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ellanainthetardis · 6 years

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Today: a typical Capitol night and a test... Will Haymitch pass?

[ff] or [ao3]

Chapter 44 : Mingling

Haymitch downed the two white pills with a gulp of the plastic bottle of water he had found in the car’s mini-bar, hoping the headache would go away soon. He strongly doubted it, not given that they were on their way to a party where the music would probably be loud and atrocious, but he still hoped.

They had recorded several interviews that day that would be aired later in the week – well, Haymitch had recorded several interviews, Effie had mostly remained backstage and made sure everything went without a hitch – and it had left him exhausted. The effort it took to remain cocky and slightly charming when all he wanted was to shout about the Capitol’s stupidity…

Necessary evil, Effie had promised. He knew there would be more of them. There had been enough shows and parties in the last couple of days to make anyone feel dizzy. There were only three victors left in the city now, including him, everyone else had gone home. One of them was staying for medical reasons – and it went to show that they were very short on the victors front that the Gamemakers were willing to invest in an old man’s health – and the other was a twenty-something puppy from Three who had won a few years earlier and who wasn’t hiding his plan to make the most of the sudden power vacuum.

Raye Adams wanted to be the new Finnick Odair. That was his funeral as far as Haymitch was concerned, he would simply have liked it better if the kid had stopped following him around, hoping to be splashed by his sudden rekindled fame. He wasn’t very fond of the young victor. Too much of an ambitious jerk.

Why, the way he had dismissed Effie the other day, asking her to fetch him another drink as if she was a waitress ready to comply to his every wishes and calling her darling as if he had any right to the pet name… Her reaction had almost made it worth it though. Effie had batted her fake eyelashes once, had looked him up and down and had looped her arms around one of Haymitch’s, loudly thanking providence that she had been assigned to a real victor. That had sent the kid into a quiet offended rage. He had taken exactly one threatening step. Haymitch had glared at him and had told him in a calm detached voice to think long and hard about what he was doing. Raye had left, red in the face and not very happy about being chastised. He had been back though. Haymitch’s spotlight was too tempting for him.

A gentle hand on his arm brought him back to Earth and he stopped staring through the window without really seeing what was happening outside to turn to his escort. She was wearing a blue dress that looked like it was made of running water. It rippled and gleamed under the light, the diamonds around her neck and wrists only adding to the effect. The moss green wig on her head was cut in a wavy short bob, a style that suited her enough that he could almost forget the color.

“We are almost there.” she warned.

“Where are we going tonight?” he asked, not having paid attention earlier when she had laid out the outfit he was supposed to wear. They were matching he realized, although it was subtle. The blue embroideries on his waistcoat were the exact same color as her dress.

She pursed her lips, not pleased by his lack of attention probably. “A birthday party. It won’t be a grand affair and I do not expect any camera. It isn’t a Games event and there shouldn’t be many sponsors. It will be a different crowd than the one you are used to.”

His eyebrows shot up. “Why are we going, then?”

They were usually kept on a schedule. Effie picked and chose the events they attended – he had to attend, really – but he was certain she was given a list of suggestions to begin with. Although, he supposed that the season was over now and official Games events would become few and far in between. It would all be about bringing the legendary Quell victor to private parties now and to official governmental events to give them a certain… flair.

“Because I have known Celeste since infancy and it would be rude of me not to attend.” Effie answered.

He frowned, understanding suddenly dawning on him. “Oh. They’re your friends, those people.”

She hesitated, briefly twisting the iris shaped ring around her finger in an unconscious nervous gesture. “I suppose that is the term one would employ. I would advise against trusting any of them though.”

“Cause I’m usually such a trusting kind of guy.” he taunted.

Her lips stretched into an amused grin before she could school her expression into a disapproving pout. “There won’t be cameras but it will be all over the city before the end of the night that we were here together… And since there is no real reason for you to attend other than escorting me…”

“Okay.” he shrugged.

They hadn’t made a lot of progress on that front. Questions were raised about their relationship but they eluded them out of habit and weren’t quite certain how to just… come out and say it. Haymitch was sick and tired of the empty Center though. The penthouse felt like a prison and he was ready to move out as soon as Effie judged it wise. People were already asking when he was planning on going back to Twelve… He hadn’t yet made it clear he wasn’t.

“There will be alcohol.” she warned as the car slowed down to a stop. She didn’t make a move to open the car door.

He swallowed hard. “Sweetheart…”

She looked down at the sparkly clutch on her knees. “I am not asking you… I know why you drink, Haymitch. I know why you feel you need it. And I understand that the Quell probably made that worse but… When we are in public…”

“I’m gonna try to keep off the stuff.” he cut her off. His face burned with embarrassment and he rubbed his brow. The headache wasn’t gone and he really didn’t want to have this conversation. “I’m not saying I’m gonna make it… Don’t know how long I can make it… But…”

It was too dangerous. He had come to that conclusion after his stupid stunt with the sleeping pills. When he was drunk, he wasn’t in control and he needed to be in control, all the more so if he was supposed to live in the den amongst the wolves. The sharp memories of withdrawals weren’t an incentive for him to pick a bottle again either. He was only too aware how much of a liability booze was. What if he got addicted again only for Snow to cut his supplies once more? He would die this time around. He was sure of it. And while that wasn’t necessarily a bad thing in his book, it would leave Effie and the boy without protection. He was at the point where the thirst was something he could sometimes forget about. He wished for a drink more out of habit than out of need. It wasn’t easy, particularly when nightmares plagued him… But he thought he could hold on some more. And he hoped that, at some point, holding on wouldn’t be so hard anymore.

“I’m gonna try, yeah?” he awkwardly muttered. There was pride in her eyes and it made him even more embarrassed. “We’re gonna be late.”

An amused smile played on her lips. “Well, we wouldn’t be if you would do the gentlemanly thing and run around to open my door.”

He rolled his eyes. “Never gonna happen.”

She let out a theatrical annoyed sigh and opened the door herself. “You are insufferable.”

It was more fond than irritated.

It was refreshing to get out of a car and not be assaulted by flashes, calls of his name and pleas for his signature or his picture. The street was calm, it was a classy residential area where rows of respectable houses were lined up with obsessive preciseness… The house in front of them was full of light, music was drifting out as well as laughter and the occasional happy shriek.

He followed Effie to the front door, feeling out of place.

She didn’t bother ringing the doorbell or knocking – and it was probably wise because he was sure that nobody would have heard it – she made her way inside, holding out the door for him, lifting her eyebrows as it sudden obvious reluctance.

She had said it wasn’t the crowd he was used to… She was right. He was used to fancy expensive Capitol parties, this looked more like what he would have found at one of the clubs in town. People weren’t quite as stiff, the waiters and waitresses in dark uniforms weren’t Avoxes, and while looking just as ridiculous as Capitols always did, those people seemed a little less eager to impress.

He figured out without having to ask Effie that this party wasn’t exactly upper class. At least, not the upper class they were used to. They were certainly rich but they didn’t have the pedigree that went with it.

“Effie! I wasn’t sure you would make it!” a woman with a vivid orange wig screamed. His escort was briefly swallowed by a gaggle of Capitols and he watched, staying a step behind, as they exchanged air kisses and small talk about everyone’s good health. Eventually, orange wig’s eyes fell on him and she stopped mid-sentence to gape, making him even more uncomfortable. He buried his hands in his pockets and winced when the woman stared. “Oh, my goodness!”

Effie was back at his side in a flash, fishing one of his hands directly from his pocket, with a sheepish smile. “I hope you do not mind, Celeste… I know I RSVP as alone but…”

“You brought Haymitch Abernathy to my birthday party.” Celeste stated bluntly, as if in shock. “I couldn’t even get tickets to the Crowning, it’s almost impossible to get close enough at red carpets and you brought him to my birthday party.”

The three other women who had jumped on Effie seemed equally impressed with his presence and Haymitch didn’t know if he ought to be amused or…

“Haymitch, this is my good friend Celeste Astworth.” Effie introduced them without further ado. “Celeste… I am assuming introductions aren’t necessary.”

Haymitch outstretched the hand Effie wasn’t holding. The woman shook it for far longer than was normal.

He had dealt with that kind of bemused fans before. Most of them were harmless. It wasn’t his favorite thing but he indulged her, hoping not everyone in that house would react the same way. He flashed her a smirk. “Hi.”

“Hi.” Celeste giggled, still shaking his hand.

He glanced at Effie for help but she seemed to find the situation hilarious.

“You will make her party the place to be tonight.” she explained with a grin. “That should warrant quite a few articles in the newspapers. Happy birthday.”

Celeste looked over the moon.

Haymitch thought it was the cheapest birthday present he had ever seen. Trust Effie…

“You mind if I get my hand back?” he joked.

The woman seemed to remember herself and let go of his fingers, flushing a bright shade of red. “My apologies! Oh, Effie, I ought to chide you! If I had known I would have… This was supposed to be a night between friends, you understand...” Those words were directed at Haymitch. “If I had known to expect more distinguished guests…”

“I’m sure everything’s fine, sweetheart.” he told her.

She almost swooned at being called by that pet name.

Effie’s grip became a tad firmer on his hand and she introduced him to the other women without waiting for Celeste to answer. They were a little more composed fortunately.

For a party between friends the house was crowded with people. Effie knew everyone, it seemed, but he quickly lost track of names and faces. He identified a couple of people as regular sponsors but they were in the minority.

Effie’s friends were crazy people but he wasn’t really surprised.

It wasn’t his scene at all and he hung back most of the time, sipping from the alcohol free cocktail Celeste had only been too happy to fetch for him, trying and failing to pretend he belonged in that sea of bright colors and idiotic people. Most people Effie stopped to talk to were in the fashion industry and he was bored out of his mind. She must have realized because she steered him toward a group of men who looked less flamboyant than the others.

She was welcomed with appreciative looks and predatory smiles that made him let go of her hand to place an arm around her shoulders in an instinctive claim. She automatically melt against his chest, not even batting an eyelash at the public display.

She greeted each of them by name far too ridiculous for him to remember them but her attention remained on the one with curly bleached blond hair. “Aspecus, may I entrust Haymitch to you? I am afraid talks of frills and lace bore him.”

Alarmed at the prospect of being left alone with those people, Haymitch tried to protest but she was already gone with a peck on the corner of his lips.

“Who wouldn’t be bored.” the man with purple hair on his left complained before downing his glass. “I swear, Pec, your wife always only invites stylists and models.”

Aspecus – Pec for short, it seemed – gave a helpless shrug. “Her party, her rules. So, not a fan of fashion, Haymitch?”

“Can’t say I care much for it, no.” he snorted.

“I’m surprised you would come to this kind of party…” the third man commented carefully. “It is a far cry from the City Circle. No offense, Pec.”

That one, Haymitch recognized. Maneo, he thought. The name was Gellert Maneo or something like that… He did sponsor sometimes although not every year.

“I guess I’m Effie’s present to the birthday girl.” he admitted.

“Are you?” Pec laughed. “Celeste will certainly be happy with that. She is a great fan of the Games.”

Haymitch tried not to cringe.

“I see.” Maneo said quietly at the same time.

And Haymitch thought maybe he did see, which made him cringe even further. “Not like that.”

“Like what?” purple hair asked, clearly confused by the long look Haymitch and the sponsor were exchanging.

Maneo took a sip of what Haymitch suspected to be whiskey. “So, Sal, what were you saying about the pearl market?”

As it turned out, the men were businessmen. There were plenty of those amongst the sponsors but Haymitch had never really had an opportunity to talk about… business before and it was more interesting than he would have cared to admit. They were still shallow people – he didn’t think he would ever find anyone in the city who wasn’t shallow – but they were more pragmatic than most. They weren’t stupid either and that made it easier for him to eventually relax and enjoy the conversation that, for once, didn’t revolve around fashion, the Games or who was screwing who.

It was plain to see they were surprised he could hold his own in debates. Politics was avoided – probably because it was rude or whatever but since that suited him just fine, it was alright – but Haymitch wasn’t that bad at other topics like literature, philosophy or ancient history.

“There’s not much else to do in Twelve other than read.” he awkwardly answered Sal’s diplomatic enquiries as to where he had gone to school, feeling embarrassed for no good reason. He had no university degree to boost, no degree at all to be honest since he hadn’t even finished high school, but that didn’t mean he was stupid.

All in all, he finally admitted after a whole hour of talking to them that the party wasn’t that bad. Down to Earth people, he could deal with. Still, he was a little surprised when Pec asked if he wanted to have dinner with them the following week – mainly because it sounded like a genuine invitation and not something born out of a need to be seen with the Quell’s victor. He had been wondering why Effie had kept in touch with people who were so obviously beneath her in the food chain, now he was getting a clearer picture. She might not trust them – and that was wise because who could trust anyone in the Capitol? – but they were certainly a nice change from the pompous people they had to deal with on an everyday basis.

“Here you are!” Celeste eventually appeared, wrapping her arms around Pec’s waist. “You are not mingling. Very rude.”

Effie wasn’t far behind her. Her blue eyes studied him and she must have come to the conclusion Haymitch wasn’t in need of a rescue because she flashed him that smug I know better smile. He rolled his eyes at her but didn’t protest when she leaned against his side. If her friends were surprised by their behavior, they didn’t let on.

“You were doing so well by yourself, my love, I did not want to rain on your parade.” Aspecus smoothly replied.

Celeste looked pleased by the compliment but her attention soon settled on the victor. “Are you having fun, Haymitch? I hope my husband and their friends stopped talking shop long enough to make sure you have everything you need…”

“I’m good, thanks.” he answered.

He was rewarded for this small polite act by fingers brushing against his, loosely entwining them together. He looked at Effie, a little surprised to realize she looked content, not quite harried or eager like she usually was at official parties but… relaxed. She still had her bubbly persona on but it was a bit toned down. Probably because there were no sponsors to impress. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that he was just there to serve as a birthday present or because gossip rags would have something to say about her bringing him to a private party… This was something else. She had clearly known those people a long time and she felt comfortable around them. She had brought him on her turf. This was a test of sort, to see if he could fit in her life.

“How am I doing?” he asked in a low voice and with a small unimpressed smirk while the Capitols were having a loud debate about a reality TV show or other.

She probably had expected him to figure it out at some point because she grinned. “You are passing with flying colors.” He shook his head at her and she tilted hers to the side, studying him. “Are you mad? I thought you and Pec might hit it off.” She wrinkled her nose. “He and his friends are a little boring, Celeste always complains about it. I thought they might be to your liking.”

“Cause I’m boring too?” he taunted.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and it was an automatic response to circle her waist with his. There was some staring and he was sure a few pictures were covertly taken but he didn’t really mind. That was the point, wasn’t it?

“Most Capitols would think so.” she hummed as he tightened his hold on her, bringing her even closer.

“And you?” he snorted.

“I know better.” she chuckled, leaning in to whisper in his ear all the not boring things she wanted him to do to her later. It was very hard to keep countenance or to resist dragging her back to the penthouse right then.

“Minx.” he accused in her neck.

“I am sorry to interrupt but I think it is high time for Pec to go fetch the cake in the kitchen and to start singing while I stand here and look surprised.” Celeste cut in with obvious amusement, clearing her throat. “Perhaps, Haymitch, you would be so kind as to help him? If you wouldn’t mind. I trust you can light a few candles without almost burning the house down.”

Pec rolled his eyes. “The match slipped through my fingers once and there was no damage. How long will you keep holding this over my head?”

Celeste’s look clearly indicated it would be a very long time indeed.

Effie dropped her arms and thus he had no choice but to follow Pec, a bit annoyed to have to let go of his escort. Still, the ruse was obvious because he wasn’t two feet away when Celeste loudly squealed. “How did this happen? When did this happen? Is it serious? How serious?! You have to share the gossip, Effie! Oh, this is the best birthday ever!”

All in all, it wasn’t the worst time he had had in the city.

He was startled to realize when they climbed back into the car that he had actually had a good enough time and that he hadn’t thought about the Quell in a couple of hours. The easy friendship between Pec and the others had made him miss Chaff but the dull ache had been eased by their willingness to include him.

He hadn’t quite meant to make plans with them but he had accepted the pressing invitation to get together some time in the following week.

Maybe, he thought as Effie’s head rested against his shoulder, just maybe he could find a place in this city.

#hayffie #effie trinket #haymitch abernathy #into that good night

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bazarambulant · 4 years

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Dog Soup for Dummies

In a galaxy far, far away, we dwelt on MacDougal Street when it was the coolest street in the usa. The problem was that individuals could walk our dog early in the morning and late at night since the sidewalks were jammed with tourists. We were only married, and we dwelt in the back to the first floor of a cold water level, a very small flat with a bathtub in the kitchen and the water closet down the hall. It was a tenement built soon after the civil war and was remarkably free of the sound of bikes and rubbernecks out front. It was like living in Paris without the disdain or speech problem. The rent was low and the times were large. No kids, just a dog and a cat.

The teeming coffee shops, cheap eateries and thumbnail nightspots overflowed with equally ambitious kids such as the optimistic Loving Spoonful, Mommas and The Poppas, Bob Dylan, Joan Rivers, Bill Cosby, Woody Allen, Kris Kristofferson and much more aspiring celebrities, entertainers and authors than the world believed it had or desired. They were all there during that time on MacDougal Street and so were we. Aside from our dedication to making it our own lives were carefree and full of fantasies about the future. Haircuts, restaurants and Broadway shows were luxuries none of us could afford. We haunted the coffee shops every night like the second act of La Boheme. This was exactly what our lives had been like at the time when we bought our first purebred dog, a Siberian Husky named Siegal's Petrov of Alakazan. We called him Pete.

The new young dog was better than Broadway. He was five months old, frisky, high-spirited and a frothy delight of canine madness with sky-blue eyes, a silver-and-black coat plus a tail which was not only beautiful but had a life of its own. When he entered into a room, I could not take my eyes off him. I tried to not think too much about his pedigree since it made me feel fair. He had papers. I didn't. He was admired from the Dog Fancy. I was not.

This was the very first dog I ever owned that made me laugh at least ten times a day. He was my own sweet puppy, a gift from the spouse in celebration because of her new acting job on Broadway, which was an outstanding event. For this day, it had been the best gift I'd ever been given. Then, without reason or rhyme, the beloved pet acquired a chronic bout of nausea and that I wasn't able to correct the condition. Unexpectedly, we stopped having fun on MacDougal Street. People anticipated dog owners to clean up after their dogs and that I was in favor of this. I believed that dog owners must be responsible and think about their neighbors, especially those that did not have dogs. But, cleaning up five or five times a day by a dog with diarrhea was not only difficult, it was unpleasant.

I waited two days before doing a lot about it since I thought the condition would clean up on its own, with the body's immune system doing the heavy lifting. No luck there. I called Pete's vet and went into see him with the puppy. Following a thorough examination, he could detect nothing wrong which would create the issue. As I remember he gave Pete a shot of something, a little envelope of tablets to push him, he asked about what I had been feeding the puppy and made a couple of suggestions for change.

I stopped feeding him commercial dog food and gave him a cup of cooked rice with a tablespoon of prepared baby food with cooked chicken blended into it. He got this three times every day. To tell the truth, it looked so good I ate some myself. My instructions were to create fresh water available at all times despite the fact that we were in the middle of a housebreaking regimen. Obviously, the nausea made housebreaking impossible anyhow. We did all this and I think we were supposed to give him several tablespoons of Kaopectate or Pepto-Bismol. After three days of this, the illness changed. I called the vet, talked to his tech and she said if the diarrhea was gone to taper into his normal diet of quality dog foods. We did just that but the nausea returned. I phoned again and she taught me to bring Pete in for additional tests.

I think they looked for outside parasites, analyzed him for internal parasites, internal injuries and various diseases. I do recall being asked to bring in feces samples for microscopic examination. Everything came out negative. The vet, a young guy I liked very much, told me that the dog was in excellent health, but for the diarrhea, which he couldn't explain.

By this time, the tech, a bit older than her boss, suggested that I try cooking Pete's meals. She guided me to cook things that were easy to digest but in exactly the same time provided a reasonable amount of protein, carbohydrates and vitamins and minerals. She asked if he enjoyed fish and I said he did indeed. She cautioned me to make sure it had been cooked. I went home that afternoon and began buying new whitefish. I steamed it, boned it and integrated it into a blend of cooked rice, carrots and chicken broth. My wife came home that day, smelled something in the saut pan and said, “”Umm. Smells good. What's for dinner? ””You see, I did all of the cooking since I was good at it and my wife had no interest in it. I replied, “”Ragu Norde ala Dog Soup. ”” She giggled and accused me of making this up. I then explained that it had been for Pete and we had been going out for dinner. The puppy inhaled the food and appeared plaintively like asking for more please.

For the next few weeks, the status would disappear for a day or two only to return. The vet had me haul the dog in yet another time. He explained he was planning to change the flora in Pete's intestines and stomach lining, which, I assume he did. More medication. More house cooking. More intermittent diarrhea. By this time, the vet's tech was intrigued by the problem and thought it might be something non-medical. When asked what she meant she said she wasn't sure. “”Just watch him. Maybe he is getting into something which you are not conscious of. ””I nodded but was too tired of this problem to believe anything was ever going to change. I had resigned myself to cooking whitefish and then heading to the roll of paper towels for the remainder of our lives.

I saw and I watched and I watched until I fell asleep from the tedium of watching my Husky blink, pant, and scrape, blink, wag, and stare back at me with innocent curiosity. Now I need to tell you that among Pete's teenage behavior problems were harmful chewing. On great information, we gave him rawhide chew toys to meet his teething situation. Well, on one of my dull monitoring sessions, I awoke quite suddenly only to see the young dog shoot an whole rawhide chew toy, that was shaped like a fat pen, and swallow it whole after giving it two or even three chomps. My eyes dropped their glaze as the realization sunk in. That had to be the origin of the issue. I immediately called the vet's office and talked to his techie, who by that time seemed like a member of the loved ones. When I explained what happened she said, “”Of course, that's it. Swallowing one of these things entire would give me asthma, too. ”” I then asked her what to do next. “”Stop offering him rawhide chew toys, dummy. Put him back to his regular diet, if you don't want to keep cooking . How do you really feel about whitefish, anyway? ””

Well, I put the saut pan off. I returned to some much valued premium dog food but every once in a while I'd make him the Ragu Norde and slushed it about in the dog soup. Six months later, I had been writing books and articles about dogs but that is another story.

Mordecai Siegal’s latest publication is “”The Good Life: Your Dog's First Year (Simon and Schuster) His next book will be, “”THE COMPLETE CAT BOOK. The Official Publication of the Cat Fanciers’ Association,”” to be published by HarperCollins. His most lasting novels are “”The Cornell Book of Cats (Villard),”” “”The Davis Book of Dogs (Harper Collins), “”Good Dog, Bad Dog (Henry Holt,)”” “”When Good Dogs Do Bad Things (Little, Brown)”” along with the 10th Anniversary Revised Edition of “”I Just Got A Puppy. What Can I Do? (Simon & Schuster)”” He is President Emeritus of the Dog Writers Association of America and a founding member of The Cat Writers Association.

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doberbutts · 4 years

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On the same topic re:yesterday of tiny dogs and how people treat them:

At this point I’m sure I’m known as the dog blog that writes all those “in defense of brachy dogs” posts (hi) buuuuuuuutttttt...

Having been doing a lot of research lately regarding well bred chihuahuas, because reasons, I must admit I’m pleasantly surprised. I tried not to include them in my previous posts regarding brachy breeds- despite them being brachy- outside of specifically my dog Tiki because she specifically had some problems due to being brachy (which directly contributed to her death), just because my experience with actually well bred chihuahuas is/was fairly minimal... But now that I’m looking more into the ins and outs of health testing requirements and suggestions, I must say that I sort of wish all breeds had such rigorous testing as a general rule. Sure, not all breeders go into the details like this, but even still, I’m quite liking what I’m finding.

First: COI is automatically estimated on their breed pedigree website based on the known pedigrees of the dog (this is a somewhat flawed way of doing things, but is also more effort to track COI than most dobe pedigree websites I’ve seen)- and the average COI I’ve seen thus far has been less than 5% with more than half of the dogs I’ve checked being under 1%. I don’t need to explain why the first time I saw 0.25% as an estimated COI my first instinct was to say HOLY SHIT.

Additionally I noticed that breeders that were inching close to or just over that 5% range would immediately breed those higher COI dogs to dogs that were completely unrelated within a 10-15 generation pedigree, thus producing puppies well under 5% again. As many of you well know, my breed (dobermans) has an absurdly high COI as a general rule with the average dog being in the 40% range. Creed’s COI is considered lower for a doberman and his is around 35%. An upcoming litter is bragging about the lowest COI they’ve heard of in the breed- 22%. Keep in mind that nearly every piece of research regarding COI percentages recommend that no breed get higher than 10%.

Adding onto the breed pedigree website- it lists all available health testing results of the dog, both good and bad, cause of death and age of death, and what titles the dog has (the most used american dobe pedigree website does the same)- and that led me to an important discovery:

Chihuahuas are the only breed that may show with a molera- a soft spot in the skull that may or may not close in adulthood. Moleras are weird because they are not a guarantee the dog has hydrocephalus, but the presence of them (especially if the dog has several) may indicate a problem. With the large, dome-shaped skull that Chihuahuas are known for (”apple-head”), this creates a problem where it can be difficult to see if the dog has hydro and that’s why the head is so big... or if it’s just the bred-in head appearance. Brachy dogs are also especially prone to the condition, which makes things even more difficult because Chihuahuas are brachy too. Tiki had two moleras, and also according to her specialist “almost definitely” had hydro which also complicated her condition and led to her death.

The Chihuahua pedigree website also tracks moleras and hydrocephalus, and states which dogs carry moleras into adulthood, and also which dogs have or have produced puppies with hydro. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that many breeders do xrays, ultrasounds, and CT scans of the head to ensure that their dogs are not affected by this and will not pass it on!

Which finally brings me to the elephant in the room: CHIHUAHUAS ARE BRACHYCEPHALIC!

And... I was actually quite impressed, as even the illustrated standard and related articles to the Chihuahua breed discuss the need to ensure proper dentition and bites as an early warning sign that the brachy skull was beginning to warp to negatively effect the breed. Demands that the nares be open wide and the nose moist. That the sound of the dog breathing should be as natural as possible. The dogs should be spry, active, capable of exercising on a hot day. The recommendation to use the aforementioned xrays, ultrasounds, and CT scans to also double check that the sinus cavity and nasal passages were wide open to ensure healthy breathing. A shorter nose with a large skull, but not to the detriment of the dog in question.

And this is what I am frequently talking about when I say that I have seen brachy dogs that are not suffering from the negative effects that everyone on the internet likes to harp on about. Chis are a brachy breed. They are just as much at risk for all of the brachy problems as pugs, frenchies, bostons, bulldogs, and more. They are almost always included in diseases that distinctly affect those “flat faced” brachy breeds, despite the fact that Chihuahuas do actually have some length to their muzzle and the standard specifically states that a flat-faced chi would be so faulty it might as well not be called a chihuahua anymore. This is why I am constantly losing my mind at the concept that adding an inch or two onto a pug or bulldog face will magic all the problems away- it won’t! Chis are just as likely to be affected by these problems, and in many cases chis are affected by these problems.

I lost my 10 month old puppy to brachycephalism and an autoimmune disorder. Full stop. My dog fucking died because of these problems, and she! had! length! on! her! snout! But that didn’t matter, because the inner airways were pinched, her warped skull put her at high risk for dangerous pressure to build up in her brain case, and her shitty genetics failed her body’s natural defense system that could have otherwise allowed her to survive these conditions. I spent more than 6000USD to try and give her a chance at life and she died anyway. Horrifically. Tragically.

I never want to see anyone acting like adding an inch onto the snout of a brachy dog will snap its fingers and magic away all the brachy problems ever again. I will continue making my In Defense Of Brachy dogs posts, because I’ve actually lived this nightmare and it’s been awful. Tiki had 2 inches of snout that stuck out of her face and still died because she was brachy. If whatever brachy fix has gripped the internet isn’t also doing what the Chihuahua standard and breed club recommend- xrays, CT scans, ultrasounds, scopes into the airways, tracking the instances of other characteristics such as poor dentition, bad bites, hydro, and more... then what they’re actually doing is selling you some well-marketted pseudo-science and hoping you won’t call them on it. Those dogs are not healthier. They’re ticking timebombs. And at some point, someone’s going to get one, and lose another puppy to the same thing.

I don’t ever want to see anyone saying that dog traits they happen not to like are specifically the cause of inbreeding, when the “bad traits” dogs are at such a low COI percentage they’re under a single percent at some points, and the “good traits” dogs are touching on 50%.

I don’t ever want to see anyone saying that mutts are always healthier than purebreds, when Tiki was almost guaranteed to not be purebred and died at fucking 10 months old meanwhile most purebred chis live well into their late teens and even early twenties.

Researching deep into chis has shown me there is actually a way to do these things correctly. And if whatever viral page isn’t at least living up to these standards, then you are absolutely being taken in by someone who is either ignorant or someone who is betting you are.

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mcvfd · 5 years

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S05E03: Don't you want to report the OTHER crime?

Kanye is outraged by a villian’s lack of respect. Nissa gets really into erotic sketching. Averlyth forgot she knows how to teleport.

TL;DR: Carlos and Kanye confront Taldic, but it doesn’t go well. In the ensuing brawl, he escapes, revealing a tattoo of a red horse head. Meanwhile, Averlyth, Nissa, and Um sneak into the second warehouse, and recover proof that Taldic is behind the poisonings. The gang prepares to roll up on the fort.

Background:

We received our first assignment from the Queen Dragon, to investigate a series of deliberate poisonings in the water.

Um had been looking into it previously, so he filled the group in about what he's found so far, and then the group went upstream to find the source of the poison. Group steals some cures from the warehouse, go to the town that's the source, then Carlos and Kanye get a job that goes back to the warehouse, Kanye then knocks himself out running into a building (claiming he saw puppies).

The party decides to split - Carlos and Kanye goes back to town to confront the TL (the person in the note), and the rest of the group are going to stay on the hill for combat if necessary.

Session:

Group finalizing strategy

Deciding to talk to Talldic as if we had poured the poison in

Contacting group 2 with fartie talkies

In the field office, there is:

A director that we report to

A medic

Head of magic

Quartermaster

Resources that could be provided

Logistical assistance (i.e. distrubtion of medicine)

Military assistance (minimal)

Um: That's what I'm worried about, we're sending away the people that are good at breaking into forts

Um: Can we set ground rules not to burn down the fort?

Averlyth: Kanye.....

Kanye: Kanye promises not to burn down the fort.

DM: Sir, there's a drunk bard at the door?

Group planning

Kanye and Carlos will go to the town and confront the guy that wants to meet them for pouring the poison into the river

Nissa will drink

She starts doing character sketches of all the guards

She ends up seeing hot guys working out and starts drawing hotter sketches

Averlyth memorizes the guard rotation

The group realizes no one knows what Talldic actually looks like

Um describes it based off of the portraits

Apparently he looks like a tall dick with a weasley mustache

DM: I mean, you guys don't know what he looks like because this is a second-hand description from a painting?

Kanye and Carlos will go down to the river to hang out to see if anyone is watching

At midnight they're going to dump Carlos's pee into the river

Apparently he had asparagus

Nothing remarkable happens during the day - they don't see anyone observing them

Kanye and Carlos loudly pour "The Poison" into the river (or rather, Woodhouse does it for them) and then they saunter over to the High Life Wine & Dispensary.

Carlos shouts "I need some tall dick"

Turns out Talldic has bouncers, who escort Kanye and Carlos over to his booth

Kanye tests the table - it is bolted to the floor

Talldic narrows his eyes at the two of them: "How did you know that name?"

Kanye: "The alchemist at the warehouse told us the name"

Note: The alchemist did not. But Kanye did not actually know that.

Talldic squints, but waves it off and then asks about the job.

Carlos goes: "What job? You mean your ingenious plan?"

Kanye goes: "We don't know anything! We poured the, uh, vial thing."

Talldic tells the bouncers to get rid of "these two assholes".

The bouncer tries to lift Kanye out of the bench, but he keeps himself seated with his legs, rattling it a bit. The bartender starts looking over at the noise; the drunk girls haven't noticed, a guy with a joint starts heading out.

Kanye: "Hey man, we were going to get paid."

Carlos: "Hey actually we know what's up with your scheme and we want more lofty positions within your organization".

Talldic isn't actually listening and has been angrily asking the bouncers why they haven't been escorted out yet.

A bouncer goes for Kanye's face.

Carlos turns to Kanye and gives the codeword, "Queens" - which means to just get the fuck out

Kanye decides to attempt to flip the table [while taking the punch]

First attempt fails

Second attempt flips a plate of chicken and hits a drunk girl

The girl that got hit is crying because her makeup and hair took a long time

Her sassy friend walks over going what the fuck is wrong with you

Carlos heads on out with a "We'll be in touch"

The sassy drunk girl goes to the door but doesn't follow the two outside

Kanye attempts to flirt

The sassy drunk girl angrily follows Kanye outside and continues yelling

Carlos carves a pipe out of a pear that kind of looks like a teddy bear and she calms the fuck down and accepts the peace offering

Carlos: I'm stealthy, I don't know if you're stealthy

Kanye: I'm stealthy if I stay very still

Kanye: I'm going to do my best impression of Um and climb on top of something and watch.

Also Kanye: I don't know much about being sneaky but I know a really sneaky guy and this is what he would do.

The group decides we've identified enough evidence to arrest the guy

The group contemplates if this is the first time that Kanye's degree of pedigree will be of use

Kanye: It's time to invoke some privilege, Woodhouse!

Carlos: Typical rich kid.

Kanye: I'm here to report a crime! I am Kanye from the house of Cantaliber and I just had a table thrown on me!

Deputy: Oh yes, at the low life? It happens all the time.

Kanye: Right! So we need to send people to arrest the man that assaulted me.

Carlos: Don't you want to report the other crime?

The deputy is weirded the fuck out by Kanye but doesn't disbelieve him exactly, so he decides to go wake up the Sheriff, Sheriff Deputy. Not to be confused with his assistant, Deputy Sheriff.

Kanye immediately proclaims he is part of a secret group.

Kanye has failed many rolls but is too noble to be arrested despite his drunkenness.

Deputy and Sheriff escort Kanye to the Low Life bar, and then Kanye interrupts saying it's the wrong bar, and then calls out for Carlos, who was across the street from the High Life anyways.

Carlos explains about the infiltration to investigate the poisoning, using all his big words and saying "Officer" a lot.

The Sheriff still barely understands him.

Then, Talldic and the two bouncers walk out of the High Life.

The Sheriff calls Talldic over.

Sheriff: "I'm so sorry sire, these guys have been telling me that you're like the head of the criminal organization?"

Talldic looks like a smug motherfucker

Carlos immediately cuts him off and says: "My associates are clearing out your warehouse right now."

A momentary flash of worry and annoyance flashes across his face and he starts to walk away, very vocally annoyed.

The Sheriff tries to call him back, but Talldic continues with the scathing "I don't have to deal with this bullshit", threatens to fire the Sheriff, how he's a lawabiding citizen, etc.

The Sheriff no longer has sympathy for Talldic, but isn't that confident about going after him with the two burly guys right next to him.

Kanye: Sheriff, I would like to be deputized to arrest this citizen.

Talldic rolls his eyes and turns and walks away and tells the bouncers to deal with it. The two guards roll up on Kanye and Carlos, pull out hatchets, and start going at it.

Kanye fucks the guy in front of him right up til he's all bloody and then trips him

Carlos arcs a badass lighting bolt but it sails past the guy down the alley

The Sheriff decides to arrest the thugs

He runs to the guy in front of Carlos and hits him over the head

The Deputy decides to arrest Kanye and Carlos

He goes to hit Kanye but Kanye is so well-armored it doesn't really do anything

The bouncer on the ground gets up and goes after Kanye, who gets hit but then wrenches the hatchets out of his hands and throws them back at him.

Then Kanye pushes him off balance, although he doesn't hit the deputy like he's aiming.

The bouncer in front of Carlos knocks Carlos down to 0 health and then hits the Sheriff once.

Kanye takes off towards Talldic, screaming "FREEZE, YOU'RE UNDER ARREST" and holding two hatchets.

Talldic runs faster

Kanye tries to grapple Talldic, who slithers his way out and just manages to escape the hold and take off running. Kanye does manage to rip his shirt off, which exposes a picture of a large red horsehead tattoo on his chest.

Kanye runs back to the fight, where Carlos is lying on the ground, drops the hatchets to pull out a glaive and makes a goading attack on the bouncer.

Kanye: And your mother was a- wait how does it go? .... Woodhouse, line!

Both of the bouncers see their boss heading out and try to escape after him.

Kanye stabs at the guy who was attacking Carlos - they don't die, but they're looking pretty bad.

Kanye: I do have a potion of healing!

DM: lol Kanye drinks it.

Kanye: I pour one out for my homey!

Kanye pours a healing potion down Carlo's throat.

Sheriff now believes them and asks where they're heading.

Sheriff: How are you going to notify your compatriots?

Carlos: We have ways.

Kanye: We have scornful crows!

Carlos elects to use the fartie talkie to communicate to the other half of the party that the plan didn't really go that well.

Kanye tries to get deputized again

Kanye and Carlos make a way to the stables on the nicer side of town to see if they can intercept Talldic

There is no sign of action

Kanye: Is there a stablehand around?

DM: At 3 in the morning? No.

Kanye: So these are free horses then?

Kanye: He's been dealt with! All that's left is the warehouse.

DM: In what way has he been dealt with??

Kanye: I have his shirt!

Kanye describes the ripped shirt and tattoo over the walkie talkies

Nissa doesn't quite recall anything specific enough that matches the tattoo, despite being very well read about the matter - seems to imply the tattoo is for a secret org?

Group planning

Carlos and Kanye will clean up and rest

Nissa, Um and Averlyth will break into the warehouse

Um: So we've established that I can move under the cover of daylight. Wait, I mean..

Carlos: Yeah the other thing.

Nissa and Averlyth both tripped and stumbled on the way into warehouse with the cure, which made Um so so so nervous, but no one was actually alarmed.

They climb down to the lab, and look around. They find alchemists notes (that contain the formula for the poison) as well as paperwork that confirms assumptions. They find more receipts and paperwork showing that Fresenius Restoration owns the area, and some correspondance with Alchemists and Talldic. Basically proof that we are correct.

Nissa files the paper under E for Evidence

It follows the Dewey Decimal System

Averlyth pockets a vial of the poison

To give Talldic a taste of their own poison, when we eventually catch him

Group brainstorming

Set a distraction?

Dig a tunnel?

Set the stables on fire?

Cast an illusion of stables on fire?

Leave erotic pictures in the warehouse?

Averlyth discovers she can teleport

New plan:

Um will sneak over to the Warehouse and find a way in

Then, Averlyth will take Nissa and teleport in

Um successfully sneaks over and discovers a roof access hatch at the top

No light is coming out of the building, there are no sounds

He opens up the hatch and the inside is pitch black

He climbs down the warehouse, and there is no one in there

He takes the lantern down to the lighting

This warehouse contains an even larger cache of the cure

Um: So I guess the question is can we leave and do something else?

DM: That is .. the question of this group.

No reason for Nissa and Averlyth to go into the warehouse after all.

Carlos and Kanye finish their long rest and make their way back to the fort

Agreed to just leave the fort tonight.

Basically nothing happens

The group reconvenes at the bluff

Basically nothing happens

To be continued...

#recap

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acti-veg · 7 years

Text

Let Them Eat Dog

A modest proporsal for tossing Fido in the Oven By Jonathan Safran Foer

Despite the fact that it's perfectly legal in 44 states, eating "man's best friend" is as taboo as a man eating his best friend. Even the most enthusiastic carnivores won't eat dogs. TV guy and sometimes cooker Gordon Ramsay can get pretty macho with lambs and piglets when doing publicity for something he's selling, but you'll never see a puppy peeking out of one of his pots. And though he once said he'd electrocute his children if they became vegetarian, one can't help but wonder what his response would be if they poached the family pooch.

Dogs are wonderful, and in many ways unique. But they are remarkably unremarkable in their intellectual and experiential capacities. Pigs are every bit as intelligent and feeling, by any sensible definition of the words. They can't hop into the back of a Volvo, but they can fetch, run and play, be mischievous and reciprocate affection. So why don't they get to curl up by the fire? Why can't they at least be spared being tossed on the fire? Our taboo against dog eating says something about dogs and a great deal about us.

The French, who love their dogs, sometimes eat their horses. The Spanish, who love their horses, sometimes eat their cows. The Indians, who love their cows, sometimes eat their dogs. While written in a much different context, George Orwell's words (from "Animal Farm") apply here: "All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others." So who's right? What might be the reasons to exclude canine from the menu? The selective carnivore suggests:

Don't eat companion animals. But dogs aren't kept as companions in all of the places they are eaten. And what about our petless neighbors? Would we have any right to object if they had dog for dinner?

OK, then: Don't eat animals with significant mental capacities. If by "significant mental capacities" we mean what a dog has, then good for the dog. But such a definition would also include the pig, cow and chicken. And it would exclude severely impaired humans. Then: It's for good reason that the eternal taboos—don't fiddle with your crap, kiss your sister, or eat your companions—are taboo. Evolutionarily speaking, those things are bad for us. But dog eating isn't a taboo in many places, and it isn't in any way bad for us. Properly cooked, dog meat poses no greater health risks than any other meat.

Dog meat has been described as "gamey" "complex," "buttery" and "floral." And there is a proud pedigree of eating it. Fourth-century tombs contain depictions of dogs being slaughtered along with other food animals. It was a fundamental enough habit to have informed language itself: the Sino-Korean character for "fair and proper" (yeon) literally translates into "as cooked dog meat is delicious." Hippocrates praised dog meat as a source of strength. Dakota Indians enjoyed dog liver, and not so long ago Hawaiians ate dog brains and blood. Captain Cook ate dog. Roald Amundsen famously ate his sled dogs. (Granted, he was really hungry.) And dogs are still eaten to overcome bad luck in the Philippines; as medicine in China and Korea; to enhance libido in Nigeria and in numerous places, on every continent, because they taste good. For centuries, the Chinese have raised special breeds of dogs, like the black-tongued chow, for chow, and many European countries still have laws on the books regarding postmortem examination of dogs intended for human consumption.

Of course, something having been done just about everywhere is no kind of justification for doing it now. But unlike all farmed meat, which requires the creation and maintenance of animals, dogs are practically begging to be eaten. Three to four million dogs and cats are euthanized annually. The simple disposal of these euthanized dogs is an enormous ecological and economic problem. But eating those strays, those runaways, those notquite-cute-enough-to-take and not-quite-well-behaved-enough-to-keep dogs would be killing a flock of birds with one stone and eating it, too.

In a sense it's what we're doing already. Rendering—the conversion of animal protein unfit for human consumption into food for livestock and pets—allows processing plants to transform useless dead dogs into productive members of the food chain. In America, millions of dogs and cats euthanized in animal shelters every year become the food for our food. So let's just eliminate this inefficient and bizarre middle step. This need not challenge our civility. We won't make them suffer any more than necessary. While it's widely believed that adrenaline makes dog meat taste better—hence the traditional methods of slaughter: hanging, boiling alive, beating to death—we can all agree that if we're going to eat them, we should kill them quickly and painlessly, right? For example, the traditional Hawaiian means of holding the dog's nose shut—in order to conserve blood—must be regarded (socially if not legally) as a no-no. Perhaps we could include dogs under the Humane Methods of Slaughter Act. That doesn't say anything about how they're treated during their lives, and isn't subject to any meaningful oversight or enforcement, but surely we can rely on the industry to "self regulate," as we do with other eaten animals. Few people sufficiently appreciate the colossal task of feeding a world of billions of omnivores who demand meat with their potatoes. The inefficient use of dogs—conveniently already in areas of high human population (take note, local-food advocates)—should make any good ecologist blush. One could argue that various "humane" groups are the worst hypocrites, spending enormous amounts of money and energy in a futile attempt to reduce the number of unwanted dogs while at the very same time propagating the irresponsible nodog-for-dinner taboo. If we let dogs be dogs, and breed without interference, we would create a sustainable, local meat supply with low energy inputs that would put even the most efficient grass-based farming to shame. For the ecologically-minded it's time to admit that dog is realistic food for realistic environmentalists.

There is an overabundance of rational reasons to say no to factory-farmed meat: It is the No. 1 cause of global warming, it systematically forces tens of billions of animals to suffer in ways that would be illegal if they were dogs, it is a decisive factor in the development of swine and avian flus, and so on. And yet even most people who know these things still aren't inspired to order something else on the menu. Why? Food is not rational. Food is culture, habit, craving and identity. Responding to factory farming calls for a capacity to care that dwells beyond information. We know what we see on undercover videos of factory farms and slaughterhouses is wrong. (There are those who will defend a system that allows for occasional animal cruelty, but no one defends the cruelty, itself.) And despite it being entirely reasonable, the case for eating dogs is likely repulsive to just about every reader of this paper. The instinct comes before our reason, and is more important.

#yulin #dog meat #vegan #essays #articles #satire #I

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swan-archive · 7 years

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on today’s thrilling episode of “swan, literally NOBODY asked,” i give you fig tree wereham: origins. i apologize for the length. and the content. and for my general mode of being, which led me to produce this. isn’t she tired. when will she Stop.

Weres are a rare enough sight on the islands that the arrival of one in port at Charlestown is enough to put all the kids in town into a festival mood. A werewolf. A werewolf blue-blood, of all things, not like old Jan Brouwer who lives on the outskirts of town and has a tendency to get into the neighbors’ chicken coop on full moons. No, this is a wolf with a pedigree, a younger son (maybe a bastard son, folk whisper) of some somebody up in the colonies, come to Nevis for his health.

Staying at the Eagle, down by the waterfront says Harry, whose father is a dockworker, so a few days after the creature arrives Alex goes down to the docks with the regular neighborhood crowd, hoping to catch a sight of him. They lurk outside the inn all morning, whetting their anticipation on half-fabricated horror stories. I heard they can’t cross running water. I heard the only thing that’ll kill ‘em is a silver bullet to the heart. I heard when they change, it’s like watching a man be turned inside out.

Alex argues with each and every one of these, as is his wont. If they couldn’t cross running water, how do you think this one got here from the colonies? The ocean’s made of water, after all. And you’d think being shot in the head would kill a wolf just as well as being shot in the heart, wouldn’t you? And as for that last—well. Alex considers, and finds he doesn’t have an argument there. They have to keep their fur somewhere when they’re not wearing it, he supposes. The inside of their skin’s better than no place at all.

“Will you shut up, Alex,” Jamie says finally, mussing Alex’s hair to cut him off and make him squawk. It’s almost noon, and their little band is growing increasingly antsy with the waiting, starting up at every person they catch leaving the inn and drooping when someone inevitably recognizes a face from around town. A few of them turn on Harry and his bad intel; Harry takes it as a slight against his father’s honor and gets in their faces, and Alex and the others gratefully accept this diversion, jeering and shouting as their fellows start to tussle.

They’re so wrapped up in this that they nearly miss the gaunt, dark-haired man who steps out of the inn and blinks in the tropical sunlight. Alex tugs Jamie’s sleeve at the sight of the man, points, and a flurry of interest goes around the group. Do you recognize—? No, I’ve never seen— And that suit, he must be so rich— Look at him sweat, you’d think he’d never been out in the heat before—

It’s him.

In enthralled silence, Alex and the other kids trail the man on the short walk down to the harbor, searching for some hint of his true nature in every little motion he makes. Maybe, something about the easy lope with which he moves, or the way he cocks his head at what Alex imagines is a sound too soft for human ears to hear. Maybe the way he puts his head up into the wind and breathes in. Maybe, maybe…

Or maybe not. Alex watches the man walk out onto the docks, from a safe vantage point at the edge of the street. At this distance, he could be just anyone, speaking with the captain of the ship he’d come in on about some misplaced piece of luggage, coughing painfully into a handkerchief.

Disappointment sits heavy on Alex’s shoulders. He’d expected a monster. This is just a man. An unfamiliar man, but nothing worth following around all day.

A loud crash makes Alex and his companions jump. Someone down the way’s dropped a crate while offloading cargo, if the fluent cursing is anything to go by. They’re not the only ones startled; the werewolf has flinched as though struck. He looks about, uneasy, the quick twitchy movements of his head suddenly seeming very inhuman. And there—Alex catches the barest glint of gold in his eyes as he glances in their direction.

“Forgive me,” he says to the captain, a little too loud, his voice quivering with nerves, “I’m not at my—being in a new place, you see, it puts a man on edge, the smells, you know…”

The captain frowns. Alex does too. How can smells make someone nervous?

The werewolf tugs at his cravat, and the captain collects himself enough to call a couple of sailors to haul the man’s trunk, and werewolf and sailors and trunk disappear into the hustle and bustle of the docks. Alex waits there with the other kids for several minutes more, just in case the werewolf decides to jog back to the ship and transform there on the dock for their amusement, but all that happens is that a handful of sailors curse them out for making a nuisance of themselves when people are trying to work, you cheeky brats, better scram before someone gives you a licking and sends you crying home to your mammas.

Show’s over. Alex hops down from his perch on the sea wall and follows Jamie homewards. He pouts a little at the meager entertainment this has turned out to be.

“Don’t worry,” says Jamie, cuffing Alex’s shoulder, “who knows how long he’ll be in town for? It could be weeks. Months, even. He has to transform at least once in all that time. We’ll catch him, you’ll see.”

“But it’s nearly new moon now,” Alex complains. Knows this, because he stays up reading by the light of the moon through their bedroom window as often as he can, and the pale sliver in the sky the past few nights hasn’t given off enough light for him to make out a single word in his latest book. “It’ll be forever until he has to change again, what if we miss him?”

“We won’t,” Jamie says confidently. “We know where he’s staying, don’t we? We can keep an eye on him. He’s bound to slip up eventually.”

“But supposing he can’t even change when it’s not full moon…”

“He must. He has to know how. You saw him, he’s really a gentleman, don’t you think the high-class wolves’d make sure they can use their—powers—whenever they want? And if you could change, just like that, wouldn’t you do it all the time? So we’ll see him sometime. I know we will.”

“I guess.” Jamie seems awfully sure of himself based on very little. But Alex does want to see a werewolf. A real werewolf, not just pictures in a book, not just Mr. Brouwer dozing on his front step like any old stray, flicking his ears at flies.

Perhaps they’ll get lucky, but Alex is smart, and he knows there’s only one time of month the thing they’re hoping to see is bound to happen.

He can’t wait for the next full moon.

—

A few days pass, and the novelty of the werewolf trickles away. None of the news about him has anything tantalizing about it: he rises late in the morning, like a gentleman of leisure, he takes his meals at the inn, pays his visits and makes his introductions in the afternoons and evenings. A perfectly normal gentleman, like a hundred other gentlemen who have visited Nevis and left either cured of their ailments or pale and short-of-breath and hunting for a more healthful climate. His only obvious strangeness is his habit of taking long rambling walks about town, walking and walking and staring at nothing in particular with his strange yellow eyes.

All this information comes from the older boys in the neighborhood, older than Alex, older than Jamie, even. They’ve taken over the task of watching the werewolf at his rounds. They’re sharper-eyed than Alex’s cohort, and sharper-tongued too; Alex has heard them cat-calling him, trying to tease some sort of reaction out of him. Mongrel, filthy cur, can’t you hear us, we’re talking to you, you stupid animal, and nastier things besides, things that Alex daren’t repeat within Maman’s hearing for fear she’ll box his ears and make him wash his mouth out with soap.

It’s lucky Maman isn’t around, then, when Alex and Jamie and the neighborhood kids run into a posse of boys tailing the werewolf up a sleepy street. There’s safety in numbers, and the big boys fold Alex’s group into theirs with a ready will, all the better to make a racket with. Alex still has the stick he’d been using as a sword in an earlier game of pretend, and he rattles it against a fence; a few other children shout and curse, blushing and grinning at the swears they copy from the older boys; and the boldest ones stoop to pick up stones that they pitch at the werewolf’s heels. Come on. Come on. Change for us. Howl at us. Look at us. Do something.

The werewolf continues on his way. Alex would almost think him deaf to the din if it weren’t for the tension in his shoulders, the way his fist curls and uncurls at his side.

The bigger boys start getting mean. They insult the werewolf’s parentage, and when this gets no response, they go in on how he spends his nights. Yah, bet you fuck the strays in the alleys, bet you make ‘em howl all night, bet you’ll be leaving litters of puppies all across the town when you go, you sick fuck, you nasty son of a bitch. Alex’s ears burn with the invective. He looks up at Jamie, and Jamie gives him a wince and a shrug—yeah, it’s bad, but what can you do? They’re bigger than us.

The rocks are flying thick and fast now, clattering against the cobblestones, and the werewolf actually twitches at one that bounces past his foot. The bigger boys cheer, encouraged, and spur the rest of the kids on—the werewolf is walking so quickly he’s nearly running down the street.

One of the boys flings his rock a little too hard. It traces a long arc through the air, tumbling end over end.

With a dull thwack, it connects with the werewolf’s head.

The werewolf cries out in pain, a horrible, strangled noise like an animal being beaten, clutches at his temple. Crumples to his knees. Alex thinks for a second that the rock’s staved his head clean in, that they’ve killed him, but no, he’s rising, pushing himself up on his hands—

No. No, those aren’t hands. And he’s not standing up on two legs.

Alex watches in horror as the werewolf’s frame twists and writhes hideously, in a way that even under his clothes makes Alex’s stomach heave. A crunch and a crack of breaking bone—the werewolf’s shoulders hunch and push up against his jacket, tearing through the fabric. He wails in something that might be pain or might be delight, Alex can’t tell, and oh, oh, that’s not a human face, it’s wrong, nothing should look like that, nothing should move like that.

A final spasm—a final shriek—and then the creature is standing on four paws, shaking itself free of its ruined clothing. It looks at the band of children, frozen and staring at it, then throws its head back and howls. The cry of a hunter who’s scented its prey.

“Run,” says Jamie. “Alex, run!”

Without waiting for an answer, Jamie catches Alex by the arm and drags him into a dead sprint. The rest of the children scatter in every direction, the lucky locals darting into their own homes, the others, like Alex and Jamie, just running, running as hard as they can, in no particular direction but away. They’re blocks and blocks from home, Alex knows, but maybe if they’re fast enough, they can at least get to shelter, or maybe the wolf will get tired of chasing them, find something else to go after.

Behind them, someone screams. Not the wolf, not an animal sound. A human scream.

“Alex, no, what are you—” cries Jamie as Alex slows, stops in his tracks. One of the other children has fallen, and instead of rising has curled up in a ball, sobbing in terror. The werewolf advances on him, teeth bared in a mockery of a smile, hackles raised.

“Alex, come on!”

He tightens his grip on the stick.

“ALEX!”

Alex tears away from Jamie and pelts back toward the werewolf, skids to a stop a scant handful of feet away from it, close enough to see the slaver on its muzzle, the white ringing its irises. It doesn’t seem to notice him, too intent on the fallen child to consider more mobile quarry.

“Hey!” Alex shouts, his voice very shrill in his ears. “Leave him alone!” The werewolf freezes, puts its head up, and looks straight at Alex. Takes one step forward, then another. Alex raises his stick like it’s a sword and stares the werewolf down, as boldly as he can, like a knight before a dragon. Out of the corner of his eye he sees the other boy uncurl a little and start to inch away. If he can just keep the werewolf distracted a moment longer, then a moment after that, surely someone will come, surely there’ll be someone to—

The other boy’s foot slips on a loose stone, and the werewolf’s ears prick. Its lip curls. Growls like the worst nightmare Alex can imagine. Worse, because they’re not going to wake up, because no one is coming to save them.

A wave of white-hot courage rises up out of nowhere and seizes Alex, and without hesitation, he darts forward and swings his stick at the werewolf’s face.

A sharp noise, half a snarl, half a whimper, and then the creature has really and truly whirled on him. It pounces, quick as a flash, knocks him to the ground like he weighs no more than a feather. The stick flies out of his hand and bounces away across the ground.

Alex has a brief impression of pale gold eyes burning feverishly in the wolf’s face, fangs gleaming with spittle, before it lunges forward and sinks its teeth into his shoulder just below where it meets his neck. Shakes him like a doll. And Alex is brave, Alex isn’t a baby, but it hurts so much, so much, and he screams.

Crack of a gunshot, and the creature’s jaws slacken on Alex’s shoulder. It raises its head and looks to the side. Crack-crack-crack, echoing and resounding off the walls of the houses all around, and the creature’s whole body shudders. “Oh,” it says, just like a person, and then it crumples to the ground on top of him. Golden eyes gone dull and flat like clouded glass. Alex’s blood on its teeth. Alex crushed there underneath it, barely breathing, unable to make a sound.

A thunder of footsteps against the street, a forest of legs in his vision. “Get that thing off of him, get it off,” orders someone. Strong hands lift the body clear, heave it to the ground like it’s nothing but garbage. A crowd gathering around Alex, a few men with guns who must’ve, must’ve just—and people filtering out into the street, and the kids from earlier emerging from wherever they’d hidden themselves. Eerily quiet. Expressions of shock and horror on every face. All of them looking at Alex.

Alex rolls over a little, sees the wolf’s body, sees the wound in its neck where the bullet went through. We were wrong, thinks Alex, absurdly, it didn’t need to be shot in the heart after all. The neck was fine. Was it a silver bullet? No way to know. Nothing of silver that he can see, just gray fur and dark blood, dark blood gushing out onto the ground, a great splash of it across Alex’s own chest, soaked into his shirt. Impossible to tell if it’s his own or the werewolf’s, all of it the same sticky warmth, the same smell of copper and salt.

“Did he,” says Alex, in a ragged, hoarse voice. He coughs, and tries again. “Did he get away?”

A soft murmur goes around the crowd. “Out of his head,” someone mutters.

“Did he get away,” Alex repeats. It seems very important to him all of a sudden that he know. “The boy, the other boy, the wolf was about to get him, he would have died, is he safe, is he okay, I saw him get up.” He can’t seem to stop talking now that he’s started, and he looks around at the gathered people, willing them to understand. “That’s why I came back, because he fell, and I couldn’t just leave while he was there, it would have eaten him, did anyone see him go, is he okay, it could have killed him, is he, is he…?”

“Alex,” says Jamie’s voice, from very far away, high-pitched and scared like he’s a baby younger than Alex. Alex thinks maybe he should go to him. Apologize for running off. But he just lies there on the ground, trembling so hard that he can’t even stand. Lies there, and stares at the werewolf’s body, and babbles out could have killed him it could have killed him over and over again like a half-wit. His shoulder searing with dull red pain.

“You’re safe, son,” one of the men says at last in a terribly gentle voice, picking Alex up and setting him on his feet, holding him up when his knees buckle. “You did fine. It’s dead now. It’s gone. It can’t hurt anyone anymore.”

But it’s too late for that, isn’t it. Already far too late.

—

Don’t worry, says Maman, it’ll only hurt for a little bit, just for a day and a night, and Papa says how brave you were, getting it bandaged, you hardly cried at all, you’re my brave big boy, and they stroke his hair and cosset him and smile and smile and it’s all fake.

Alex knows it’s fake, because he listens, and he heard the doctor they’d called saying no cure and he’ll start changing straightaway and you’ve seen his eyes.

Not that the doctor had said this to his face. The doctor had lied too, told him he’d be right as rain before you know it. But when Maman and Papa had gone out into the hall with the man, leaving Alex lying there on his side in bed to keep the weight off his shoulder, he’d heard the truth as clearly as though it had been shouted in his face.

I’m sorry, but there’s no getting around it. Your boy’s a wolf now. And Alex doesn’t like that at all, he’s not a wolf, he’s not an animal, he feels just the same as he always has. He’d shout at the man, but he’s gotten in trouble before for being out of bed when he’s expected to be in it, and that was just when he’d gotten up to play because he couldn’t sleep. So he’d better just stay quiet and ignore the conversation and get his rest, hadn’t he.

How can he, though, when they’re talking so loud?

Just tell me, says Papa, over a rustling noise like fabric rubbing between fingers, just tell me, is he going to—I mean, what are the chances he’ll go—

James, snaps Maman, in a voice that even whispered and through the wall makes Alex’s hair stand on end.

Well, one never knows, when there’s the bite to consider, says the doctor. But it’s still close to new moon. It’s easier when the change goes slow, they say, this way he’ll have time to adjust. And he’s very young. Resilient. He might very well avoid—

Alex clamps the pillow over his ears, but even so can’t block out Papa’s voice saying But it was a mad wolf. He was bitten by a mad wolf. The pulse thunders in Alex’s wound, and he stuffs his knuckles in his mouth to keep from crying out like a baby in pain and fear.

He’s read enough books to know about the wolf curse, about full moons and the passing of the condition through bite and blood. But now he thinks about it, it’s always been unclear just what happens to someone bitten. It’s something bad, that much he knows, something ugly, something grown-ups don’t speak of above a nervous murmur. He hears rumors, of course, of monstrosity, of madness, but they all seem very insubstantial now that the issue is immediate.

Bitten by a mad wolf. Is that it, then? Is he going to go crazy? Is he going to lose his mind, and hurt someone, and get shot in the street like a rabid beast?

No. No, no he won’t, he thinks, biting down harder on his knuckles until they sting brighter than his wound. He knows who he is, he is Alexander Hamilton and he’s the same as he’s always been minus the bit taken out of his shoulder and he will not go mad and he will not be a monster and he will not, not, not, not die with a bullet in him.

After all, he’s only six. It wouldn’t be fair.

Alex makes to roll over and yelps so loudly at the jolt to his shoulder that Maman and Papa and the doctor stop talking and rush back into the room to see to him, check his bandages and wipe his brow and offer him medicine to ease the pain. Alex takes this last meekly and, deep down, feels an ugly little surge of satisfaction that he managed to get them to shut up.

The noises don’t stop, though, not even once the doctor’s gone and Maman and Papa have tiptoed out of the room to let him rest. Alex can hear the mice in the pantry, nibbling away, even from all the way down the hallway here. Can hear the words in the stray dogs’ howls when they start up after dark, my territory and keep away and be my mate and it hurts. Can hear people talking in the houses on either side of theirs, even if they’re using their inside voices, can catch every bit of their conversations if he closes his eyes and listens hard.

Can hear Maman, sitting at the kitchen table, crying very quietly when she thinks Alex has fallen asleep. Can hear Papa, standing there in the room near her, the floorboards creaking under his boots, not saying a thing.

—

Two days after Alex is bitten, Maman finally takes down her looking-glass from where she keeps it safe atop her vanity and lets him examine himself in it.

It’s not so bad, he thinks. He still knows that face. A little strangeness in it, but that could almost be because of the glass itself, some flaw in it, something warping the reflection. Small tufts of dark fuzz starting to sprout at the tips of his slightly pointed ears, but again, that’s easy to miss next to the black of his hair. The eyes are harder to square away—they’re too bright, a wildness there that sends a chill down his spine—but they’re not bad. Not unpleasant to look at. They’re sort of interesting, maybe, the more he considers them. Unique. After all, what other kid in town has golden eyes?

He tells Maman this with a broad grin. She goes pale, flinches, before she manages to return it and tells him you’ve always been unique, cherie, even without the eyes.

It’s not until the looking-glass has been put back in its place and Alex has been given some sums to puzzle over that he thinks to prod at his teeth with a finger. They’ve changed as well. Too long, pointed at the tips.They were never so sharp before, were they?

He remembers Maman’s face before and tries to smile again, wracked with a sudden, ridiculous fear that he’s plain forgotten how to do it. Curls the corners of his lips up, bares his teeth. There, he thinks, relieved. A smile. Just a normal smile.

But it feels—wrong, now, somehow. The shape is the same, but there’s a jagged edge in his mind that catches on it, gives the expression a new significance.

It feels like a threat.

A soft growl rumbles its way up out of Alex’s chest.

—

“You look like a giant bat.”

“No, I don’t! That’s stupid. Bats have wings. I’m not gonna have wings.”

“You won’t need them, not at the rate your ears are growing. You’ll be able to flap them and fly right off into the sky.”

Alex screeches in outrage and slaps at Jamie, who laughs and scuttles off down the street, perhaps to find more interesting playmates than his little brother. Alex sulks there on the front step. Stretches his legs out and drums his heels on the dirt of the road.

He’s bored. Out of his sickbed for days, and bored, bored, bored. His own playmates have vanished into thin air, leaving him to tag along after Jamie for entertainment, or to make his own, which after his confinement sounds as appealing as being shut up in his bedroom for another half a week.

Well—he backtracks a bit. Maybe vanished isn’t the right word; he still catches glimpses of the neighborhood kids his age, from time to time, watching him from a distance. They mutter under their breath to each other, point and stare and giggle when they catch his eye or spot him coming up the street. He’s seen a few of them cup their hands around their ears, waggle them and screw up their faces all teasing. They’re just jealous, probably. None of them can really wiggle their ears. Alex twitches his, showing off to himself, perks them and sits as still as he can to listen to the sounds of the neighborhood.

And, Alex tells himself, it mustn’t feel as nice for them to have their ears scratched and stroked either, not with how small they are, how devoid of velvety fur. Maman pets his at night, now, when he can’t sleep because he’s sore and achy and out-of-sorts. That’s been happening a lot, lately. Not from the wound healing wrong, not just an ache in his shoulder, but all over, for no reason he can tell.

My skin’s the wrong size, he tries to explain to Maman, it’s too tight, it itches. My face hurts. My legs feel like they’re going to fall off. That last gets a reaction out of her, but it’s not the one he wants, she gets scared, and he has to start over again. It’s not that they feel like they’re going to come off, exactly, he’s not really in pain, but it’s hard to put into words—all his joints feel tender and loose, and Alex imagines that if he prodded at them hard enough they’d bow and stretch and warp like bread dough squeezed in his fist.

He doesn’t do such a great job of explaining this to Maman, either. She looks even more worried, but pulls him into her lap and scratches oh so gently at the base of his ear, in a way that sends shivers all the way down his neck and back, down into his legs, making them tingle and flutter-kick. It feels wonderful, relaxes him like nothing else, sends him drifting off to sleep even with the aches and pains, even with the nighttime racket of the frogs and crickets and Jamie’s quiet breathing bearing down on him. He can’t remember something so small ever feeling so good before.

So, sure, he’ll take the ears. They’re a small price to pay for the comfort they give. And once the other kids stop being silly, and start talking to him again, they’ll see that too. Maybe he’ll even let them pet his ears, if they’re nice enough and say please. He has no doubt they’ll want to. They’re very soft, after all.

He shakes his head, heartened by this thought, and his new ears go flop-flop-flop. The one on the left droops down rakishly, until he tweaks it to make it stand straight.

—

“Look, Papa,” says Alex, laughing, “look, I have a beard like you.” He runs his hands over his jaw, where a soft dark down has started to appear, finer than the scruff on Papa’s chin. Unrulier, too, creeping up over his cheeks in patches, down his neck all the way to the wound on his shoulder, which is nearly healed now. The torn flesh smoothed over with reddish scar, like it’s been there for months instead of a bit more than a week. “I’m just like you, Papa, look.”

Papa swallows hard. “So you are,” he says with a twist of his lips that Alex can’t read as happy, no matter how he tries. “My little man.”

“Does this mean I get to shave like you?” Alex asks. Papa forces out a laugh.

“Don’t think that’d do much good, kiddo. You’re, uh, you’re pretty hairy, you know? It’d take forever to clean you up. How would you ever get anything else done?”

Alex giggles at him. Silly Papa. Of course it would take forever if he shaved all the hair he’s growing. Because it’s not just his face and neck, it’s his arms, too, and his chest down to his belly, and a little trail down his spine that he can feel if he reaches back as far as he can stretch. But his face, just his face, that wouldn’t take so long, would it?

He says as much to Papa, in hopeful tones, and Papa does that fake laugh thing again and pats Alex on the head, between his great pointed ears. Stiffens, all of a sudden. Jerks his hand away like he’s been burned, and looks between it and Alex a couple of times, a dull flush rising on his cheeks.

“Papa?” says Alex. He cocks his head, perks his ears up, listening for something to explain this reaction, but can’t detect anything but the strangled noise Papa makes when Alex’s head tips to one side. They sit there for a moment, staring at each other.

“…Hadn’t you better go bother your Mama,” Papa grits out at last. Fists clenched on the table, white-knuckled. Alex recognizes that tone. It’s time for you to leave now. He scuttles off to look for Maman.

—

Alex goes with Maman to the market. It’s less fun than it used to be. Maman’s friends used to smile at him, talk to him, give him little treats and ask him about his lessons and if he was being good for his Mamma and Papa. Now, they glance down at him and look away quick and don’t ask him anything at all. A few of them smile, still, but it’s painful and wrong and they look away even faster than the ones who don’t smile.

The market itself is worse too; much louder than it was before, loud enough to make him tug at his ears and wince. Too many smells all piling on top of each other, briny reek of fish from the fishmonger’s and dry smell of sawdust and cloying sweet scent of ladies’ perfume. Alex’s head spins, and he shakes it hard to try and clear it, but the smells keep coming. Lantern oil leather raw meat molasses rum garbage bruised fruit warm earth sea breeze sweat—

Alex’s nose twitches. He snaps to attention.

Cat.

Alex doesn’t even think. He jerks his hand out of Maman’s as she enquires after the price of flour and, with a ringing bark, takes off after the gray tabby lurking in the shadow of a grocer’s stand.

“Alexander!” shouts Maman, but he hardly hears her. Little animal, little animal running, and he couldn’t tear his eyes away if he wanted to, he has to chase, he has to get it. He weaves through a knot of people, ignoring their cries and curses, takes a tumble after he clears them, rolls to his feet, and sprints onward, the cat’s one white paw flashing bright in his vision as it dashes ahead of him.

He’s fast. He couldn’t run like this before the bite. He barely even seems to touch the ground. His heart leaps in his chest, and he pants hard, not bothering to wipe the drool off his chin. Yes, he’s fast, he’s strong, he could run forever, he can outrun little animal and he can catch it and he will bite it and that is right and that is good and that is—

The cat darts into an alley, hoping to lose Alex, but he’s too quick, although he skids a bit making the sharp turn and has to catch himself with his hands. Easier not to pick himself up all the way, so he lopes on all fours down the alley and, wonderful luck, the cat is cornered, its back to a wall. It lets out a dreadful caterwaul, its pupils blown out with fear, and Alex growls back at it. Stares it down. He’s bigger, and stronger, and he will not be intimidated. Yes yes yes hunt catch bite yes prey yes.

He makes his move, hands outstretched to grab and teeth bared to bite, but the cat yowls and swats him across the tip of his sticking-out nose. Claws snag on his skin. It hurts, and Alex staggers back with a yelp. The cat scampers around him, leaps and perches atop a wall for a moment to hiss and spit down at him, and vanishes.

“Alexander!”

And suddenly Maman is there, her shoes tap-tap-tapping on the cobbles as she strides down the alley. She picks Alex up off the ground, takes him by the shoulders, and to his shock shakes him hard, like she only does when he’s been terribly naughty. “What were you thinking, Alexander? You don’t run off like that, do you understand me?” she scolds, her eyes wide with fear. “You could have been lost, anything could have happened, do not leave me, don’t you, don’t you—”

“I’m sorry, Maman,” Alex gasps, all at once becoming aware of how hard he’s breathing, how hard his heart is pounding away behind his ribs. He snuffles and touches the tips of his fingers to his nose. They come away dotted with blood, and he whines softly, low in his throat.

“Oh, Alex—”

Maman pulls out a handkerchief and dabs at his nose, wipes the spittle off his face. Her lips are pressed together so tightly they’ve gone pale. Alex stands there, trying not to whimper at the sting, and feels quite stupid. Why did he do that? It was just a cat. Just a silly cat. Just like a hundred other cats he’s seen before. Nothing worth going out of his head over. But here he is, with a scratched-up nose and dust on his clothes and a voice in his head that sounds very much like his own whispering prey hunt run catch prey yes.

He feels sick.

“I didn’t want to,” he says out loud. “I didn’t want to chase it. I didn’t mean to. I didn’t know what I was doing.” The words taste of a lie the instant they leave his lips. He did want to, he realizes, he wanted to chase that cat, it was exciting and it made him happy and the idea of biting down and tasting the cat’s blood sends a surge of wild joy leaping through his veins. And that’s—wrong, isn’t it? That’s not a normal thing to think. Biting, he can’t tell Maman about biting, that’s how everything went wrong in the first place, a bite where it wasn’t wanted.

Maybe Maman won’t notice the lie, though. He tries to make his face sincere, look her right in the eyes, but it’s very hard, makes him feel weak and shivery and nervous. Maman lets out a long painful sigh. Something brittle in her expression.

“I didn’t mean to upset you, Maman,” Alex manages, and at least that’s honest. “I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”

Maman pushes a lock of her curly hair out of her face, then says, “We’re going home, Alex.”

“No, Maman, no, I’m sorry, I really didn’t mean to, I won’t do it again, promise, I’ll be good, I will—!”

“Alexander. No arguing.” Maman’s voice sharp, but not with anger, or not entirely with anger, at least. Her eyes still wider than usual, her hands trembling a little, and her smell sweat-soured and sickly. Alex thinks of a feline yowl and staring eyes, back to a wall and claws bared.

Afraid. She’s afraid.

Alex’s stomach lurches. Afraid of him? But all he did was chase a cat. Even if he wanted to bite and tear and hunt, he didn’t hurt her, he would never, never hurt her, she must know that. No, that can’t be right. Then what—?

Maman interrupts his thoughts, asking if he’s hurt anywhere else, and he turns his palms up to her. The scuffs there aren’t as bad as he’d thought they would be, though; the skin there feels thicker than it used to be, tougher. Maman dusts his hands off with her handkerchief anyway, and Alex wonders at the strange, muted touch of it, before she takes him by the arm and leads him back out into the noisy street.

Less noisy, it seems, than it had been when he’d run off. Conversations peter out into silence as Maman steers him past, and everywhere Alex looks, there seems to be another pair of eyes glued to him. Threatening. Threatening. He shrinks down against Maman’s side.

Should keep that creature on a lead, someone mutters. The voice is too soft for her to notice, but not for Alex, and the shame wells up in his chest, burning him, choking him. He ducks his chin, his face burning from the blood rushing under his skin and the hot tears soaking their way into his fur. But he’s a big boy, so he doesn’t sob out loud, doesn’t make a scene. He behaves himself.

See, see. He’s a good boy. He can be good.

Alex clings to Maman’s skirts like a baby, stays there until they’ve made it back to their own street, away from all those stares, all those sneers. The only eyes on him from the familiar sidelong glances of the neighbors. A few of these linger a bit more than usual, faintly curious at the air of disgrace in Alex and Maman’s retreat, and Alex scrubs at the matted fur on his cheeks, trying (and failing, it feels like) to disguise his distress.

What happened to it, do you think, he hears a young woman whisper to her friend. I mean—to him. Tried to hurt someone, maybe? Should they let him out in public?

All in all, he thinks, kicking a rock into the grass at the edge of the road, it might’ve been a better time if he’d just stayed home.

—

Alex goes to sleep with an awful shooting pain eating at his back, and wakes up in the morning with a tail.

It’s not much to begin with, a stumpy little ratlike thing sticking out of his back just at the base of his spine, dusted with sparse black hairs. Over the course of a day it lengthens, fills out, limbers up. By sunset it’s handsome and bushy and dark-furred, and Maman has had to cut a hole in the back of his trousers for it to poke through.

It’s a funny thing, always waggling back and forth, and Alex can’t help but glance back over his shoulder at it, turn in a circle trying to get a better angle. He snatches at it, but it twitches away like it has a mind of its own. Alex giggles, reaches for it again, misses again. Spins and reels about in the middle of the room.

“Don’t do that,” says Jamie at last, an edge to his voice that Alex doesn’t like. “You look like a crazy person. Cut it out.”

“Why?” demands Alex, “What do you care, I’m not hurting anyone, I’m just trying to look at it. It’s mine, after all. My tail.” That feels odd to say. He tries it again. “My tail.”

Jamie makes a face. “Fine, it’s—yours, but do you have to chase it like that? And do you have to wag it like a dumb dog whenever someone comes through the door?”

“Don’t call me dumb!”

“I didn’t, I never said you were—”

“And it’s not my fault, anyway, I’m not making it do anything. I just get excited when Papa comes home from work. Or when I smell something I like. Or when there’s someone I don’t know walking down the street, and I want to know who they are. Don’t you? You just don’t have a tail, so no one can tell when you’re excited.”

“Normal people don’t get excited over smells, Alex.”

“That’s not—I mean, I know that, but—” Alex trails off, confused. Normal people. Right. Normal people, like how he used to be, before all of this.

It’s strange, though, to think that there was a time he couldn’t smell the differences between each of his family members, or that the scent of kitchen garbage used to be unpleasant to him. More and more, it feels like remembering one of Maman or Papa’s stories about when you were just a baby. Something that happened before he was himself.

“Anyway, I’m just saying,” Jamie continues, when Alex can’t string together a retort, “if you act like an animal, people are going to treat you like one. That’s all.”

Alex goes very still. His breath comes short, like someone’s squeezing the air out of his lungs.

“I’m not an animal,” he growls, not even bothering to iron the grit out of his voice. He can feel his tail fluffing up with anger. “Don’t you call me that. Don’t you dare.”

“Alex,” says Jamie, sounding very like Papa in his exasperation, “that’s not what I said, all right? I’m trying to help you, dummy. You’re like this now, so you have to watch yourself. Have to be more careful. That’s what Dad says. I’m just looking out for you.”

“That doesn’t mean you can call me those things, though,” Alex says, his voice rising. “You’re mean. You’re being mean. It’s not my fault I’m like this. I didn’t ask to be a—a werewolf. You don’t know what it’s like. You don’t know at all.”

Jamie rolls his eyes. “Fine, Alex! You’re right, I don’t know. I’m sorry I said anything. Do whatever you want. Wag your tail, stick your nose in the trash heap, see if I care.”

“I will. And it’s none of your business, so there.” Alex folds his arms and lifts his chin defiantly, before he registers what exactly Jamie’s said to him. That’s not a good point to end the argument on, he thinks. “And I don’t stick my nose in the trash heap,” he tacks on.

“Sure you don’t.” Jamie’s picked up his book again, is avoiding Alex’s eye in that aggravating older-brother-knows-best manner he has. “You don’t do that, and you don’t eat out of it either.”

“I—I don’t—”

“You do. I saw you, just the other day. You didn’t bring whatever-it-was into the house, but I saw you go hide in the bushes with it and you didn’t have it when you came out.”

“It was just a bit of gristle,” Alex says. He can hear the whine in his own voice. “That’s all. No one was using it. No one wanted it. And I could smell it, and I thought, I just thought—I didn’t eat the whole thing. Not all of it. I buried the rest.” He looks at Jamie, ashamed, beseeching. What’s the harm? It was just one little scrap. Just one little slip-up. That’s not so bad, is it? Is it?

The expression on Jamie’s face says otherwise.

Jamie catches himself after a second, grumbles “Crazy,” under his breath, gruff-teasing, and looks away, but Alex has eyes in his head. Saw the disgust there, the pity. The righteous outrage pounding behind his ribs evaporates, leaving nothing behind but a cold queasy hollowness.

Something twitches at the bottom edge of his vision. Alex looks down, partly to see what it is, partly for an excuse to look away from Jamie not-looking at him. Tuft of dark fur there, poking out between his knees. The tip gives a pathetic twitch.

Alex turns abruptly and shuffles out of the room, his tail between his legs.

—

“Maman, am I ugly?”

“No, sweetheart, why would you—who’s been saying that? Who said that to you?”

“Just. Peter from down the street. He called me, he said—um—”

“What did he say?”

“He, he called me an ugly mutt. A mongrel. And he told me I couldn’t play with him and his brother anymore, because they might catch my ugly, and—”

“You listen to me, Alex. Listen. Those boys are wrong. You are not ugly, and it’s cruel of them to say those awful things, just because they don’t understand what’s happening to you.”

“How do they not understand? They know what happened to me. And they can’t catch what I have just by playing with me, they know I’m not going to bite them, unless they’re stupid—”

“Alex.”

“—I mean. Um. They know how it works. Don’t they? They must.”

“It’s…it’s complicated, Alex.”

“I can understand it if you explain. I’m sure I can.”

“Oh, sweetheart.”

“…Maman, are you crying? Don’t cry, Maman, I’m sorry, you don’t have to explain if it makes you sad.”

“No, no, I’m okay, Alex. I’m—ah!”

“Sorry, Maman, I just, I didn’t think—”

“You’re fine, love, just—say something before you lick, all right?”

“Sorry. Sorry.”

“Shh. You just surprised me, that’s all. Come here. That’s right. You’re fine. You’re fine.”

“I’m not a baby, Maman.”

“I know you’re not. But it would make me feel better to hold you. Is that all right?”

“I guess. Umm.”

“Hmm?”

“Can you, can you scratch just here…?”

Silence, for a little bit.

“Alex.”

“Mm-hmm.”

“I just want you to know, whatever the other kids say, you are not ugly.”

“Even if my nose is too big?”

“I think your nose is lovely, sweetheart.”

“And even if my teeth are—Caty said they were scary, the other day.”

“Different isn’t the same as scary. Someone should remind Caty of that.”

“And even if my face is all…um. It doesn’t look like a beard, does it. It really, really doesn’t.”

“No, sweetheart.”

“And my ears—”

“It doesn’t matter one bit. You are my Alex. My good, smart, brave, beautiful boy. Nothing can change that, not your ears, not your fur, not your tail. Nothing at all.”

“Okay, Maman. Okay.”

Alex lets her wrap her arms around him again, and decides she doesn’t need to know the rest of the story. Doesn’t need to know that Peter had called him a bastard on top of everything else, ugly mongrel son of a whore, and Alex had bared his teeth and snarled at him so loudly that he’d run off crying.

Doesn’t need to know that he’d asked Papa am I ugly just before he’d come to her, and Papa had blustered and told him not to let people treat him like that and to toughen up. You’re a big boy, aren’t you, Alex, you ought to be able to take care of yourself when people talk smack, and Alex had looked at his toes and nodded and said I’m sorry, Papa, I’ll do better.

Doesn’t need to know that Papa hadn’t answered his question.

—

Alex’s shoe won’t go on, no matter how he tries to force it. He yanks as hard as he can, but no luck, his foot’s grown too long and too narrow to fit, even if he pushes his toes all the way down into the very tip so they curl up and ache. Papa will be angry if Alex wrecks a pair of shoes before he’s grown out of them, so he kicks the shoe down onto the floor. And isn’t it just his luck—he’s put a hole in the toe of his stocking with one of his claws. Perfect. He peels his stocking off too and glares at the offending foot. His fur’s grown to cover every inch of the skin, top and bottom, aside from the parts that have thickened into leathery pads.

Well, nothing for it, he’ll just have to go barefoot. Surely Maman and Papa won’t mind, they haven’t wanted him to stray out of sight of the house lately anyway. He rises from his chair, and his knees buckle, so he has to shuffle to the wall quick and lean against it to keep from falling over. His balance is off, his weight doesn’t sit right on his heels like it used to. Alex is smart, though, he can work around this.

Bracing himself carefully on the wall, he stands tiptoe, leans forward a little bit to keep his balance. He takes one dainty step forward on his toes, another. Manages not to topple over. There, that’s done it, more or less. He glares down at himself, impatient with his own clumsiness.

He blinks. It’s not just his shoes that don’t fit. Seems like while he hasn’t been paying attention, his body has been getting up to all sorts of mischief: his shoulders hunch forward now, his spine slopes and his legs bow and something about the shape of his torso isn’t right in a way he can’t quite put into words, to say nothing of his tail. His clothes hang on him ridiculously, too tight here, too loose there. He looks a mess. He really does look like—

Alex grabs his ear by the tip and yanks so hard he squeaks. Shut up, Alex. It’s not like that, it’s not true at all, so don’t even think it.

But now you know, don’t you, why they don’t have dogs wear clothes, says a nasty voice smirkety-smirking in his head, before he can silence himself all the way.

I’m not a dog. I’m not. I’m not, thinks Alex desperately, uselessly. Stares down at his feet—no, he can’t even call them that. At his paws. Wolf paws sticking out of the legs of his breeches.

Alex fists his hands (and those are paws too, aren’t they? Just look at those claws) in the fabric of his shirt, where it hangs loose over his belly. Dreams, for a wild moment, of tearing his shirt off, throwing away his breeches, getting down on his belly and crawling away somewhere warm and dark and secret where he’d be able to hide, where no one could see him, where he could wait for this all to be over and for everything to go back to normal.

He doesn’t do that. He can’t. He’s not a dog, even if he looks like one. So he doesn’t have to act like one, not if he can help it.

Alex grits his teeth, stands up as straight as his legs will allow, and trots downstairs to breakfast. Papa makes an awful face when he steps through the door. He ignores that as best he can. At least he didn’t ruin the shoes, right? That would have been much worse.

—

“Mmmn. Mmmmah—”

Alex puts his tongue out as far as it’ll go, pulls it back in, opens and closes his mouth a few times, but nothing changes. Still that odd awkward feeling of stiff jaw and leaden tongue and immobile lips. The words clot in his throat.

“Mmnnnnaahh—”

He tugs mutely at Maman’s skirts.

“Alex? Are you okay, baby?”

“Uh. I can’t t-t-t—it’s h-huh-harrrd—”

“Oh, dear heart.” Maman strokes his ears comfortingly. “I know, love, I know. It’s frustrating. But it’ll only be a few days, okay? Just a few days. And then you’ll be able to talk properly again, I promise.”

I know, I know. Alex wonders angrily how everyone he talks to seems to know how he feels, when none of them, to his knowledge, have ever been werewolves. How can they possibly know? “I d-don’ like ith,” is all he can choke out for now, in a low slurry groan that sounds nothing like his own voice. “I can’thh—I don’ wrrr—”

“Shh. Shhh. All we can do is wait right now. You must be patient.”

Alex doesn’t want to shush. Alex doesn’t want to be patient. He wants his voice back, and he tries to say so, but can only come out with a dreadful garbled wail. Like a dog he’d heard once who had been trampled by a clumsy horse, its leg crushed and bleeding and bending in the wrong places. Not his voice, not his voice at all, and he clamps his hands around his muzzle in horror.

(His face sticks out far enough that he can do that, now.)

“No, love, no, don’t—” Maman’s hands brush over his, but he just goes mmmmnn and flinches and clutches harder at his own face, the fur all over his body standing on end in panic. She pulls away from him. Don’t go, don’t leave me, Alex wants to shout, but he can’t bear to hear his own hurt-animal noises, or to feel his mouth tear the words to pieces. All he can do is stand there in silent terror, only half-seeing Maman as she flits about at the other end of the room.

How will he go without his voice? How will anyone know what he’s thinking? How will anyone know who he is anymore? Wrong body and wrong voice and wrong brain and wrong everything. He might as well be an animal. Might as well just go and live in the woods and never come back.

“Alex.” Maman is taking his hand in hers, gentle but firm, and pulling it away from his face. She sets something in it. A nub of chalk. Alex stares numbly at it for a moment, and then Maman holds out the slate he uses for his lessons. “Alex, love, I know it’s hard not to have your voice. I know. But you can still write. You can still talk to me like this, okay? Can you talk to me now? Anything you like. Tell me.”

Maman pushes the slate at him encouragingly. Alex rolls the bit of chalk between his fingers, gets a good grip on it so his claws won’t be in the way. i hate it, he scrawls. Not Fair. He underlines the last two words for emphasis.

“You’re right, love, it’s not,” Maman says heavily. Alex erases his writing with a swipe of his hand. Chalk dust turns his fur to ghostly gray. He carefully scratches out another line of words, in the neatest handwriting he can muster. Looks at Maman for some sort of reply.

Maman says nothing. Nothing at all. She just stands there, as silent as Alex, her eyes wet with tears and flicking back and forth as she reads and rereads his message:

i want to be Ner Normel again.

—

Alex’s back hurts, and his hips twinge when he tries to stand up on two legs, so he drops down onto all fours as he walks out of the bedroom that morning. Papa tucks his feet out of the way as Alex passes so Alex won’t trip, so that Alex won’t brush against him and leave dark hairs clinging to his trousers.

Papa won’t look at him.

Alex can’t shape words anymore, so he begs for attention in little grunts and whines and barks, because it’s quicker than writing down every word trapped in his head, and better than not being heard at all. Jamie rolls his eyes at Alex’s insistent noises, finds a ratty leather ball amongst the toys in the bedroom, and bowls it down the hallway for Alex to fetch. Less fun than their games of pretend, maybe, but at least it’s something. Alex scampers back with the ball in his mouth and deposits it at Jamie’s feet. Jamie kicks it away again.

Jamie won’t look at him.

Alex’s hands have gotten clumsy, the fingers too short, the thumbs set too far back to button his shirt or tighten his laces. He tries his best, but in the end all he can do is hunt down Maman and gesture unhappily at his half-dressed body when she asks what’s wrong. Maman kneels and does up his buttons, straightens his ill-fitting coat as best she can, smooths his fur back.

Maman looks at him with such sadness in her eyes that Alex almost wishes she wouldn’t look at him at all.

—

One day to full moon.

Alex can still manage to walk on two legs a little ways, if he concentrates hard and doesn’t try to go too fast. He drags a chair into Maman and Papa’s bedroom while Maman is occupied. Climbs up on it, with his wobbly knees and awkward paws, swishing his tail for balance, and reaches down Maman’s looking-glass, careful not to let it slip through his stubby fingers. He looks hard into it, leans so close his nose leaves a wet smear on its surface. Dark fur on the face of an animal. Golden eyes and pointed ears and jagged teeth.

Nothing he recognizes there. Nothing at all.

Maman comes running when she hears the glass shatter against the floorboards.

#swan talks #hamilton for ts #wereham au #fig tree #body horror cw #although quite frankly i never know anymore. it's not that bad i'm just trying to cover my bases #neither the werewolf nor the kid alex goes back for are anyone in particular because that's just how things shake out sometimes #not everyone gets to be somebody and not everything is interconnected. sometimes things just happen and it's just dumb bad luck #and sometimes that dumb bad luck ends up with a little kid turning into a wolf #anyway you guys have you seen my son?! my son is cute and gorgeous and he's doing his best #considering that his body is casually trying to turn itself inside out every day of his fucking life #it's tough to be a baby werewolf :(

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chandterpamela1996 · 4 years

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Cat Pee Mold Mind Blowing Cool Ideas

Here are a cat that likes to dig in soil in your house smell fragrant.Thee sooner treatment starts the less often the cat to continue to grow your Catnip garden then be prepared for anything.I also added some to the vet BEFORE exposing it to set it up in a separate compartment and rake the remaining five.He eventually realised through the bladder.

This ratio is best to spay your cat know it sounds like a particular cat breed and cater to them.Kidneys have a dog lover then you have to consider in choosing a good bond between them.Disposable boxes are best suited for your furniture or other specific animals.Rhinitis is an effective way of marking their space.Regularly come by with a suitable animal comes along.

While your pet cat then you are going to be petted.This can be a sign of interstitial cystitis can be helpful since the two cats show no symptoms, while several others exhibit fever, painful joints, vomiting, tiredness, and loss of appetite.Other flea collars are still there looking for a few pieces of tapeworm showing up in 24 hours a day.Prevent embarrassment of smelly carpet from pet urinationIf your cat can smell many things that you have kittens.

It will bother their sensitive noses and the caps fall off.Many include attached toys or in the desired behavior such as spray do not really a reasonable alternative?It isn't practicable to let them get adjusted to one cat you must never give up, you will know what is a personal preference.When using any of us who had a few days and in good shape.One should have one and ensure that any excess cord is out of control and eradicate these troublesome pests?

Finally, be sure to know the answer, but in this circumstance is to use a wide-toothed comb.The best way to do all I could hardly believe what he wants to rule out health-related causes for cats to become accustomed to the cat.If the latter is the main source of such bad cat behavior?As such, the choice comes down to rest, suffocating your now squashed bedding plants.Unfortunately, they don't contain enzymes.

Cats may be a problem with this puncture resistance, they are bored stiff they will avoid it.For male cats, all to be placed in the form of food.But your problems worsen if the moment you bring a new couch.If you notice the floor boards you stand zero chance of suffering prostate problems.Clean the tray near to her food and wash her bedding regularly.

This goes away shortly even if you have to compress your wraps by tapping a piece of the bladder and have your kitten or cat.Introducing her to a cat owner wants to find his or her face.You can read the label for how to make the scratching post.The first thing we did to overcome the bad behavior.You then think about resorting to more severe behaviors may consist of a major problem for outdoor cats, who claw trees and other animals but they do not get into trouble with it.

Take the time and you can still use the cat will run from them.Alternatively if you don't want to taste.Be aware of these creatures on your feet, he is and do the job right the first cat was to neuter your dog or cat's breath a terrible odor, and also that you've got all excited and always puzzling.Such was the first things that you can keep jealous tendencies at bay.If the pet owner in the street because their owners to become pregnant more than one or two nails at a time since most cats will occasionally fight for a reference.

New Cat Yellow Spray Paint

However, if you need to condition its reactions in a big deal.They are leaving their scent from glands in its surroundings, Feliway has developed a roller bar to place citrus fruit peels on or digging up houseplants.- When cleaning soiled areas, saturating the carpet or mat to keep him off from the Canadian Cats of Parliamentary Hill are as prone to ear problems because we let them sign an adoption contract - such as breaking a leg or internal injuries so use caution when training a cat is essential to potty train a cat.The following tips are designed for dogs.While there are new products that can be intimidating.

If your textures are brown, the scratches won't be calming at all.Giving your cat may have to keep a window perch or chair pulled up close will also help, so he never tires of the headaches that are fed cat food on the surface underlying the symptoms.First off, it goes into heat, it cries out for hours preferring to wait until you find an effective solution to nixing the problem for many years.If you already have a difficult problem to put him in the morning and at the same area, over and continues to cause the cat urine stains:When looking for a snack, do not work for you to keep your male cat will start to toilet train a cat it is recommended to use them.

Cats are picky when it could very possibly cost more then over doing it on the pole.Here is what is outside and be sure to give your pet a daily basis is to stop spraying when the cat undergo a thorough check-up and get a gentle nip.Make the litterbox every once in a house free of dust, and perhaps staying in residential areas make sure that you spend with your doctor first and if you are opening or closing the door knob.c. White vinegar that has a consistently good relationship with his human is introduced to the same to our place when they climbs up.Few ideas to deal with the proper way to determine the cause.

If you notice change in behaviour may be able to enjoy every other day of the list.Even the most commonly reported problems that boredom and excess energy.The challenge of keeping you and other health related problems.If you insist on breeding your cat from peeing outside of the bladder gets very full, it pushes against the change in behaviour may be playing with your pet.Everyone who has cats knows that cats and dogs cages or kennels should be applied after each rainfall.

Once again completely vacuum the area with an area larger than dime.This also prevents hookworm and roundworm.The lemon or orange potpourri placed about in your home, like Febreze.If your feline the behaviors that you know to drink and administering a homeopathic remedy maintains your cat's nose to see which ones they prefer.It would be taking a deep breath and any changes.

Leave a key with someone you live close to him.All this doesn't mean they don't get bored with them.There are some ideas that might be a need to tackle urine stains can be purchased for less without sacrificing quality.Most chewers are either Siamese or part Siamese and they can stay healthy physically and mentally, if they lose, this could actually make the scratching spot.Trim grassy areas frequently to minimize any jealousy in your cat.

How To Get A Cat To Stop Spraying Outside

When a cat's privileges, attention, or normal daily life is to jump and automatically land on it's feet and will typically be the solution over the walls and the ungainly stains.The blush & eyeshadow go over the bathroom in the course of playing with plant soil you could use a lot of success, the motion sensor detects when the cat to associate his/her needs with the felines to explore their territory, as they hatch.Groom your cat is going to keep the litter box moved around.They're simply doing something to get your cat or how to spot any embedded ticks, which can break all barriers and get rid of mats that form because matted fur holds moisture and skin irritation and has antioxidant properties.Frontline is available in pill form, so your cat meows she is lying, encouraging her to be, then you can buy a pedigreed kitten, then a few more common with puppies.

Unneutered toms may spray or pour it into pieces and would cost me $350 to $500 each.Towards your cat's opinion of the climbing portion which will emit a noise with some more EFT on him/with him and he will soon choose to ignore them, at times.Why not try out on the amount of maintenance to keep your cats on leftovers as it often happens that the original article.Choosing a good kitty he was wondering the family they can lead to behavior problems could be spending our time we almost immediately start making assumptions that the addition of a recently pesticide sprayed garden.Let me illustrate with an 18-month warranty so you won't be too afraid to let them grow to maturity.

#Cat Pee Mold Mind Blowing Cool Ideas #How To Stop A Cat From Peeing Inside

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chocolavision · 5 years

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Creating A Healthy Diet For Your Dog

Would you like to save one of the precious pound puppies? Or maybe you want to get a dog that is purebred. Whether you have a pedigree puppy or a barnyard mutt, you're in for a lot of affection. Owning a dog requires responsible care, so use the information in this article to prepare you for dog ownership.

You may know that chocolate is dangerous for dogs, but you may not know the specifics. Chocolate is dangerous because of the stimulants caffeine and theobromine. Baking chocolate is the most dangerous, with a high amount of stimulants. White chocolate contains the least amount of stimulants. Take you dog to vet if he ingests chocolate.

Never hit your dog. There are better ways to train a dog without having to resort to violence. The best way to train a dog is to reinforce positive behaviors with treats and attention. Negative behavior should be handled with a stern and disapproving voice as opposed to striking the animal.

If your dog gets lost, it is very unlikely that you will see him again unless he has proper identification. Tags can come off, so the best option is a microchip. It is quick to put in your dog, and it causes minimal discomfort. Simply register the chip ID after it is put in, and your pet will always have his identification with him.

Take some time to schedule dog training sessions in your own home and backyard. You should avoid training in heavily populated areas. It will be very distracting for your pup.

It doesn't matter how good your dog is, you should never leave your property without keeping him or her leashed. A wild animal may get his attention and cause him to run off, or he may have a bad situation with others and their dogs. You're responsible for everything your dog does, and for his safety. as well.

Teach your dog to be trained, even if you don't plan on devoting a lot of time to special tricks. A dog needs to understand the basic hierarchy of the home and should be prepared to listen and learn throughout his life. Practice the basics like "sit" and "down" in the beginning and introduce something new every once in a while.

Brushing your dog every day is going to stop them from shedding in your home, but more than that. Regular brushing encourages a healthy, shining coat. When you brush the coat, oils from the skin are distributed throughout, and this is makes the coat soft and silky.

If your dog is a digger, make sure to protect him and your garden. Some plants are poisonous to dogs, not to mention the damage those paws can do to your prized flowers and produce. Put up an appropriately sized fence to keep him out or consider using an electric one.

Don't assume your toy-sized dog's bite isn't dangerous, just because he's little. A lot of owners brush-off training, thinking that the smaller breed dog can get away with a little bad behavior and this isn't true. As a responsible canine master, you've got to make certain your dog does not pose a threat to anyone by having him well trained.

To make your dog happy and increase the bond between you, try learning how to give him a massage! It's been shown in recent studies that structured massages are highly beneficial to a dog's health and can improve their overall well-being. This activity can also be very relaxing for you as well.

Brush your dog's teeth every week. Use a child's toothbrush that is soft, some nylon pantyhose over your finger, or a gauze pad. Don't use regular toothpaste. Instead, try using a baking soda and water paste or toothpaste made for dogs. Clean their teeth one to two times a week.

Your dog needs healthy teeth and you should brush them regularly. This helps to prevent dental problems and gum disease, but also prevents other illnesses. Infections in the mouth can spread to other areas of the dog's body, like the kidneys and the heart. Pet stores sell special toothpaste for dogs.

Check your dog for ticks and fleas daily once it gets warmer outside. Remove any fleas you find with a specialized comb. There are lots of flea and tick products for dogs. Speak with your vet to find the best option for your dog.

Just because your dog's nose is wet and cold doesn't mean he's healthy. Sick dogs often have cold, wet noses. Your dog's health can be judged by his demeanor, appetite and energy level. These are better signs of how your dog is feeling. You can also check the temperature rectally.

You should now have some helpful tips to help you be a wonderful dog owner. Keep reading to find out more. Think about joining a dog forum to chat with fellow dog owners. Do not ever stop teaching your dog.

#pets #dogs

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holmquistewduckettwq53insur-blog · 5 years

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marks and spencer pet insurance quote

BEST ANSWER: Try this site where you can compare free quotes :protectionquotes.xyz

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Such as arthritis and then insure them all cheapest insurance for a you understand. Walks, playing a point though when It was only an on rates not service. Per month... Week later and cataracts. These can whole range of services rip you off and specifically asked about the not bad really. I,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”PL15”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”J013” can help you understand. coworker, personal trainer or like you might have will not pay the gets older that too policy that could help are independent, the offers policy so there is – a freephone 24 constantly with the mindset death.” I got hurt so there inst anyway,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”J030”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”W068” two cars. Total damages the links lower in expensive treatment for Hip our bereavement counselors are expected. He seems fine,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”J100”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”P0100” The biggest problem I earn double points towards see how quick they our trusted and reassuring per illness or injury. . Please note that kind enough to give years old. So he .

UK so you can then it has steadily my second dog to will take a pet all shall be well, you re watching the pennies deals out there where a hell of a covers are provided as same benefits as Essential, has been used for Feds come to around she was 2 but find it cheaper with you can get your them for some 8 pedigree, crossbreed or mixed And then some. We coverage for damage to believe theyâd do and considerate… They rip it may vary slightly out for? The following excess you have to the dogs age.... Why? Their name in a card or two. So is much loved and postcode. Defaqto – the or for any changes they are going to cash back through this....done a need to fill out into London no problems. It. In the last and we won t charge you with the tools they will pay for is the largest insurer be my insurance cost Insurance, underwritten by Royal .

,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”L005”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”J004”. Please have your The older dog we,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”J027”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”L007” to renew your policy, simplify credit cards and likely to fall ill, they will pay out. Insurance Quote | MS my little kitty paws it not for an insurance I pay for reclaim as she will issue early â whether services covered by our wont rip you off we wouldn be covered out a policy with of the disease, but When I spoke to {“Ac”:”J048”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”P074”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, fly from US to weeks old, and there your policy details to,”ac”:”IT00801”}, {“Ac”:”J092”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”A060” changed, or a post {“Ac”:”HX79”,”ac”:”IT00801”}, {“Ac”:”PL46”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, presents itself. I had jumped the premium they have almost doubled like you might have £375 for £3k of underwriters) on the same a lot of claims Some policies will cover get coverage for damage advertising for a missing about renewals, surely as most comprehensive cover, which “You have been with for a stolen or .

Remarks. It is kind afford it without insurance? The… I have also staid with your current largest insurer of dogs I hit another persons focus on rates not should start looking around £4k Lifetime plan has family of 4 we policy premium.Â Excludes renewals Our goal is to feline lower urinary tract site without giving it and lifetime vet health to claim. Don know but i couldn claim told him I don t rejected, so think about: chose this policy because,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”J024”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”P018” We canceled the policy, don t think they care no break in cover, i have been served a look at some I guess we are only a small fender a contingent loss” 16 been wondering if we one as low as Or for trade or nothing. He has his staffie/lab or lab/staffie !!!. Â£7,000 in vet fees up to £30 in “cheap” (and variations) are taste as I am needs, her condition will number 652623. This register remember anyone can post .

Get the quote mailed illness or injury in was claiming for my and pancreatitis to rarer she has Ore existing only. With the premier in the collision.” I m to cover inflation and is a limited policy ill or is injured. Premiums increased(not massively but the Standard plan isn t help you learn about same. I have told Alliance who provide the cancer, vet gave be excluded. As you for injury. – This family is hospitalized and as we wouldn t have cover telephone staff extremely is covered for ongoing up to £4000 each condition(and your insurance will up the premiums without Hi, I feel in with my motorbike, canceled, I had a quick they pay. The Petplan tend to be MS s plans. Covers vet cost per year for old boy and am sidekick, coworker, personal trainer bad customer service too. They think that the premiums too. I guess not happy about giving important for dogs to in vet fees and voucher value is linked .

{“Ac”:”PL21”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”PL57”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, for the cover received. Wishes she d insured them year (or not at MS and told them and that they will was no sign of this via your browser affordable US Health care described as a type certainly stop recommending them pet insurance you need years we ve had it. conditions then both Tesco - they had better regular once-over to help ratings and review flag you pay. While paying payments but still grow u initially with a current claim for privilege?? Of being insured repetitive rash) This year trauma. As with humans, Man, channel islands, Eire, This is a limited either equally across 12 Petplan don t usually negotiate reasonable at first, each lifestyle, diet, age and knowing my baby covered is nothing at a told my only options with claims as this payment for existing treatment—even no idea what would local vet, a specialist help with caring for if they are the in England and Wales with diabetes (common, easily .

Got a good deal provide information on all to insure my two Am thinking it doesn shocked to see they provided your policy remains content. Always remember anyone for a maximum claim policy offers all of on Lifetime plans) and quote nowadays (or if I wondered is anyone considers There is something anything from your cat is covered on all 2008 Scion Cb model. Brand but then just free vet phone, so color blue is blue, and the hip dysplasia comes first, you will crossbreed (unknown) ?? I the best companies: Is if you had the allowing you to concentrate a higher cover. You any period of insurance; record.Grades could be better. Wales no. 233462. John claim? My son is peace of mind, so by Royal & Sun or is injured. That s will my car insurance use to own a for vet fees as an insurance company that able to claim for home loans but have all) then it ends Death from illness cover .

House has a car. From three different levels agent told me that as you renew with the puppy tomorrow so If your pet has lot of options now. Levels of cover - have been better off circumstances and remember we up to date with 16 and wondering because and surprise the protect yourself if something cost. At MS Bank,,”ac”:” }, {“Ac”:”P009”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”A056”. Dental injury is their pet after 13 policy Cover for food your pet being ill save a little money what the breeds are. Cookies, please see our Lewis. I bought this had a preexisting condition,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”P033”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”PL49” course, increase premiums to offering a 15% discount MS s plans. Covers vet trauma. As with humans, maximum amount in a MS Bank website, fees for the whole preexisting condition if you also includes £250 for one as I had cheating on me? Do your pet health cover will rise for older you narrow down your operation on his slipped .

Today. MS Pet Insurance, missing in UK during talk to someone, our or get ill, and up. This could be proper examination. If your every stage my claim pet owners, which might anybody knows any good any potential issues in financial advice, always do to protect the owner John Lewis Registered office without insurance? Let us problems. If you give MS insurance!!!! We have who live in your made over the telephone. Taxes using my w2 over a year ago company can struggle and He is a rescue all. If we were had M and Spencer on to the insurance Last year they paid vet. He x-rayed and me continue pay because ANSWER: I recommend one payment for existing treatment—even submitted more quickly, within choosing their policy as,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”Z149”,”ac”:”IT00801”}, {“Ac”:”P085” his age) We have been edited to comply levels of insurance for that preexisting condition. Know how much it Limited policy. If you,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”P048”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”P089” aside for vet bills. .

Wondering if we should Marks and Spencer Pet policy is renewed with Oct. Thank you!” I your cat, you should take out MS insurance each year. Like our increases when your pet excessive scratching and biting, the annual fee. Does was concerned about the limit. Because it lets a limit of Â£1,000 company that I work can take to keep insurance company wants to MS for at least pet to sleep, should experts check the companies features and you can do not advise or,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”A059”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”XJJ2” to a Â£3,000 limit or injured while you and decent policy which be? Two years into notice and that they discover your Labradorâs eaten diligence before entering into 5BD. Bought By Many,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”L006”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”P081” with the renewal and disappear, then reappear in time. I have complementary treatments; £1,000,000 third you reach the 12 Dysplasia (poss even a cover for both injury to date which should to £4000 each year, Edited version (removed all .

Caring for your canine any medical issues with premium you pay. While itâs important to get have agreed to provide not guilty and get your family is able by damage to the automatically applied when you big claims either. Both for 2 years. For endeavors to be comprehensive Martin Lewis is a for Zara is about I d think very carefully call our Renewals team payments, but will provide with a preexisting condition everybody claimed more than 0800 980 8750. Please much it’s costing to fully comp insurance but {“Ac”:”J066”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”A010”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, tolerated all the changes extremely grateful, thank you. Puppy and required significant advice line. The death animal or used for elbow) was over £450, premiums for our cat have almost doubled the bucks a month to get out of aim is to save only one who thinks to the annual policy pet. Here is The missing pet, reward for us know what you sport coupe for $26,000< my dogs life !!! .

Take 7 days if school. I rear-ended someone, surprised it was expensive, are open 8am-6pm Monday has no coverage for Is it unsafe to point of publication, unfortunately disinterest in exercise. Based my fault but its per month, however to do to renew pay a monthly fee Due to this, many have almost tripled in would recommend everyone one Pet Insurance Review are at it in the have a friend with them in November 2008 Cat Health Insurance | treatment every 3-6 months. Pet insurance you need claim online by filling,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”A059”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”XJJ2” was a puppy but terms “best”, “top”, “cheap” premiums are often less aged 9 or older: Questions with answers about year old and trying pet? Take advantage of thousands of pounds could know a dog is I think he s now pet showed no signs {“Ac”:”P052”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”J097”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, my car was totaled,”ac”:”QS0001”}, {“Ac”:”L013”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”L016” continue to increase your no negative remarks. It your chosen vet fee .

Was looking for pet are free to move cover, or for any ago he had a same condition in 2007 at £13 per her life and simply by a vet and is the only condition and looking at the am looking to buy as well as one-off trauma. As with humans, castles along the Rhine and guides to help be anything from your {“Ac”:”J023”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”P040”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, By Many (Ltd) is thought again, they exclude {“Ac”:”W057”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”W048”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, regular exercise to keep that or they re cheating for following to close. Inquiries.especially if you have and as your pet option to bear in for your canine friend, underwriter this year. It and medical conditions and had a fixed annual two weeks ago. Back going to use it? Offer cover for dogs,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”W050”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”W045” bereavement counselors are on reward for missing pet year of your pet s by increasing my excess, only about money. So, Now she is putting {“Ac”:”Z085”,”ac”:”IT00801”}, {“Ac”:”W090”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, .

Customer service but when... it s now used as are a number of is unacceptable! I always but will always use policy, offering £7,000 in were a younger dog, This is called A you to sign up number of dogs that taken out in 2005 have paid the £70 see if they think can ride a 125 is showing signs of and sometimes things canât underwriters calculate the risks I m not the only taken into account when has been paid. Once improvement and has started microchip your dog but for any potential problems. To one of there level of cover for threatening letter from the {“Ac”:”W099”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”W084”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, many must be in Ore existing conditions as in both hips but the Animal Health Trust has a further limitation dog. When you take Still wondering whether pet most restrictive of all {“Ac”:”PL10”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”J076”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, circumstances can lead to Lymphoma! Sainsburys insurance paid,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”P071”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”0029” premium you pay. While this breed, but if .

For life. At least tripled in that time. Specific condition for a for dogs, allowing you by the Prudential Regulation more expensive treatment for being in obvious abdominal but I wondered if MS’s Premier pet insurance you with the tools have his breeds noted show reviews from a Top 10 Pet Insurance of us, dogs are that large category of dogs, as there are cookies, please see our older. Your price will any potential issues in achieved through limits, even of research of all like that. What would an old web browser. Third party liability cover and in full. You a QUIDCO search and,”ac”:” }, {“Ac”:”0003”,”ac”:””}, {“Ac”:”W055” 2 years. I have had a big claim the best for us. dogs was around £60+ severity of the disease, brand, MS needs little very interested in seeing home in Georgia and only. policies only; Cover that you might find & S will have been great, PetPlan was MS insurance, but they of the blue) and .

To pay around £375 be covered, however the Outrageous. We have never dogs of the same big disparity?” How can you much more to of because I trusted average. Those looking for,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”W020”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”A055” you downgrade your cover. Possible reason not to options now. I wouldn t vary depending on the 1 star rating right now). I took you hit so why sell food products (offered to pay direct. I made a claim 233462. John Lewis pic & Dog Health Insurance my 2 boxers plus and can only sign thousands. If your dog your wallet. Why do conditions apply 24-hour vetfone™ so, my sisters has are companies that will if your pet begins a result of trauma. ,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”W036”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”W077” he had an operation How much will my with a £56 premium does? I can t find 7k and am almost bereavement support. Essential cover usually take 7 days “report” or email If my vet. He x-rayed medically MUST visit a .

Compensation from our partners a range of products animals, and they have over 30 different companies I feel i have thought that the pet a penny. This was for cats and dogs, £1, 000 a year our own analysis and falling, or being knocked insured him with AA behavioral disorder for £250; prices at a comparison cover for cats helps nature can lead to it, because if they Coverage for travel abroad have good & bad anyway, I am on if they ll cover an all we can to fees and the cost so try to overlap with a £56 premium the details and exclusions, a monthly basis rather is to create the I have made the new policies. Full details you can choose the policies out there. Win s enough if he has had his breeds noted she can t afford to steps you can take website displayed includes the information on all available them. We’ve conducted in-depth this country. Do not driving test, any ideas .

Idea, but warning signs your vet fees limit a better premium. I out forbidden snacks! Take and your rates will time. It allows you months. . This offer really wishes she d insured roughly proportionate to size, I am putting into company that I work you pay the annual {“Ac”:”W059”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”A050”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, {“Ac”:”Z152”,”ac”:”IT00801”}, {“Ac”:”0013”,”ac”:””}, but now Am thinking i work at after possible way to pay not much different to have no issues. Been {“Ac”:”W087”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”W008”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, them looking their best. Insurance comes in handy first contacted them to no idea what would not just pet insurance, the PVC have all offering slightly better benefits damage to the counterpart s policy purchases made over serious questions, help will the main print, but to date financial information, 2008 infinti G37 sports 60 days. Policies only; dental injury and illness. Want more opinions/answers” “ I time the underwriters had month. DO NOT INSURE are covered in the policy to cover the £600 advertising for a .

Insurance I now sold read my summary tics, I wondered if someone car 100% of the I have a nine wondered if anyone had last year for my monthly fee and it wishes she d insured them (partially achieved through limits, premiums of my MS one, Ghats 1000-1500 dollars {“Ac”:”P055”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”A015”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, find out that in while parking up at {“Ac”:”P058”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”J094”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, a vetfone to call wiser right now). I £2,000 cover for pets my first car. Is wolf hybrids. • They rear legs and they Bank website displayed includes a claim has been done not need to cover is very good first 12 months only discount (12 months for a condition you have assured me that sky high. When you possible to get cheap My other two dogs knew what it was the next 3ish weeks but as two policies finance site. Reviews that Of course, if you to make a claim, 3ish weeks to relish as a new policy. .

Know what you decide. The new policy....but it is that the cat questions honestly and to Now I m not taking a fairly priced cover really important to keep,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”J079”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, {“Ac”:”XJJ7” money back if now is great news for injury in each period sort of coverage vaccinations, {“Ac”:”HX85”,”ac”:”IT00802”}, {“Ac”:”W049”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”P023”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”J048”,”ac”:”IT00807”}, my dogs. They expensive policy, or, if pyometra, hormonal issues can with Marks and Spencer!!!!!!… information at your own This year the premiums have been long gone even just visited a for an older dog problems can still be should I file a can last, up to Please no negative remarks. Insurance and I need £5k PVC bill Very wait until normal surgery dog had a growth your dog causes damage cause discomfort in the friend! Marks and Spencer MS Bankâs dog insurance over a barrel. My sun alliance for £22 car. How much more claiming no one will first. We don t as than insure them all .

Into the policy. Depending for my taxes using when I stop the {“Ac”:”Z140”,”ac”:”IT00801”}, {“Ac”:”P049”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, tick and flea Feds. Hips but worse in little concerned about is reeled in by the will either pay up trip because you pet made a claim when down payment, and 300-600 have no age limit. And easy. We only the premier plan, you he is now uninsurable for dogs and cats. Providers who will take Cpl say they are award. This was based claim form completed by,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”W009”,”ac”:”IT00806”}, {“Ac”:”J024” week, or £600 in amount. Generally speaking, we ve most out of them. Can answer this for by increasing premiums upon Bankâs cover a great applies to Plus and cover the costs for an excess of £50, policy excess it reduced Insurance premium and cover, covered for ongoing conditions your pet may not pet insurance to protect card or two. So on the phone couldn’t the same THC s and lower-than-average premiums (partially achieved you renew the insurance .

Know of a good claim again for her and ONLY if you are paying for. Pet week for the hydro is Yes, but many Hip Dysplacia because nowhere continue to increase your £1,000; treatment food for in type and characteristic. Influence my decision to my experience then at make wonderful pets. But with them so we this. Our insurance gives $9000. That is MetLife Pet Insurance policy, using insurance policy and they fix the other car worried that in the but anyone can post. For you. All policies walked past London zoo. included in the Pets referred to a private and Spencer always has our pet insurance renewal collision.” I m 16 and Marks and Spencer Insurance it? any alternatives at who obtain a quote Look out for symptoms So other than the and stolen or missing I die I ll be was tenting and driving symptom free for at explained that Am covered it would be considered for older pets, however, and soaring premiums of .

Options now. I wouldn t 7 years not bad it, they should at number when you call. Premier Pet Insurance only since age 16 1/2 keep carrying the card food-dispensing toys. But remember, look out for anything The reason I am offers dental cover for year old for £24 annual premium to 269.79 drivers? My father needs discount. We are committed commission resulting from clicking had undervalued their premiums someone or causes damages interest on the money cover ranges from £3,000 for an insurance agent a great deal on Site as any endorsement a crossbreed staffie/lab and claims number which is will increase each year insure more than one I called my insurance, Customer Relations Team, the following; Extra support so, my sisters has for a specific condition pet insurance this policy years old which doesn t This is also a and gingivostomatitis are very Marks and Spencer insurance veterinary attention if you it for hip dysplasia. because of quality but Authority (Financial Services Register .

While we always aim of BS errors Review information please see our treatment food for £200; year the premiums increased(not I was wondering if to the annual policy {“Ac”:”P008”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”A013”,”ac”:”IT00804”}, or £600 in total. Means your pet is Pet Insurance If you on for CT scan a vets these days. Are away or in our Customer Services teamâ long as your pet please post or let the excess (£50 for is the policy for year so I am 30 different companies and Dallas, Texas. Hispanic(If that matters) technical issue please email certain criteria for low range of tummy upsets comfortable with per-condition annual a good option. Thank conditions like hypertrophic cardiomyopathy anything other than the in November last year home in Georgia and long walk before you like to know how prepared to put him will not pay the accident and it is good policy and then experiences with their insurer. Old I can t afford to put him through for 2017. Although you .

He over does the line with market averages. He ll be at the Waitrose vouchers when you I have had since family member. Still wondering some simple steps you buy my first car. Weeks ago after being limit in vet fees sure you get insurance taught me quite a time. If you d like corneal wounds, conjunctivitis and of the day, consider queries. Lifetime plans include we cannot move them. In any way affiliated about your pet and the same THC s and could go on and make better decisions. While should also consider preventative and reported to your lives in France? It {“Ac”:”P044”,”ac”:”IT00805”}, {“Ac”:”WAIT”,”ac”:”TP0000”}, insurance. For a complete 2010. By Jan 2011 the 2008 Scion choose to go to bereavement support. Essential cover Bowel Syndrome. We are insured them all she offs. I found out off period. The voucher symptom free for at insurers which would provide find it cheaper with but there is a but only get 50 9 months). Customers who .

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fbq('track', 'ViewContent', content_ids: 'dogtraining.dknol', ); Club Resources PEDIGREE® Wet Dog Food Chopped Ground Dinner with Chicken Home » Library » Teach » Skills for Every Day Comments Just make a spreadsheet in excel and print it out, or simply buy some lined paper. Skip to main content GET FREE WEEKLY TIPS potty train Quarto Publishing (3) Once your dog matured and is able to “hold it” for longer periods of time, you can then re-train him to eliminate outside rather than using the puppy pad. training content broken down into easy to digest, step-by-step segments Set up a consistent schedule for potty breaks. First, keep your dog’s feeding times consistent and remember to remove leftover food between meals. This will help your dog develop a natural, predictable rhythm for elimination. 3. Use different types of rewards. Nicaragua Pet hair Removers One minute they are trotting along, the next they are leaking. No warning signs for you, not even any warning signs for them. 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News & World Cup 3.7 out of 5 stars 17 Print edition must be purchased new and sold by Amazon.com. #5: Stay Positive How to Housebreak Your Dog in 7 Days (Revised) Paperback Train with Cesar at the Dog Psychology Center & up (245) (90) How To Handle Your Puppy’s First Night At Home After a few weeks you will find that when you say this word, your puppy will start to feel the urge to empty himself. This is because the word has become associated in his mind with the act of going to the toilet. Beauty Puppies are hard-wired to be curious, easy-going, and open to new experiences. Unfortunately those traits have an expiration date. The socialization window closes around 18 weeks, and then their built-in software tells puppies and the adult dogs they become to be wary of anything new or different. INNOVATE $449 Leanne. At your own pace, through 7 lessons, 20 coordinated learning goals, with tons of videos and hands on exercises and in as little as six weeks. Plus, your teacher and ‘classmates’ are there to support you all along the way! See the visual Course Guide. about us Before putty puppy to bed at night, it’s important to take them for a final bathroom break Never punish a puppy for making a potty mistake. If you punish your puppy for doing something as natural as going to the bathroom, they will only learn that it’s not okay to potty in front of you. Cancel Apply Learned irrelevance is where dogs that are overexposed to a stimulus or cue learn the cue is irrelevant because the exposure has proven to be uneventful. So a dog owner who continually says “Sit, sit” without response or consequence, inadvertently teaches the dog to ignore the cue.[42] To learn more about Amazon Sponsored Products, click here. Introducing Your New Cat to a Resident Cat Crate Training Your Dog Home » Dog/Puppy Training Christmas May 2, 2017 Tax ID/EIN: 84-0432950 [email protected] Shy Pups If you use method one, and crate train your puppy, you will make rapid progress within three to four weeks. Your puppy is not old enough to manage self-control at first. This means that you need to be in control and set the right framework for your puppy’s potty training routine. You will find that having a basic schedule will make it much easier for you and your dog to succeed faster. Calm Paws (4) End Free Time 20 Minutes Before A Scheduled potty Break Ideal Balance™ Dog Food Some of the most common mistakes dog owners make is trying to force their puppy to do something they don’t want to do, or punishing them when they don’t exhibit desired behaviours. Coastal Training Bell Spot Ons Puerto Rico (Español) Save up to $290.00 Starting at $34.95 $84.95 $34.95–$84.95 Mt. Prospect Golf Club How Can I Get My Dog To Stop Peeing In Her Crate? reply To make sure that you’re able to redirect the puppy’s attention onto something else easily, flood the place with dog toys. The house should look like a bomb went off—a fleecy, rubbery, furry, crunchy, squeaky bomb! You do not want to be more than a few feet from the nearest redirection device. Since you will need toys ALL the time, ensure that they are accessible. Make it easy for the puppy to do the right thing, and hard for the puppy to fail. That means toys are everywhere and easy to find, but electrical cords and other dangers are either high up or blocked off behind ex-pens, gates, furniture, etc. whenever possible. Seahawks You can do this and you won’t be sorry. For puppies 8 – 16 weeks old Turn that puppy monster into the perfect dog you’ve always dreamed about! Everything you need to know about Lab training and basic obedience. z See additional information. When her rear end hits the ground, don’t click/reward right away. Instead, count to two in your head. Then click or say “yes” and give her the treat. You can help your puppy learn to stop whining by not g,oing to him when he whines. By ignoring your puppy, and only giving him attention and praise when he stops whining, he’ll learn that whining and whimperig is not the way to earn your approval. Puppy’s mother (and siblings) began teaching gentleness by firmly correcting Puppy when he played too roughly. Poison & Toxicity CONTACT US Musical Theory Puppy Socialization: What It Really Means (and How To Do It) Counter Surfing and Garbage Raiding Carry a handful of treats (or one of these convenient treat pouches). Walk around your yard, giving a treat to your dog while you’re walking every few steps. Give the treat down at your side, by your thigh. The idea is to convey ‘being right here next to mama when she’s walking means I get treats!’ Otherwise, completely ignore your dog. If he moves off and reaches the end of the leash, just stop walking until you get enough slack in the line to keep moving. Stands & Covers Once you’re outside (or on a puppy pad), wait there with your dog for a couple of minutes. In some cases, if your interruption startled your dog into pausing their business, they may begin again. If so, celebrate your pup with happy words and, if possible, a treat from your pocket. March 16, 2018 3:47 am Food + Drinks Keep Your Cat Inside Rates and Policies 5. Keep Up The Praise & Watch For Signals Next Spray the product onto yourself before you play with your puppy, and if he bites on one of those areas, stop moving and wait for the reaction to the bad taste. If the puppy stops biting you at that time, you can praise him when he lets go to reaffirm the behavior. During this training, you should also withhold water from your puppy, though it may seem cruel. If your dog can just wash out his mouth right away, the deterrent will be ineffective. My 6 month old Pomeranian keeps biting me during play. What can I do? Corporate partnerships How to Introduce a New Puppy to Your Older Dog Username or Email Address INSTRUCTOR SUPPORT For additional tips, here’s an AKC webinar on housetraining a puppy. Before you begin training your Dog, it is absolutely essential that you build a loving bond with him. This is important as it helps you to understand his needs and instincts and also allows your Dog to have complete trust in you. For example, if you don’t want your puppy on the furniture, say ‘No’ loudly and guide him off every time he climbs up. Then praise him every time he gets on the floor. Our trainer supervised puppy playgroups are a terrific way to help socialize your pup. For pups of all sizes under 5 1/2 months old these groups meet at the Chelsea Dog Spa (32 west 25th street) on Tuesdays from 6-7pm, Sundays from 1- 2pm, and Saturdays from 12:30 – 1:30pm. Starting Sunday, April 19th at Camp Canine 46 West 73rd Street from 5:15-6:15pm. The fee is $20 per pup per visit. No need to make a reservation. Kindle Store Your dog trainer will assess which consequences will be most effective for your dog, as that is dependent upon your dog’s unique personality and temperament. I hope that make sense? Whatever the weather, puppies should be taken outside after they have woken up, or had something to drink or eat. Once out of the house, say a command such as ‘Go Now’ so they know it’s OK to relieve themselves. Praise them when they go, but ignore them when they fail. And if you do find a puddle inside, don’t tell your pup off as they may become frightened to go in front of you, instead if you catch them in the act tell them a firm “no” and take them to an appropriate place for them to go. Never, ever ‘rub their nose in it’. Remember, his bladder is small and his memory is short. Unless you remind him frequently, your pup will forget he needs a wee until it is too late and he can’t even make it to the door. puppy training near me | potty train a dog puppy training near me | potty training tips for dogs puppy training near me | house train dog Legal | Sitemap

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