Serenity: New Leaf

I mean, conformation shows are one thing and I don’t “do” conformation. Creed is not a show dog and just because we play around in UDC confo (which is very relaxed compared to probably anything else) does not mean I actually know what I’m talking about in actual confo training.

Because of popular demand, I am posting the full path set I made for my town!

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The acronym in each title stand for the kind of border the tile has, e.g., Path TLC is the top left corner tile. Feel free to use these paths in your town, as long as you reblog this post.

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I also have 1x1 pieces for this set here.

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I’m trying to work out a new path for my own town.

Some think so. There are a lot of purina foods I won’t touch. However, I’ve seen really good results with Pro Plan, and I feed what works instead of what the Internet thinks I should feed.

When I was younger, I did try the “feed the super premium kibbles and desperately try to find or that works” game. Those kibbles never worked (for my dogs) as well as Pro Plan, and they never improved my dogs’ quality of life.

p.s. Yes I literally just made up that term, but it works so we’re gonna go with it

p.p.s Get ready for copious parentheses and commas, ‘cause I love them both

To begin here is a magnificent guide to nail maintenance by the wonderful  spanishmal.

I’ve been seeing a lot of posts lately (mostly on Facebook, but it happens here occasionally) where people decide to insult, harass, and shame a dog owner for one simple thing. It doesn’t matter if their dog is well-cared for, exercised, and fed appropriately with an enriched environment; if that dog’s nails are showing, and they aren’t just as short as they should be, that person is in danger of being publicly shamed by fellow dog enthusiasts. 

I’m gonna be honest, this is a defensive post. I’m pretty conscious of what pics I post of Aang and if I notice his nails look too long, I won’t post that picture, even if it’s the cutest one I’ve ever taken. 

Here are Aang’s nails a couple weeks ago. Just let it be known that it was “nail day”, they’re dirty from the dog park, and within an hour of taking this picture I had cleaned and trimmed them so that they no longer had that slight curve.

Obviously, they’re far from ideal and I never posted this super cute picture to social media because of it. I have seen owners of dogs with nails similar to this be torn apart in certain groups without thought to either the owner’s feelings or why a dog’s nails might look this bad.

My dog came to me with longer nails. He came to me with an aversion to having his feet handled. Correcting both of these things is a work in progress, and frankly, one that is not easy to make progress on. Because despite his aversion, I need to make sure his nails don’t get out of hand, and this requires me to hold him still and trim his nails despite his protest, which furthers his aversion to having his feet touched. Even with all the bribes and positive reinforcement I can offer, trimming his nails is so stressful to my dog that I only put him through it about once a week. All of which makes for very slow, frustrating progress (not to mention that we’re also working on desensitizing him to the dremel, so that I can grind his nails without this much stress). 

This is what they look like a few weeks after the previous picture and after being trimmed the day before.

Still not my ideal, but definitely not as cringe-worthy, and in my opinion, not a bad length for the average pet owner who may not be as involved or as educated on these matters.

Now, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t say something if a dog’s nails are too long. If they’re slightly overgrown, as are Aang’s, and you feel you should say something, talk to the owner privately. Say “hey, I noticed Blah’s nails seem a little long, are they averse to having them trimmed? Have you try blank? Is this picture recent? Have they been trimmed since?” etc. Be polite. It might be that they are well aware of the problem and are on the road to fixing it or took a cute picture before they actually went about trimming their dogs nails.. If they didn’t realize the nails were too long, kindly educate!

If a dog’s nails are seriously over grown, to the point of being detrimental to their immediate health (ex. and ex.), it’s totally ok to say something (and, I feel, ok to say something publicly). As long as you are being polite and respectful! No one learns anything from insults and shouting (except maybe what a wonderfully creative and expansive vocabulary you possess). Politely point out the issue with the dog’s nails and try to educate the owner about proper nail care and why it’s important (wonderfully helpful link at the top of this post). 

As the author of that nail maintenance guide, let me publicly share a photoof Talla’s nails:

Yeah. They’re longish. But you know, with her foot shape and start in life, they’re fine. I’ve worked at getting them shorter for years now, and they never get shorter. It’s just the way they are, and I’ve (mostly) accepted it.

Would I like them shorter? Yes. Is it the end of the world if they’re never shorter than this? No. Am I willing to dremel her every 2 days to get them shorter, knowing she doesn’t like having her nails done at all? No. She gets them done every 5-7 days, and that’s fine.

Nubbin nails are far more functional than folks give them credit for. Dogs don’t need much length for their nails to be effective. Note: when I say nubbins, this is what I mean:. These were last dremeled three days ago. These are functional short nails. @streetdogmillionaires can vouch for how fast and agile the owner of these nails (Kaylee) is.

YES!  I hate it when people say they leave their dog’s nails longer because of [sport reason].  First of all, your dog uses his pads, not his nails, for proprioception.  That’s a long fancy word that means “telling where the ground is.”  Secondly, your dog’s natural gait means that his nails naturally rotate into the ground under normal foot movement and flexion.  Those nails can be VERY short and still get traction, but nails that are too long actually jam into the nail bed when the dog walks, which is uncomfortable for the dog.  We know it’s uncomfortable, because dogs with too-long nails change how they stand and walk to avoid it.  They rock back on their heels, and stand with their feet under their body instead of where their natural conformation would have them put their feet.  This causes stress on muscles and joints across the whole dog, the same way that compensating for a sprained ankle can cause back pain in people, because your whole base changes.

Grey Herringbone Brick Path

13 pieces, including the inner corners

Since Maplerow has new paths now, I’m uploading the QRs for the old ones. Kind of bummed that I never got around to using the winter or Christmas ones, but I like the ones I have now a lot more.

this game is really fun to design in, very simple.