The Monster Is Out

We're going away. 14 hours in the car will soon be behind us (hopefully), and then follows the ? weeks we'll be staying gone. I won't be able to update the blog, as we're traveling back in time to where the internet is a newfangled idea them scientists are fiddling with.

Have a great summer everyone, and think about Monster and I toiling away at the sawmill while you're lazing at the beach. See you as soon as possible.

Your lives will be empty without us...

Happy Midsummer!

Today has been the traditional Midsummer's Eve, with rain, rain, rain...

Monster does not appreciate the heavens pouring water on him, and objects quite strongly. Not much to be done about the weather though, so he'll just have to learn to suck it up.

This is what summer is supposed to be!

Blog Neglect

I know, I know, I've been neglecting the blog again... I was about to post all the excuses I had lined up in my head, but for once I caught myself. No excuses.

Yeah, right...

Monster is fine, we're still working on his issues. No great successes, no great setbacks. He thinks the weather is very warm, and he does not appreciate strange men changing the tires of the car when he's in it...

They were stealing pieces of our car!

Now, the thing is... There's a reason Tin Can was having his tires looked at. It turns out Monster and I have to go for a trip next week. And it's sort of a trip back in time, as there's no reliable internet connection where we're going (no, not kidding). So the blog is about to be really neglected. Sorry about that, it came as a bit of a surprise to us too. Most likely the blog will be in a coma for a couple of weeks (or more, not sure how long we'll have to stay), but I'll try to take some photos and write down Monster's adventures so we'll have something to say when we get back to civilization again.

There, that took the focus away from me not having posted anything while I still could, right?

Just how dumb are you?!

Today's Cloud

Oh, you can just forget it. I'm not complaining about anything today!

Damn straight! No one can complain with a dog like me in their life!

Today's Sunshine

Today Monster and I met two children. Oh no! They each had a dog with them. Oh no! Monster spotted them, and I started winding the leash around my hand for a secure grip while steering him out in an angle (there was no real option to turn back, and there was more space if we went forward rather than stayed put). Monster kept glancing up at them, and I kept waiting for the point when he'd fixate and no longer respond to me. We kept walking. Kept walking. And... We'd passed them!

That was fun! Wanna go again?

We met them head on, albeit with Monster and I ten-fifteen feet off to the side of the road. We even said hello to each other! Monster was fully aware they were there, but it just worked!

I can't describe to you how great that felt! I do know that I'm going to depend too much on this one situation in the future, and expect things I'm fully aware I shouldn't, but it's worth it!

Great day!

Today's Cloud

I'm getting frustrated I can't bring Monster's stress levels down and his interest in me up, when we're out for a walk. At home I'm more or less Monster's entire world.

Conceited much?

Away from home I shrink into someone tiny and insignificant. He's so tightly wound he'd twang if I slapped him (no, I'm not going to, relax!), and he won't even play with a tug toy most of the time. It hurts to see him this way, and it really hurts any progress we can make in training.

Me? Stressed? What are you talking about? *yaaawn*

I know things can be different. I know I need to change this. I just don't know how to go about it...

Today's Sunshine

Monster and I have been training with Teach again today. I won't claim any amazing progress, but I will say things are getting better nonetheless.

What're you talking about, I'm always awesome!?

Once again we were training against a staged person (as opposed to a dog), this time a repeat from last time. Monster was interested, perhaps even excited to see (and smell) her, but still managed to be quite difficult around her. He was both cautious and suspicious, sneaking around and eyeballing her, trying to distract me from the training by doing other things, and frustrated he didn't get to greet her properly and play with her, which took the expression of him going for the provoking bark ("Come on, interact with me!") as well as pulling my arm out of its socket (well, alright, nearly) to get to her, and refusing to step away from her once he got close enough to touch. All in all I'd say no one watching who didn't know Monster's history would believe today was anything other than a long display of bad and discouraging behavior.

Oh really? I want to have a word with those people...

But, Teach pointed out something important. While Monster is still scanning the surroundings for various (non-)threats, eyeballing everything from a plastic bag blowing past to a man talking on his cell phone as he walks by, as well as lunging for the annoying seagulls (my fault, I drop half of Monster's treats on the ground - coordination and fine motor skills not being one of my gifts) and attacking me and the leash regularly (playfully... well, sort of), this is nothing compared to how it used to be. I don't know how many dogs passed by today, but it was quite a few - Monster was basically fine with them (as long as the situation was managed with increased distance and treats). A group of children walking by began hissing and grimacing at Monster (I assume it was some kind of dare), and all Monster did was bounce a little and look at them, while continuing to walk with me. Cars, bikes, baby carriages, motor bikes, men, women, children, dogs, all of it was processed and for the most part ignored by Monster. While training went well enough today, that little detail really tipped it over into much needed awesomeness today.

Woohoo, no more sulking!

Then there was that damned cat of course...