Cynikoi(I)

This is about all we got for mountains in this part of the country.

So now I feel like I've unlocked more relevant events and seminars with him.

Keeso loves to put Tater's entire head in his mouth. She tolerates it well.

I feel as though I've been pretty antsy and negative here on tumblr.com lately. Brain chemistry in flux, etc., but I don't want to fall into a habit of highlighting all my worries and other things that aren't going as well as I might hope. Sometimes venting becomes complaining becomes a negative bias about everything. Things do objectively suck in the world and I stand by what I've already mentioned I'm concerned about in my personal life, but I want to try to be better at setting that stuff aside and centering what's good sometimes. Blogs are good for that.

I'll definitely be using an e-collar on Tater the GSP. Since she doesn't live with me and I can't control how much food she has access to (she is portly and given table scraps), and lack of access to off-leash running is a significant welfare concern for her, I don't mind training her the quick way. I only see her twice a week for an hour or so, so it's difficult to get consistent engagement from her while honoring the fact that she just needs to move her body. Like it or not, I do think that using pressure for these sorts of things on a resilient dog is the quickest way to proof a learned behavior. But is it always necessary? Hell no.

I took Keeso to meet Tater and it was a success! No humping, minimal (but still some) grab-biting in play. He is still fairly serious, high-tailed and posturing, to start -- dare I say he is a socially dominant dog? -- but Tater is young and quick to appease. She isn't obnoxious about it. I expect she won't be interested in engaging in any resource conflicts, even as a mature adult. Once they figured each other out they had fun together!