Cats scratch things. Itâs part of being a cat â if people donât want a
cat that acts like a cat, they shouldnât get a cat. Unfortunately for
many a feline, however, humans get cats and then have their claws
removed so that they canât scratch things. And then the humans donât
understand why their cat is grumpy and bites them and doesnât use the
litter box.
Now a new study
sheds a bit of light on the situation. The research, published in the
Journal of Feline Medicine and Surgery, found that the poor cats who are
subjected to declawing surgery (onychectomy) are at significantly
increased risk of long-term or persistent pain; which can lead to a
number of unwanted behaviorsâŚ
Iâve been working on art about my dog that passed away these last couple of months for my personal project in Art school. This is something very personal and dear to me, and to be honest, Iâm very proud of what Iâve achieved..
Today I had my âGreen Lightâ presentation to see if I may graduate with my work for so far. We have crappy presentation facilities but I tried my best to make something decent..(If you have any tips on how to show my ceramics, please pm me!)
I passed, but it still left me with a bad feeling, like all the presentations in all these years in Artschool do..I feel like I can never please the teachers with my art as they rarely have anything nice to say..but maybe I get overly emotional when they say something negativeâŚanyway..it makes me feel kinda worthless..
Iâm in my last year and Iâm seriously so done and wish to be graduated soon and make all the art that I want to make and not care about what teachers thinkâŚ
If it makes you feel any better at least 40% of all art teachers have the taste of a DMV retiree with astigmatism
These are really precious. I think the ceramic one showing the dog throughout its life journey is really neat.
Usually adolescent, hyper, over-excitable and active dogs are the dogs that are exercised the most because they are the most difficult to live with. Â The common thought is that the dog is super active/hyper/energetic and needs more exercise to release this energy and help âcalm them downâ. Â When in fact what usually happens is huge dumps of adrenaline the more you exercise your dog which will in turn make your dogâs mental state more chaotic. Â Why? Because most dogs that behave in this manner in the first place are already mentally chaotic and need more relaxation and calming exercises not adrenaline-inducing ones.
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Let me say again, Iâm not advocating that you burn your leashes and stop your hiking trips on the weekends. Â However, Iâm saying that you can relax, and should! If you donât feel like walking the dog today, donât. Â Sheâll be ok. If you just donât have the energy to get out and have your dog run back and forth and back and forth for the ball, then donât.
Dogs get far too little training and far too few brain activities. Â Lack of exercise isnât the problem Iâm encountering with dogs that I work with. Â It hasnât been the problem in 18 years of working with dogs. The problem is lack of proper balance between mental and physical stimulation.
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Herein lies the problem. Overarousal. High energy and high drive dogs that are usually over-exercised physically or under stimulated mentally, or both, tend to be the hardest dogs to live with. Why? Because owners are doing what they thought they shouldâexercising the dog every day, sometimes for long periods. Â But what are they not doing? Owners are not teaching their dog to relax, chill and keep his arousal levels in check. They are also not providing some or all of the following: brain activities, training, rules, boundaries and/or consistency with most of or any of those things.
Dogs with high arousal levels will manifest their lack of ability to do nothing into behaviors that are usually very annoying to live with. This is often a dog that cannot relax or lie down peacefully for more than 10 minutes, or a dog that barks incessantly, or a dog that drops the ball at your feet every 5 minutes, or a dog that paces or whines for seemingly no reason, or a dog that is a very destructive chewer, or a dog that is reactive on-leash towards other dogs and/or people ⌠there are many, many, many behaviors that manifest out of over arousal.  These dogsâ arousal levels become so out-of-whack that they manifest into stress, the not-so-good kind, and you have a dog that is difficult to deal with in one way or another.  Many times these are the dogs that fill the shelters.
Posting this for realsies now that I am no longer on mobile. I like the nuance with which this author approaches the subject of âSUPER INTENSE UNSTOPPABLE REQUIRES DAILY FIFTY MILE HIKESâ dogs. As she says at a different point in this article, genetics are the key factor in what a dogâs natural arousal levels will be, but we as owners and trainers need to find the most effective and constructive channels in which to focus dogsâ energy. Those who brag about having dogs SO drivey that they just will not stop have either 1. have a poorly-bred dog or 2. created a monster, and those who are interested in drivey breeds will need to be aware of how easy it can be to create one of those monsters. Poor quality stimulation can be just as bad as too little stimulation when it comes to fostering undesired behaviors and an unhappy dog.Â
I actually really like this article, and feel it applies to many many MANY dogs. I think a lot of people create their own monsters.
An exception that does come to mind is sighthounds who have been bred for 5000+ years to hunt all day. You donât see it in every litter or every puppy within a litter, but when you do see it⌠donât ignore it. Donât deny that dog the exercise they need. (Seren gets 10-15 miles a day. As long as she gets that, she actually chills out the rest of the day and is a perfect pet. Sheâs been that way since she was a wee baby puppy. The only creator of that is her ancestry.)
Theyâve made a text version of that handy video with the cute graphics:
If In Doubt, Add Some Space
Your
puppy doesnât have to be right in the middle of something to have a
positive socialisation experience. If youâre ever worried that a
situation may be too much for your puppy, move further away and give
them a chance to acclimatise.
A
good example of this is socialising puppies to traffic. For many dogs,
standing right next to a busy road with all the large, noisy cars can be
very frightening. Avoid busy roads at first, starting somewhere like a
park where you can walk along away from the road. As your puppyâs
confidence improves, you can try coming closer and closer
What Should I Socialise To?
There are six main categories of things that you should socialise your puppy to:
This looks like a really good intro, but it doesnât touch on a couple of important things, so Iâll add them.Â
Small amounts of very positive socialization are much better for dogs than lots of marginal experiences. Itâs tempting to try to expose your puppy to every possible thing as fast as you can, but that risks setting them up for unpleasant experiences, situations you canât control, or just straight up overloading them. Pick a couple things and do them right. This is especially crucial for dog-dog socialization when youâve got a breed that is genetically prone to reactivity or aggression because all of their experiences absolutely have to be positive ones. @molosseraptor has some great posts on picking the right dogs to socialize your pup with.Â
Fear periods change socialization rules. Dogs have two fear periods – one predictably at 8-10 weeks and one later in adolescence, somewhere after about six months of age. These periods are when dogs would be gaining independence and it becomes super important for survival to learn what is dangerous and what isnât. During these periods dogs are prone to single-event learning, which means you have to be really careful not to set your dogs up for bad experiences because they might shape their behavior for the rest of their lives. Fear periods are a good time to back off on active socialization attempts and work on keeping your puppy happy and comfortably engaged with things it is already used to. (Hereâs a link to a great article on fear periods).Â
If you allow your dog to run loose, in a designated on-leash area, youâre making a choice that could profoundly impact the lives of those around you.
â
Leash laws are not optional.
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If you think itâs oppressive, being required to use a leash: itâs not. Â If you think youâre the exception to the leash law, because your dog is friendly: youâre not. This is bigger than you and your dog.
PiraticOctopus 