A Typical Day with The Dogs

It was a rainy day today, but we didn’t just sit here all day. In the morning my wife Claudia and I had a French lesson. It was over zoom. We discussed tourism including tourism to cities. I spoke about my visits to Paris and Aix-En-Provence. Daisy, our Pug sat and slept under the computer desk during the class. Her snoring was audible to the rest of the class. Rollo, our mini-Australian Shepherd is very afraid of the sound that rain makes on the roof and on our skylights, so he was very nervous.

A comical cartoon showing a man in a rainjacket and a dog. The dog is saying "Thanks, anyways. But I think I'm just gonna poop somewhere in the house tonight."

Falling in mud

After the class it was no longer pouring, but it was still raining. However, Rollo still wanted to go for a walk so I took them for a walk. Daisy is old, 15+ years old, and she has a problem walking. Therefore, I put her in our pet stroller and raised the hood of the stroller over her. It was wet and muddy and after walking a quarter mile I slipped badly, feet straight up, and landed on my behind and back in a muddy puddle. Daisy’s stroller fell over but luckily, she did not fall out. I was not so lucky though. I was soaking wet; it was cold and my back and behind was covered in mud. I tried to nudge Rollo to go home, but he insisted on continuing. I was worried about what people who saw me would think but we took a long walk.

A photo of my muddy jeans and my muddy jacket
My muddy jacket and jeans after the walk
Our wet mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo in front if the front door.
Wet pup at the door
our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo inside but still a little bit wet
Rollo after the walk
Our pug Daisy in her green and black stroller. She has a coat on.
Daisy in her stroller
A little video of Rollo by the door.

Behold, the vaccine is killing us all

When I came home, I had a text from one of my Swedish aunts. She thanked me for a Holiday Card I had sent, and that she had just gotten. What’s wrong with the post office? She also warned me about the covid-19 vaccine (Pfizer)s, which she claimed have killed 17 million people and given 567 million people injuries for life. In other words, one in ten people who received the vaccine worldwide was injured for life. I know about people in my circle who died from Covid-19, but I don’t know of anyone who died from the covid-19 vaccine. I don’t even know anyone who was injured by it. How is that statistically possible?  In addition, my family doctor, who is an extremely good and caring doctor, recommends it, and thinking about it, so does every doctor I know. Most importantly, there are no reliable sources backing up her claim. Her claim was bunk of course.

So, I told her that her information was false and not to worry. When I was young, I did not want to contradict people, but I’ve come to realize that we are drowning in misinformation, and it is very common that people blindly believe whatever seems to support their preexisting beliefs. Therefore, it is important to contradict misinformation when we know that it is false. It is a public service.

Our pug Daisy with her tongue sticking out. She is on top of our sofa.
Daisy after an exhausting day of doing nothing.

We don’t pick up dead animals

After doing the laundry I noticed that the city had picked up our recycling, finally. They are supposed to pick it up once a week, but it took them three weeks. Last week I tried to file a report about the missed pick up. I was not able to do that using the city’s cryptic website, and search yielded nothing useful. I know you can file a report because I’ve done it before. Therefore, I started the chat, and I got a chatbot.

The bot: How can I help you?

Me: The recycling has not been picked up and I would like to make a report.

The bot: We don’t pick up dead animals.

End of chat……

So, the chatbot was useless. It seems like they are always useless. I’ve gotten restricted on Facebook several times, for selling beer outside the marketplace and without stating the price, when all I did was write a beer review in a beer review Facebook group. When Facebook still employed people for those tasks I could complain, get the restriction revoked and an apology. Once all that remained were bots that ended.

Photo showing our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo on the left, then our pug Daisy and then a visiting dog, Oslo, on the right. Rollo is threatening Oslo.
It was Daisy’s birthday (pug in the middle). Rollo is growling at Oslo sitting at the end of the table. It is an old photo.

After I gave the dogs dinner Rollo came to sit next to me on the sofa. He loves sitting next to me and pushing his back towards my side. It seems very cozy, but there’s a problem. Rollo is very possessive and jealous, and he gets aggressive towards others he thinks may threaten his position. Yesterday, he started showing his teeth and growling at Daisy as he was snuggling with me, and I immediately put him down on the floor. He screamed like a choleric two-year-old as I did that. This is one major reason we are hesitating to get another Leonberger. We don’t know how that would play out with Rollo. We have a behavior problem with Rollo that we need to solve. We also set up another baby jail for Rollo.

Picture of our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo inside a playpen. He has a toy and water.
Rollo’s Baby Jail
Our late Leonberger Bronco and our pug Daisy sharing our red sofa.
Photo from the past. Our Leonberger Bronco is sharing the sofa with Daisy.

Towards the end of the day Rollo and I played with his duck, and then he asked for a belly rub. When Rollo wants a belly rub, he lays down on the floor on his side , a couple of legs up, and then he barks one time and then he waits. If no one comes he loudly barks one time and then he waits. Eventually he gets his belly-rub.

Rollo our mini-Australian Shepherd holding a duck in his mouth.
Rollo with his Duck
Our mini-Australian Shepherd Rollo lying on his side in front of our Leonberger Bronco as if he wants a belly rub.
Rollo wants a belly rub.

Now Daisy is asleep, and Rollo is almost asleep

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Author: thomasstigwikman

My name is Thomas Wikman. I am a software/robotics engineer with a background in physics. I am currently retired. I took early retirement. I am a dog lover, and especially a Leonberger lover, a home brewer, craft beer enthusiast, I’m learning French, and I am an avid reader. I live in Dallas, Texas, but I am originally from Sweden. I am married to Claudia, and we have three children. I have two blogs. The first feature the crazy adventures of our Leonberger Le Bronco von der Löwenhöhle as well as information on Leonbergers. The second blog, superfactful, feature information and facts I think are very interesting. With this blog I would like to create a list of facts that are accepted as true among the experts of the field and yet disputed amongst the public or highly surprising. These facts are special and in lieu of a better word I call them super-facts.

57 thoughts on “A Typical Day with The Dogs”

    1. Rollo is a smart dog but he is very energetic, anxious and territorial. It is not just him, I’ve read that it is his breed. Australian Shepherds are in general not recommended as household dogs and we did not pay attention to this. But now he is with us and we need to put more effort into training him. They need a lot of training. Daisy was not easy to train either, but she has never been aggressive, she was just independent. Bronco was not always obedient but a friendly and smart dog. They are all different. You are right, animals have a lot of the same emotions as people. It makes it hard to get mad at them even when they misbehave.

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  2. Wonderful photos and article Thomas.. I am pleased you didn’t hurt yourself and Daisy didn’t fall out of her stroller..
    The weather has been wet and very windy here also.. Lovely to see all sleeping peacefully.. ❤

    As for your aunt.. we have had several successful claims for injuries here in the UK to the Covid mRNA vaccine.. which has through our Yellow card reporting system, which our government keeps have shown excessive deaths .. It is not public knowledge.. It is causing lots of Sudden Deaths in the young especially those who are athletic with cardiac arrests via blood clotting..

    We recently had a Huge Debate about excessive deaths in Parliament here in the UK.. I don't know about the numbers Thomas.. But your aunt is not entirely wrong.. We personally know 3 who had heart-attacks and two with strokes within a short time after their boosters..

    Researching is the key to debunking any information.. I did my own research on excess deaths in the UK.. and its way up.. The Media are keeping quiet about it as most media outlets are funded by the pharmaceutical industries like the universities are..
    I feel more will come to light as 2024 unfolds… on many such 'Conspiracy Theories' ..
    Many of us I feel will find out Truths we wish we all didn't know.. But once you know there is no unknowing it..

    I hope you have a great week xx

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    1. Thank you so much Sue. I guess we were lucky that Daisy did not fall out of her stroller.

      About my aunt. I’ve read about the suspected increase of myocarditis and pericarditis found with the yellow card system. However, these cases were rare and a report with a fatal outcome to the Yellow Card scheme does not necessarily mean that it was caused by the vaccine. Same with CDC, very rare and no conclusive evidence for it, but almost nothing is 100%. That is very different from 17 million deaths and 689 million people with lifelong injuries (13% of all who received it).

      I have a very large respect for peer reviewed research (preferably by people with PhDs in their field). I’ve participated in the peer review process myself (in my field) and I relied on peer reviewed research articles when I took a deep dive into fields in which I am not an expert. It is not a perfect process. There are sometimes mistakes and fraud but that typically get sorted out as more studies/experiments are conducted around the world. That’s what I meant by reliable sources. That should be contrasted with the legions of groups such as anti-vaxxers and politicians who use singular flawed studies, research that is not peer reviewed, agendas and made-up claims to spread misinformation and then defend that misinformation with second guessing the motives of critics, conspiracy theories, etc. They only add confusion, and that’s what I believe my aunt fell victim to, or perhaps she just misunderstood something she read.

      Have a great week you too!

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      1. Thank you, Thomas, for that detailed analysis. Like I said, I do not know the numbers.
        I listened to the whole parliamentary debate, which held some convincing statistics. This is why I said your aunt may not be wrong in her assumption either.

        I’m not anti vax,
        But I’m not into the experimental either.

        Only time and history will tell, I guess Thomas,
        In the meantime, the earth revolves, and you and I carry on with our lives.

        Sending you my best wishes for a peaceful mud free walking weekend. 🙂

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    2. I don’t listen to politicians debating other than for the purpose of finding out where they stand. With respect to learning something about any topic I think it is worse than the comment sections on Facebook. I’d much rather pay attention to the professionals in the relevant field. Well I did not see those debates, so I don’t really know about this particular case.

      Anyway, it stopped raining, the mud puddle I fell in is still there, but I am watching my step. Have a great rest of the week you too.

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  4. Great pics, as always. And great stories. Sorry about the fall, but glad you weren’t hurt.

    Dogs are such characters. Our neighbors had a little one that was left in the backyard because they both worked. He barked because he was lonely. My husband looked over the fence and talked to him, just to calm him down. Things got to the point where the dog would bark for my husband to come talk to him. He even tried to bring his ball to my husband, not quite understanding the physics of things.

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  6. I like how you mention alot of people support whatever narrative supports their beliefs. I know a lot of people like that. It’s disheartening. But I loved reading about your dogs. 🙂 Cute photos & it looks like you have so much fun with them!

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  7. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading about your day. lol I’m so sorry you fell in the mud puddle, and I’m glad you’re all right. What a cold mess that must have been.

    The “we don’t pick up dead animals” thing was killing me. Isn’t that so typical of the automated “help” we receive from companies?

    Love the pics and video of your babies. I want a dog in the worst way but that won’t happen anytime soon.

    I hope today is a good day!

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    1. Thank you Kymber. It is certainly a mystery how the chatbot got “dead animal” from what I wrote. I was thinking maybe a mixup of “recycling” and “racoon”, that it thought I misspelled “racoon” as “”recycling, but I am speculating.

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  8. Back when we lived in New York and our house had four different doors to the outside, when it was raining, our vizsla Tucker would go from door to door to door looking for one that led to a yard where rain WASN’T falling. He was usually disappointed.

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    1. That is our Daisy. She does not like the rain but isn’t afraid of the sound. She had a hood on her stroller during the walk. Rollo is the opposite, he is afraid of the sound on the roof, but seem to love being outside in the rain.

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  10. I’m glad you didn’t get hurt in that fall, Thomas! I am not a fan of those bot “help.” I just want a real person. It is hard to counter all that false information on social media. I don’t pay attention, but I know some do. Good for you for correcting it. We have a cat that has that jealous streak, too. All such different personalities.

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    1. Thank you, Denise. Yes, those bots are a disappointment. After all these years they don’t work well. You are right, social media is drowning in false information, while people don’t want to read science articles. It’s fun to see all the different animal personalities. I wish we could cure Rollo’s jealousy.

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  12. What a delightful post, Thomas! Photos and narrative, and the chatbot conversation about not picking up dead animals had me laughing out loud. Thank you! : )

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    1. Thank you so much Patricia. Walking is often an issue towards the end of a dog’s life, and it is very difficult to know what to do about it. Daisy seems to be enjoying her life despite that problem. She is not in pain, she loves to eat and go for walks in the stroller, and she tells us what she wants with her barking. However, she also has a lot of other health issues including cancer and last night she had a seizure. We are going to talk to the veterinary tomorrow.

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  15. Such nice puppies! They have interesting personalities!

    Sorry to hear about your fall. One time I fell right over our dog when she changed her route. Falling down is always a shock! Plus, I was embarrassed because another dog walker saw the entire thing. My ego was the only thing that got wounded. 🙂

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    1. Thank you very much Mary Ann. Slippery mud, wet ice, and objects you can stumble on can certainly be dangerous, and as you say it is a total surprise. My dad broke his hip twice from falls he had. The second time he did not survive. The operation did not go well. I was lucky and you were lucky.

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  16. I’m glad you and Daisy didn’t get hurt in the fall! She looks so cute with her tongue sticking out. 🙂 That’s a downside to having dogs as opposed to cats – they need to go outside, no matter what the weather. Rollo is adorable, but anxious dogs are a handful, as I know all too well. It definitely takes a lot of love and patience. Our Zoey has improved substantially over time and she’s also on mild anti-anxiety meds (Clomipramine), which have helped too. Initially, I was completely opposed to the idea, but the behaviourist and the vet both recommended it

    Yes, the amount of misinformation online is staggering and getting worse all the time! I hope your aunt took your advice.

    Bots are useless and frustrating, for sure! I always try to get a live person on the phone by pressing “0”. It actually works, once in a while. As for Facebook, there’s really NO recourse to complain or change anything. 😛

    I have enjoyed all the pictures! Dogs are so photogenic.

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    1. Thank you so much Debbie. Well, it was tongue out Tuesday, but seriously her tongue sticks out quite often. We have a backyard but in addition to going outside the dogs like to walk, even if it’s raining, especially Rollo. Rollo being a relatively young mini-Australian Shepherd need a lot of exercise. If you don’t give it to him, he becomes terrible, restless and irritable. Pugs seem a lot more comfortable with sitting in the sofa all day, even though they like the walk too. It just not as necessary. However, if the weather is really terrible, we just let them go out in the backyard. We’ve done that a few times when it’s been pouring and hailing all day. By the way Daisy has issues controlling when she goes to the bathroom, so she has a diaper. As soon as she started using the diaper, she got the idea, and she stopped trying. We are fine with that. She is coming to the end of her life (she is 15 years and 3 months old), and it is an easy alternative compared to trying to force her to do something that is becoming increasingly hard for her.

      You are right about the misinformation. Instead of having a few fairly reliable sources of information we are inundated with stuff that’s just fake. Social media is especially awful. And the bots, they are still not smart. The AI algorithms are still far from comparable with human intelligence and yet they are replacing people everywhere with dumb bots. A few years ago, maybe five years ago, you could have a person review a restriction on Facebook that you felt was wrong. Unfortunately, that is no longer the case, and you have to live with the dumbest decisions and most unfair restrictions.

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      1. Daisy seems comfortable in her old age and you are a wonderful dog dad, Thomas! 🙂 Dog diapers are a great invention and certainly make things easier. Facebook is a lost cause, I fear, but we are reluctant to give it up. I onyl ever suffered a restriction once and can’t remember what it was for.

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    2. Only one restriction, that is good. Well at least I’ve only suffered beer related restrictions and a restriction for posting something false once. But that was just a joke and not intended to be true, but bots can tell the difference. I have friends who received 30 day restrictions or had their account suspended, sometimes for silly reasons, which is worse. You are right about Daisy. Old age has taken a lot from her but she still seems to enjoy life.

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    1. Thank you so much Sherry. Yes old dogs and misbehaving dogs are both a lot of work but they are wonderful blessings never the less. Yes it’s funny how so many people don’t question information from questionable sources on internet.

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  19. Dogs make even the dullest chores fun ♥️ tx much for visiting my site. I love would be thrilled if you’d write a guest blog post for my site. If you think it might be fun or helpful to have my followers (who total about 10k across my various social media) meet you, here’s the link for general guidelines: https://wp.me/p6OZAy-1eQ – best, da-AL

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