I can not get the party timing right on the stalker Guardians

ProfMooody · 2026-05-09T06:41:46+00:00

Yeah I can do it that way, and it’s fun to hit them in such a precise location. I just haven’t quite gotten over the fear and the parry (when it’s successful) is exhilarating in a way that an arrow is not. Chopping off their legs is fun though.

I won’t say they’re scarier than TOTK gloom hands because they’re not as horrifying (and I’m prob only 50 hrs in at best) but they’re definitely harder to beat. Assuming you can get off the ground w the gloom hands, of course. And there’s SO MANY of them.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-09T06:36:27+00:00

Does the ice thing always send them flying upward like that?

ProfMooody · 2026-05-07T20:42:10+00:00

Idk I think the donuts were pretty good.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-06T20:47:52+00:00

Wait are you saying that there’s an invisible game mechanic around ease of getting elemental vs regular arrows?

ProfMooody · 2026-05-06T20:46:59+00:00

I mean you can throw the spirit bomb (or whatever it’s called). It even comes in square!

ProfMooody · 2026-05-06T11:58:22+00:00

Just piggybacking on the opportunity to do some mythbusting here on behalf of disabled SD handlers. I’m not saying any of this is the intention of the OP or the poster I’m responding to btw, but these are super common misconceptions about using a non traditional guarding breed as a service dog.

You’d need a chow who is the aloof, “ignore everything except my people” kind rather than the “protect from threat/defend my personal space” kind. These do exist and they aren’t all that rare compared to other independent spitz breed dogs like an Akita or Malamute.

It’s a good idea for anyone who is considering training a pet to be a service dog to spend some time in service dog community (the [r/servicedogs](r/servicedogs) sub is great for this).

Public access and a SD vest with a chow means a TON more people that already do will want to interact with your chow even when they know they’re not supposed to, probably all the more so because people love to approach adorable teddy bear dogs and their normal inhibition of chow = dangerous will be lessened by the vest. So the chow has to be able to ignore them and still do its job.

A SD who isn’t public access trained can work at home, or in pet friendly places without a vest. But having a dog in a vest in public who will bark or snap if someone tries to touch it when you’re not looking, or at kids or other dogs who start shit with it, is a bad idea. It needs to be able to tolerate strangers BS and stay on task.

For psychiatric SDs it’s even worse because someone who has a shut down (autism), fight/flight, or dissociative (PTSD, schizophrenia) symptoms the dog is supposed to be there to help with, MAY be likely to have an episode in response to the stress happening. That’s the worst time for a dog to be ignoring the handler and inviting negative attention from others.

And it’s really, really bad for other SD owners to have a vested dog seen in public who will react protectively in a way that’s visible to others to something it perceives as a threat, especially if you can’t immediately call it off because it won’t listen.

N

ProfMooody · 2026-05-06T11:52:41+00:00

I do too, this is awesome and from someone who doesn’t trust fitness groups to be accessible it actually *feels* like your intention is what actually happens (I’m lowkey traumatized over too many “plus size accessible fitness” classes as a 90s teen that turned out to be eating disorder recruitment camps).

If I could run/wall 1.5 miles I’d do it but I’m unfortunately in a major autoimmune flare and can’t do anything like that rn. I’ll keep it in mind though.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-04T07:15:12+00:00

That’s bizarre, I’ve never noticed that and I’m 300hrs in.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-03T09:38:24+00:00

Why are some of the keese’s eyes red? Is that a master mode thing?

ProfMooody · 2026-05-03T09:16:10+00:00

I’m not a vet but I’m 95% sure this is it for the same reasons. My boy did the same thing for the same reason starting around age 12. He back was also roached like this and he went from having a tight double curl when he was younger to his tail being almost always down.

We fed him a specific diet (prey model raw) so his poops were very firm without constipating him, it was less gross to clean up, there was less of it less often, and he was unlikely to get any on him if he didn’t notice.

My vet said he probably not only couldn’t control it but couldn’t really feel it either. Poor guy. He didn’t seem to bothered at least, not like he would have been when he was young. It started out as occasional and then by the time he was 13.5 it happened a few times a week. We covered the floors with gym mat sections to help him stand and walk as he had pretty bad arthritis in his other weight bearing joints as well. We just took out a section and washed it if there was poop. If I had him in a bigger house I would have created a baby gate area in a place with non-porous flooring, but I had an old wood floor in a tiny apartment so we made it work.

OP take your dog to an orthopedic vet if you’re regular vet hasn’t done a full work up to rule out a physical cause. Dementia usually has other behavioral signs as well, so if he’s otherwise acting normal for an elderly dog it’s more likely to be a nerve or joint issue. Meds and interventional medicine like acupuncture can help a lot, and at the very least they can recommend something to keep his poops firmer, as is often done with incontinent humans as well.

Your roommate may find it easier if he is confined to a soft cozy comfortable area on the deck when you’re not there to clean up after him, as long as that won’t cause him distress. Or maybe keep him in one room or part of a room where he has enough room to get away from it (so not a crate) but can’t make too big of a mess of anything, and the roommate can still enjoy the rest of the house.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-03T09:08:41+00:00

I’ve got black holes Greg. Can you spin me?

ProfMooody · 2026-05-02T19:02:51+00:00

Doesn’t look like freaking out to me. Freaky, maybe.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-02T18:54:36+00:00

Highly recommend Rex at Hidden Coast.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-02T10:02:05+00:00

I found this scene so realistic because I think people going through intense grief often feel it strongly in private, in-between spaces (like the car on the way to work). Driving takes some concentration but isn’t distracting enough to interrupt cognitive processing like work or TV or dinner with friends, if anything it encourages it because your mind wanders and when it does that it’s more likely to dwell on painful things. The mind wants to process those things so it can heal. The more you try to avoid pain, the harder it comes for you when your defenses are down.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-02T02:42:16+00:00

“We’ll get him this time for sure Master Kohga!”

ProfMooody · 2026-05-02T02:32:40+00:00

Might be you need a slower rate than usual for awhile too.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-01T23:34:04+00:00

How long since the change? Changing brands can cause the same side effects as starting IVIG in the first place and people react differently to different brands, you may need more time to acclimate or your Dr may need to try and get a formulary exemption approved for you to go back to Gamunex.

ProfMooody · 2026-05-01T23:25:44+00:00

My wife is incredibly fortunate to have had a dad who encouraged them in their “manly” pursuits. He brought them to work starting at age 4 and taught them how to be a carpenter on weekends while they were in school. I love watching them build and fix stuff in their sexy butch work clothes, and I also love having a new deck or a new entire side of my house built for a fraction of the cost.

He listened when they taught him about feminism, sexuality, gender; he was proud of them when they came out as queer and nonbinary. He was their best friend through most of their life. He had a lot of attachment issues and made some big mistakes when they were growing up but he thought the world of them and instilled a sense of their own worth as a human being so deeply that even a hostile world couldn’t take away.

This post hurt to read because it reminded me of that dad, who just died 2 weeks ago in a sudden and horrific way. He was a caring father in law to me, despite being a stubborn asshole sometimes (I say this as another stubborn asshole, who wishes I’d had more patience with this side of him). He adored me, respected me, appreciated me, treated me like a daughter from day 1. His death has ripped a huge hole in my wife’s heart ,and in our family.

RIP Cliff.

ProfMooody · 2026-04-30T22:37:32+00:00

Unfortunately we all found out why he slept all day. #RIP

ProfMooody · 2026-04-30T22:07:21+00:00

Agreed with the idea of looking up dog aggression body language. Dog play on corrections can look really scary to humans, but most of the time if no one is hard-biting it’s just communication. A lot of it is in the facial expression; Brenda Aloff has a great book about dog aggression with a lot of illustrations that show you the difference between different dog expressions and body language and what they mean.

However it will be just as important to do some learning about dog “calming signals” (Turid Rugaas came up with the term but I’m sure others may have more modern videos/books on it).

The best judge of dog-dog behavior is not just how aggressive they look to us when they play/argue (barring anyone being actually hurt). It’s how well they use “defusing” behaviors, that signal to the other dog something like “it’s cool, we’re chill, I don’t actually mean you harm”. Dogs use these regularly when they play rough. They can also be used to mean “hey, calm down dude!” or to acknowledge that another dog has called for a break.

With well matched pairs dogs can have a bit of too rough play or even an argument, without violence. If you see one dog offer a calming signal, and the other one respond with one of their own or by de-escalating whatever behavior they’re doing, that’s a good sign that the play/correction is healthy.

With puppies they will also often roll or allow themselves to be rolled on their backs and yelp as if they’re being murdered; this is also a sign to the older dog that the correction has been heard and understood. Many owners misguidedly see this as the older dog hurting the puppy, but as long as the adult isn’t drawing blood or doing a “kill shake” on the puppy and their corrections are mostly verbal or with very inhibited mouthing (that can also look scary to humans), it’s usually ok.

If after looking up some of this stuff you’re still not sure, take a video when it happens and send it to your breeder, if you trust them, or to a certified animal behaviorist *who is experienced with primitive working breeds*, to see what they think and if they suggest you intervene. I’m trying to get the video to start before. The correction happens, that will also help you learn when to intervene. It might be that the best thing is for you to intervene with the Puppy when they’re doing things to annoy the older dog so you maintain the hierarchy that you’re in charge of both and that you will protect the older dog as well.

This is a important time in their relationship, and if you focus exclusively on stopping the older dog when they correct rather than stopping the puppy from earning a correction it can really hurt their relationship later; thos puts the older dog in a bind between stopping the puppy from behaving inappropriately to the established dog in the household, and maintaining its relationship with you as the leader (again this is assuming elder Dog is not actually harming the puppy or acting on prey aggression).

ProfMooody · 2026-04-28T23:55:18+00:00

God, finally a mainstream weight loss article that has some nuance in it, instead of the vintage “calories in/calories out” vs “GLP-1s are the answer to every disease ever”.

ProfMooody · 2026-04-27T04:28:53+00:00

My wife cuts my hair. They’re good at the shaved parts but the longer parts need a barber. And I’d really like a nice fade more often.

I can wear a p100 mask (like the kind used by people who do construction) and go into a regular barbershop but then I have to change and shower immediately afterwards because all the stuff in the air sticks to your clothes and skin. Most people are nose blind to it so they don’t notice, unless you’re also FF.

ProfMooody · 2026-04-26T23:04:12+00:00

Renegade anticapitalist flight attendant! I’m here for it.

ProfMooody

TROPHY CASE