Embracing What Is

Moonshadow Merlin finishes his week at Camp Kaibab today and has been a perfect camper during his stay.

Moonshadow Merlin, Sparkle, Pozy

Merlin shares so many traits with his littermate, Maple, who has also spent time at Camp Kaibab. Both puppies are wildly happy, and express this with their bodies. They are waggy, wiggly, and just exude joy about basically everything.

Since I have had the chance to spend time with various puppies as they have gotten older, and because owners are great about keeping me updated (thank you), I am able to observe some interesting differences between the two litters. These differences cannot be because of how they were raised — they are a week apart and were raised in identical ways.

Bright Star Sage

The puppies are all smart and food motivated. I have no concerns or criticisms about either “flavor” of puppy — both have their advantages.

Moonshadows are busy and emotive.

Bright Stars are self-possessed and analytic.

Moonshadows FEEL.

Bright Stars THINK.

Moonshadow Obie at class

I have observed differences between the litters since they were tiny — and I believe those differences persists today. It is as if the Moonshadows are primarily extroverts and the Bright Stars are more on the introverted side of things. Neither is wrong or bad — it is just helpful to recognize the tendencies.

The extroverted puppies need help managing their enthusiasm and tendency to — literally, at times — crash through life. The introverted puppies need time and space to process things.

I love Thinkers and Feelers — and all the flavors in between.

Moonshadow Porter

Moonshadow Merlin pushes through barriers that Capella would not dream of touching, has zero personal space, happily shares his things, rushes doors, and could not be any sweeter or kinder. Pete, however, has found Merlin’s exuberance too much to bear on more than one occasion and let’s just say Merlin has a very healthy respect for the Chief of the Fun Police now (Pete’s nails are kept trimmed — don’t worry!)

Merlin always comes happily when called, and just emotes cooperation and joy at all times. He is a happy burst of sunshine.

Capella does not always come when she is called — she is busy considering things. If she isn’t sure what is going on or what is expected, she stops and observes. Where Merlin charges right on in, Capella is measured. Not shy, not disengaged — measured. Thoughtful. Gentle. Sensitive.

The two flavors of puppies require different things in training. One size never fits all in training dogs or humans, but seeing the differences in these two litters has really amplified this for me.

A loud voice or cross word with a Moonshadow is going to land very differently with a Bright Star. The Moonshadows are likely to be quite forgiving of human mistakes and imperfections — the Bright Star will remember.

All puppies deserve smart, adaptable, and patient trainers — the Bright Stars require such a person.

I absolutely adore my thoughtful Bright Star, Capella. She is not overstimulated by the external world and her gentle, kind nature is charming and easy. She is friendly to all without being overwhelming — that is part of being measured.

When we are pregnant, we dream of our child. We create an image of who and what they are, and then they are born and they are somebody else and we have to grieve the child we had imagined and grown to love. It can happen in an instant or take time, but all of us need to let go of who we expected and embrace the one who arrived.

It is the same with a puppy. They cannot be exactly what we imagined — they can only be who and what they are. Our task is letting go of our imagined puppy/dog — that was never real — and appreciating the gift sitting right in front us.

The Reality Kaleidoscope

The vet has confirmed that Claire has a torn CCL (like the ACL in a human).

Claire at the veterinary clinic

This happened on Christmas Eve when she and Sparkle were bounding up the stairs from the lower level of the house. Claire fell/tripped/something up the stairs — it was immediately clear something terrible had happened because she was crying and struggling to finish the stairs.

It was awful, as you can likely imagine.

She quickly settled down but would not put any weight on her left rear leg.

I had so many hopes and dreams for Claire in 2020 — I was going to campaign her as a Special and I expected her to do exceptionally well in obedience. The pandemic landed with a thud on top of my dreams.

Take Note, Claire…

I am not unique — 2020 has been a year of exploded dreams and shattered lives. Every single loss is griefworthy — we get to decide what has broken our hearts.

But there is also an element of choice about which aspect of a reality to fix our focus. This is the part I find interesting about 2020 ending with my pregnant dog blowing her knee out.

I acknowledge the additional lost things that were generated when Claire’s pregnancy hormones and a misstep caused her ligament to do something it should not have done; the already packed 2020 Land of the Losses got more crowded.

But we are not required to park ourselves in the 2020 Land of the Losses, counting and reliving each of the heartbreaking losses. We have lived them already — they do not need to be lived and experienced again and again.

Claire will have a custom brace made by OrthoPets to help keep that joint stable and reduce pain. In addition, she will have cold laser twice a week, with her abdomen covered by a protective apron although the laser is centralized to her knee and there is no evidence that laser therapy is problematic during pregnancy (Source: Wilkerson, Eric C, Van Acker, Monica M, Bloom, Bradley S, & Goldberg, David J. (2019). Utilization of Laser Therapy During Pregnancy: A Systematic Review of the Maternal and Fetal Effects Reported From 1960 to 2017. Dermatologic Surgery, 45(6), 818-828).

The unfortunate parts of the stair incident are acknowledged and handled — I do not need to sit vigil.

Two inches and 2+ pounds gained with 22 days to go.

Inside Claire right this minute are small puppy miracles — they exist in the Land of Hopes and Dreams. Why would I want to be anywhere that doesn’t include them?

Let It Go

So many people are looking for puppies these days and I get emails almost daily asking about breeding plans (waiting for a girl to go in season — that is the current plan). I have gotten to where I ignore people who ask about price in the first email and my justification is that I have a disclaimer about this on my Puppy Page — and there is a pandemic.

I really cannot spare even one Little Soldier to generate an email to someone who cannot be bothered to read over the info on my website about how to approach finding a puppy from a reputable breeder.

And yes, I could cut and paste an email (and sometimes I do) but the truth is being annoyed by those types of emails is a burden, and I am just over extra annoyance right now.

(Note and an aside: Are you tempted to tell me how to solve this? Please don’t. Trust that people: 1) can usually figure things out for themselves; and, 2) will ask for advice if they want it.)

The pandemic has reduced bandwidth for everyone. Dialing back is especially important right now and that means it is okay to be intentional about how we spend our time and energy.

Harper, Pozy, and Daisy

In order for any of us to be our best and most effective selves, we must recognize our limits and target our Little Soldiers to those things that matter most. There is, after all, no shame in being an imperfect human in a pandemic. In fact, to be that means we are one of the lucky ones — in the USA alone, 237,000+ imperfect human beings and counting were not so lucky.

And so those of us still standing have permission to pick and choose what we can do right now, and not feel guilty because we cannot do and be all things to all people.

Pandemic Life means we need to dial back and make safe choices because — if we are smart and lucky — there will be…

In the meantime, just keep marching and doing what you can. It might not be pretty but that is okay. You are, after all, still taking showers and showing up in the middle of a once-in-century pandemic with no cure and no vaccine and so many dead people.

Wouldn’t it be strange if it wasn’t hard?

And so let’s sing it together…