and as the disease is on the rise here on the west coast, it may be only a matter of time.

Time that we each get to decide, how we spend, who we offend and when we need to sit back and tend to the egoic mind.