Non-Americans who have visited the US: What surprised you the most about the US, and what surprised you the least?

jumbleton · 4 days

hahah, excellent point. They should come to new england for winter though!

jumbleton · 5 days

recycling is super dependent on where you are. I'm sorry you had to throw it out though, that sucks

jumbleton · 5 days

This matches my experiences here in the US- I was most surprised by how cold pacific northwesterners were. And appalled at the service in restaurants there, really aloof. Not what I expected!

OfficerPaulBlart · 6 days

agreed- Trader Joes has great prices and pretty good food, cheap booze, insanely friendly people. Aldi is cheap, but extremely depressing. In my area walking around in Aldi is like hanging out in Walmart, creepy and sad, and cheap.

yankeerancher · 6 days

lupines?

d_wilson123 · 8 days

yay cardigan corgis!

nerex · 20 days

Thanks for putting this out there- I felt like I had written most of your post, it's so similar to where we are with our puppy. He's just about 4 months and has had very similar successes and failures. I feel like we've spent a TON of time working with him, and I think it's paid off- but yes there's still so much farther to go!

We are also having an extremely difficult time with greeting people calmly, and it's so hard to get people on board with ignoring him until he's good. Or if they do- they then let him jump all over them for kisses. I've been more successful in practicing calm greetings if the puppy and I are stationary and people are passing us and sometimes stopping to say hello. We'll just hangout at a bench where there are pedestrians and work on sitting calmly. I find he's better at controlling his spazzy-ness when we aren't approaching the people. Still a long way to go on this though, so I feel your pain!

High distraction environments are hard for us too- we do attention exercises, saying his name and treating if he looks at us. Sometimes in a very distracting place if he won't listen/pay attention I'll put a treat right in front of his nose and turn him back toward me. This works sometimes, but if the distraction is big, nothing can stop his fixation!

It also sounds like we've have very similar experiences with the resource guarding. Our guy never bit us, but he would growl if he had something especially delicious, and tense up when we were nearby. We've done a lot of the same things that arcticfawx suggested, trading up, etc and he's made a lot of progress. Whenever he has something especially tasty/new I make a point of asking him to drop it, giving a fantastic treat, returning the first treat. I also spend time sitting next to him while he chews, and petting him occasionally, treating him when he's doing well. He's been doing really well with this, but it's something that I'm going to stay focused on, especially when I give him something for the first time.

Thanks again for posting this, it made me feel like we might be doing ok too!

sacheltry · 29 days

this is great advice. I've been following a very similar set of guidelines with my puppy and it's been working out really well. We have a pen around the crate as well that he hangs out in if we can't watch him. Initially he hated it, but now it's just a really helpful part of his routine.

ColonelSandwich · 1 month

Mostly he doesn't throw a fuss, he sometimes will pull on the leash and whine a little with frustration, but then he tends to settle down. I started doing it for pretty short periods of time, and during times when I knew he wouldn't be super riled up, so I think that helps. You could definitely do it without the clicker, if I don't have one nearby I just throw some treats down on the mat and tell him he's doing well.

My pup has/had a little guarding issue that sounds very similar to what you are describing. I gave him his first rawhide and he growled when I sat near him while he chewed it, and was generally tensed up when I was around. Since then I've been holding on to one end of it while he chews, asking him to drop it and giving him even better rewards when he does, and sometimes giving it back so that he knows that giving something up to me doesn't mean he never gets it back. If it's something super special like a rawhide or other high value thing than I've only allowed him to have it while he's hanging out with me.

hawkeyehandgrenade · 1 month

It is the shit!

pacoiam · 1 month

Mine was not nearly as painful as the video guy's seems to be. I think his were in there for longer though. It definitely hurt, not an 8-10 though. The size of the hole it leaves behind is really disturbing today, still have a little scar years later

ColonelSandwich · 1 month

I have a 3month old pup and this is something that we have been working on as well. I put a mat next to me, near the couch, etc, wrap the leash around my foot and have him settle there. I have something fun for him to chew on on the mat. Then I periodically reward him for doing a good job. We've been doing some clicker training, so if he's settled and relaxed on the mat, I click and treat. I keep clicking and treating when he's doing a good job. If he gets up, he can't go far and usually ends up settling back down again. I like to think that I'm sort of giving him a job to do, it's just that that job is to do nothing. We are still working on it, but he's making progress! It's a great skill to have when bringing him places, work, friend's house, etc.

pacoiam · 1 month

I've done this little procedure on myself. I had one larva in my arm. I covered it with vaseline overnight, pulled him out with tweezers. Seriously one of the most disgusting things I've ever done. Makes a great icebreaker though...

gejimayu18 · 1 month

Possibly, I'm not sure. I have spent time in Ghana and Uganda, and in both countries it wasn't really cool to shake or hand people things with your left hand.

gejimayu18 · 1 month

It's prevalent in many parts of Africa as well.

bcaa · 2 months

have you found anyone to take them yet? I have worked with Perfect Pets Rescue in NY state. They pull dogs from Atlanta shelters. Maybe you could shoot them an email to see if they have any interest? Puppies are in short supply in New England, so finding a rescue that works up here might be the best bet.

alizoo · 2 months

This should be up at the top!

shewolfwork · 2 months

This is an excellent corgi synopsis! Had me giggling along.

davidreiss666 · 2 months

Oh crap. Lamu is an amazing place, this seems like a bad, bad idea. Just found this site save lamu that's working to address the issues raised by this.

ISw3arItWasntM3 · 2 months

Great list, some of my faves on there too! Have you tried any Loorie Moore? She's mostly short stories, but they are funny and strange like Karen Russell. Raymond Carver is pretty great too. I agree with thesean333 that Zadie Smith is a good call too.

goodnesgracious · 2 months

This is good advice.

thetanktheory · 2 months

Fantastic! I'm excited to give it a whirl!

atheist_adrift · 3 months

The West End! The Best End!

Madhats19 · 3 months

Good point- there is often a disconnect between aid/donation orgs and those they are "helping." If they are sending the books from outside of Africa, chances are they aren't in a local language as those books would only be produced locally. It looks like all books from Books for Africa are in English. Kids in many parts of Africa are taught English as well as the local language, however, many books from the western world are not well-suited culturally for learners in Africa.

thebeerbabe · 3 months

This is one of my favorite parts of Portland.

alizoo

TROPHY CASE

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