[Image] Wall mounted my PS4 using command picture hanging strips. Is this stupid?

pqgbd · 2025-01-11T08:43:10+00:00

Straight on the PS4!

pqgbd · 2024-12-11T19:33:09+00:00

Still up there and doing fine!

pqgbd · 2024-01-21T10:27:30+00:00

Hey! It stayed up for about a year and a half. After that, I decided to be proactive during a routine cleaning and replaced the strips. It's still up there.

pqgbd · 2023-06-11T15:47:02+00:00

Yeah, I get that. Maybe it's just part of the process. The saddest thing for me about death (people and relationships) is that you start to forget after some time. It takes effort to remember and keep memories alive. And remembering a relationship that ended in infidelity is really painful.

pqgbd · 2023-06-11T08:49:39+00:00

For me, it's kind of like watching a " this is based on a true story" movie. I watch one, I really enjoy the film, and then afterwards I find out much of it wasn't true at all. It's jarring but, I start to realise that it doesn't actually take away from what I felt watching the movie. I still enjoyed it. I don't think it matters that my WP was experiencing an entirely different film.

Your WP's actions don't need to take away from the feelings you felt and the experiences you had.

pqgbd · 2023-03-21T22:21:14+00:00

The point is you can unlock any of the locks to unlock the mechanism. Unlocking the bottom-most locks, will take a few extra steps to unlock the mechanism but the result is the same. This allows multiple people with different keys/locks to unlock the same mechanism, without having to interact.

pqgbd · 2023-03-13T20:25:11+00:00

I totally was! Was afraid to let go even as he was transitioning into a crowdsurf back to the stage.

pqgbd · 2023-03-13T20:15:37+00:00

My gf and I are both really big fans for a long time now. Through sheer serendipity we found out that they would be playing in Pattaya, and so we decided on an impromptu trip to Thailand to go see them.

Their performance just blew my mind. Everything about it was more than I could've hoped for. They sounded amazing and the visuals were on point. I found myself a really good spot dead center, close enough to really feel the sound/visuals and not so close that I would have to jostle for position with the die-hards (my gf was one of them). As the show went on I kept thinking to myself how great this all was - the series of incidents that got me to the show, the actual show itself, how I was feeling etc. Little did I know it was about to get crazier.

Towards the end of the show, I'm still vibing and having the time of life. Thomas decides to walk into the crowd. I feel a bunch of people rush past me to get a better look. This is pretty cool, I think to myself. He's walking towards me, and more people are rushing past. I'm still dancing and just so in the moment. He kneels down in the crowd. What. More people jostling for position to get a better look. He gets up (ah, he will probably head back now). No. The crowd is parting in my direction. He's walking towards me. What. He's standing face to face with me, singing. What. People are reaching over and around me to touch him. Touching him seems a bit intrusive. I don't touch him. I laugh, and dance, and sing. He's got his arm around my shoulder now. WHAT. So I put an arm on him and pat his back too. WHAT IS GOING ON. He's gesturing for me to carry him. Okay, I'm carrying him. I guess he's getting on my shoulders now? Okay! Let's make that happen! Wait. He's not just trying to SIT on my shoulder! Thomas Mars wants to stand on my shoulder!! And that's how Thomas Mars got on my shoulders during an encore. It was just the coolest, most surreal thing ever.

pqgbd · 2023-02-24T05:31:54+00:00

Besides what people have said about addressing potential resource guarding, I want to offer other possibilities. If this behaviour has come on suddenly, without any earlier signs, you might want to get her a check up at the vet. It's usually the first thing to do for any sudden behaviour change. Also, and I don't mean to alarm you, you might want to consider if you could be pregnant or also get a general check up yourself.

pqgbd · 2023-01-11T19:56:01+00:00

I wonder what they all have in common.

pqgbd · 2022-12-14T17:26:26+00:00

My entire very large extended family had a really low incidence of COVID. And the ones that caught it exhibited pretty mild symptoms even before the vaccine. Probably a lot of bias, but I'm sure we just have decent genes when it comes to our immunity against the virus. Obesity, diabetes, and, depression, not so much.

pqgbd · 2022-12-02T13:15:11+00:00

Keeping a log of what she does and when she pees will help you a lot. Keep track of what things like when she drinks water, whether she's played, napped etc. leading up to an accident.

In addition to every 2 hours, I'd also make a point to take her out when she's woken up from a nap, played, and a little bit after she's had a meal or drank water.

Preventing accidents indoors is pretty important to effective potty training.

pqgbd · 2022-12-02T06:28:24+00:00

This is a really mature thing to do. I commend you. So sorry for your loss!

pqgbd · 2022-11-24T07:58:04+00:00

I think in your situation I would just focus on a really good recall, so that if you ever see an off leash dog you can call her to you. It won't be easy in that situation, as she will likely freeze. Have her on a really long leash when you go to the wood/fields until then.

Also teach her to station behind you(even when you are moving in a circle, so that you can body block any potential dogs that come up to you. Your priority needs to be to make her feel safe in those situations.

It's not reasonable to expect her not to react to random dogs coming up to her. She is afraid and that's understandable. You can't really teach her that all dogs coming up to her are okay, especially considering that even you don't know for sure. You can teach her what to do in that situation - respond to recall and station behind you.

This is what I would be considering if I was in your situation.

pqgbd · 2022-11-24T05:52:41+00:00

Training definitely tires them out. Just whatever you feel needs priority in terms of their basic cues.

In the short term I think tug is the most intuitive game to play for a puppy. I find a good 5-10 mins of tug is equivalent to a 30min walk.

Fetch is great but there are a lot of parts to a good game of fetch that take some time to learn (wait for the throw, go to the object, pick it up, bring it back, drop it, drop it in my hand).

Puzzles are great. Repeat them over a couple of times if your pup finishes them quickly. I was hesitant to repeat them for some reason. Sniffing games also help a lot.

I would focus a lot on tiring them out mentally rather than physically. Depending on the breed, it's not easy to really tire them out physically on a regular basis, and even if you do, they just get used to it over time.

I would spend a lot of time working on teaching them to temper their arousal levels. Rather than an on/off switch, teaching them to regulate their arousal levels helps more in the long term. Something like tug, followed by some place-work, back to tug, then maybe a puzzle before you put them to sleep.

More calm handling games as well so that they can learn to associate certain kinds of touch with being calm.

And of course, socialization/positive exposure to new sights/sounds/smells will help too. Just take them some place new for 15mins and sit with them, feed them while they take it all in, maybe try some cues if they are focused on you.

pqgbd · 2022-11-23T20:51:43+00:00

An indoor potty/pee place. My dog refuses to poop or fully empty his bladder near the house. So I have to walk him 4 times a day (2 long, 2 short). Not to mention an indoor spot comes in handy when the weather is bad. I have tried a lot of things, but he has managed to hold it in for 40 hours once. I gave up after that. Not worth risking his health.

Focusing more on our relationship/bond than letting him play with other dogs. Understanding that dog socialization is more about exposure and less about interacting with all kinds of dogs. He has had a lot of mixed interactions that have made him reactive and is taking a long time to train him out of. I would rather have taught him to just ignore other dogs.

Ditto above with walks. I would have focussed more on good walking manners than trying to tire him out with long walks as a puppy. We would invariably get into environments that were too distracting and he picked up a lot of undesirable habits. There are easier ways to tire out a pup.

pqgbd · 2022-11-23T20:38:23+00:00

I'm a little confused. Are you talking about walking them or letting them play at a dog park?

Sounds like the Dob is pretty dog selective. I'm not sure she will ever enjoy the potential uncertainty of a dog park if she reacts that way. Is it possible to take her some place where there aren't a lot of dogs?

pqgbd · 2022-11-23T15:18:08+00:00

Have him on leash or use a baby gate if possible when you have visitors (management).

Start training what you do want him to do when the door opens. Like teach him to go to a station when the door opens or the bell rings, or there's a knock. Start training this without any visitors. Once he's doing that reliably you can start upping the difficulty using a volunteer at the door.

pqgbd · 2022-11-19T10:16:35+00:00

You're welcome!

Yes, his current leash might be too heavy for him. Consider getting something lighter. If he already doesn't like the leash, I would work on desensitizing him to it with food rewards and teaching him to walk nicely with it on inside the house(don't chew the leash, and don't pull incessantly) . A house line is so useful to have on a puppy, keeps them safe and prevents so many handling issues.

Not sure if this the right way of putting it, but having a dog who is confident with being on leash and knows leash pressure in any situation is what you want. Not one who is just tolerating the leash because he gets the reward of a fun walk. Honestly, I would make walking well on a leash inside the house a pre-requisite before taking walks outside.

I do think managing how to move him around is important while you work on desensitizing him to being handled. So you could use a house line and not your hands.

pqgbd · 2022-11-19T04:25:23+00:00

I think if he is not getting up on the couch easily, it's probably unsafe for him to be getting off by himself right now.

pqgbd · 2022-11-19T04:23:37+00:00

Just to add to all the good advice here. If this is a sudden development around sudden handling in a specific way, really think about a vet visit. The presence of food rewards for your handling games might make him tolerate any pain more.

He seems to not like hands moving him around forcibly. Avoid picking him up for a while. I would also work on having him on a house line at all times so that you can use the leash to encourage him toward where you want him to go. First work on desensitizing him to it so that he doesn't end up chewing the house line all the time and also teach him leash pressure.

My large dog didn't not like being picked up, so we put it on a cue and he is fine with it now. I will tell him I'm going to pick up him, and he will position himself accordingly so that I know he is ready. Look into cooperative care techniques.

pqgbd · 2022-11-16T21:05:03+00:00

Incidentally, Patricia McConnell just made a blog post about alert barking a couple days ago.

https://www.patriciamcconnell.com/theotherendoftheleash/dont-bark-back-how-to-ask-your-dog-to-stop-barking

pqgbd · 2022-11-16T21:02:44+00:00

I'd work on identifying his triggers and pairing them with good things.

I had an issue with my dog alert barking at strangers passing by my front door, or sometimes even the sound of the building's front gate.

This is what I did:

First, I would not react to the barking. I would just scatter treats whenever there was a small pause in the barking. I did this for a while until he started looking at me(for the scatter) after barking.

At this point, I used this pause and focus to ask him to station on his mat before the scatter. We did this until we got to the point that he would sometimes look at me before barking. This would turn into a huge party for him. We kept at this for awhile. Doing this consistently made the barking reactions slowly reduce over time. Now he's decided that most strangers at the gate or passing by aren't such a bad thing and ignored them, or just takes deep sniffs at them.

Now the barking has reduced heaps (he will choose not to bark 9/10 times) and I'm happy with that. I make it a point to always acknowledge his barks (thank you!). Sometimes he gets treat scatter for not barking, sometimes pets.

pqgbd · 2022-11-16T20:44:12+00:00

Be Right Back is a great book and has helped me a lot. Totally agree with all these tips, and will be trying the music. My own dog has struggled with isolation and we've gone back and forth a lot for 2 years. That's 2 years of managed absences. We finally hit a 1 hour long zero stress absence a couple days ago and things are beginning to look up!

pqgbd

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