Couch 184: Welcome to Zanzibar!

stopdog · Dec 17, 2018, 12:16 AM

My grandmother brought a pair of worry beads back for each of her grandchildren back in the 70's. I wonder if I still have mine some place.

WarmFuzzySocks · Dec 17, 2018, 01:30 AM

I’d not heard of worry beads, so I googled them. (What did the curious do before Google? So many unanswered questions!) Looks like a good challenge to learn how to use them. Why weren’t women allowed? Just supposed to bear the worries?

stopdog · Dec 17, 2018, 01:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WarmFuzzySocks

I’d not heard of worry beads, so I googled them. (What did the curious do before Google? So many unanswered questions!) Looks like a good challenge to learn how to use them. Why weren’t women allowed? Just supposed to bear the worries?

Dictionaries, encyclopedias and the library. One of my favorite things to do was go and peruse the card catalog. I missed the card catalog. I found more fascinating things simply by flipping through and going and grabbing some obscure book

WarmFuzzySocks · Dec 17, 2018, 01:35 AM

Oh, I loved the card catalog! It smelled like old paper.

My mom took us to the library weekly, and when we moved too far out of town, we’d go to the bookmobile stop every other week.

WarmFuzzySocks · Dec 17, 2018, 01:40 AM

My boys’ choir concert was one of many things jammed into the weekend. I so appreciate the repertoire their director chooses. There’s almost always some kind of poetry set to music, something inspiring without being schmaltzy. This time was Sara Teasdale, about the power of music. The melody is lovely. Actually, the whole concert was lovely (and not toooo loooong, bonus!).

From my spirit's gray defeat,
From my pulse's flagging beat,
From my hopes that turn to sand,
Sifting through my close-clenched hand,
From my own fault's slavery,
If I can sing, I still am free.

For with my singing I can make
A refuge for my spirit's sake,
A house of shining words, to be
My fragile immortality

Dec 17, 2018, 06:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by feralkittymom

Every time I see this thread, I think, "Zanzibar: Freddie Mercury's childhood home!"

Jersey, I'm a fan of crate training, too. Like SD said, it can be a place of refuge and comfort, and should never be a punishment. I rec keeping your pup's favorite snuggle toy in there to encourage him to see it as a place to relax. As far as housetraining, the most helpful thing I found was NO free feeding: only timed feedings, probably twice a day. Most dogs will need to poop within 30 min of eating, so after a meal, if you can immediately take the dog outside on a long line in a confined space, like a yard, and let him explore as he likes. Also time for bonding. Then when he goes, lots of praise and a treat. A few walks to let him pee between feedings should be all he needs. I never found puppy pads very effective if the end goal was to go outside. I think the transition can be confusing for them. Basically, I've found controlling the environment as much as possible works better than controlling the behavior: structure the environment so that the dog has few options to make mistakes. And DP's right--they really are creatures of the NOW--they generally can't connect a correction to a past behavior, so it's just ineffective, and adds anxiety to a shy dog.

Thanks for the tips. This morning he did very well. Woke up, went outside, eliminated-lots of praise was given. He came in, ate his food and now that 45 minutes has elapsed he will be going out again.

ETA: he’s already on a feeding schedule because I have another dog that’s diabetic, so as soon as he got home he went on. Her feeding schedule. He eats at 6am and then again at 6pm. I can’t leave food down because it’s a risk to her health so he learned immediately to eat all his food when it’s given to him at meal time.

Dec 17, 2018, 07:33 AM

And now I have to call my vet when they open at 8 because my diabetic dog didn’t eat any of her food this morning and I don’t know what that means for her insulin intake today. I wonder if she just realized new pup is just not here for a short visit and she’s being stubborn.? I don’t know. When I call the vet I’ll ask. It’s important she eats her food.

Dec 17, 2018, 07:48 AM

^ Crisis adverted. I just put her food back down and kept him out of the kitchen and she ate it. He also just eliminated outside again. So A+.

LonesomeTonight · Dec 17, 2018, 07:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jersey 3

^ Crisis adverted. I just put her food back down and kept him out of the kitchen and she ate it. He also just eliminated outside again. So A+.

Glad your dog ate her food and that new dog seems to be adjusting better!

Dec 17, 2018, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stopdog

Dictionaries, encyclopedias and the library. One of my favorite things to do was go and peruse the card catalog. I missed the card catalog. I found more fascinating things simply by flipping through and going and grabbing some obscure book

Oh I so agree about the card catalog. I read all kinds of stuff that way.

Dec 17, 2018, 08:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LonesomeTonight

Glad your dog ate her food and that new dog seems to be adjusting better!

Thanks. He’s doing good for never having a home. This weekend was difficult to spend time outside because it rained all weekend. I’m
only working 3 days this week (Wednesday, Thursday, Friday) so I still have today and tomorrow to spend with him. But even so when I go to work on Wednesday he will only be alone for 5 hours because H works nights and doesn’t leave until 1:30pm. I get home at 6:30pm.

Dec 17, 2018, 08:14 AM

This dumb cold is making me tired and cranky.

LostOnTheTrail · Dec 17, 2018, 08:31 AM

If email contact with our therapists and such is akin to currency, I feel like I wasted one in telling R about my latest article, especially when I've just written something that might be more useful for her to read and comprehend.

Dec 17, 2018, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArtieSwimsOn

This dumb cold is making me tired and cranky.

Mine lasted for more than a week. I’m still not 100% but I’m getting there. Now I hear my husband upstairs hacking up a lung!

Dec 17, 2018, 08:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jersey 3

Mine lasted for more than a week. I’m still not 100% but I’m getting there. Now I hear my husband upstairs hacking up a lung!

Oh no! Yeah they do seem to make the rounds... I caught mine from either hubby or son as they both had it before me. I'm on day 8 of it. At least my throat doesn't hurt anymore, I'm a huge baby about sore throats, I'm just all congested now...

stopdog · Dec 17, 2018, 09:21 AM

A couple of my friends have pneumonia.

Dec 17, 2018, 09:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stopdog

A couple of my friends have pneumonia.

That stinks.

Dec 17, 2018, 09:29 AM

I hope they get better soon stopdog

Dec 17, 2018, 09:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ArtieSwimsOn

Oh no! Yeah they do seem to make the rounds... I caught mine from either hubby or son as they both had it before me. I'm on day 8 of it. At least my throat doesn't hurt anymore, I'm a huge baby about sore throats, I'm just all congested now...

I’m a big baby with sore throats too. I didn’t have one too bad this time though. For me it was more congestion, coughing, headache and exhaustion. H was coughing for 3 weeks before I got my cold, his coughing cleared for a week and now he’s back to coughing again. I wonder if he has a slight pneumonia, but he won’t go to the med express down the street from where I live to get checked. They do chest x rays there.

stopdog · Dec 17, 2018, 09:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jersey 3

That stinks.

For them it does. But I was posting it because according to their mds - it is going around here where I live and they just thought they had bad colds -so if your cold does not go away or you feel worse than usual with a cold - you might want to go check it out.

Dec 17, 2018, 10:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by stopdog

Sheila Kuehl was blackballed when she was outed and she did become an attorney....but she is 20 years older than I am so -alas we are not the same person

I think she was in an episode of the Brady Bunch? Maybe?

SlumberKitty · Dec 17, 2018, 02:02 PM

My Church gave out approx 150 Christmas Dinners this weekend, and approx 400 toys to children in our community. It feels good to help the community and give back especially at Christmas. The left over dinners will go to food shelters or other charities, and the leftover toys will go to local schools or maybe to the fire station to be given out with their toy drive. Kit

SalingerEsme · Dec 17, 2018, 02:09 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jersey 3 View Post
we just adopted a 5 month old 45lb Shepherd mix. He was rescued from the south (Georgia) and shipped here to Jersey where he lived in the Shelter from the beginning of November until we found and adopted him on Thursday. He never had a home. He’s timid, shy and not house trained at all. Do you have any tips on breaking him out of his shell? And house training? I’ve been letting him out every hour and giving a treat immediately if he eliminates outside. So far he has eliminated 4 times in the house and I just bring him over to where he did it, tell him no-and take him straight outside then clean it up.

Control Unleashed is a really good dog training book, and B.A.T ( Behavior Adjustment Training) is another useful good system of exposure and rewards. New Jersey has some great dog trainers like at St. Hubert's. Look for a trainer certified CPDT-KA. The Puppy Primer by Patricia McConnel has really simple useful basics for reward based training.

The main thing with housebreaking is prevention . Get him outside on a schedule as if he were an 8 week old puppy. He will more learn to fear you than not to potty in the house if you bring him over and tell him no. It is too late by then , unless you catch him in the act, give an interrupter like clapping your hands, and taking him straight out.

stopdog · Dec 17, 2018, 02:16 PM

I loved "The Other End of the Leash" by Patricia McConnell

LonesomeTonight · Dec 17, 2018, 02:45 PM

I'm starting to think my T has a real issue with penguins. A few weeks ago, he said I could bring up anything I wanted, as long as it wasn't penguins. Today, as an example of something (what a T is responsible for, related to stuff with ex-MC--too long to explain here), he was like, "So if you went out and shot 500 penguins, then..."

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