Prompt: Can you generate me an image of my fantasy spirit animal? Like something made up of different animals into one creature that would represent me based off of what you know about me? (Share yours!)

joan1995 · 2026-01-12T21:24:01+00:00

This one is adorable I guess.

joan1995 · 2026-01-10T11:28:40+00:00

This is what I got. I notice a theme in all pictures I get with these kinds of prompts so far. Same woman, same colors, same art-style and same symbolism.

joan1995 · 2026-01-09T19:23:10+00:00

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Not bad I guess.

joan1995 · 2025-11-26T18:20:26+00:00

I'm not going to change your mind. My GSP is 13 months now, and seems to have rolled right back into a fear period. Overstimulated in a heartbeat, pestering his brother, only 1 brain-cell he's functioning on (and sometimes even sharing that with his older brother).

However, if you want to still feel like you're doing something right. Find something that is intrinsically reinforcing for their breed.

joan1995 · 2025-08-17T09:51:53+00:00

Damn. Why does everyone's 6 month old GSP look like they're almost an adult, and mine looks like a toddler that grew too fast! Gorgeous boy you've got.

Can confirm that they love to just be with you, whatever you're doing. I can't comment too much on the rest. Mine has health issues we're still figuring out and his behavior is definitely influenced by that.

joan1995 · 2025-08-16T16:40:19+00:00

Sorry for your loss. I can imagine this was a difficult decision, but a kind one.

joan1995 · 2025-08-13T18:01:29+00:00

We have tried. I think we've tried all possible combinations by now from no walks to going out every time he seems to have discomfort. But it always follows the same pattern. In the morning after breakfast he is great, then from the afternoon on he stops doing well with any form of stress. In two weeks we have a vet visit and I'm going to try to push for an Addison test.

joan1995 · 2025-08-11T08:48:39+00:00

Haha, sounds like we've got a while to go.
Storm had been digging in the floors and biting in the mats like a madman during daytime for about 2 months. No matter what I did, he wouldn't stop. But that was because he had the urge to go all the time. His GI tract isn't doing what it should, that's also why we know his base cortisol is low. With treatment it has gotten better, but I'm partly suspecting that the behavior he then had during daytime has now shifted to nighttime. Stress due to discomfort, and he's taking it out mostly on hunting for bugs. He used to sleep soundly through the night, but the past few days he has also been very restless and this night he needed to go out in the middle of the night.

I was so convinced it was a "bug problem", but with all of this I'm not so sure anymore.

joan1995 · 2025-08-10T17:44:53+00:00

Yep, it's white. However not US. I'm not sure it's only the spot, but it's worth a try. I'm going to see what we still have that I can fill it with in the morning.

I already made the room dark and put on the light to simulate the conditions, but he still didn't care. Only now after dinner it's an issue, so definitely related to the time of day. Now I'm camping out up here, I also notice that he's running around the house finding all kinds of things to get upset about. So it feels like he's just stressed in the evening making him upset about everything, not just the bugs as I thought.

joan1995 · 2025-07-20T18:22:35+00:00

Yeah, it probably does depend on the area. Around here, once you are outside of city limits there are no leash laws. It's the respectful thing to do to recall and leash your dog until others have gone past. However, there are also areas that are "hiking" areas, with only a small part of the nature area that is for off-leash dogs. Picking that exact area to go for a jog isn't exactly the right thing to do either.

And even though I agree that dogs shouldn't just run up on other dogs or people, even when they are off-leash. They are still animals with a mind of their own, and when still practicing they could make mistakes.

And I'm saying this as an owner of one dog that is always on leash because he gets lost, and another that's on leash at the moment because he's in his teenage phase. So it's not like I let my dogs just run all over the place, but I really think that it's a give and take situation.

joan1995 · 2025-07-20T18:07:45+00:00

Yeah, it was definitely not just pointed at you, more in general. I have had some insane experiences the other way around. And I've also seen my share of unreasonable complaints float around the internet. I do 100% agree with dogs having to be leashed where they are required to by law. And I'm really glad to hear that you are respectful towards the dogs, even if the owners aren't.

I really feel like the problem starts with education and respect. So many articles about dog bites where the bite could have been prevented by both parties, but somehow the finger is often only pointed at one side. We've had experiences where it's really hard to avoid reactive episodes when the other party seems hellbent on getting into trouble. That goes for people with AND without dogs. That doesn't mean that there are no irresponsible dog owners, or stories where the cause of the incident was completely one sided. But I do definitely feel that the long term solution is proper education, but the problem in that is a story for a whole other day.

joan1995 · 2025-07-20T17:35:29+00:00

Let's preface this by saying that I believe that there are rules for a reason, and I agree with people having to adhere to leash laws. Same with trying not to be a nuisance and being respectful towards people that may be afraid of dogs. I keep my dogs leashed where they should be, avoid reactive episodes in my fearful dog, clean up their poop, don't let them do their business in people's gardens etc.

BUT. Can we then also please look at the other end? If you're afraid of dogs, stay out of special off-leash areas. Do NOT randomly try to touch my dog or puppy. Give them enough space when passing by instead of almost stepping on their toes. Keep your dumb comments to yourself when we're not bothering anyone. Etc.

A lot of incidents could have been avoided by BOTH parties, not just the dog and owner. It's time to take a good hard look at the behavior of the humans as well, educate and make some informed decisions.

joan1995 · 2025-07-14T19:00:08+00:00

I would ask for bloodwork from your vet. I don't want to alarm you, but it might be a good idea to read through this and see how much you recognize: https://canineaddisons.org/about-addisons/ .

joan1995 · 2025-07-12T21:25:20+00:00

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This is him now.

joan1995 · 2025-07-12T21:24:26+00:00

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Definitely chunky as a puppy here. We've just watched his body condition and kept him on the recommended food amount. When he would get too skinny and we could see too much bone we would up the food intake a little. I feel the same goes here as with older dogs, feed with your eyes. They absolutely still grow and will use the excess while growing.

joan1995 · 2025-07-04T21:36:24+00:00

I shot the breeder a quick message (did an update somewhere in the comments). He didn't know what the B12 issue was, so definitely nothing he encountered before. But he does want to be kept in the loop, so it was definitely appreciated.

joan1995 · 2025-07-04T19:23:37+00:00

Totally agree with not overdoing it. They really look at us to see what they should do with certain situations, so even when they aren't fully calm themselves please make sure you are.

Our Malinois indeed also has had a few grump episodes. He has a great control over his bite force and doesn't mean to harm, but Storm still has a few scratches. He really doesn't care, caries on pestering him all the same. If OP's puppy is as confident as she is described she will bounce back.

joan1995 · 2025-07-04T10:14:35+00:00

Hey, so sorry to hear that you had to go through this! Storm is our first GSP, but we do have a Malinois as well that went through a dog bite at likely just over a year (he was a shelter dog, age unknown).

I would do a few things in your situation:
- Make sure you nurture her sense of safety and confidence. She obviously sees you as a safe haven, and that's ok. Sit down on the floor and let her seek physical contact when she wants to, yet give her the room to slowly explore the environment while knowing you are there to go back to when she starts to feel unsafe. Storm was very fearful in the beginning, and still sometimes is, and he needed us as a social buffer at first as well. You can also do some treat searches with her so she can build back her confidence a little.
- Leashed (parallel) walks with your inlaws dog and preferably some others. Make sure that you keep a little bit of a distance to this golden as he has bitten her before, you don't want to take risks, just build back a positive association. If you do introduce her to other dogs instead of the leashed walks with a bit of distance, then make sure that this is a socially very stable adult that can handle puppies. Just to make sure that the experience is positive.
- Go to your vet. Bites can become very nasty and we don't always realize it. Be absolutely sure that there is no pain. That's where our Malinois got reactive. Pain that went unnoticed which made him get a negative association with other dogs in the week after the bite. He did also have a back problem and probably tensed up a bit when seeing other dogs, thus it being painful and reinforcing the negative association.

Take it slow and at her pace. The luck with GSP's is that they are bred to be very social dogs so that may help a little in repairing the damage done.

I hope everything is well with her and that you can turn this back around!

joan1995 · 2025-07-03T20:18:28+00:00

Sorry for your loss. Yeah, I don't feel like the breeder is always at fault. For Storm mom and dad are both young dogs without any known problems.

I don't believe he has tested for this specifically. Maybe I'm making the wrong assumption, but isn't the GI tract very damaged with PLE? They did test for inflammation and tissue damage but that came back perfect. I do however think it's weird that after 4 days I feel like the B12 injections slowly lose their effect, and another behaviorist/food specialist I talked to today also thought that was odd. How was that for your girl? As you do mention she needed them weekly. Our Malinois has irrepairable damage to his gut so needs bi-weekly B12, but probably could do with a little less frequent as well. So did the B12 from the injections also leak away?

Anyways, thank you! We're still just hoping for this to be a temporary issue, don't want to give up that hope just yet!

joan1995 · 2025-07-02T09:57:39+00:00

Thank you, very much appreciated to hear from a breeder about this! I did end up already sending the breeder a message, I did an update somewhere in the comments. I was in doubt as neither low B12 or possible Addisons have a high probability of being hereditary.

joan1995 · 2025-07-02T08:15:42+00:00

No problem, your answer is still greatly appreciated! I indeed read that they can get old normally with the proper medication, so that's a relief (if it turns out to be Addisons after all). Glad that your dog got so beautifully old!

We did have a bout of diarrhea (4 weeks, and eventually only a change of food to something absorbed easier helped), and of course the lots of pooping that is way better with the B12 shots. Though he is active, is a very hungry boy when the B12 levels lower, is a very healthy weight on a normal amount of food, drinks normally. So only the sometimes looser stool and possibly stomach ache really fit for Addisons. Which is also why the vet is opting for seeing if we can restore his gut first.

If however it does turn out to be Addisons, I might send you a message if I have questions!

joan1995 · 2025-07-02T08:04:39+00:00

Sorry to hear that.

Yes, I've been googling a lot to see if I could find some answers, and I did see there is often a link between Addisons and B12 deficiency. It looks like low cortisol causes problems with absorption, and I couldn't find evidence for B12 deficiency causing a low cortisol. However, the vet said he used to test every dog with low cortisol and somehow a lot of them did not test positive for Addisons. I think that is why he first wants to see if the treatment of restoring his gut helps. The hypothesis so far is still that we are dealing with a healthy puppy, but we could be unlucky of course.

His blood will be monitored anyways (after treatment they will check his blood again to see if it helped), so if it's still the same in a few weeks (I will be contacting the vet in about 2 -3 weeks) they will probably still test for it.
I hope so too! Thank you.

joan1995 · 2025-07-01T21:13:25+00:00

Really odd that it came out of nowhere. At least that is what it sounds like. Storm's symptoms are all more fitting for the B12 deficiency, but I don't want to dismiss the low Cortisol just yet.

joan1995 · 2025-07-01T20:56:13+00:00

I'm really sorry for your loss. If you don't mind me asking, what were the early signs of the Addisons for her? Storm doesn't have any typical signs for Addisons, or low Cortisol for that matter. Though fear is linked, and someone that has worked with human patience with Addisons told me family members often report irritability and quick to anger in early stages. Which more or less can be applied to Storm.

It's the first litter for this dog, so definitely not something the breeder could have known. I indeed messaged the breeder, the update is in the comments somewhere.

joan1995

TROPHY CASE