Faye & Knight

Our last practice was earlier this week and classes don't start up again until after the trial. But it's the one holiday weekend we're closed for boarding at work and it's at my home club so it felt like too good of an opportunity to pass up.

Finally got to upgrade Forte's car crate to the XL. He fits in the large but it's definitely cramped and I've been feeling bad about it.

Some highlights include: Forte absolutely loving being allowed on the couch. He got to snuggle multiple people much to all involved's delight.

Faye convinced many people to play with her and was delighted to see her number of minions friends grow.

The support structure for the outside stairs disconnected while we were setting up for a big group photo on them. No one got hurt and several people in attendance used various building/engineer skills to put in a makeshift fix. Pretty quick thinking for a group who had been drinking. (Photo is from the next morning.)

Forte was very good on the job during our shopping trip despite someone's pet in a non pet friendly place surprising the shit out of us. It bolted out from under a vendor cart to snarl and snap at him and he gave it space but didn't stop performing his fmp. (It was thankfully tethered to the cart.). I bought him an ice cream later as a reward.

But sometimes, especially when my battery is low, explaining the difference between pet behavior and that my SD's behavior was specifically trained for a reason can be tiresome. Someone I know at last night's munch saw me getting stuck in the above kind of conversation and jumped in to explain, nicely but more directly. And the relief and gratitude that washed over me was unexpected but really nice. It really made me appreciate them and the work that I've been doing to expand my social circle.

It was a little healing moment in my journey to not let CPTSD rule my life.

Something about me to know is that I'm always running a background diagnostic to decide whether I should say a thing based on whether it falls into one of four categories.

Horrific things most people have no experience with (try very hard to avoid this)

Weird but harmless things most people don't have experience with (occasionally say this to let people get to know me)

Weird but harmless things this specific group of people probably has experience with (do try to say this to encourage connections)

Commonly relatable things most people have experience with (safe topics to navigate within)

The other thing you should know about me is that I, at times, misjudge what category things belong in due to it's frequency in my life/history. Someone who kindly lets me know I've put something in the wrong category is so appreciated because it is not my intention, much of the time, to cause discomfort.

I get to learn new information from someone who is passionate about it. 10/10 experience.

I treat boarding dogs like they are at a sleep away summer camp, or at least what I think one is like. Yeah we work on skills, but my primary objective is to make sure it's fun and the dog is having a good time.

I plan activities around what each dog enjoys. I put a lot of focus on making sure they are both safe and comfortable. For my nervous dogs, it's low pressure things and they usually end up becoming my little shadow. For more active dogs it's incorporating play with skills - I love improving recalls through play.

It's really important to me that I'm not just providing the basics but an above and beyond experience for the dog. Often times being in a new place without their people can be stressful and I want to reduce that as much as I can.

I saw the little triangle ears and immediately thought Oh no! Baby!

My boarding dog had different thoughts and had a very husky-vocal fit about us turning around and him not being allowed to go after it.

I hustle us back home while trying to figure out what I can grab quickly to rescue it. There's a cat carrier in the garage but thick gloves and my trusty headlamp are in the hall closet. I'm thinking time is of the essence because we have a big feral cat problem here and I want to get it safely off the streets.

I hurry back with my gloves and headlamp and discover that while it is in fact a baby, it is not a kitten. It is a baby raccoon. So I stood there for a few minutes while my body processed the stand down command from my brain. Cats I can care for. But I'm not qualified to be interfering with wildlife, no matter how cute and tiny the baby.