One of Darwin’s friends at the Casa where we do pet therapy turns 106 today. Here’s hoping she will have a wonderful birthday!
I’m pretty sure I’ll never make it to her age, but if I did, I would hope to be as bright and alert and lovely as she is. She had a lap full of birthday greetings yesterday when we visited and plans for a big party today.
My brave girl collapsed today and made her final trip to the vet.
She was ready to go and went very quickly, and beautifully. She is at peace…..
There are days we live
as if death were nowhere
in the background; from joy
to joy to joy, from wing to wing,
from blossom to blossom to
impossible blossom, to sweet impossible blossom.
- Li-Young Lee
From Blossoms
This is not one of those days for me….
UPDATE:
The veterinarian’s office sent a very nice sympathy card, signed by all of the staff members.
It’s nice to know you have a vet that really cares about your pets….
We took Darwin to the San Diego Humane Society’s Doggie Café for a meetup with the San Diego Golden Retriever Meetup Group. You can see more pictures here. We all had a very good time!
My poor Roxie girl. Yes, I know it’s common for goldens to get cancer, and I knew when I rescued her we might get here one day. Today is the day.
My older golden retriever girl Roxie has been diagnosed with fibrosarcoma in her right hind leg, and I’m trying to get her comfortable and spend as much time with her as I can while she is still doing well. She was limping, but is now walking fine with her painkillers for now. She is a rescue we’ve had about three years, and a very old girl, so there will be no drastic measures that would cause her suffering, but we’re gonna make it fun for her while she’s with us.
If you are interested in helping dogs with cancer, you can donate here:
http://store.landofpuregold.com/#Give
Rochell, who runs the foundation, also keeps a wonderful blog, mostly about goldens but also other working dogs, here:
http://landofpuregold.wordpress.com/
I always smile just before I slap someone up side the head, myself… in a nice, curving motion, of course…
Children and Youth - Play - Development - Science - New York Times
Social play has its own vocabulary. Dogs have a particular body posture called the ‘‘play bow’’ — forelegs extended, rump in the air — that they use as both invitation and punctuation. A dog will perform a play bow at the beginning of a bout, and he will crouch back into it if he accidentally nips too hard and wants to assure the other dog: ‘‘Don’t worry! Still playing!’’
Other species have play signals, too. Chimps put on a ‘‘play face,’’ an open-mouthed expression that is almost like a face of aggression except that the muscles are relaxed into something like a smile. Baboons bend over and peer between their legs as an invitation to play, beavers roll around, goats gambol in a characteristic ‘‘play gait.’’ In fact, most species have from 10 to 100 distinct play signals that they use to solicit play or to reassure one another during play-fighting that it’s still all just in fun. In humans, the analogue to the chimp’s play face is a child’s smile, an open expression that indicates there is no real anger involved even in gestures that can look like a fight.
The day Brown met me in the park was a cold one, and the kids were bundled up like Michelin Men, adding more than the usual heft and waddle to their frolicking. Even beneath the padding, though, Brown could detect some typical gestures that these 2- and 3-year-olds were using instinctively to let one another know they were playing. ‘‘Play movement is curvilinear,’’ he said. ‘‘If that boy was reaching for something in a nonplay situation, his body would be all straight lines. But using the body language of play, he curves and embraces.’’
…
For all its variety, however, there is something common to play in all its protean forms: variety itself. The essence of play is that the sequence of actions is fluid and scattered. In the words of Marc Bekoff, an evolutionary biologist at the University of Colorado, play is at its core ‘‘a behavioral kaleidoscope.’’
In fact, it’s this kaleidoscopic quality that led Bekoff and others to think of play as the best way for a young animal to gain a more diverse and responsive behavioral repertory. Thus, the currently fashionable flexibility hypothesis, a revival of an idea Bekoff first proposed in the 1970s. If a single function can be ascribed to every form of play, in every playful species, according to this way of thinking, it is that play contributes to the growth of more supple, more flexible brains.
‘‘I think of play as training for the unexpected,’’ Bekoff says. ‘‘Behavioral flexibility and variability is adaptive; in animals it’s really important to be able to change your behavior in a changing environment.’’ Play, he says, leads to mental suppleness and a broader behavioral vocabulary, which in turn helps the animal achieve success in the ways that matter: group dominance, mate selection, avoiding capture and finding food.
….
Why would such an enriching activity as play also be a source of so much anarchy and fear? Sutton- Smith found one possible answer by reading Stephen Jay Gould, the author and evolutionary biologist. The most highly adaptive organisms, Gould wrote, are those that embody both the positive and the negative, organisms that ‘‘possess an opposite set of attributes usually devalued in our culture: sloppiness, broad potential, quirkiness, unpredictability and, above all, massive redundancy.’’ Finely tuned specific adaptations can lead to blind alleys and extinction, he wrote; ‘‘the key is flexibility.’’
What Gould called quirkiness, Sutton-Smith called play. ‘‘Animal play has been described by many investigators as fragmentary, disorderly, unpredictable and exaggerated,’’ Sutton-Smith wrote, and ‘‘child play has been said to be improvised, vertiginous and nonsensical.’’ The adaptive advantage to a behavior that is multifaceted, then, is that pursuing it, enjoying it, needing it to get through the day, allows for a wider range in a play-loving person’s behavioral repertory, which is always handy, just in case.
Playing might serve a different evolutionary function too, he suggests: it helps us face our existential dread. The individual most likely to prevail is the one who believes in possibilities — an optimist, a creative thinker, a person who has a sense of power and control. Imaginative play, even when it involves mucking around in the phantasmagoria, creates such a person. ‘‘The adaptive advantage has often gone to those who ventured upon their possibility with cries of exultant commitment,’’ Sutton-Smith wrote. ‘‘What is adaptive about play, therefore, may be not only the skills that are a part of it but also the willful belief in acting out one’s own capacity for the future.’’
Darwin kills a rubber tennis ball
Interesting article on natural dog training and how to deal with an overly aggressive dog. I really liked his point that so much of our play is actually based on forms of hunting, and while some of us accept this with dogs, we sometimes fail to see it in ourselves.
I think much of the aggression in humans can be similarly channeled, if we re-direct people’s aggressions into more acceptable forms of play. Perhaps this is why sports are so important to us as a society…
Roxie is my only aggressive golden, way more so than most goldens I’ve seen. I’m sure she was improperly socialized, just as she was improperly fed (30 pounds overweight when I got her) and trained (she would counter surf and eat things left on the counters). But she is never aggressive while walking with us, or even in interaction with most dogs. For her it is mostly territorial. She will bark at the neighbor’s aggressive female, Rosie, through the fence, but if they are together out front where she can see Rosie, at most she will growl a little. I guess the best thing would be to get them in a situation where they could really play together.
The name of the game, is game. Once the dogs sense who, or what, the prey is, then there can be a game and at such a point, then there is no chance for violence {I think he means between the dogs, of course there could be violence against the “prey” - DW}. Games, the essence of a social nature, have indeed evolved from prey-making which is why most games involve a ball, the ball being the surrogate for a prey animal. Once every individual is in accord on what or who the prey is, they fall into phase and the game can begin. What our language clearly reveals through a multitude of expressions and word derivations is that hunting is the basis of a social nature. This is one of the most important things we can learn from dogs about our own human nature.
When my kids were little, I was enamored of the comic strip “Baby Blues“, convinced they must be watching us, or at least living very similar lives. I even had to get a signed copy of their first book, I liked them so much. I haven’t had a chance to get a signed copy of any of the Get Fuzzy books, although I do have several of the comic collections. But this one made me feel like they’re watching us again, or at least, watching Darwin. This is definitely how he thinks!
We are home from Tucson and Phoenix — family are all fine, and saw several friends.
The kids took great care of the pets and the house.
Darwin ate our bedroom fan remote…..
Hope Santa leaves you everything you wanted!
Karen has a great post today on how to help out your local animal rescue group or shelter. Karen lists 101 suggestions - I ‘ll just get you started here and you can read the rest of the post at her place…
Having found two wonderful dogs through rescue, and having acquired several dear human friends in the process, I’ve become very familiar with not only how hard these people work, but what they accomplish with so little. So, especially, during this time of year, I try to do what I can to pitch in. It doesn’t take much to make a difference. Here are a list of ideas to help inspire you. (Your local shelter can use many of the same items.)
Can you…
1. Transport a dog?
2. Donate a dog bed or towels or other *bedding* type items?
3. Donate MONEY?
4. Donate a Kong? A Nylabone? A hercules?
5. Donate a crate?
6. Donate an x-pen or baby gates?
7. Donate a food dish or a stainless bucket for a crate?
8. Donate a leash?
9. Donate a collar?
10 .Donate some treats or a bag of food?
…
Love, Darwin and Donna
Thanks for reading!
Oh, and we got you some rabbits from Heifer.org!
UPDATE:
Darwin and I did our therapy work this morning and everyone thought hw was so cute in his hat! He’s really starting to enjoy his work and is not at all nervous about it anymore. And I have to say Darwin is certainly the best therapy I’ve had all year!
Darwin helps put together the new patio heater. He’s opening the box….
Darwin relaxes on the new patio
“As long as I kept focused on my main goal, which is to help others and to be able to share what little knowledge I have, I felt relaxed.” –Phagyab Rinpoche.
“The time to relax is when you don’t have time for it.” — Sydney J. Harris
“Softly and kindly remind yourself, ”I cannot own anything.” It is a valuable thought to keep in mind as you struggle to improve your financial picture, worry about investments, and plan how to acquire more and more. It is a universal principle which you are part of. You must release everything when you truly awaken. Are you letting your life go by in frustration and worry over not having enough? If so, relax and remember that you only get what you have for a short period of time. When you awaken you will see the folly of being attached to anything.” — Wayne Dyer
“Relaxation means releasing all concern and tension and letting the natural order of life flow through one’s being” — Donald Curtis
Relax with your loved ones and enjoy a great Thanksgiving!!
Darwin and I were doing therapy work today at Gateway. Tomorrow we’re back at the Learning Center in Escondido. We made a few people happy today, so I guess it was a good day…
One older gentleman in particular kept wanting to see Darwin doing his “tricks” — shaking hands, etc. But I don’t really teach Darwin many tricks - my idea of therapy is more that he is there with people and available to and responsive to them, not that he does a lot of tricks to entertain them. He is well-behaved and is under control, but not “controlled” by me. I guess this piece sort of explains some of what I feel….
Author Mom with Dogs » Blog Archive » Control vs Self-Control
You’d like what Mother Teresa said to a reporter once! She was asked, how can we solve the problem of world hunger? Her reply, without missing a beat was, “Feed one hungry person.” That was her wisdom, the secret energy of toiling in the mess with personal commitment, practical personal acts, and the influence of personal example.
Back then to the world in which we live, where the first thing that so many children say as they walk up to me with one of my dogs is, “Can you make that dog sit?!” Spend a moment on what that sentence carries in it, what it implies about the human stance–from very early on… I can at that moment make a difference, not only by the REQUEST of a sit (as someone said in another discussion), as opposed to a demand, but I can also teach the child a different way of being with a dog.
There are many, many moments in our days when we can do the equivalent of feeding one hungry person to address the shame of inflicting ‘power over’ on the dogs who inhabit our lives–at home, in town, in class, at the ring…. Methinks that we HAVE TO do it. That’s why I’m hoping we who talk about this with one another will also speak up and out–not with a lot of brassy noise-making, but with a steady personal voice, and the personal acts that give that voice credibility and set an example in the world around us.
Now, if healthy control is properly a *balance* concept, then our example is needed to articulate not only when control turns to shameful power over, but also when it slides to shameful extremes represented by a lack of healthy control–that is, by neglect, indifference, discarding of dogs… and also insane indulgence that overburdens dogs with excessive emotion, goodies, and stimulation.
Railing at people isn’t going to do it. But, we can make a difference with the courage to look at ourselves and to speak by example, to not step away from looking into the eyes of those whom we find oppressed, but also looking into the eyes of those who wield the power that oppresses them. Feeding that one hungry person is the beginning. Don’t do it under a bushel, is what I’d add.
For me, I am realizing that the bigger challenge is often not that of speaking the truth or living it with the dog right in front of me, but to live and speak the truth without strangling the livin’ shit out of the human in front of me who is ‘controlling’ a dog and to whom I want to get the message. And that brings me back to the incredible difficulty of the power struggle within–and to the recognition that if I want to influence the person who is heaping power over a dog, I cannot do it by heaping my power over the person. Believe it, that’s a challenge. I keep trying to learn from Mother Teresa how to do that… stand in the truth and share it. She didn’t say, “… to solve the problem of world hunger, you slug the sob who hogged the rice bag…”
I have a lot of days where I feel like slugging the person hogging the rice bag, myself….
And yes, Darwin did “shake hands”, and we were nice about it, but I hope most of the group was able to simply enjoy Darwin for who he is, as I do.
The cuteness abounds today.
After the stress of the last week, it’s nice to just relax for a bit.
With the Wubba nearly completely destroyed, Darwin begins disemboweling his next victim.
It took Darwin a couple of weeks, but the Wubba destruction is nearly complete!
We have two basic choices when trying to resolve any conflict within a relationship: persuasion or coercion. Persuasion is possible only where freedom exists. If I am willing to accept whatever choice you may make, I am able to use persuasion and nothing more in my attempt to get you to do what I’d like you to do. Persuasion contains no elements of cruelty — by its very nature, persuasion contains the freedoms of both involved, and within that freedom lies profound respect even if disagreement exists. If the dog is truly free to say “No, thanks” and we are truly willing to accept that answer, then we are engaged in persuasion.
But persuasion has limits, and especially within the context of our role as guardians and caretakers, persuasion may fail. In some situations, compulsion or coercion may be justified, especially if the consequences of a failure to respond or act in a certain way can be dangerous or even deadly. Few of us would choose persuasion to deal with a child about to stick a fork in an electrical outlet or walk into traffic; most of us would simply forcefully compel the child to stop.
There are times when the simple obligations of being a dog’s keeper and guardian brings us into conflict with the dog’s impulses, needs, desires and even his instincts. How we will handle the inveitable conflict between us and the dog, how we will use coercion, is the question. And this is where we tread on treacherous ground. Cruelty does not rear its ugly head in moments of agreement; only where conflict exists can cruelty germinate. A friend of mine once noted that anger was not possible without a goal. No goal, no possibility of anger. I thought about this a long time and realized that no matter how modest or unimportant the goal, the moment I have something I want, an outcome I desire more than other possible outcomes, there arises the possibility for anger, and farther along that spectrum, the possibility of cruelty if I am willing to pursue my goal at any cost, even at the expense of another living being. We may not take the achievement of a goal to Mahiavellian extremes. But simply shaping a goal and focusing on it has the additional effect of narrowing our perspective; aimed at our goal, we may forget the dog beside us. — Suzanne Clothier, “Bones Would Rain From the Sky”
Dynamic quality is unpredicatable, and impossible to replicate. Quite possibly, it is the uniqueness of dynamic quality that makes it so intense or meaningful for us. Moments of dynamic quality occur seemingly at random: a spectacular sunset, a red fox walking out from the woods to stand gazing into your eyes, the fairyland of a tree freshly dusted in snow, the sudden arc of a meteor across the sky. These may be dramatic moments, but there are others less dramatic but equally powerful: the sound of a child singing softly to herself, the silky feel of a dog’s ear sliding between your fingers, the warm pressure of a body curled lovingly around your own, the sweet smell of rain in the spring.
Moments of dynamic quality, moments with the potential to move our very souls, are all around us. Though unpredictable, they require only one thing from us in order to experience them: We must be available. Because it resides in your response, dynamic quality is everywhere you are, if you are open to the experience, willing to seek it out, interested and alert to what is happening within and beyond yourself. Sweepstakes promoters have it all wrong: In life, you must be present to win. If we are glued to the nightly news, we will not see the sunset.