Trish > Recent Status Updates

Knowing the dogs they are talking about in various chapters as examples of the concepts they are explaining in this book is pretty cool. :D

I personally met them all but only had contact with four directly (they own 21, one is a Jack Russel, the others are all GSDs). The one I had most contact with, though, was BA (who is the pack leader so to speak). It helps giving the explanations another dimension.

A wealth of knowledge here from two people who have been living and working with dogs for a long time ... and yet I find myself disagreeing a time or two. Not regarding the basics, but the devil is in the details.

*lol* I just realized this was published in 2018/2019 already! How did I miss it? How I noticed? I checked the pub date because I thought it weird that in a book written / published in 2025 (I assumed), there is a scene where an iPhone had to be put into a plastic bag to protect it from water. More fool me.

I always love the beginning of these when the shit hits the fan and terrible people get their comeuppance.

Definitely a different book from the first. I like that we get the perspective of both authors separately - they think alike and yet have different takes on the single topics.

🇺🇸🥳 HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!! 🇺🇸🥳





Prepare for a photo dump of the best and most impressive installations and performances on this very special birthday. :D

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The heat here has been almost unbearable for the past 2 weeks so there hasn't been a lot of hiking. Today, I tried to escape the heat by going to the largest waterfalls in Germany: the Triberger Wasserfälle. Here are some impressions:





More pictures and videos below.

Lots of stories about previous and current dogs and less about the owner now. I don't mind either way because they are all very interesting. :)

The pictures were really nice, too! Lots of impressions from the long hike they went on, and a few others (like from his dog food business).

Y'all, IT'S HAPPENING! I'm gonna be a dog mom!!! 🥳🥳🥳






Meet Nero. He'll move in on July 11th. I can't wait!

The hike has started now.
Funny, how even a dog trainer like Mario Jessat had to teach his dogs a thing or two before he could actually go on the hike.

He mentions a documentary shot about the hike and the historic significance of his dogs' breed as well as of the route they're taking - I saw that documentary and liked it very much. You can still find it on Youtube too (only in German though).

Interesting how this book is written 100% how imagine Mario Jessat talks. It makes him jump back and forth (past and present) relatively often, connecting annecdotes from different times in his life, but this (amongst other things) gives he whole story a very distinct charm.

I expected something from this title.

So far, it's practically a biography with a heavy dose of self-aggrandizement. Sure, some books from all kinds of genres are mentioned, but only in reference to the author.

No mention on the psychology of storytelling; no mention of differences amongst nations / cultures; no mention of what might be done to facilitate or encourage reading in young and old people.

More bullshit. This time about her dog, a working line US German Shepherd. It's simply not true that they are not recommended for first-time dog owners. Yes, you need to be well prepared and can't not train them but that is true for any dog, even though people don't wanna admit it. The puppy phase she's describing is also standard for most breeds. But this way, it sounds more "badass", I guess. *rolls eyes*

...

So let me get this straight: she walks on trails in bear country with no bear spray but when a kind woman gives her a can (as a gift), she makes a sarcastic remark about it having expired, despite that stuff not REALLY expiring and it being better than nothing. I can't even with this person!

The amount of wrongful statements in this book is staggering!

There are bears and wolves all over Europe, even in the western countries like Italy, Germany etc (the author claimed the Carpathians were the home of the last of these animals in Europe).

Sooo ... at first her family doesn't understand her and it's all a VERY big deal but all of a sudden, without another word on it, she spends the remainder of the pandemic with them like it was a matter of course, instead making ANOTHER big deal of leaving the Catholic Church after never having mentioned religion before?! Oh but it's all so she can tie it back to her former marriage. Riiiight. 🙄

This "woman" ... I swear (literally)!

Now she's trying to make the point that women only shave for men. Honey, I got news for you: some of us do NOT think of men 100% of the time and we just like hygiene. I'm also the one deciding whether I want to brush my hair or not, and I DO like washing, thank you VERY much. That, too, is freedom / emancipation. Maybe she should have tried THAT.

What is getting to ...

If she doesn't stop calling misogynistic places "conservative", I'm gonna scream!

Yes, if you go certain places, you know what you're getting yourself into - especially as a woman traveling solo. The landscapes can still be breathtaking etc, but making excuses while constantly being on a guilt trip for being European is not just ridiculous but misogynistic in and of itself, ironically enough!

And oh, the irony ...

Urgh!

Now white/western guilt. The accusations of a guy the author met were mostly factually incorrect, by the way. Not to mention how the author downplays serious issues in favor of flat platitudes.

I'm THIS close to abandoning the book.

I don't know what annoys me more: the "love" affair or how naive she is - in places like Pakistan at that! And let me tell you: I'm so over her styling herself as this awesome feminist breaking ground for female travelers and whatnot while also making horrible excuses for women-oppressing regimes / cultures!

Hopefully, we'll move away from that corner of the world and soon!

Uhm ... as a girl / woman, you're not able to have male role models?! WTF kinda bullshit is this?

I actually DO have male role models and never had a problem with identifying with them - because it's not about their gender but their deeds!

Probably some sales gimmick in order to give this book an even more feminist touch so it sells better. *rolls eyes* Feels forced and sounds ridiculous if you ask me.

Three chapters in and ... well ... I'm here for the adventure and not the adventurer. I knew that going in after watching a number of her YouTube videos, but these first chapters really brought the idea home.

You see, it's one thing to succumb to this stupid sociatal dream of what success and happiness look like, it's another entirely to talk about mememememe when there is another, innocent, person you're hurting.

Sir David Attenborough turns 100 today! In his honor, yet another species (this time a wasp) was named after him (he has about 50 organisms, some buildings and boats named after him already).




All over the world, ...

I never understood why, in almost every movie / book / show, humans take samples from an unknown planet TO THEIR SHIPS. Seems irresponsible or maybe just incredibly arrogant. Here, exactly this behavior is punished. 😈

This is deliciously creepy. *shudders*





The connections to the other part(s) are more obvious now but I'm waiting for the big "conflict" / resolution.

I already welcomed Spring *here* but I thought this warranted another general status update.






Since today was warm enough to sit outside, ...

Wow, I made really good progress today!

We are jumping between three timelines, but there is a really good point to it (I have my theories but can't wait for it all to come together more). :D

Some of the "tech" is really ... alien, for the lack of a better word. *lol* I'm loving it.

Once again, the author's writing is immediately sucking me in like a black hole.

But I'd LOVE to listen to Adrian Tchaikovsky and Dennis E. Taylor discussing the difference between AI and a human mind being uploaded / digitalized. *snickers* Reading about Kern from this author's point of view so shortly after reading one of the Bobiverse books is very meta. ;D

I had forgotten how much I loathed Bridet's children! One is a veritable menace full of entitlement and idiocy while the other two are too scared of the first one to speak up - URGH!

It's one thing to be of a different opinion but quite another to style oneself a tyrant who gives out orders to their own mother! Not to mention that she's wholly uninformed and simply has no right! *gnashes teeth*

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Ah, the series is like crack again. :D

I wanted to read one volume per month, but then #2 was late and so I'm reading #2 and #3 back-to-back.

One of my favorite quotes:
Clothes shopping. Even death apparently wasn't an escape.