Always a Lost Cause

Bone and joints problems are not something unique to senior dogs. In fact, dogs of all ages can develop orthopedic issues, though the causes behind them are often different.

Orthopedic diseases are often hereditary, so they are typically seen more often in purebred dogs, and larger breeds are also more predisposed to them. Orthopedic diseases and injuries result in joints that deviate from the anatomical norm. This means that the bones will likely rub together more, and so the joint suffers from more wear and tear than a healthy joint, leading to arthritis developing at a much faster rate – which is why we see it in younger dogs.

In young dogs, limping and lameness can sometimes be connected to minor issues and can resolve on their own with some rest time. However, this isn’t always the case, and many times it can be a sign of something more serious lurking underneath.

Here are some bone and joint issues that can affect young dogs    

Hip Dysplasia

Hip dysplasia occurs when the hip joint does not grow uniformly during puppyhood, and so depending on the severity of their condition, some dogs may begin to show signs when they are still very young.

While hip dysplasia is a genetic condition found predominantly in large breed dogs, it may be worsened by diet and growth rate. It’s very important to keep puppies at a normal weight while they grow; if they are overfed, they are more likely to grow non-uniformly and put more stress on their joints, and consequently develop hip dysplasia.

In addition, it is very important to feed large dogs food that has been specifically formulated for large breed puppies to help keep their growth controlled. This allows for proper bone growth and formation, as these diets contain fewer calories and a specific amount of calcium suitable for large breeds. Excess calcium in the diet has also been associated with a higher incidence of orthopedic abnormalities in large and giant breeds.

The recommended treatment for hip dysplasia may vary depending on the severity of the condition, the age at which it is diagnosed, and the degree to which it responds to medical intervention. Surgery is often only recommended when other medical interventions are not adequate.

Elbow Dysplasia

Elbow dysplasia is a syndrome that encompasses several inherited conditions, causing developmental abnormalities of the elbow joint. Elbow dysplasia tends to be more common in large and giant breeds and can lead to degenerative joint disease.

Early surgical intervention combined with physiotherapy provide the best outcome. However, the exact recommendations will vary greatly depending on the age of diagnosis, specific joint abnormalities found, and degree of pre-existing joint disease.

Osteoarthritis

While often considered an older dog issue, young dogs can also develop osteoarthritis. In younger dogs, arthritis is typically caused by orthopedic diseases or injuries, such as hip and elbow dysplasia, luxating patella, or a cranial cruciate ligament rupture.

On the other hand, arthritis in older dogs is typically caused by age-associated wear and tear, obesity, and lack of exercise.

Shifting Leg Lameness

One of the less known symptoms of Lyme disease is a shifting leg lameness due to painful or swollen joints that may come and go, recurring in either the same or other legs. However, of dogs exposed to the bacteria that causes Lyme disease, 90-95% remain asymptomatic and clinical symptoms only occur in 5-10% of dogs infected.

This is part of the reason why it’s so difficult to detect Lyme disease early on – by the time most dogs are diagnosed, the window for early, easier treatment has likely closed. Once clinical Lyme disease is diagnosed, however, response to treatment is often rapidly successful (including resolving any joint inflammation).

Tearing of the Cranial Cruciate Ligament  

Dogs may develop cranial cruciate ligament (a knee ligament that connects the femur bone to the shin bone) for several reasons.

Dogs may develop cranial cruciate ligament tears for several reasons. Unlike in people, most cranial cruciate ligament injuries are not acute, and instead tear over time due to chronic wear and tear; however, trauma and or acute injury also can cause a CCL tear.  Most dogs are over four years old at time of diagnosis, and this is more likely to happen in larger breeds, including Newfoundlands, Labrador Retrievers, Rottweilers, Staffordshire Terriers, Akitas, Mastiffs, Saint Bernards, and Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.

Poor physical condition and being overweight puts more stress on the joints and ligaments and can also cause a CCL tear, so it’s important that your keep your dog’s weight under control.

Young dogs can also develop other bone or joint problems. These include Panosteitis (inflammation of the outer surface of the long bones in the leg), Osteochondritis Dissecans (a defect on the smooth cartilage surface within one or more joints), Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy (inflammation in the growth plates of the long bones), and Luxating Patella (a condition that affects the knee joint where the kneecap slips in/out of the joint).

Dealing With Bone and Joint Problems

Joint diseases can affect the joint membranes themselves, the tendons around it, or the cartilage. In the case of bones, the problems can be the result of an injury, deterioration, or congenital. Just as there are many causes behind these issues, there are also many potential ways to treat them.

Surgery is always a possibility, but some issues can be treated with anti-inflammatories and pain medication, weight loss in overweight pets to reduce stress on the joints, or supplements such as omega fatty acids and glucosamine/chondroitin.

Writing a therapy session can often be daunting.  There are so many different approaches to therapy that it’s downright impossible to say “this is how all therapy looks.”

So I’m going to be writing brief guides to help y’all figure out what kind of therapist you should write depending on what purpose the therapy session serves within your story.

We’re gonna start with person-centered therapy, because it’s by far the easiest to write.

The whole idea behind person-centered therapy is that all that you need for a client to change is to really be nonjudgmental, understanding, and 100% there for the client. There’s no fancy techniques. The therapist just builds up a relationship with the client, and does their best to understand them.

What person-centered therapy is best for narratively:

The client character gets to express all the emotions they really feel inside, in a safe environment with no consequences to outside relationships. It’s a great way to show, not tell, your readers what your character is going through.

Advantages of using person-centered therapy:

You don’t have to worry about characterizing the therapist very deeply or learning fancy therapeutic techniques. Just make your therapist a good listener who never gives outright advice, and it’s hard to go wrong.

The client character is the driving force behind the session. You get to explore the client’s emotions in depth, without worrying about the therapist interfering or changing things.

It is especially effective in cases where your client character feels like no one listens to them, or that they can’t express their emotions to others in the outside world.

Disadvantages of using person-centered therapy:

The client character is carrying the weight of the scene. You have to already know exactly where your character is going before you start writing it.

Person-centered therapy is often inadequate for treating certain severe disorders on its own. 

If you need to have an outsider tell your character what they need to be doing, you can’t use person-centered therapy.

How to portray a person-centered therapist:

Kind, compassionate, caring, an amazing listener.  

Tends to nod & say “mmhmm” or “oh?” a lot.

Leans towards the client character; pays full attention to them at all times.

Speaks less frequently than the client character.

Tends to mirror what the client character is expressing to build their understanding of the client’s experience

“It seems like you’re saying…”

“You sound like…”

Really looks at how the client character is reacting emotionally during the session

Important: a person-centered therapist will NEVER tell the client character what to do or how to solve their problems. The client is completely capable of figuring it out themself if the therapist can provide a safe environment for them to explore the issue in.

So what does a person-centered therapy session actually look like? Let’s find out!

The following are some excerpts of this video, which is a filmed session between a woman, Gloria, and Carl Rogers, who founded person-centered therapy. Highly recommend watching this; there’s other videos with Gloria seeing other famous therapists that I will be discussing in future parts.

Gloria: I don’t know if [my 9 year old daughter] can accept me the way I am. I think I paint a picture that I’m all sweet and motherly. And – I’m a little ashamed of my shady side too. 

Rogers: Mhm, mhm. I see. It really cuts a little deeper. If she really knew you, would she, could she accept you?  

Gloria: This is what I don’t know. Yeah. I don’t want her to turn away from me. 

Rogers: That relationship-

Gloria: And I don’t even know how I feel about it because there are times when I feel so guilty like when I have a man over, I even try to make a special set‑up so that if I were ever alone with him, the children would never catch me in that sort of thing. Because I’m real leery about it.

Rogers: Mhm.

Gloria: And yet I also know that I have these desires.

Rogers: And so it’s quite clear it isn’t only her problem or the relationship with her, it’s in you as well.  

Gloria: And my guilt. Yeah. Yeah. I feel guilty so often. `

And later on, Rogers is super aware of how Gloria is expressing her emotions, and looking at what that means:

Gloria: …I hate myself if I’m bad, but I also hate myself if I lie.

Rogers: I guess, judging from your tone of voice, you sound as though you hate yourself more when you lie than you do in terms of things you disapprove of in behavior.

Even later on, Rogers reflects what Gloria was saying, in a way that made Gloria feel understood:

Gloria: …This has really bothered me. This happened with Pammy about a month ago and it keeps coming to my mind. I don’t know whether to go back and talk to her about it or wait. She may have even forgotten what she asked me, but uh – it just-

Rogers: The point is, you haven’t forgotten.  

Gloria:  I haven… No, I haven’t.

So that’s kind of an overview of what person-centered therapy looks like! It’s not too bad, right? 

1. reflection of emotions:

Is when the therapist reflects (like a mirror) the emotion or feeling of the client back to the client. For example, the client talks about how much they cried after an event, and how nobody was there for them, so you say something like “I can see that you were so sad that you felt like you couldn’t stop being sad and you wanted someone there for you”. 

2. reflection of behaviour:

Is the same as before, but with behaviour. For example, a client is laughing as they tell you about how sad they were when their uncle died, and you say back “you say you were sad, but you’re laughing now.” Or a person balls up their hands and screams “I’m not angry!!” and you go “You are balling up your hands, and screaming, your face is red and you’re scowling, does that sound like “not angry” to you?”

3. paraphrasing:

Is when the therapist paraphrases what the client said to show you’re paying attention and to confirm whether you understand what the client is trying to convey. So they say: “I was stuck in traffic, changing the channels, and then it hit me, my father was dead, my sister hooked on drugs and there was nothing I could do about any of that.” So you say “you realised you were not in control of the actions of other people”.

You can also do a combination of two or all three at the same time, for example:

reflections: “you’re tearing up as you tell me this story, and you keep hugging yourself, I think this memory is sad or hurtful, more than it is happy as you said in the beginning, what do you think?”

reflections + paraphrasing: within the same context of the paraphrasing– “ you realised you were not in control of the actions of other people, perhaps you even felt powerless”

Other “techniques” are asking open questions and matching what you say to the way you behave, you must always be a “congruent” therapist.

Look at this link for further ideas: https://positivepsychologyprogram.com/client-centered-therapy/

Today's animal of the day is the Red-Capped Robin (Petroica goodenovii)!

Photo credit: JJ Harrison

This small species of bird is native to the scrublands and woodlands of Australia, and despite its name and appearance, is not closely related to either the European or American robins. Instead, they are a member of the family Petrocidae, which are commonly known as Australian robins since many of the species within this family have brightly colored feathers on their chests. The red-capped robin is one of these species and has bright red breasts, or at least the males do. Males also have their namesake red forehead markings, which they use to help attract potential mates. Like many other species of birds, they are sexually dimorphic, with females being a duller gray color with pale red foreheads. Interestingly, these robins aren't able to naturally produce the pigments that give them this red coloration, and so need to obtain them from their food. Because of this, males that are brighter shades of red look better to females, since it shows that they are good at finding food and have good genes to pass on to their offspring.

Photo credit: Luke Seitz

These birds can be found across Australia, except for the northernmost region, as well as on some of the nearby smaller islands like Greenly Island, Pearson Island, and Rottnest Island. They prefer slightly more arid habitats, which helps them avoid competition with other Australian robin species that prefer wetter environments, such as the scarlet robin. They are insectivores, with the majority of their diet being made up of beetles and ants, though they'll also prey on spiders, moths, locusts, mantises, shield bugs, dragonflies, caterpillars, and many other invertebrates. They mostly prefer ground-dwelling prey, as they do most of their foraging on the ground. However, they're also known to sometimes glean, which is when they perch on a low-lying branch and scan the area for prey before swooping down and catching it off the ground or out of the air.

Photo credit: Jens Sommer-Knudsen

For most of the year, red-capped robins are usually seen alone or in pairs (and sometimes they'll hang out in flocks of other bird species), but during the mating season (August-January) they become more social. Males win over the females with their bright colors and by showing her a variety of choice nesting sites. If she likes a spot (and him), she will begin to build a nest there out of dry grass, tree bark, spider silk, feathers, and other soft materials. They'll also often decorate the outside with lichen to help hide the nest from predators. They lay two to three eggs per clutch, which the female will lay one day at a time. Females do all of the work incubating the eggs while the male brings her food; however, once the chicks hatch, both parents will work together to feed them. Females usually venture farther away from the nest than the males do, since it's their job to keep an eye on the nest. Once the chicks are around three weeks old, though, they'll often still hang around the parents while foraging.

Photo credit: Marc Henrion

Beecroft's Anomalure Anomalurus beecrofti

A flying squirrel with a wide distribution in West and Central Africa. They spend the day in nests composed of leaves and twigs high up in the canopy. At dusk they leave these and glide down to lower parts of the trees to forage for nuts, fruit, seeds, leaves and bark.

Niger River - Gao, Mali

Gao is located on the eastern bank of the Niger River. The city dates back to the 7th century, founded by fisherman who migrated to the region. 

CODA is probably the best film I've seen that was originally released on a streaming platform. Its story is a return to mainstream storytelling that everyone can get, with characters you will care about and soon will forget you're watching a movie. Featuring amazing performances from everyone in the cast and especially young Emilia Jones, who becomes the perfect hero, being both funny and unsure of herself, blossoming the whole way towards a moving finale that will have you crying. She sings, she fights, she shines. The songs are great, the characters are clear, this could be a musical on Broadway (and I bet it will) or a Pixar movie. Yet, it's a film with flesh and blood, from a young female director, Sian Heder, who creates a masterpiece of family drama in only her second feature film, adapting the French film La famille Bélier. It's funny, it's powerful, and it takes us into the unknown world of a deaf family, yet it's about all of us, since the film that won the Sundance Festival this year, is basically a love letter to all families out there, packing such an emotional impact for all, especially after these last 18 months, our families were all we needed to get by.

A

SPLATTERED MUD from the How to THINK when you Draw ENCYCLOPEDIA - the world’s ONLY encyclopedia of drawing tutorials , all of which is FREE for EVERYONE, FOREVER - you can see EVERY TUTORIAL on  OUR MASSIVE INSTAGRAM HERE and OUR GIANT TWITTER HERE!

PLUS! CLICK HERE for 300 EXTRA FREE TUTORIALS!

it's not just "worrying a lot" or one dramatic flashback scene. anxiety can be constant background noise, or it can hit in sudden physical waves, racing heart, nausea, feeling weirdly detached from your own body. PTSD is the nervous system staying on high alert long after the actual danger's gone. ask what the specific triggers and symptoms are before you write it, bc generalized anxiety and trauma-based PTSD work in genuinely different ways.

⤷ panic attacks are physical, not just emotional. chest tightness, dizziness, tingling hands, a feeling like you're dying or completely detached from reality. a character having one for the first few times might genuinely think something is medically wrong with them, not just "oh no i'm scared." it's not just breathing fast and looking spooked, it's the body convinced it's under attack.

⤷ triggers are rarely obvious or dramatic. a specific smell, a certain tone of voice, a particular time of day, fluorescent lighting. trauma responses often get triggered by mundane sensory details that seem to have nothing to do with the original event on the surface, and the character themselves might not even understand why they just shut down. don't limit your triggers to "seeing something that looks exactly like what happened," the brain makes connections that don't have to make sense to anyone watching from outside.

⤷ hypervigilance is exhausting and constant, not a dramatic beat. a character with PTSD might automatically scan every room for exits the second they walk in, sit facing the door out of habit, flinch at sudden movement or noise. this isn't them having A Moment, it's background behavior they've stopped even noticing themselves, bc it's just how their body operates now.

⤷ avoidance isn't cowardice, it's self-protection. a character refusing to talk about something, changing the subject, leaving the room, that's not necessarily weak-willed. avoidance is often the nervous system's own attempt to prevent a flashback or a panic response before it starts. writing forced confrontation as the only real path to healing is a common trope, but it's not actually how most healing works.

⤷ recovery isn't linear and doesn't end with one cathartic scene. a character can do real, genuine trauma work and still have a bad week months or even years later. writing healing as a single breakthrough moment after which the anxiety or PTSD is just "resolved" undersells how long and nonlinear this process actually is for most people, and honestly can make readers who are living through it feel like something's wrong with them for not being "fixed" already.

do the research, and if you can, read firsthand accounts from people who've actually lived through this rather than just other fiction that's already gotten it wrong.

Harpies

Region of origin: Greece

The harpies or harpyiai were half-women, half-bird creatures thought to be the personification of strong winds. They became associated with the underworld and meting out punishments, sent at the bidding of Zeus to attack or harangue people who had somehow offended the god, or people who had disappeared suddenly were thought to have been carried away by harpies to face the Erinyes. Earlier depictions described the harpies as beautiful maidens but over time their reputation worsened and they were increasingly described as ugly, vulturous beings. In Dante’s Inferno, the harpies made their home in a tree in the seventh ring of Hell and tormented the souls who resided there.

[Sources referenced: X | X | X ]

A young Watcher, as such temporal matters as age are measured by that intergalactic race, Aron eschewed his people’s pledge of non-interference in all things, choosing instead to use his great cosmic abilities for his evil enjoyments. He toyed with the lives of the Fantastic Four, replacing them with corrupt duplicates, and later engineered a civil war within his own Watcher race. As Aron was about to destroy the Fantastic Four, Uatu the Watcher, who was responsible for our section of the cosmos, reluctantly killed him.

A bit of August 13th history…

1521 - Spanish conquistadors under Cortes capture Aztec Emperor Cuauhtemoc in Tenochtitlan marking the end of the Aztec Empire

1913 - Invention of stainless steel by Harry Breary, England

1940 - Battle of Britain: Goering’s “Aldertag” (eagle day) offensive happens, intending to destroy Royal Air Force; 47-48 German aircraft shot down, RAF loses 25

1942 - The “Manhattan Project” commences, its aim to deliver an atomic bomb

1961 - Construction of Berlin Wall begins in East Germany

1997 - South Park’s 1st episode is aired (pictured)