How can you tell if your dog is happy?
If he generally feels calm and content? Do you just anthropomorphize him and try to imagine how you’d be feeling if you were acting that way?
If your dog mostly sleeps, and lays around, and stares out the window with half-lidded eyes, and looks at you and thumps his tail when you look at him, and then goes back to sleep…but then sometimes gets super antsy and you shush him and then finally take him outside for 30 minutes of ball-toss, then bring him back in and he lays back down and goes back to sleep…but I mean, generally not a lot happens in his day, he mostly sits on the couch and stares or sleeps, with some major action in the morning and at night…but he’s with you almost 100% of the time, even though you aren’t, like, playing or patting him all of that time….does this sound like a happy life for a dog?
I can’t tell.
I feel like dogs are supposed to have jobs, and he doesn’t. I also just feel like I wouldn’t be happy sitting on the couch for 12 straight hours. But then my vet told me a dog who sleeps a lot and sits calmly a lot is a happy dog. She told me they can’t really fake something like that (calmness).
What say you people?
Don’t want to become One Of Those Weird Dog People but I do care about his well being.
I’m going to a wedding tomorrow and I have to figure out how to shave my legs. I’m not uptight about that kind of thing, but it’s getting crazy and I’m wearing a really short skirt because it’s going to be a thousand degrees above zero. Left-handed leg shave: a recipe for the ultimate disaster? TIME WILL TELL
Gonna have to get the old man to do my armpits. Is that sexy or totally un-sexy? Is it bad that I can’t even tell?? Maybe I just won’t do the ol’ pits. God knows they’ve been through enough. As has my old man.
Missouri peaches are in at the co-op. One of the best things about living in the midwest. No, there aren’t that many (best things, not peaches).
Best Things About Living in the Midwest:
– badass autumns, really just spectacular fucking autumns
– missouri peaches
– sweet corn grown by an ol’ man in overalls who lives down the road a piece
– slow pace of life (can also be annoying)
– fireflies
– thunderstorms
– Amish products
Basically, there are worse things than living in the midwest. That’s not saying much, but still.
(Just like with L.A. I am of course getting all “it’s okay here” now that I’m finally FINALLY leaving. The curse of my constitution)
Predominant word I have used to describe my life in a midwestern small town and the things I experience here:
– “Fine”
“Fine” is really the best word for describing the midwest. It’s fine. It’s not great. It’s not nightmarish. It might be nightmarish for a gay dude or a really really cool urban party dude or possibly for a very awesome-looking non-white dude with cool hair, or for any dude with any kind of weird food allergy (unless you are allergic to vegetables or things that taste good: SNAP). But for a basically normative boring straight white lady who likes to go to bed early it is “Fine.” “You know, this pizza is actually fine!” FINE. “How is the karaoke at that one bar that has karaoke?” “It’s fine.” “How is your thirteen dollar salad?” “Fine!” “Wow that’s great, we’ll have to come back to this place a lot.” One time we got a black bean burger that was just a can of black beans upended over a toasted bun. I think it cost eleven dollars. And I mean, this isn’t just a podunk town! Das Racist performed here! The Merce Cunningham dance troupe performed here! Fucking Salman Rushdie has been here! So these aren’t just quaint ol’timers who have never heard of olive oil. It’s amazing.
Anyway. To be fair, the Das Racist performance itself could be described as “middling.”
POSITIVES: This town has been good to me. I got a lot of work done here, my snoopy was born here, my wifey and I decided to get married over mediocre pizza here, I made some amazing friends here, I love the co-op here, I learned about Sacred Harp singing here, I got to see the Merce Cunningham dance troupe perform here, I got way deeper into yoga here, the vegan waffles place is great, I got to be in thunderstorms again.
Snoopy’s awake. I’m going to teach him to literally jump through a hoop.
A couple years ago I made dinner for my midwestern grandparents… *pointing to Penne pasta* What’s THIS?!?!!!!!
You’d know if the dog wasn’t happy. He would freak out. I’m taking the summer off from the midwest and yes, my dog is happier on the east coast but in the midwest we play ball twice a day, once at OUR dog park with the old Chuck It and once in the front yard watching out for traffic and she is totally fine. Would she play ball constantly all day every day until she collapsed like that horse in True Grit and then we’d have to shoot her but we’d only be being humane? Yes, she would. But I think if she/he is tired enough to sleep most of the day then she/he is getting enough exercise. If she/he is not doing something like chewing her/his fur off or peeing out of spite then I think she/he is happy. I know when I’m unhappy it’s spiteful peeing all over the place!
Also:
-Autumn is beautiful nearly everywhere so that’s not that special.
-I miss the co-op and the dog park this summer.
-I’m not that thrilled with the midwest so far either. I deeply miss living in a larger city than that in which we live.
this is comforting!!! Thanks! How long are you in this town for? I can give you survival tips, although they mostly involve “watching a lot of movies.”
you can do it!
the dog park is awesome though, I can’t believe I forgot about it.
my dog too would chase the ball until he literally died if I let him
Maybe another year, maybe four years, depends on what I decide to do after the upcoming year. I don’t hate it, I’m not miserable. Like you said, it’s fine. And to be fair, I could make more of it than I do. I haven’t put in a huge effort. One problem is I work from home, which is nice because I’m able to be away all summer but it sometimes keeps me out of the real world.
One of the first things I did when I moved there was buy a TV. I don’t have cable so I definitely watch A LOT of movies. I’ve watched like ten SILENT movies this year. For fun!! Netflix is my savior. So I’ve been able to do that and read a lot and cook a lot which is all good stuff. I guess I just don’t feel very inspired. I miss the inspiration I got from a big city.
But yes, the dog park is great. The co-op is wonderful. I like my neighborhood and its trees and lawns and sometimes I like how quiet it is. And the pup definitely likes not having to pee on the sidewalk. We’ll see. I’m going to really commit to the town this fall and see what happens.
oh yeah, get real into watching films, silent films, art films, etc. I have learned so much about film since living here! Partly because my old man is a film scholar but also there’s just so much time to WATCH them. Netflix is awesome. Cooking a lot is awesome. Everything you said is basically everything I did too, I can’t really elaborate on it! I also started a worm compost bin and tried to learn to bake bread–elaborate domestic projects I think are the way to go. Also the Bijou theater is awesome now–it used to be kind of weak but now it’s pretty good. A good movie theater you can walk to! And it’s free for students and like 5 bucks for non.
Really all I did to deal with living here is domestic stuff–stuff to learn and do around the house. Because especially once winter comes it’s so hard! I guess also you could make yourself actually go to all the performances/talks/etc. this town has to offer, which are awesome, but which I personally have found myself being super lazy about.
If your dog was unhappy it would whine constantly and defecate all over everything and destroy things and eat weird awful trash and be incredibly anxious.
Basically what everyone else said.
Things dogs do when they’re unhappy:
-Pace.
-Chew on themselves for 12 hours straight.
-Chew on other things for 12 hours straight.
-Piss in bad places. This can also be a sign of illness.
-Attack other dogs and sometimes maybe even their owner/human.
-Cry pitifully. (That’s pretty obvious.)
-Bark constantly.
-Watch 2 entire seasons of Battlestar Galactica in one sitting, and then go onto the online message boards and write about it.