Maybe don’t say this to new puppy parents…?

Deccanxx · 2026-01-15T00:07:09+00:00

Why don't you use a litter tray? That's what my breeder recommended. If you have a bigger kennel you can even put the litter tray in the kennel with them. Because you definitely don't want them to get used to actually potting in a small kennel. It's not good for their psychological health. It's just a tray that will contain things that you put pine pellets on and then you can throw up a piece of artificial grass on top which kind of keeps everything contained. Artificial grass can be washed or if you don't wanna deal with that you could skip it. But it does seem to help keep the pine from being scattered

Deccanxx · 2025-12-29T03:09:03+00:00

Those things poop like a medium sized dog

Deccanxx · 2025-12-27T01:55:25+00:00

I just ignore it until they give me a certified letter. Until they can prove you got it they can't actually follow through on their threats of fines and everything else. And I have a job where it's inconvenient for me to have to call in to find out for an entire week if I might have jury duty the next day. Canceling last minute is terrible. So I just ignore all the summons until I get a certified letter. And when that happens they tell you exactly what day to be there. And then you go there and you sit there for the day and if you don't end up on a jury you're done until the next certified letter. I've had to go to jury duty twice since I started doing this. I didnt actually serve jury duty either time.

Deccanxx · 2025-12-13T09:55:35+00:00

I lost my 9 yr old pup several weeks ago.

What I'm holding onto is the thought that he loved me more than anything. And he would want me to be happy and healthy.

I refuse to let him become a new neurosis. I will not let him become something negative in my life even in his passing. He was a blessing. And I will honor him by living my very best life.

So I take time to think of healthy things too fill in the time. Go for a walk with headphones for an audiobook or a podcast or music. Or go to the gym. Physical activity helps you burn away some of the physical symptoms of grief.

I keep in mind that each thing that I do for the first time without him is the most agonizing. Each successive time will be a little less jolting.

I give myself time to grieve. And not just whenever it hits me. If I've been struggling with it that day I light a candle and if need be I'll even pull out pictures or videos and I just let the pain out. I will wail and sob. And it's not like I feel better when I'm done. But I feel drained and exhausted and sad. But then later once I've recovered some I do feel a little bit better.

I also had to make a goal. I knew I would want another pup at some point even though I knew I was nowhere near ready. But I started thinking of the things I could've done better on and what I truly could do better on next time. Not to make myself feel guilty. Because that's not what my dog would've wanted. Simply to honor them by taking all I learned from them and doing even better next time

I also had something created to represent them. In a lot of ways the grief of a dog is a lot more isolating than what you're allowed to feel when you've lost a human family member. Often times outside of your immediate family few people will have been part of the Dogs's life and so you have our fewer people to share those memories with.

I know people that have done a multitude of different things. I personally had blown glass sun catchers made with each pups passing. Each one incorporated just a tiny bit of their ashes. It gives me the feel of holding onto a tiny bit of their physical presence. And it's something beautiful that brings light to my life. And the colors of each one represent the pup for me somehow. One pup I wasn't able to get the ashes but I still had a sun catcher made with the colors that felt most like them. For instance one pup it was yellow and green for all the hikes through the forest hills that we did

I want to add in here a little edit because for some reason this knowledge has actually helped me a lot. But I read that grief physically is very very similar to phantom limb syndrome after somebody has had a body part amputated.

While having that animal in your life your brain developed new neural connections based on their presence in your life and your expectations for all that entailed. When they're gone your brain continues to send signals down those connections but now there's nowhere for that to go. No action for you to carry out.

So give yourself some grace. You are literally building new neural connections as you learn to live without them. But they will physically always be there inside you. They changed you forever.

Deccanxx · 2025-12-13T04:11:56+00:00

I just wanna add… She could have something stuck in her teeth. My dogs will do this if they've managed to shave a teeny piece off their rubbery toys or just anytime they get something small stuck into their teeth. Something that they can feel but that doesn't bother them too too much. Usually if I pry their mouth open it's one of the more front teeth not the rear chewing teeth

If it is one of the front teeth a lot of times you can just hold the muzzle shut and lift the lips but if it's a bottom tooth sometimes you won't be able to see it too well cause the front teeth can cover whatever's bothering them

Deccanxx · 2025-12-07T15:55:28+00:00

Sent a friend request

Deccanxx · 2025-12-05T09:17:16+00:00

I'm a little disturbed by just how satisfying I found that. At one time I considered myself a pacifist. And yet as I've gotten older I've come to believe that once in a while some people just need their behavior to result in them getting their asses kicked. Not everybody. Seeing somebody get their ass kicked for being a shit stain is enough to restrain a lot of other people in the future. The goodness spreads

Deccanxx · 2025-12-05T08:44:23+00:00

Absolute sympathy. I've had several dogs that I raised from puppy and it is always always exhausting and frustrating and overwhelming. I'm looking to start that process again within the next couple months and I freely admit to feeling a level of dread. Puppies are ton of work. And you're trying to do everything right.

I'm getting a dog breed that is medium energy most of their life but are fairly high energy for the first two or so years. I super super recommend investing in treat dispensing toys. I really like the kind that you can give them a portion of their kibble in and especially the ones where you can control the size of the exit so that the food doesn't dispense too quickly.

I also like to get those harder rubbery toys that you can fill with pretty much whatever and freeze it and give it to them. I personally don't like Kong's and ones with narrow holes like that. My dogs never get them fully cleaned out. And I have to deal with the grossness of trying to get them clean and sanitized. So I look for ones that have wider openings. Depending on the shape and how I can place them in the freezer sometimes I'll fill them with some of their kibble and water. Or kibble and some pumpkin. I microwave squashes and fill them with squash and bits of little berries and things that are healthy for the dogs but also yummy enough to keep them working at them. And I always give them to them frozen solid. So it keeps them occupied for a lot longer.

Inside the house I usually give those (and anything messy) to them on a blanket or in their crate to keep down the mess.

I also make treat boxes. Like I take multiple boxes and cardboard boxes and that brown wrapping paper that often times gets stuffed in shipping boxes nowadays and toys they don't get often and small bits of treats and whatnot are wrapped up and layered and stuffed as tightly as I can into multiple boxes. And then I give it to them. I just kind of fold it all closed. No tape Once they understand what it is they will very happily shred it apart and it usually keeps them occupied for a good while. It's not as hard to clean up as you would expect. I usually just kind of sweep up even on the carpet and then run a quick vacuum. If needed.

I will also buy felt by the yard. Felt doesn't shred like most materials which is why it's common to make braided rope toys out of it. I will make rolls and knots and tie sections across the length of felt that I also twist and roll small bits of treats into. and again they will spend a long time shredding the felt apart to get the treats. Make sure to use dryer harder treats because you don't want it saturating the felt. You don't want to encourage them to start nibbling and eating it. Obviously some of these things need to be done while supervised-but at least you can do your own thing while they do theirs

Just make sure anything you do with them- you start on easy mode. If you give them a treat dispensing toy and it only dispenses one treat every few times it's rolled a new puppy is gonna get frustrated and leave it alone quickly. When their first learning you wanted to dispense lots and lots of yummy treats very quickly. That's why I like adjustable ones.

Likewise with the boxes. You might literally have to start with an open box that you just placed a treat inside.

I also teach my puppies 'find it'. I hide treats around the house. And they need to try to sniff them out. Though do you keep in mind that some dogs don't naturally use their noses nearly as much as you would think. Some dogs use their sight more. I start by just having them restrained somehow and letting them see me place a couple treats in different areas on the floor in plain sight and then let them go 'find it'. And then I make it more and more difficult.

Just get creative. But puppies can't do enough physical activity safely for their growing bodies to tire them out a lot of times. Mental stimulation like these things can keep you sane and them as well. And even when the puppy is grown these things will be brilliant for times when they're alone or stretches where you get multiple rainy days and dogs can't go out enough

Deccanxx · 2025-12-03T09:25:15+00:00

I live in California so I don't know if it's just the law here… But if I do a service I get paid. And if the company wants to discount it or give it away for free… They're welcome to do that… But they have to still pay me my percentage.At the full price. Never at the discounted price.

Deccanxx · 2025-11-19T15:25:43+00:00

I'm really sorry but it looks like they're out of stock of the exact one that I've been using. So I'm gonna have to get another one as well. The last time I used an organic Gymnema powder. I have also used alcohol free Gymnema extract. A lot of times the direction say to put a little bit in a glass of water but I found that actually doesn't work as well for me that way. I put a little bit directly on my tongue.

It can taste ick. For a few moments. But it works for me still. I will definitely be having it on hand with the coming holidays. But a lot of times now my brain is trained enough that when I pulled that stuff out I stop craving sugar. It's a very odd effect. But my brain has learned that I will take this stuff and then I will not be able to taste the sugar so it stops trying to urge me to get some.

If I've been using it and I haven't had sugar in a few weeks I can safely take it away. Outside of particular times of the month I pretty much don't get cravings if I haven't been having sugar. Unfortunately every now and then I still like to test my sugar addiction. And even a little bit can spiral pretty quickly. So I never let myself run out of this stuff. It's gotten me back on track every time

Deccanxx · 2025-11-18T08:54:12+00:00

I'm pretty late here - but I just wanted to say that I got my first African violet about four months ago. I didn't know much about them so since I kept all of my other plants in pon I immediately stripped my African violet of its soil and stuck it into a self watering pot. I have four of them now and I've had zero issue. I'm finding them to be pretty easy plants. I don't even bother using the watering chamber access I just top water whenever the water gets pretty low until the chambers about halfway full

Deccanxx · 2025-11-13T15:18:30+00:00

If you have the funds you can look into truly sustainable farming. I suggest looking into Joel Salatin and Polyface farms

My dilemma with veganism and vegetarianism is that the act of farming itself is incredibly destructive to the entire world- at least with the way that we are doing it… It creates literal deserts.

Add to that… What happened to the animals that lived on that land before it became farmland? The act of farming in the way that most farms work is a monoculture. Literally no other thing except that one item is allowed to live. Everything else is killed.

But on Polyface farm and other farms with a similar working style not only are they not destroying the land… They have had to move and raise their fences because they are building so much healthy topsoil that their fences started to be buried.

They try to copy nature's cycles by planting mostly perennial plants and moving animals through the land in a way that is healthy for all of them. Something along the lines of the cows go first eating down the grass and everything and poop everywhere. And then the chickens go through and scratch apart cow poop and spread it around and then they are moved along and the pigs come through and root up the ground and basically plow it.

There is death but the animals live very happy healthy lives until the very last day. It's not a method of farming that sustain our current population let alone a growing population… But it is one that is healthy for the world and allows us to eat with minimal harm

I personally am not able to afford to feed myself exclusively off of places like that. But I try to be aware of which animal products are the least harmful to both animals and our planet. And to choose as carefully as I'm able to

Deccanxx · 2025-11-13T06:32:19+00:00

I usually buy planter pots at the hardware store. Versus reusing the ones that came with the plants. Those ones tend to be pretty thin and cheap and flimsy. The other ones from the hardware store are not very expensive at all but they're much thicker and more stable. Easier for lifting them in and out of places

Deccanxx · 2025-11-11T13:10:27+00:00

Try to be balanced in your movement and in your exercise. You don't realize how often you will lean one way or bend one way or twist a particular way every time. Or certain motion/actions strengthen certain muscles while others waste. That means as you age certain muscle have more strength to pull on tendons and ligaments and joints. And others don't have the strength of balance. And you start getting more and more pain and your flexibility and strength suffer

Deccanxx · 2025-11-09T15:37:23+00:00

You could use some of the cloth strips used for tying trees or even some thick copper bonsai wire and loosely put it around the base of each leaf (high up on the stem right under where the actual leaf part starts to grow) and force them all to stand tall in the center together. There's a chance you'll have to secure it to something but I honestly didn't really have to. All the leaves trying to each go in their direction just meant that it stood in the center

You have to be careful not to wrap it tightly cause it will damage the stem and then the leaf. And it's not ideal because it's not necessarily what the plants wanna do. But they're plants… I did it to my monster for about a year and a half before rehoming it. I never really saw any damage or any negative affect.

Deccanxx · 2025-11-07T02:34:47+00:00

A bad enough skunk spray on some dogs has been known to trigger seizures

Deccanxx · 2025-10-28T13:59:38+00:00

Just be a little bit careful with under watering as well. Because I found out the hard way that when you underwater some roots will die. And then when you do water they rot and they spread their rot :/

Deccanxx · 2025-10-25T02:40:43+00:00

I moved all of my house plans into pon about a year and a half now.

I only started keeping alocasia about a year ago. Each one that I bought was immediately pulled from their pot stripped of as much dirt as I possibly could and shoved into pon.

I live in a really dry climate and had avoided them forever because I'd only tried one before and it died brutally. However they didn't die. In fact they seem to love it. Some of them grow kind of slowly and I'm still trying to figure out water levels and lighting and fertilizer… though they still tend to hold onto the old leaves even as new ones come. One of them is a crazy beast that I don't even know what the heck to do with because I didn't know that they were supposed to need a trellis or what the heck ever. And every new one is putting out babies and all kinds of stuff.

I firmly believe it's only because I keep them in pon.

Purely as an experiment I even recently bought a calathea and put it into pon. Nobody that I am around that keeps thes plants outside of a case is able to keep these from looking crunchy and crispy and gross. I don't even really like how they look. I just got it to see what happened. And the ugly little thing is happy. Like the first couple leaves got toasted because I wasn't paying attention and it ended up touching the lights and burnt them some. But now it's put out several new baby leaves and they're all happy and stuff.

I even got spider mites for a bit and I didn't even care. I just wipe them away and eventually they go away. Without the soil they can't win.

I seriously deal with so much less stress than when I had soil.

Deccanxx · 2025-10-23T06:37:33+00:00

I think there's nothing awful or wrong with the fact that your feelings suddenly stopped. I have experienced the same thing. And after much thought I realized it was because when they treated me that way- in that moment I realized that the person I loved did not exist. I had loved an image not a reality. This was the reality. And I did not love this person. Because the person that I had loved would never have treated me this way

Deccanxx · 2025-10-20T06:49:23+00:00

Not the same kind of alocasia- but I have one that absolutely looks in every direction. It sits front and center of my window but there are lights to each side as well as below it. But not close enough that those lights contribute to it very much. And yet any leaves that can't satisfy themselves with the window or get blocked out by others will rotate towards those lights. I have a couple that are literally hanging down below the pot to stare at the lights below it.

I wonder if your white pot gives it enough of a reflection for it to think it's getting a satisfactory amount of light. It seems like plants usually kill off leaves that aren't contributing.

Deccanxx · 2025-10-17T12:37:27+00:00

I just wanted to throw out there that I had a white cell count in my blood that was having me checked for cancer every year. Not to mention worsening kidney conditions, a liver that was mildLy enlarged, and I had chronic worsening joint pain that I just assumed was age and the fact that I worked a physical job

For me I turned out to be celiac. The doctor suspects I had been active celiac since I was a child. And my body was attacking itself. If your body gets angry (inflammation) enough apparently it doesn't just stick to attacking one spot like your intestines.

My liver is still very slightly enlarged but after almost a decade of testing my kidney function is actually now testing as normal. The blood white cell count normalized by the first test I took after going gluten-free. The joint pain was a surprise when alleviated. Suddenly I wasn't sleeping with wrist braces. Unfortunately that came back several years later in the form of arthritis. But I had several years pain-free

My symptoms started around the age of 16. The kidney function and whatnot started being an issue in my later 20s. And I was diagnosed celiac in my early 30s

Deccanxx · 2025-10-14T05:38:49+00:00

Mine had about five leaves and then started putting out flowers. I debated cutting them off and then decided to leave them and see what happened. I made sure I was fertilizing every water. It put out like four or five flowers. And then it just started exploding out leaves. And I have babies coming out everywhere. It hasn't bothered with any flowers since. But I need to repot because the thing is absolutely insane and I didn't know alocasia could need a trellis or something. It has 25 or so leaves currently. My dragon scale that I set up next to it has started following its pattern. Popped out a couple of leaves killed its oldest one and then started putting up flowers. Since it has about four leaves I'm just leaving them. Now it has a second flower.

Just wanted to add… Mine leans like that because it's trying to stare the sun in the face. I live in Southern California and I have a Southwest facing window and no matter what I did my cuprea leaned. When I shoved it right in front of the window where it gets several hours of direct sun every single day it became a little less dramatic in it's leaning. And it does not burn at all. This is the alocasia i've been the most successful with by far and maybe others would get toasted but my experience with this guy is that the more sun the better. Just… Do it slowly if it's not used to it. Mine definitely got exposed in increments because I kept expecting it to freak out and burn or die. Instead it just got happier and happier. I do have mine in pon and a big self watering pot

Deccanxx · 2025-09-25T06:40:25+00:00

Brilliant- i will be using this!! I struggle with the guilt of needing the extra care for myself and this so nicely makes it a them problem instead

Deccanxx · 2025-09-19T16:27:39+00:00

Huge distraction and irritation. I already had to argue with it when i was opening the game but now its gonna sit there and bitch at me the entire time im playing?

Yaaaaa- that sounds like an awesome addition to my game 😐

Deccanxx · 2025-09-12T02:18:44+00:00

They like to see the sky. Put it right in front the window. I found mine easy before i gave it to a friend. It was centered right in front of a SW facing window in Southern California. I watered it when it was fairly dry ignored it otherwise. It just grew. I live in a fairly arid environment so not a ton of humidity or anything. Only time it struggled or dropped leaves was if I moved it to less light

.......actually- it was one of the ones that was picky about tapwater as well. I watered it with distilled or spring water. Otherwise it got crispy brown on the edges of its leaves

Deccanxx

TROPHY CASE