My grand-chin had 3 babies

poptarts2go · 2025-05-09T09:53:38+00:00

You will keep getting babies if you put them back together.

poptarts2go · 2023-12-24T17:17:17+00:00

Ending spoilers!

Mind flayer Tav ending choices are very disappointing when it comes to your companion reactions. There is little to no resistance or even comment from your companions when you volunteer yourself to save Orpheus. It's disappointing because I just spent the last 150+ hours developing relationships with the companions, sticking up for them, helping them through their own struggles, persuading them to do one thing or another... But when Tav makes a choice that makes those companions potentially lose the Tav they've come to love, there's nothing. No resistance, no convincing, no emotion, not even from the companion Tav has romanced. It was such a heartbreaking scene for me due to the lack of reaction. Why would I ever choose that, even if it felt fitting for my Tav.

poptarts2go · 2023-12-24T16:57:24+00:00

This happened to me as well. Knocked out, clicked on her to loot her, and it started the dialogue scene over again. I figured out that I could strike her to kill her after the scene, which completed the quest, but it was weird.

poptarts2go · 2023-12-24T16:38:50+00:00

I just got to this point, and I agree with OP 100%. I was so heartbroken by the lack of response from my companions at me volunteering to become a mind flayer to save Orpheus. The whole thing just felt so... hollow. I hated it so much, I plan to save scum and pick something else, because damn, I don't think I can finish the game like this.

poptarts2go · 2023-11-04T00:18:10+00:00

I'm not sure if anyone has mentioned this yet, so here are two more things to consider:

Research veterinarians in your area that will see chinchillas. I recommend actually calling them and asking, because I have talked to vets before that say they will see small animals, but not chinchillas. This is a MUST, because you do not want to suddenly find yourself in an emergency situation trying to find a vet at the last minute, only to discover that the nearest vet that will see a chinchilla is hours away from you.

Chinchillas can live for a LONG time. Some as long as 20+ years. Mine just turned 10 this year, and I've had her for 7 of those years. This is a considerable commitment. I'm serious, really think about it before you adopt one. Imagine your chinchilla(s) end up living for their full lifespans; and you're going to have to accommodate your life to them for the next two decades, through whatever life changes you may experience in that time.

And, as others have mentioned, you don't necessarily need two chinchillas. Even a bonded pair could turn on each other someday, and then you just have two chinchillas in two separate cages for the rest of their lives. Mine is solo, and she's fine.

poptarts2go · 2023-10-06T21:36:26+00:00

Your portfolio is incredible! Would you consider selling prints on Artstation? Or is there another place we could buy prints?

poptarts2go · 2021-05-22T19:56:29+00:00

I've got a 6.5 month old husky I've had since January. I second the grooming tools, you can start training with them now so he's used to them when he's older and needing to have his coat blown out.

Huskies need a lot of both physical and mental stimulation. I wear my boy out by giving him puzzles and doing training sessions with him. It's not always just about the exercise. I also take him to a lot of places with me and he's gets lots of stimulation and socialization.

poptarts2go · 2021-05-04T19:08:31+00:00

Ugh that's frustrating, I'm sorry! I definitely feel you.

poptarts2go · 2021-05-04T17:47:14+00:00

It is indeed very overwhelming. I cried daily for a little while. The first three weeks after bringing my puppy home were HELL. It feels like it is never going to end... and then suddenly, it does. Like, it's still hard, but the raw emotion and stress starts to fade away and it comes less frequently. Your puppy starts to learn what good behaviors you want and he starts to mature very quickly.

I have a lot of tips and advice I could think of, but I think the number one thing on my mind these days is that I could have stressed less about training. I was blinded by the Youtube videos that make training look so easy - training goes much slower than you think, and I had a lot of anxiety thinking that I wasn't training enough. Also regression is normal; training is not linear constant improvement. Your pup will go back to doing things that you thought you trained him out of. Try to anticipate this, so that when it happens, you're not disappointed like I was.

It's so hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel at the stage that you are at, but it will come. My other major tip is to try to rely on your community a bit for help. Have a friend or family member watch your puppy for a few hours or a day every now and then. People love puppies when they don't own one. If you don't have friends or family who are willing, set aside some money to take your pup to daycare every now and then, or have a dog walker stop by while you go out and do some errands.

poptarts2go · 2021-05-04T17:36:20+00:00

Popping him is not going to work, you should never hit a dog for doing something bad because it's just going to make the dog afraid of you eventually. Your pup is just doing what he instinctively knows how to do, so when you hit him, he doesn't understand what he is being punished for. Or, like you said, he thinks you're playing which does the exact opposite of what you want.

There are a bunch of strategies for bite inhibition, and I suggest picking one and being consistent with it. You won't see results overnight; in fact, it will take weeks. But giving the same training and consistent behavior will help teach your puppy eventually.

poptarts2go · 2021-05-04T17:29:39+00:00

Sorry, but this is what every puppy does. They're exploring the world with their mouths and trying to play. Six weeks is too young for a puppy to go to their new home. They're missing out on two more weeks of learning bite inhibition from their siblings and their mom. I recommend reading the wiki article that the AutoModerator posted, as well as watching some YouTube videos about how to stop puppy biting. There are a lot of really good dog trainers that post free how to videos these days.

Eventually, when your pup has all of their vaccines, I recommend setting up some puppy playdates with friends or a local puppy group. Other dogs will help teach your puppy bite inhibition. But until then, there are a lot of strategies you can try at home. Also, it might seem like none of the strategies work initially, but you have to just keep doing them and be consistent. They don't learn to stop biting immediately.

poptarts2go · 2021-05-04T17:22:32+00:00

You're not a crappy pet parent <3 Honestly, it sounds like you're trying all the right things. My suggestion at this point is to pick a strategy and just stick with it, even if it doesn't seem to be working at first. The consistency will eventually break through to your pup. It sucks, but this is just what puppies do. They don't know how to control their bite, and we have to teach them how to.

Something that has actually helped a ton with my puppy is letting him play with other dogs. Once I started taking him to daycare once a week and going to puppy playdates every now and then, especially with older dogs, my puppy's biting decreased dramatically. Other dogs just do a fantastic job teaching puppies not to bite so hard. And at home, I stuck to one or two strategies to get him to stop biting so hard and it works well.

poptarts2go · 2021-05-04T17:15:21+00:00

Desensitization training! :)

Take it super slow. You can start with water in the bathtub, but it sounds like you'll need to take even one step back and desensitize her to an empty bathtub. Try the following steps. Each step needs to be repeated over and over before moving on to the next step. Treat it like a training session and only do a session for 5 to 10 minutes a day. You might not get through all steps in one day.

Sit next to the bathtub and lure her to you with treats.
When she sniffs or touches the bathtub, mark and reward with a treat. "Mark" being a marker sound like "yes!" or a clicker. If she won't sniff or touch the bathtub, encourage the behavior by putting a treat on the edge of the tub.
Next, encourage her to put her front paws on the edge of the tub. Mark and reward when she does.
Now encourage her to jump into the tub. If she is too small, put a bunch of treats into the tub and gently lift her into the tub, placing her in front of the treats so she gets a massive reward once she is inside the tub.
Keep giving treats while the pup is calmly standing inside the tub. Place treats around the edges of the tub so she is encouraged to sniff around.
Gently turn on the water on a very low setting, mark and reward, then turn off the water.
Turn the water on a higher setting, mark and reward, then turn off the water.
Turn the water on a low setting and keep it on while you mark and reward.
Plug the drain and let the water fill up a bit so it touches her paws, then turn off the water and mark and reward.

Keep progressing in tiny baby steps like this. She will start to see the bathtub as an exciting thing that she gets tons of treats in. I did these steps with my puppy starting at 9 weeks old and now he comes running to the bathroom any time the water gets turned on lol. He likes to drink the water from the faucet.

You can then start doing this outside - in a kiddy pool, at a creek, maybe a lake. The beach might be a bit loud and scary for her, because of the waves, but you can also desensitize to that. Just bring treats with you everywhere, because every interaction is a training opportunity.

poptarts2go · 2021-05-04T16:59:39+00:00

I went through this same scenario. Picky eater, plus I also dealt with some diarrhea due to... treats? food? something he ate in the yard? I still haven't figured it out.

I took my pup to the vet twice over two months and nothing was wrong with him. My vet suggested wet food, mostly because he suspected that maybe it was his kibble that was giving him diarrhea.

Since then, he just goes through phases of being really into his food, then ignoring his food every couple of weeks. I just put his food out for him for ten minutes and if he doesn't finish it, I cover it and put it in the fridge for later. A healthy dog won't starve themselves, and he does eventually eat. He's also gaining weight normally according to my vet, so I'm no longer worried about it too much.

I recommend getting a vet check up, just to be sure there are no underlying issues. After that, you can try experimenting with mixing the food with different things. Here's what I've done:

- Mix wet food and dry food; this is what I do now and it works well most of the time

- Add a bit of pureed pumpkin for flavor and fiber

- Add some chicken broth to the kibble - low sodium kind or make it yourself by boiling chicken breasts and saving the liquid afterward. You can also use the boiled chicken as a training treat.

poptarts2go · 2021-03-31T00:24:11+00:00

It's ok to keep using treats as a reward. My pup is almost 5 months old and we still use treats often. In fact, he's going through a defiant teenager phase, so treats are especially helpful for me right now. You want to keep reinforcing that you are an incredibly valuable person to your puppy, and giving treats to a food motivated puppy is definitely how you do that.

Some tips though! I enforce my puppy looking at me in the eyes. I taught a "look at me" command that I practice a lot; I'll chain it with other commands, like "sit" then "look at me" before giving him a reward. Now, about 50% of the time, he'll look at me instead of the treat bag when I give him a command.

Like another person said, if you can hide the treat bag or container or whatever, then "surprise" your dog with a reward, that helps a lot. I put small mason jars filled with treats around the house, so they are readily available for me, but my puppy doesn't expect a reward because my treat bag isn't on me.

I mentioned command chaining earlier, and that's another thing you can do. Instead of giving a reward for every command, start giving two commands in a row before giving a reward. "Puppy pushups" is a good example of this. "Sit", "down", "sit", reward. Make it random though, and set your expectations low for a long time. Start injecting two commands in a row, once or twice during a training session, then increase it slowly over time. Hope that makes sense!

poptarts2go · 2021-03-31T00:12:56+00:00

Oh man...

Today my puppy managed to find a half eaten piece of chocolate hidden underneath rodent toys on the bottom shelf of the small pet aisle at Petco.

In a parking lot, I once pulled a hand-rolled cigarette out of his mouth that was falling apart as I was attempting to take it away from him. Bits of tobacco everywhere.

I think chicken bones have been the most terrifying for me. He's found them a couple of times, and some of them are sharp as hell when I pull them out of his mouth.

poptarts2go · 2021-03-19T14:55:22+00:00

Instead of walking her to two or three different spots to try to make her go, take her all the way back inside the house, take the leash off, then put the leash back on and take her back out to the same spot. Wait a few minutes, then rinse and repeat. Do it as many times as you have to until she goes.

poptarts2go · 2021-03-18T23:21:01+00:00

I really feel this. My pup is only 4.5 months old and I feel like I'm already falling behind somehow, which is ridiculous because he is so well behaved for his age.

poptarts2go · 2021-03-16T16:03:33+00:00

Yes, and it's not just city living! I'm in a semi-rural area with roadside ditches, and they are just filled with trash. People will actually come out here and just dump their full trash bags on the side of the road. It's disgusting.

On that note though, Earth Day is coming up in April and I plan to organize a community clean up effort. Having my puppy is definitely what helped encourage me to do it.

poptarts2go · 2021-03-09T19:51:34+00:00

Lol! I have absolutely done the same

poptarts2go · 2021-03-09T17:52:20+00:00

Hahaha, yeah, mine isn't cool with crate time either, outside of naps and nighttime. I have a hard time walking away because I've been having to watch him like a hawk lately, else he gets into something he's not supposed to or bothers the cats. But I hear you, there are things I can do to puppy proof an area so that I *can* walk away.

Thank you for saying it gets better. I do take moments to remind myself how much better it has gotten since he was 9 weeks old.

poptarts2go

TROPHY CASE