The way I talk to my dog during lockdown shows I've gone mad

[itsnotmeitsu]

Our house is surrounded by construction. The school field that was a home to so much flora and fauna, outside of our windows, is now having 100s of properties being built on. On the other side the neighbour has sold their garden and we have two semi-detached bungalows and eight apartments going up.

Today I found myself saying to my dog (who is an elderly rescue, and terrified of everything), "Don't worry; today I'm going to take you to work with the builders, and you'll see they're your pals, not your enemy" I had no intention of doing that to him, but I do feel like I use him as a sounding board, because real contact isn't allowed these days.

I talk to my dog. And I do her voice talking back to me. Once when I was away with work (remember those days) the kids made me do the dog's voice over a facetime call,because she can't speak without me apparently.

I also greeted a bee at the garden centre - there were loads of people there

A full on "Hello Mr Bee, how are you"?

I reckon I talk to the dogs more than DH

@slashlover > Thanks for responding to that. It's my second assignment on my first module for my desired degree (History and Politics). My problem is that there was only one compulsory module as a foundation course. I got 82% for my first assignment, but this module is art history and that's not something I'm at at all interested in. It's sapping my enthusiasm because I want to do politics, but I'm having to do art at the moment to get there.

@itsnotmeitsu 82% is brilliant. I'm in 4th year of Psychology and had to do Sociology in my first year, I hated it. Some people actually switched their degree to Sociology which I REALLY didn't understand. Once I got onto the optional courses and the actual subject it was much better (although they made us do statistics this year ) and the rubbish first year seems ages ago.

How lovely!

I’m also guilty of chatting away with my 2 Dcats and responding to myself in their “voice” - which is incidentally German for some reason

It’s gotten to the point where DD does it, along with my mum when she comes to visit. Whole family is utterly crackers

Was telling my dog off on the way home from the park the other day , she's white hates water and had rolled in the mud 😂 was telling her she was now going to have to have a shower and we know she hates that !, but look at the state she's got herself in ...passed a workmen he just laughed and smiled at me .
So no your definitely not going mad

@slashlover

I'm struggling with an assigment I need to submit (OU) and thinking, should I drop out of this course, so was distracting myself. People who've posted their madness on here have had a really positive effect on my mood :-)

Don't drop out. If it's October start then you have just over 2 months left, if it's a Feb start then speak to support to see if you can swap. Ask for an extension if you need it.

Ditto.

Or ask your tutor for an extension. They can be more flexible with extensions this year due to Covid etc.

(I'm also an OU student).

That should say just ask not or ask

I need to go to sleep!

[quote slashlover]@itsnotmeitsu 82% is brilliant. I'm in 4th year of Psychology and had to do Sociology in my first year, I hated it. Some people actually switched their degree to Sociology which I REALLY didn't understand. Once I got onto the optional courses and the actual subject it was much better (although they made us do statistics this year ) and the rubbish first year seems ages ago.[/quote]
@slashlover

I'm also studying psychology (2nd year)!

Totally gate crashing the thread here, but how did you find the transition from 2nd year to 3rd year of the course? People have anecdotally said it's harder/more demanding? I'm mostly asking because I'm pregnant with child number 2 and need to decide whether to opt into studying during maternity leave!

@Poppins2016

I didn't think it was too bad but that may have been because I was doing D240 and SDK228 which were the mental health ones (two 30 credit courses which have been replaced this year by D241) which I really enjoyed. Currently doing DE200 and as it has cognitive, developmental, biological and social and I'm only interested in two of those so it seems more of a slog.

You are given less help in things like not being given the assessment handbook, it's all on the site or the EMA one one of the courses was supposed to a quite large, multiple part thing but it got cancelled. As soon as the course opens spend time looking around to see where everything is, there are people on my course who still don't know the weighting of the EMAs. For DE200 we also have compulsory TMAs where you must get 30%, there is a resit and if you fail that then you cannot pass the course.

There are usually facebook groups you can join if you search the module code and join up to studenthublive.open.ac.uk/ as they do tutorials on essay planning, note taking etc which I found helpful. The library also does training/tutorials for things like searching the library and referencing.

Gate-crashing my own thread to say I got in touch with the OU today to withdraw from my module. I went to a technical college (when they existed) because at 16 I'd had far more than enough of school, but didn't feel ready to transition into the adult world of work. I got my OND and at the age of 18 moved from a village that literally consisted of its name, ie village name was also the one and only road name; to work at Whitehall and live in South Kensington.

Several years ago I gained a degree thanks to the OU, so I don't need another one (I'm just being selfish :-)) Back to [my] thread > I also chat to my regular families of pigeons, blackbirds, squirrels and foxes. I do this from my kitchen, as if I appear outside they're all off like a shot. The dog never notices or cares about any of these chats, because they don't involve treats being fed to him. To be fair, as a very successful ex-racer his upbringing was about ignoring any creature that wasn't running around a manufactured circuit.

I'm always shouting to the pigeons, 'Oy, stop clattering your wings at that dove; he thought you were his friend'.

I now have a new addition to my garden families > I spent a while looking through the kitchen window thinking, 'Is that one of our regulars, or is it a new bird we've not had before?' Turned out it was two dead leaves on one of our trees.

Oh, and also, I was watching a BBC4 Storyville this afternoon that I'd recorded yesterday. I kept turning the sound up and down again because I was thinking, 'I missed what you were saying then.' The thing is the whole documentary had subtitles because it was filmed in Chile, and I don't speak Spanish.

Is it not normal to talk to your animals that way?

We have conversations all the time with our two cats.

@Em3978

Is it not normal to talk to your animals that way?

We have conversations all the time with our two cats.

I reckon it's totally normal. My neighbours and I talk to each others cats... and they often hear me talking to my hens, too.

I do this all the time, just assumed it’s normal! However during lockdown I’ve started to talk to the robot hoover like it’s another pet! I don’t always even realise I’m doing it. Things like ‘good girl, looks lovely and clean now’, ‘sorry darling, I’m in your way’ and ‘good morning’ 😆

I think it would be much weirder to not talk to your animals. Cats and dogs especially are social, they communicate with each other, they communicate with us, why on earth would we not talk to them? Imagine a poor dog living in silence with nobody telling them what a handsome good boy they are and asking them if they deserve a treat?

I laughed at myself today, there was a young guy on the other side of the road, walking with a very elderly Lurcher. I love Lurchers, used to have one myself, so I shouted "hello gorgeous" and did a kissy noise.

Thankfully the bloke realised it was the dog I was talking to!

Oh and I also said "oh no, Henry! Are you OK?" when Henry Hoover toppled down the 2 steps in my living room. (he is absolutely fine, didn't even blink, and kept smiling!)

Love this thread!

Recently, I've been asking my little pup,
"Have you said your prayers today?"
😂

btw, OP @itsnotmeitsu
I just want to say sorry that you've lost
all of the flora and fauna around you.
That's terrible.
Any chance you'll be able to move soon?

I talk and even sing (badly) to my cat. Not even proper songs, but silly little made up ditties about how beautiful he is. He's always very attentive to it

I chat to my dog all the time, he’s lovely and he listens, unlike my kids who have an opinion on everything. The cats like a chat too, glad I’m not mad and in very good company

Oh my God if this is a sign of madness I am RAVING MAD. Was singing Bob Marley the other day to one of my dogs as I tended to her dreadlocks (she needs a haircut more than I do), reassuring her that she would be clipped soon, and discussing with her the fact her sister wasn't doing her usual "dunching" for attention at the first sign Polly was getting cuddles...

This thread is so lovely 😊
Yesterday on the dog walk a beautiful shiny raven was sat on a dry stone wall where he often sits strangely.
I said to him, Oh you’re there again are you raven? You’d think you’d have something better to do than spying on us everyday 😂😂😂

When a heron came to our pond awhile back and ate all our lovely fish in one go I was so upset, later he came back for another look, I went out and said to him “ leave heron and never come back” all done in the voice of bloody Gollum from lord of the rings 😂

@EnglesbertsRumpispink > Hello - is it the popstar or the composer? As far as moving; we could move anytime as thankfully we no longer have a mortgage. But just this afternoon I was looking through the kitchen window whilst getting my idiot (dog) his tea and spotted the pigeons and a squirrel scurrying across the grass. One of the pigeons looked particularly large so I called out, 'Are you pregnant?'. Unfortunately I have double-glazing, so it didn't hear me.

Back to the moving thing: We're in a really built-up area but have a property that can't be compared price-wise to other properties. Price doesn't really matter because I want to downsize. But having what was once a school playing field having loads of properties being built on, and on the other side having a neighbour's property having 11 properties being built on, I almost feel an obligation to keep my garden available for my pals > 'Foxes, are you still happy under our decking?; Squirrels, I've put your monkey nuts here; Pigeon - you're a bit overweight - if you're not pregnant go on a diet; 'Raven(s) - you're scaring the other birds/animals; stop it'; 'Mr Bee - Any time a bee has lost a life my heart sinks.'