pomegranatepup

[pomegranatepup]

This is honestly something so important to keep in mind. Like yes, I would love Persie to be able to go to the doggy daycare I work at, because I think it would be good enrichment for her, but she has shown that she is not comfortable or confident in that environment, so I'm making the decision to stop bringing her. Like, yes some dogs love being there, and have an amazing time, but whenever Persie is there, she just spends the whole day quietly and anxiously following around whatever human is in the room, and that's not fair to her. She has no control over her life, so the least I can do is listen and pay attention to what she's trying to communicate, and follow her lead. She's much more confident than she used to be, but we still have a long way to go.

If you asked me to name the single most important thing you can do for your dog, it would be this.

Keep your dog feeling safe.

This is not to be confused with your dog being safe, or whether or not you think your dog is safe. This is about keeping your dog *feeling* safe. Which means identifying what your dog finds stressful or scary by learning how to observe and read their body language to recognize when, where, and under what circumstances they feel uncomfortable, and doing whatever you can to avoid those situations.

This can mean that your dog never visits another dog park.

This can mean that even though it’s a beautiful Sunday and you’d love to have brunch on a patio of your favorite restaurant with your dog, your dog stays home.

This can mean that you politely (or not) decline requests to pet your dog.

This can mean that when children come over your house, your dog is in another room with a yummy Kong.

This can mean that you walk your dog during quiet times of the day.

This can mean that you drive your dog to walk them in a different area.

Whatever it means for you and your dog, keep your dog feeling safe.

You are your dog’s best and only advocate. You are what stands between them and the rest of the world, a world where dogs are set up to fail every day with often heartbreaking consequences. This doesn’t mean that we don’t also actively and *humanely* work to help our dogs feel more comfortable and confident in this world, but it does mean that until they do, WE HAVE TO KEEP THEM FEELING SAFE.

Our dogs are relying on us, it’s our job to have their backs.

- Dogminded

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A bunch of Scrunkled pet commissions from earlier this month! All of these guys are true cuties 💚🐶🐱

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I bathed Persie today, and when I went to use the velocity dryer on her afterwards, I couldn't find her little snood to protect her ears, so I ended up using my headband I use when I'm doing my makeup, and I can't stop laughing.

[pomegranatepup]

I FORGOT TO POST THIS LAST WEEK! I took this pic and was planning to post it on 4/20, but I celebrated the day way too hard and completely forgot... Anyways, here's Persie hitting her Bong. It's like a Kong, but way funnier.

[pomegranatepup]

"Disaster Taxon," poem assembled using text from Wikipedia articles

[pomegranatepup]

Just realized that in a month, we'll be hitting the one year mark of Cali being gone. I miss my girl.

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So this doggy sweatshirt was on sale, and Persie has never looked so fantastic. Am I about to enter my dressing up my dog era?

[pomegranatepup]

"your pet doesn't love you; it just has learned that it will get treats if it acts a certain way. it can't understand you."

in between humans, i don't always speak the language either. love has always been hard for me. i don't trust it. i can't read it easily on people's faces - i'm usually trying to read past it; to the "other parts", the ones that make sense to me.

but my mom always offers me food as soon as i get through the door. my brother calls me at weird hours, just to be talking. my sister has a nightmare; asks me to please drive safe in the morning. i throw my friends random parties, just to celebrate something. she drives 45 minutes to spend 3 hours with me. amelia holds my hand while we both cross the street.

no, my dog and i don't have the same language. so what? this is not the same thing as communication. my dog is a good study in how trauma can heal - a rescue from the racetrack; i've been watching his personality develop slowly. in the last year, he's gotten so comfortable with me that he'll ask me to sit down on the grass so he can use my body as a seat. (it's important to note: he is huge. he squishes me. i don't complain. i find it lovely.)

love for us is also just endorphins and behavioral response. i'm a poet, the number of sad men that have tried to "teach me" how stupid it is to be a hopeless romantic is ... not a low one. i cannot count how many times someone has argued - it's all chemical stimulus - as if the fact of it makes it less magical. we're just electrical signals reading the universe! that's fucked up. that's so beautiful.

i find it hard to believe that in the spectrum of evolution we are the only species to feel like this - we already know that dogs and cats also have endorphins. why wouldn't they experience joy? love? companionship? in what world is it a new thing that i had to earn it? in every relationship, both individuals have to work to learn the language. i had to teach my dog what trust is. it's okay that it took time for him to learn it.

in the human world, when i love someone, it's hard for me to speak it. i write them poems or make them food or give them a cool rock i found on the beach.

i don't know how to tell goblin i love him, so i tell him through treats. through a new collar, fancy mattresses, a little bow on his leash. i tell him with long walks and petting him and sitting down on the wet ground so my 70 pound sharp noodle of a dog can prance on my thigh bones and take an awkward - if loving - seat.

"you taught your dog to love you" is kind of a cruel way to reframe what actually happened: i loved him so loudly, it skipped over language and species. the two of us just saying - oh! i have figured out a way to tell you that you make me happy.

[pomegranatepup]

listen to each their own etc but my ancestors didn't coevolve with, bond with, and engage in interspecies communication with canines since the heyday of the woolly mammoth only for me to go and buy into Dog Buttons

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Cali was the same way. It was like owning a stuffed animal attached to a roomba, except the roomba could perform amazing acrobatic feats, but only when there's ham that's been left unsupervised.

Ella is so funny, like having Ella is not like having a dog. I thought it was like having a dog until I got a real dog and realized that Ella is more like ... having one of those giant african land snails live in your house. She's just. She's present. And she's an entity. There she is.

[pomegranatepup]

Since it's Valentine's Day anyone wanna confess their undying affections for my chihuahuas before the day is over?

[pomegranatepup]

Tumblr's Poorest Little Meow Meow Contest

Remember, don't just vote for your fave! Consider who is the SCRUNCHIEST, MOST MISERABLE, and has made the WORST CHOICES.

[pomegranatepup]

Something I love about Tumblr is having over a thousand followers and yet absolutely zero activity when I make a post. Thank you everybody for ignoring me 🙏🙏 allow my sillyness to slip into the silent succulent dark

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Tried to take a pic of Persie desperately staring at my delicious pastry, but she decided to just go for it and get a taste as I was taking the picture. Evil creature.

[pomegranatepup]

That checks out, yeah.

look at your phone lock screen. that's your reason to keep goin