mycatdog

[mycatdog]

Met someone else with a prospective assistance dog this afternoon! They had a lab puppy about a week younger than Cat. The puppy was so small! It really helped remind me of how young Catrin is. I need to lower my expectations with her - she's still such a little baby!

[mycatdog]

Thank you! Mandatory naptime sounds like it would be a good idea - I'm going to try to get someone to bring her crate over this evening. I'm thinking more and more that she's overtired

I've been trying the 'Ow' today, too, as well as walking more slowly (I'm thinking that going too fast has been exciting her for now), and that seems to be helping. Inspecting the injury is a good idea too, and I'll try that out!

Thanks for the advice!

i feel like this is the most basic thing ever. but does anyone have any advice for encouraging a puppy (golden retriever, 11ish weeks) to bite you less?

i try to redirect her to a toy, but often she is too excited to pay it much attention

i also try to get her to nap sometimes because i thin she's been getting overtired, but i dont have her crate with me rn so that's a bit difficult

also, shes one of those dogs that gets More excited if you yelp, so thats out of the question

[mycatdog]

also, dog videos seem to help catrin calm down? i wasn't expecting that, because they rile up my parents dog, but cat just sits there and stares at the tv silently, and eventually gets tired

to be fair, last night it was late when i tried this, so i'm going to experiment with it some more. but if this does help her, i'll be very happy

[mycatdog]

cat's been sleeping longer and longer, and me with chronic fatigue is verrryyyy happy about this lmao

i was just about handling the early mornings, but it was definitely making things 100x harder. with more sleep im sure i can be better with her!

[mycatdog]

i feel like this is the most basic thing ever. but does anyone have any advice for encouraging a puppy (golden retriever, 11ish weeks) to bite you less?

i try to redirect her to a toy, but often she is too excited to pay it much attention

i also try to get her to nap sometimes because i thin she's been getting overtired, but i dont have her crate with me rn so that's a bit difficult

also, shes one of those dogs that gets More excited if you yelp, so thats out of the question

[mycatdog]

i can't help but groan when i see dog trainers online claim that e-collars are 'the only way' to train anything. e-collars are illegal in my country and there are well trained dogs here, weirdly

[mycatdog]

she did at least get some socialisation with some friendly chidren (who were also out in the storm, yes), so it wasn't a total loss. and she seems to be over her fear of big dogs!

i made a bad decision and took cat out for a walk in the storm (we're under an amber warning currently, though it was red this morning). we had a couple of close calls, but were okay in the end. cat's all tired out now, but i won't be doing this again!

[mycatdog]

i made a bad decision and took cat out for a walk in the storm (we're under an amber warning currently, though it was red this morning). we had a couple of close calls, but were okay in the end. cat's all tired out now, but i won't be doing this again!

[mycatdog]

Why breed standards are important, speaking from firsthand experience.

You know how the Labrador Retriever is the ultimate family dog and service dog? How they're kind and approachable and gentle and sturdy and handler-oriented and versatile and would love to be everybody's best friend? A dog that's none of those things isn't a Lab, is it?

But how on earth do you tell when it's just an adorable baby puppy in a picture, and the breeder says it's a Lab, so it must grow up to be all those Lab Things, right?

Absolutely fucking not. That cute little potato becomes an unstable mess of a dog, and she's allergic to all food, and her fur is thin and patchy and sometimes nearly bald, and she's incontinent, and she's so explosively reactive that you're always afraid she might turn truly aggressive, and her triggers are so vague and undefined that she often explodes off the couch to scream-bark at nothing and make you question whether dogs can hallucinate.

Was she ever a Lab? Or just labeled as one? How far removed is she from the last time her ancestors were what a Labrador Retriever is meant to be?

Turns out these stereotypical traits come from somewhere, and that somewhere isn't about being purebred. The traits come from selective breeding, with a clearly defined goal in mind: the breed standard. Every breed has one. For Labs, it's The Labrador Retriever Illustrated Standard: 20 pages of detailed descriptions, sketches, and reasonings, easily accessible on the Labrador Retriever Club's website.

Well, easily accessible IF you know it exists in the first place. That's the problem.

These stereotypes come from the well bred Labrador Retrievers that have fit the standard for generations. But between profit-focused irresponsible breeders, public ignorance, and the strict lack of nuance taught in the concept of "adopt don't shop," few people even know that dog breeds have organized clubs and established standards, much less how important they are in creating a predictable dog! So the label of "Lab" becomes the one thing they look for in hopes of finding those desirable traits.

A Lab is not a Lab just because it's called one. Or at least it will not act like it, nor will it look quite right to those aware of subtle, but important, differences in structure. The kindly, outgoing, eager to please, gentle, intelligent, adaptable, confident, friendly dog is consistently found where it is selected for, and that is with the responsible breeders who prioritize the breed standard.

[mycatdog]

Going up to a guide dog user and saying, to their dog, something along the lines of “your mommy doesn’t let me pet you. I know, it’s so unfair,” in a baby voice is first of all counterproductive, because that’s just as distracting for the dog as petting them would be, and second of all, is actually really casually guilt trippy and I don’t like it

[mycatdog]

There was an incident with one of my parents yesterday (everyone is okay and safe!), so as a precaution I'm going back to my flat with Catrin tonight, which... will be an interesting experience.

I share my flat with my brother, so we won't be alone at least, and the plan was to go back there after Christmas so it's just a few weeks early.

I think this might be a good thing for Cat's training, though. I find my flat a much easier environment to manage than my parent's house, so I'll be able to be more hands-on with her.

[mycatdog]

catrin graduated from being homestuck earlier this week, so we've finally been able to take her on walks

her first walk she was a bit all over the place and kept getting tangled in the wheelchair, and she was nervous of other dogs. she clearly wanted to play with them, but she hid behind us if they got too close. she did end the walk playing with a couple of dogs though

then over the past few days i've had interviews for a p.a., so i've had to go to this one (dog-friendly!) restraurant in town for those. i decided to bring her along, and i've been shocked by how well she managed it

she literally just settled down on the floor every time. no fuss, just relaxing. the second time she even fell asleep. this restaurant was loud and busy, full of both people and dogs, but she did so good! one of the waiters even commented that each time we came in, he hadn't noticed we had a dog with us

we also had to go to the bank to pick something up and she was a very good girl there, too

and she's getting the hang of walking by the wheelchair. when i let the lead go longer she starts to carry it which is very cute

she's still a bit nervous of other dogs, especially the ones that are bigger than her, but she's getting better with it

[mycatdog]

catrin has her second vaccine and handled it great. i didn't even realise that it was done because she didn't react at all

she hates the vets waiting room, but doesn't mind the actual appointments haha

[mycatdog]

not the best picture but cat is cuddled up with my teddy

[mycatdog]

took cat back to the vet and she's okay, probably 'just' bruised. was given the ok to take her for her vaccinations tomorrow

[mycatdog]

catrin decided to take her first lesson of dog parkour early today

i joke but she jumped from the first floor landing, landed on the stairs and fell down a few of them

it was my fault, i left her unsupervised to fetch one of her toys, and she doesn't like being left alone, so when she saw me coming back she was just trying to get to me quicker

it was so awful i just watched her fall and i couldn't do anything

she's mostly fine now. i took her to the emergency vet and they gave her some painkillers and told us to come back on monday. but god.

one week with the puppy and she's already nearly killed herself! i was feeling so good about how i was handling her, too. i'm going to be a lot more diligent in the future, i just feel like shit that i let it happen