DoUListenWhenUHear
DoUListenWhenUHear's JournalI think my dog might be a genius...
My husband and I have two chocolate labs -- Jake and Daisy. Jake just got new spiky balls that squeak after he finally tore up the dryer ball that he's played with for years. Jake is nuts about the new toy and is constantly dropping it so it will bounce in front of us in an attempt to get us to play. Only problem is that the ball sometimes rolls under furniture and he cannot reach it. He will look for ways to get to the ball himself, and despite being a big brute of a dog physically, Jake has the softest touch when it come to moving things with his body... and will go get us to move things for him to retrieve the ball. Yesterday, we were in the den and he rolled the ball under the sofa that sits next to the sliding glass door to our backyard on one end of it and that has a window AC located at the other end of the sofa. We watched Jake try to figure a way to get to the back of the sofa on the AC side, but he couldn't reach the ball. Jake then ran our the doggy door connected to the sliding glass door and stood staring at the wall right under the window AC unit as if he was trying to figure a way to get to the ball. He recognized exactly where the ball was located on the other side of the wall! He then ran back inside and got my husband to help him.
I've had dogs my whole life, I know that science is just now catching up to realizing animals are far more intelligent than they first believed. I love giving my dogs problem solving games to make them really think for their treats. But I have never had a dog attempt that kind of spatial problem solving. We could see right where he stopped from the sliding door. This was behavior we'd never seen him do. I do not know what else he could have been doing if not trying to get to the ball.
Am I giving him too much credit?
Attacking the machismo of gun ownership
I was reading an article recently about how toy gun makers are required by law to use bright colors on their toy guns in order to be able to sell them in the US. We all remember the tragic Tamir Rice story and why such laws are important. One toy maker was quoted as saying that even though their toy is shaped and detailed so it looks exactly like the real gun it is modeled after, requiring them to cast it in brightly colored plastic -- instead of being black or silver -- has caused their sales to drop dramatically. It seems little kids do not like the brightly colored models because they do not look "tough" like the darker models do.
We know that for many mass shooters, the guns they chose to murder innocents was a source of machismo for them. Owning AR-styled weapons made them feel "manly" and "tough" because the guns looked "badass". Maybe it isn't toy guns that we should be forcing to get a makeover.
If the 2nd Amendment won't let us block the sale of assault rifles (according to some), then let's make them less "macho" to own. I suggest we push for legislation requiring gun makers to make their AR-styled rifles come in only one color: HOT PINK! This would be done out of concern for safety, and would not restrict gun owners from exercising their 2nd Amendment rights in ANY way. If you want to buy a HOT PINK AR15 and take it to the range, we support your right to do so! We know that this won't hinder hunters from being able to hunt since they are wearing brightly colored gear already!
Or course, we will have to have strict financial penalties and mandatory prison time for any who attempt to alter the color of their firearm, but I am guessing that won't be a problem as those type of laws already exist for other items that we require to be a certain color to serve as a warning for others.
Do you think mass shooters are secure enough in their masculinity to commit acts of violence using HOT PINK guns? We may not be able to get the guns off the street, but we can do something to make it so no one on the streets wants one!
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Member since: Thu Nov 26, 2020, 07:27 PMNumber of posts: 31
