Candor Creek

Not actually 4AM - it was 5. AM. It's that bewitching time of year where the temperature drops at night, and we welcome the coolness into our homes along with the smells and sounds of autumn... ...but my sequestering intensifies, as does the temperature in my home, because heat rises and stops in a closed second floor apartment. All windows remain firmly shut as they have since last snow because my body chooses to fight, with ridiculous and dangerous fervor, all of that autumnal welcoming in particular. See that tall spike? That's my worst mold allergen starting to kick in. I was blindsighted by three epi-pens in 36 hours the day after the spike. I have new tools this year. Increasing the H2 blocker (and possibly the H1 blocker) seems to be keeping me on an every-other day steroid schedule instead of a daily regimen, and my array of ice packs help when my body suddenly forgets how to regulate its temperature, which happens a lot more when trying to do things in an...

Among the crates. I use three crates. The first is the black wire drop-pin crate that is a permanent fixture in my home - even if a dog is comfortable loose while I am away. This is treated as a sanctuary, used as a spot to let that den instinct kick in, and my dogs have generally been comfortable going in there to snooze from time to time. It was fully taken apart, scrubbed, and cleaned before Summer came home; while I am sure I didn't get all traces of Storm off of it I wanted to get as much "stressed geriatric" smell off of it as I could. That's important. If you lock your dog in a crate that smells like the built-up panted saliva of a stressed, dementia-suffering geriatric they can smell that and may take cues from it, expecting something terrible to happen to them. The drop-pin construction sucks to put together but it's so much easier to clean fully in this situation. The Workhorse. The second crate is a soft-sided crate with hollow metal tube fr...

Behold: Summer's video premiere. Initially I was going to just post this without explanation on my Facebook and call it a day (I have not been in a writing or, indeed, communicating mood as of late) but I realized that this was an exquisite teaching moment. The video itself is about 15 seconds long, but it packs a lot of lessons into a tiny space. Below I will briefly discuss guarding behavior and the role of this particular exercise and, finally, how the activity can be used to cultivate trust and enhance bond. WARNING: below I will be discussing, but not coaching, an exercise that could be dangerous in certain situations and result in injury to a person if not properly coached or supervised by a behaviorist. What is written below is NOT personalized advice and should not be taken as such. The video above shows me doing an exercise with Summer (my three-year-old rehome, home for nearly two months now) and her favorite plaything. The reason I am making a point of doing it is...

Chillin'. About a month ago, a week after bringing her home, I tried a plug-in pheromone product for Summer with the aim of relieving at least some of her overall anxiety while I walked her through her new home, surroundings, and schedule. After a few days of use I thought I saw some evidence that it was taking the slightest edge off of it but I couldn't say for sure whether it was due to the product or simple passage of time with continued training and support. I left it plugged in and kept notes. The vial was due for a change on Monday. Over the past few days I thought she was getting a little more hypervigilant but, really, it was just subtle stuff that one would only have a hope of seeing if one spent their days with her. Noises on TV or bangs elsewhere in the apartment building started interrupting her rest again, causing her to lift her head in alarm (but not jump as she had at first). Her movement patterns changed slightly. This morning she seemed just slightly ...

Stressed Summer. Laying flat, body tense/quaking. Head lowered more than usual. Quick pant with slightly pulled lips. Base of tail clamped down. Hyper alert with tendency to avoid gaze. Movements quick. For the new folk: before I got sick I was a dog trainer and, most importantly here, a freelance canine behaviorist (B.S. in psychology, graduate studies in both behavior and cognition) for about 14 years. This means that when people were faced with a behavioral issue in their dog - a fear, a bite, a bark - I'd go into their home, assess the situation, help them understand what was going on, and teach them how to fix the problem. I loved it. The best part was knowing that you'd walk in and most likely be putting a family back together. It's a powerful experience. It has been suggested to me that I start writing some of my dog tips out. This is my first attempt in many years. Today is the Fourth of July, so this first post is some quick and dirty information about help...

This is a crappy picture. BUT - After today's doctor appointment and all of the exposures therein I was overheated, sweaty, gross, and reacting - and that state plus the sun and the hot and the sharp in the physical world left me so agitated and overwhelmed that I went straight home with the sole goal of Comfort. Just - I needed the ride to STOP and only have pleasant and softness and coolness and tank tops and fleeces and air conditioning and nothing else but Summer's and my Comforts would matter today. I could do NOTHING else until some basic needs were attended to. So I got home and locked door and Summer out and tank top and AC and cool water and soft background music and fleece half-cocoon and scratch Summer's chest and glasses off and clouds came in and we napped through the afternoon. ...and when I finally roused to the point of actually waking I glanced over to see this. What you are looking at is a Beardie that doesn't like baring her underside laying ...

When I was a kid I used to daydream about what dogs I'd get and what I would name them instead of weddings and such. Storm's naming was an interesting process: a series of happy accidents and coincidences (his rescue story + my lifelong desire to name a dog after a weather-based event + the perfect song for a show name) sort of designed the whole package for me. I went to meet him with a few call names in mind and new exactly what I was going with within five minutes of seeing him. The song I linked has been one of my very favorites since childhood. I do not have the words right now to describe what it does to my brain or my chest when it comes on. I think I might name my next Beardie after it. It's a very Beardie tune, actually. I've got a great call name for a male, but I'm still struggling to find a female call name I like. The obvious is Luna but, my God, I've known so many Lunas. There's the whole MLP thing, too, and just... I dunno. Doesn...