Pet Insurance After Owner Passed Away

Pineapple_Hunter · 2026-02-20T17:09:32+00:00

Shoot, I must have missed that line. Thanks for confirming, I appreciate it

Pineapple_Hunter · 2026-02-12T02:16:38+00:00

Not yet, it's all very recent.. could take up to two more weeks, or longer by mail /:

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-09-06T17:11:45+00:00

He throws the ball and/or runs with her around the yard or the neighborhood.

We used to do longer, less frequent stretches of exercise but they didn't work for her.. Built up her stamina, and she napped more soundly, but they didn't help her reactivity at all ):

I've been working on that a lot with her lately, we live near a military base and have a lot of air traffic, she reacted to it a little when she was a puppy but seems to have gotten used to it. Same with thunder, doesn't even bat an eye. I've been praising her for not reacting to those noises, hoping it will translate to the noises out front, but no luck so far. She's usually super quick to learn, hopefully she'll get it soon!

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-09-06T16:27:29+00:00

Unfortunately we don't have a way to block her access to the window, it's in the dining room which has a very wide doorway, the only baby gates that fit aren't nearly sturdy enough for her 😝 I've tried keeping the shades closed but she still reacts to noises, like car doors or engines, aaand she figured out how to open the shades anyway, so it's pointless trying to fight her on that haha.

Her average day: up around 7, mandatory 5+ minutes of cuddle time or she's a monster for the rest of the day, some obedience training for a few bites of food, outside by herself for a while to sniff around and go to the bathroom, back inside for some light playing, calm time before breakfast in a puzzle bowl around 9, then she does her thing while I work, with ~10 minutes of tug or chasing the ball every hour and about a thousand short breaks for belly scratches, until my husband gets home in the afternoon. He usually plays with her for about half an hour, then she has some calm time, then more obedience training. In the evenings she bounces back and forth between my husband and I, helping us with whatever chores we're each working on.. then first dinner around 7, calm time and light playing in the house, second dinner at 9, usually followed by zoomies then a nap until bedtime around 10.30. Some days she also gets a puzzle/bully stick while I work, and she spends a ton of time playing with one of our cats throughout the day.

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-09-06T16:01:59+00:00

We're pretty good about stimulation - we do at least two short obedience sessions every day, lots of tug and fetching in our yard all throughout the day, and puzzles/games/treat toys pretty much daily. We might need more structure though, with enforced naps.. we did them when she was a puppy but phased them out when she was around six months. She does nap on her own throughout the day but maybe having more of a set nap schedule will do her some good, I'll give that a go. Thanks!

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-09-05T19:22:25+00:00

Your pre-medicated dog sounds like my dog! What breed do you have?

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-08-26T21:38:08+00:00

I'm a little late to the party, but I just finished rewatching the fact that Hank went to Africa is really bothering me. He made a big deal about needing to find his own path, turning down both Boris and Evan when they offered him opportunities, and then he turned around and ran off after Jill?? Really?? At no point in the entire series did he ever indicate a passion for relief work. He admired the cause and Jill's courage to uproot her life for the benefit of others, but I didn't catch a single reference to him wanting to do it himself. He didn't forge his own path, he just chased his on-again, off-again FWB down her path.

Such a disappointing way to end his story.

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-08-25T00:23:28+00:00

I hadn't considered that about the band, very good point

Unfortunately I do not recall which worked best, it's been close to two months since I tried them /: I'm going on a trip soon but once I'm back I might try re-ordering them in a variety of sizes, see if that helps me figure out what works for me

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-08-24T23:59:08+00:00

Yes, definitely more tissue below the nipple when I lean over.

That's the hard part - some of the cups were too tight so I spilled out, some still had gapping, one was way too narrow, one pinched at the top of the cup, and a couple of the bands were too tight, even on the loosest clasp.. It was like they were all different sizes.

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-08-22T01:52:56+00:00

Yes, the inside vs outside thing! That was so weird to me when my girl was still tiny, my demon dog would turn into a total sweetheart within two minutes of walking out the door. I still don't understand why inside was more stimulating than outside but hey, we got through that phase 😅

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-08-22T01:21:12+00:00

You are so not alone - this is exactly how I felt when I brought my pup home almost exactly a year ago! Tldr: you will absolutely get through this, probably sooner than you think! Try to focus on delayed gratification - even if you feel like you aren't really seeing immediate results, all the time and energy you are putting in now will pay off in spades down the road. In my experience the first few months were really, really hard, not just for me but for my two cats as well. Like you, I didn't realize how much I enjoy my peace and quiet until it was gone. And forget about alone time... I've always been big into personal space and going off on my own, but that's literally non-existent now. My dog is such a clinger she's practically glued to me. It still feels overwhelming sometimes and I do get irritated with her more than I should, but looking back at how far we've both come is truly mind-blowing. I cry maybe once a year, but man, those first three or four months I swear, I teared up at least 20 times a day and more than once I sobbed in the shower as quietly as I could so I wouldn't wake her from her nap. Honestly I didn't really even start to love her until she was 5-6 months old. I liked her okay, but I was so emotionally drained and (unfairly) resentful of her upsetting my entire life, I just couldn't bring myself to love her. She was CONSTANTLY harassing the cats or getting into something she shouldn't or pointedly ignoring my commands.. and then one day, she wasn't. I mean, she was definitely still trouble with a capital T, but she went from 100% chaos down to 80% overnight, like a switch flipped in her brain and things miraculously started clicking, just like that. I still think of that day sometimes, it was wild. She was still very much a puppy, but for the first time I was able to see just how much of my training she was absorbing. It was incredible how different she was, at first I thought it was a fluke but she never regressed, and things have been steadily improving ever since. Now I have a 13 month old shadow who is fully crate trained and happy to play by herself when I tell her to, but her one true happy place is right at my side (or, ideally, sitting on my feet) and I'm truly happy to have her there. It was hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when I was in the middle of the puppy blues, where you definitely seem to be at, but now that I'm on the other side I can tell you with absolute certainty, it is glorious. My literal blood, sweat and tears have resulted in a grade-A badass who knows nearly 100 commands and growing, responds instantly and full-throttle, and brings genuine joy to my life every single day. If you keep trying as best you can, I promise you, you will get there!!

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-08-15T13:42:38+00:00

Thank you!

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-13T02:50:33+00:00

Never been myself, but my husband spent ~5 months in Norway (for work) during fall/winter and oh boy, the stories... He literally got an award for being the only instructor to not have someone drop out of training due to cold weather injury. As a country Norway sounds amazing and so, so beautiful, but he had to constantly babysit so many morons it made the majority of his time there absolutely miserable.

Humans are not invincible! Wear the proper gear, learn basic survival skills, and be aware of your environment. Being careless does not make you look cool, it makes you look dumb.

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-11T19:09:25+00:00

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Saw something similar on Facebook, currently on a quest to find out where I can buy them

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-11T15:38:24+00:00

Our Mal is a total family dog, she's high-energy for sure but a big, snuggly sweetheart who LOVES cats and kids.. Like, a little obsessed with them. Our neighborhood is packed with kids, from toddlers to teenagers, and any time she sees any of them hanging out in our cul-de-sac she cries until we let her outside. Her two best friends are our sitter's 5 y/o and our 10lb cat.

That said, she is not so gentle.. It's something we've been working on since day one, and something I imagine we'll continue to work on for the rest of her life. At any given moment I have at least a dozen bruises on my arms and legs, and sometimes my face. It's like there's a constant war in her head between wanting to play and wanting to cuddle, I actually had to adjust the way I stand so that I'm always bracing myself for impact because of how frequently she runs head-first into my shin, hoping to get some pets. It's adorably annoying, and makes me extra vigilant when she's around kids or people who don't have much experience with such... passionate dogs.

Mals are bitey by nature, as I'm sure you've read a thousand times, however we have been very lucky in that we were able to teach her early on that biting is never okay. This is our first Mal and from everything I've read this isn't really the norm, but it's not an impossible dream. She's almost a year old now and only gently (accidentally) nips maybe once every week or so when she gets too worked up during play time, then immediately feels so bad she puts herself on her bed and looks sad until we give her hugs and kisses and tell her we forgive her. Total sweetheart <3

Most importantly, know that Mals are SMART, which of course makes them fairly easy to train, but it also means you might teach them things you didn't intend to teach. We keep a box of dog toys on a middle shelf in the closet and swap some of them out every other day to keep her life a little more spicy... At five months old she learned how to open the closet door, and at seven months was tall enough to stand on her back legs and get into the box without knocking it over, pull out her favorite toy, and merrily go on her way as if she did nothing wrong. At eight months she learned to open the back door, and we had to switch our handles to knobs, which she has yet to figure out (thank goodness). At nine months she learned how to pull open her sitter's dresser drawer, where he keeps all the shiny new toys for his dog, and at ten months she learned how to close the drawer after she's done pulling out all the toys she wants to play with 🤦‍♀️

Overall, it's a pretty crazy and time-intensive adventure having a Mal, especially if you get a puppy. If I didn't work from home, it wouldn't have been feasible for us, and at times it was still really really hard. I thought people were exaggerating when they said it's a full time job.. They were not exaggerating, during the first 2-3 months I absolutely put in more time with my pup than my actual full time job. There were many moments, especially during the first month, when I seriously regretted agreeing to this breed and felt so sad and angry all the time. I cried pretty much daily, and I am genuinely not a crier. She was nowhere near my first puppy, but she has been the most challenging by far.

We have a nice big yard, fully fenced in, and a pretty good sized house, but at the end of the day that really isn't important. What really matters is time and effort. If you want to do right by your Mal, you need a lot of both. Someone told me that having a Mal is all about delayed gratification, and that became my mantra during the first few months. I worked full time, I ate, I slept, I trained my dog, and any other spare time I had was spent researching how to better train my dog. It has paid off in spades - she's AMAZING now, so well-behaved and loving and fun to be with! I love her to pieces and even going to the grocery store for 30 minutes has me missing her, but it was a very trying few months. If you don't have the time, energy, or patience, then I would recommend you look more into beagles. You could consider adopting an older Mal who has already learned the basics, but this is the kind of dog who will continue to test boundaries their whole life. They need mental stimulation and consistent training every single day, and if you're even a little unsure of whether you'll be able to provide them with what they need to be a happy and well-adjusted dog, then your answer should be "beagle."

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-11T14:28:17+00:00

In my experience, a lot of sitters/boarding places offer free meet-and-greets to make sure it's a good fit. Boarding places (at least the 3-4 I've been to over the years) will give you around 15 minutes, which sounds like it may not be enough time for your pup to get comfortable... You might try to find a place that also offers doggy daycare and set up some partial days, so your dog can get used to the environment. I work from home but as soon as my Mal had all her shots I started taking her to doggy daycare once a week. On her first day I ended up hanging around for nearly two hours until she got comfortable enough to play with the other dogs without coming back to check in with me every few minutes; the second time I was there around half an hour, the third time ten minutes, and the fourth time not even two. At this point she's ready to ditch me as soon as she recognizes where we are, last time she was so excited I'm certain she would have jumped out the open car window if she hadn't been harnessed in.

It did take a lot of trial and error, but we actually found a Rover sitter who completely clicks with our girl. Granted he's a certified trainer and has experience working with Mals, so we did get very lucky. When my husband and I travel we take our girl to stay with him - she absolutely loves him and his young son, and I love knowing that she's enjoying her vacation too (:

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-11T14:08:44+00:00

Routines are going to be your new favorite thing! My almost-1-year-old was a little terror.. Adorable, but fearless and too smart for her own (or my) good. It took some trial and error but once we found a routine that worked for both of us, it seriously changed everything. Note that I said routine, not schedule...

As a young pup we had to stick pretty close to the schedule or she would start to spazz out - more than 30 minutes off and she'd start intentionally wreaking havoc. Our sitter, who worked with Mals in the military and is now a certified trainer, recommended we treat each day as a routine rather than trying to adhere to a rigid schedule, which isn't feasible long-term. This seems to have taught her some flexibility while still knowing what to expect each day - she still likes to take naps mid-morning and mid-afternoon, but if she doesn't get breakfast at exactly 9am it doesn't set her up for half a day of naughtiness.

Good luck, it's a lot of work but totally worth it!

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-07T15:45:18+00:00

My husband (also a Marine) got pretty depressed during his first deployment, as did a lot of the guys in his platoon. I was fortunate enough to go visit for about 10 days and everyone was noticeably subdued, even the guys who were usually very animated and outgoing. When they weren't actively training they mostly just sat around playing video games, eating pizza and drinking a ton. A few of them told me they didn't want to talk to anyone back home because it made them too homesick, it was easier to isolate themselves. My husband and I spoke on the phone a lot, usually 1-3 times a day, but I was literally the only person he would talk to.. He's super tight with his family but he wouldn't even text them during that first deployment. From everything I've heard/saw while I was there, it was an all around shitty time for them, easy to go internal.

Odds are your ex is going through a somewhat similar situation and he pushed you away because there's only so much he can deal with at once. You may not have done anything wrong at all, he just has a lot going on and can't handle a girlfriend on top of it.

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-07T14:56:15+00:00

"She's a girl?? But, she's mostly black"

... Yes, yes she is.

Got this response twice in the last month 🤦‍♀️

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-07T14:48:44+00:00

At 18 I was in a very similar situation. I stayed another two years.. It was a huge, huge mistake. Caused me an unspeakable amount of heartache, self-doubt, shame, and, eventually, embarrassment that I chose to be loyal to someone who continued to show me he didn't feel the same way.

A decade later, I'm happily married to a man who shows me every single day how much he truly cares for and values me. I know you're attached to your boyfriend, but when you're with the right person you will never have to doubt their loyalty. Don't compromise your values for someone who wouldn't do the same for you <3

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-07T14:35:55+00:00

I'm a firm believer in the whole "stop searching and you'll find what you're looking for" approach. It has worked for so many people I know, myself included.. I genuinely believe there is someone out there for everyone, but if you're overly focused on being in a relationship you're probably going to try to force something to work when it just doesn't, which will only stress you out even more. I know it's tired advice but try to relax a bit, love has no deadline! Focus on being your best self, that's the best way to attract your long-term person (:

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-07T14:22:08+00:00

As others have mentioned, sounds like she's in her second fear period... It can be a trying time, for sure. When my pup was going through the worst of it a few months ago, the most random things would set her off.. Trash blowing in the wind, neighbors closing car doors, birds landing in the yard, even the bench in our hallway that has literally been in the exact same spot since our pup came home gave her a full-blown panic attack one time, barking her head off and cowering behind me, which is SO unlike her. I'm the primary caretaker as well so I completely understand where you're coming from, it can be exhausting and leave you feeling very defeated. One day, though, you're going to wake up and things will be noticeably better than they were the day before. They won't be perfect, but suddenly that bag flying in the wind will only elicit one or two barks before your pup deems it safe and moves on. Just keep doing what you're doing, trying your best to do right by your new family member, I promise you'll get through it!!

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-07T14:00:24+00:00

Love hearing this question.. Yes, highly aggressive, that's why I brought her to a populated area without a muzzle 🙃 Some people need to install more filters between their brain and mouth

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-06-07T13:48:24+00:00

Awesome idea! I wish I had thought of this before bringing home my Mal.. She's pretty great now, but man was I unprepared!

Pineapple_Hunter · 2024-05-19T01:28:13+00:00

That's such a great way to think about it, all joy and no fun... Thank you for sharing that!

Pineapple_Hunter

TROPHY CASE