7 Crucial Steps to Minimize Drama in Your Life

7 Crucial Steps to Minimize Drama in Your Life

" PAWDCASTS "

Thanks to Andy Vance

Lately there's been an emotional outburst in Dubai residents completely missing the mark on the actual cause of an important problem, hating dog sellers / breeders has become the hottest social trend in facebook.

Let’s start with the legitimate problem: each year, unwanted, stray or otherwise neglected animals are taken in by local animal shelters, and sadly, half of them must be euthanized for lack of an appropriate home. As an animal lover in general these shocking stats break my heart.

Since most of us can agree that euthanizing companion animals each year is morally unacceptable, the question naturally becomes “what do we do about it.” To answer that question, of course, we have to understand the root causes of pet overpopulation.

The obvious answer to an overpopulation of dogs is that sellers sell too many dogs, right? And if so, then dog sellers are obviously the problem, and should be shunned by a responsible society. There are only a handful of Reputable breeders in Dubai , so are they responsible too for this overpopulation ?

Quoting Lee Corso: “Not so fast, pet lovers!” The above answer, though it apparently has become the rallying cry misses the point on many levels.

Most issues of an imbalance in supply can be evaluated most completely by going back to basic economic principles… sometimes the most elegant solution is indeed the simplest. In this case, we have an imbalance in the supply/demand equation for dogs – too many dogs supplied, apparently, relative to the quantity demanded.

So where do these “extra” dogs come from? If you listen to the “I hate dog sellers” crowd, the oversupply problem is a simple factor of people wanting to buy dogs from pet shops rather than simply adopting dogs from shelters.

In other words, in a survey of  animal shelters across Dubai , only 8% of dogs surrendered to animal shelters came from pet shops and none came from reputable breeders… The vast majority came from much more logical sources, if you think about it.

 These are the statistics that cause more concern

Dogs surrendered were from offspring of another pet in possession of the relinquisher, otherwise know as I-didn’t-know-that-animals-can-have-babies-before-their-first-birthday-it is.

Dogs surrendered were obtained from a friend, otherwise know as my-female-dog-got-knocked-up-by-the-male-dog-that-lives-next-door-and-can-you-take-a-puppy disease, but sometimes known as the I’m-moving / have-a new-baby / just-got-a-new-job-and-I-need-to-get-rid-of my-pet-can-you-take-it syndrome.

Dogs were obtained from another shelter, also known as I-knew-this-pet-had-behavioral-problems-when-I-adopted-it-thought-I-could-handle-it-but now-I-can’t disorder.

Dogs most at risk for relinquishment were of mixed breed heritage, intact, young, owned for less than a year and purchased for less than 4000 aed.

The problem here, however, is not a question of supply, but rather of demand. Because the store in question obviously believes it can sell said pup at said price, there is, in theory, a demand out there for that pup. In other words, because some number of consumers has acquired a pup for a similar price, there is a demand that must be met.

So what did the data tell us? Less than 10% of dogs surrendered come from pet stores! By even the high end of that estimate, magically wiping away those dogs from the marketplace, we still see thousands of unwanted pets surrendered at shelters, and still see many animals euthanized each year.

The far bigger problem, even bigger than Bob Barker’s rallying cry of everyone having their pets summarily spayed or neutered .A really good idea for a very high percentage of the companion animal population, is the basic reality that more than 90% of dogs surrendered to shelters find themselves up for adoption through what can largely – and bluntly – be described as the basic irresponsibility of their owners.

Those who breed without a thought nor care about the end result – the puppies.  These are not “puppy mills.”  These are the owners with 1 or 2, or 3 dogs that don’t do health testing (and sometimes don’t even know what that is), who don't study pedigrees, who use “breeding pairs” (yikes) and produce litter after litter of puppies for whom they have no history, and who sometimes barely look like the breed " Irresponsible owners " .

There is one last piece of puzzle that most people overlook - Relocation of their pets.

Moving to a new country with your pet can be a hassle. There are professional pet transportation services available in Dubai. Many people shy away from this simply because of the cost. True that is , its costs around 8000 aed to 15000 aed to relocate a dog. Here's another reason why there are many stranded dogs in the streets.

Shelter dogs, by the way, are great – I have no qualms about adopting a dog from a shelter at all. The challenge for shelters, of course, is the same challenge I’ve outlined above.So yes do give them a chance if u can handle the above.

To me, there are only two responsible places to get a dog: from a shelter, provided you do your due diligence and know fully what you’re getting into when you adopt; or from a reputable seller / breeder. The most important thing when deciding to add a dog to your family is to know what you’re getting! .      

I can’t stress this enough ,  a dog is not a possession, it is a member of the family. You don’t buy a child by going to the local shopping center and swiping your credit card; buying / adopting a dog should be no less of a decision.

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This Vs That

The electronic media is fast and convenient, but is it worth replacing the traditional face to face communication?

My opinion is face to face communication is hands down superior to online text messages simply because it includes body language, intonation , facial expression , physical contact and so on. These additional traits of seeing a person speak his message helps our brain to process the said information more effectively and correctly. With just the words, the impact wouldn’t be the same and misunderstandings can easily arise. From what I have experienced decisions and responses is quicker and efficient in a face to face communication. This would explain why in a happy and free or tense and risky situation a face  to face meeting is typically called for instead of a conference call. 

What about interpersonal communication skills?! I have a friend who recently told me how boring and awkward she thought she was when she met one of her long time chat friends. No she isn't boring or inexpressive if that’s what you think. On a personal note I have experienced this same feeling and it sucks. Nope I don’t think emoticons can substitute in text based conversation whatsoever but I have to admit that instant messaging does have its own perks.

Chat history

A subject of frustration. “I am Certain you said that.” “ No I didn’t!” “ Yes you did !” “ When? “ “ I can’t remember. Few months ago?”. And so on.

Time to reflect and contemplate

In text chatting I can appear calm, reasonable, informed or insightful whereas in face to face I might seem rash ignorant, offensive, blunt or stupid.

Freedom

I can listen to music, read a blog post,  make an excuse or even lie and still keep a conversation going. This could also be a reason why SMS or text chatting will not be replaced in whole by mediated audio or video chat in the future.

New people

Easy way to make friends and exchange ideas or speak about common interest.

Dates & Flirting

Dating and flirting is been so easy with chat rooms. Just don’t be surprised if u ended up dating a serial killer or flirting with your boyfriends best friend.

Above are few you would vote or not vote for but in reality research and studies prove that 55% of meaning in an interaction comes from facial and body language and 38% comes from vocal inflection. Only 7% of an interactions meaning is derived from the words themselves. In short , content runs a greater risk of being misunderstood than verbal communication.

Oh well you lot figure it out.

P"ography

P'rn is, as David Amsden says, the “wallpaper” of our lives now. Totally i would say !

She was right about the warning , wrong about the outcome. As she foretold p'ography did breach the wall that separated an adult private activity from the now popular public arena.The world , post internet did become p'ographized. Young men and women are being taught what heavy petting is , how its looks , how it feels and what to expect by simple training to demonstration videos ..... and this i think is having a huge effect  on interaction.

No this effect is not making men into raving beasts.. on the contrary its responsible for deadening male libido in relation to real women leading men to see fewer n fewer women as " p'rn - worthy ". Woman mostly worrying that as mere flesh and blood , they can scarcely get their attention.... Do u think so ?

Obviously women will have her own s'xual needs and it would be impossible to compete with a cyber vision of perfection that's well crafted and tailored for consumers. Erotic images have been reflections of substitutes for real n'ked women in the past but now such images of women are just bad p'rn. There was a time when young men wanted to be with n'ked women than the increasing number of women in the market now. Simple love making was considered an art and erotic but now with Internet p'ography women have lowered their own s'xual value and their actual value. 5$ for a night ... cant get any cheaper than cheap. Now one has to offer or suggest a l'sbian scene , the discharge in the face scene , the bond scene and even a g'y lady boy scene just like p'rn stars.

But does all this imagery in the air mean that s'x has been liberated or do we just compare the billion dollar p'rn industry to agribusiness , processed foods etc ? oh well if ones appetite is stimulated and fed by poor quality material it takes more junk to fill it up. I think people are apart because of p'rn and not turned on in their daily lives but less. Finding each other again e'otically , face to face would be to turn off p'rn ... i don't mean the moral way but in a way that might be more physical and emotional the healthy way. You may want to rethink your constant access the same way you wanted to rethink smoking if you want to be an athlete.    * i love my p'rn collection ;) *

Today when i look around s'x is not a mystery anymore :)


PS : This content is compiled from various articles i read before i started this topic ... hope you all enjoy :)

Circles :)

A picture illustration of common circle shaped objects that i like :)

:)

Is man or unicorn a myth ? :)

This is my first trial at blogging or rather even trying to write a few lines so please tolerate my attempt at  is man or unicorn a myth ?! :)
Being fascinated by mythological creatures and lately falling in love with Unicorns made me want to read and explore more about them. Surprisingly  my depiction ( thanks to movies and pictures ) of Unicorns  wasn't the same as i thought :P

 All this time i thought Greek mythology and Unicorns were hand in hand , well not really. In fact the story of the unicorn in western world came from India through the writings of Greek authors who heard the story in either Persia or India. *Yea i'm pretty surprised too ;) * . So i kept digging :D

                                           The East 
The white horse we think of as a unicorn today is not necessarily the same animal that emerged from Chinese folklore where stories of its existence began 5000 years ago. To the Chinese the unicorn was called ki - lin or qilin and it was an omen that all was well with the world.

             

 The Japanese call the unicorn Kirin and its supposed to be more of a bull with a long shaggy mane. Different from the interpretations of this beast, as per legend the Japanese unicorn is to be feared especially when one has guilt in his heart.
* Yup , a unicorn on steroids * :P

  The Indians call the unicorn rsya which is meant to be an wild ass large like a horse with white body , dark red head and dark blue eyes. They have a horn in the forehead about a foot and half in length. The Indians believe that the dust filed from their horns in a potion is protects against deadly drugs. * shucks ! from a bull to an ass *




                                                                                          The West

Cave art drawings in lascaux cave in southwestern France dates back to around 14,000 BC. The first mentions of a unicorn in the western world are int he 3rd and 4th century BC. Aristotle was a believer and so was Alexander the great. Julius Caesar claims he saw one deep in the forests of Germany and Marco polo later said he had seen a unicorn the size of  
 Elephant on his many travels to Asia.
 * An elephant with a single horn ....hmmm... he was on mushrooms * :P

                                      The Medieval
 
The medieval unicorn is said to be a wild beast that cannot be tamed. In fact the only way to tame one is to lay a virgin maiden as bait and wait until a unicorn wanders along and lays its head in her lap Although much of the unicorn art that comes from this time depicts the maiden having tricked the unicorn by trapping him for an accomplice to slay.
* There goes my virginity and the unicorn * :P


                                                                        The Bible

Tales of the mighty unicorn from this time are largely biblical in source and the animal was thought to symbolize Christ himself in many respects.

Psalm 92:10
But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn , i shall be anointed with fresh oil 
Numbers 23:22 
God brought them out of egypt , he hath as it the strength of an unicorn.
Job 39:9-12 
Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by the crib ?

* The bible wasn't originally written in English , how can one be sure it meant a horse with a horn when in a Spanish bible it doesn't say unicorn but a búfalo" and in Tanakh translation by the Jewish publication society it says "wild ox" and not a unicorn *


Since there are no solid proofs or findings to any of the mentioned above i would still like to picture a unicorn as this :)

:)