potate

Hey everyone — let me know if this feels too promotional and I’ll happily take it down.

My partner and I are currently raising and training a future guide dog puppy named Stetson for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB). These dogs are provided at no cost to people who need them — but demand far outpaces supply.

It takes 18–24 months to train a guide dog, and even then, only about half make it through the full program. Once placed, a guide dog works for only 6–8 years before retiring. That means one person might rely on up to ten guide dogs throughout their life.

These dogs are brilliant and unbelievably disciplined. Stetson will only go to the bathroom on command (so his future human knows it's safe and appropriate). When he's wearing his vest, he’s all business — you can drop kibble right in front of him and he won’t flinch. And when we say “head in”, he puts on his vest himself (we just do the buckle).

A really crazy concept is 'intelligent disobedience' - these super well trained dogs need to be able to identify an unsafe command and refuse it. Maybe their human wants to cross at a crosswalk but the dog sees traffic that isn't slowing down. They need to refuse the command to cross and wait until it's safe. That sort of cognition in a dog blows my mind.

Now, I grew up with dogs but was always hopeless at training — Stetson's skills are all thanks to the incredible CNIB trainers (who train us humans on how to train these epic pups). They coach us through everything and cover all of Stetson’s costs. It’s a huge commitment from CNIB, and it adds up fast.

That’s why Stetson (and my partner Christine) are taking part in the 2025 CNIB Pup Crawl. It’s a fundraiser to support this program — and anyone can join in. You can sign up, donate, or even just come cheer on a herd of goofball puppies during two 2.5 km walks happening here in Calgary.

If you are interested in what training a pup is like, ask me anything. If you have a few bucks to spare, please consider supporting CNIB, and if you are interested getting involved - do it - this is an incredible organization and the amount I've learned is wild.

Just got a crate bed from Vagabond Pet Supply - made right here in Alberta.

Stetson, our CNIB guide pup in training hugely approves of the his thick new bed and they even sent along a knotted chew toy made from scraps of material.

I haven't tried it yet, but they also sell enzymatic cleaner in large containers. We have three cats, and a rotating cast of foster cats in addition to our training pup, so we go through the stuff like crazy. I ordered a gallon.

Thanks to Emporia's excellent tools, I have outlets and usb chargers in my house that only work when I'm generating excess solar. I don't need my power banks every day so they get plugged into those outlets.

Oh, and my car. My car only charges as fast as my solar generation permits. I love Emporia.

I've been doing the 'buy Canadian' thing for a few years now. I actually enjoy the game of trying to find cool folks making cool stuff and I know that there are others like me just like there are people who lack the time or inclination to do the research.

I also think it can be tricky for people looking at starting a business to be able to identify a need.

So what's a product you don't know of a Canadian alternative to?

Personally, it's cast iron cookware. Meyer makes great stainless stuff, but there isn't a single foundry making cast iron cookware in Canada. I've actually started emailing a few to see if I can find a Canadian foundry that would be willing to batch produce cast iron skillets. Finding a local brand already doing it would be a LOT easier!

Heads up to cyclists - NF Designs - makers of super nice riding wear is moving production to the US. Their stuff was made in Vancouver until recently - but they just announced that they are moving production. It isn't super clear from their website so I emailed asking if it was EVERYTHING or just select products that would be made in the US and their response sounds like it's everything.

Looks like I need to find a new brand of riding gear!

Hi all - I'm a several-times-a-day Thunder user and really enjoy the app. It's steadily evolving and improving which is awesome to see and I really appreciate the efforts of the dev team.

One thing that I think is missing is the ability to send and respond to DM's. Is that accurate (or am I just incompetent) and if so, is there an accepted alternative for handling DM's?

The federal government just increased support for individuals with major disabilities by $200/month. Smith and the UCP are clawing it back by reducing AISH by the same amount.

I've volunteered with folks on AISH - they aren't getting by. They have to beg and plead for the basic supports to live life with the hand they were dealt. The UCP thinks they can do this because most of us don't have a close friend or family member who depends on AISH.

We need to prove them wrong.

A public inquiry seems pretty justified given the magnitude of the financials involved...

I haven't done adequate due diligence yet - could be inaccurate

I came across this article alleging that Germany is considering bailing on the F-35 aircraft because the US can remotely disable them.

If the US could do this to German F-35s, presumably they can do it to ours....

Additional reporting alleging concern in Canadian defence circles