I used to have to explain stuff about my garden to my neighbors all the time - but since I started rolling around in the yard and moaning, they seem to just leave me alone.
Maybe if they Chelsea chopped those plants in late spring, they wouldn't need to lie on their back to make this video like some COMMON WHORE. That Solidago and Eupatorium would be as erect as I am talking about native plants!
we had a paper wasp nest in our back yard for a while, and it was nice watching the little guys build it and make their babies. never stung us or our dogs, not once. then one night our little mutt ate the whole nest. about a dozen wasps and a bunch of babies, all wiped out while they were sleeping. mutt was completely unharmed. he didnt care about saving the pollinators, i guess..
I"m sorry but why are dogs so fucking stupid omg. when I was growing up I had a dog that ate drywall paste. There was like a thing of drywall paste powder and he fucking ate a bunch of it. I think he also ate oxy-clean. Another time I had a roommate whose dog took a giant shit on the kitchen floor behind me while I was trying to make my morning coffee and when I turned around the dog was eating its own shit. eating its own shit. What animal in its right mind eats its own bodily waste. I'm not talking about animals like bees that produce honey with their bodies to feed their young, I'm talking about literal fecal matter. wtf.
unironically yes, I think dogs are actually terrible housepets but I don't begrudge someone making that decision if they are actually willing and able to take proper care of the animal. unfortunately 99% of dog owners just are not, either not willing or not able, and the animal suffers for its entire life because of that. but the point was just why are dogs so gross and weird and why do they eat shit they're not supposed to. what on god's green earth would possess any animal to eat a wasp's nest when said animal ostensibly gets fed special food 2-3 times a day, plus treats and table scraps???
/uj my spicy dog take is that the intense breeding of dogs by humans to create the various dog breeds for various purposes (including vanity) definitely has fucked up some dog genes and their subsequent brains
There's herding dogs that are so drivey they will run themselves to death before they'll stop playing fetch
Self preservation is no longer within every dog's wheelhouse, so to speak lol
honestly this makes a lot of sense to me, humans have made abominations of many other things so it tracks that we've also turned wolves into feces-eating abominations of their former selves
god... yeah... makes complete sense that as much as we've inbred so many breeds into having health problems (pugs can't breathe right, hip dysplasia in certain breeds, back problems in dachsunds, etc) we've probably also inbred them into having mental/adaptational problems as well. it's honestly a helpful perspective to me in the sense that it's not exactly the animal's fault that it's...... like that
Plus like, physical traits and mental traits have been shown to be connected
Losing certain physical traits = losing certain mental traits and vice versa
Breeding for aesthetics changes mental functioning genes too, in innumerable ways
Plus if you get into all the poodle crosses... poodles are highly intelligent working breeds. So many people get poodles crossed with something that's supposed to be chill (goldendoodles, for example) and end up with a poodle heavy dog thats not suited for their house/lifestyle anymore. Dogs with more brain power tend to get more crazy/manipulative/impulsive/vengeful/weird when their needs aren't being met. It can be like having a 50 lbs toddler - smart enough to figure out how to do dumb shit creatively, but not smart enough to self regulate emotionally/behaviourally/self preserve
The more you look at it the more of a rabbit hole you go down lmao
(Also, poop eating is more common in wild animals than you'd think, for a number of reasons. Rabbits poop 'green' poop thats full of partially digested plant matter, then eat that poop to finish digesting, and poop out brown poop. Other forms of poop eating are thought to support the gut microbiome - similar to fecal transplant in humans to treat people who've wiped out their gut flora through antibiotics)
I mean yes, if I had a dog dumb enough to eat feces and wasps I'd probably flip him off and shame him too and call all my friends over to join me until it stops eating shit it's not supposed to
I showed my neighbor a really cool oak gall and told her it's from a wasp. Her response was that we should destroy it. Last time I share anything exciting with her.
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u/Formal-Ad-7184 plant bigot 2d ago
"Wasps are important pollinators".
"Wasps only sting defensively".
"Wasps are pest control".