u/ReallyBigMomma

We went out hiking today to Prince William National Forrest inspire of the rainy forecast. The hike was about 5 miles long, most along a wonderful rocky stream. Even though a torrential rain caught us for about an hour, the pups were happy running along the trail and exploring the waters. The waters in this area are quite healthy and full of life and vegetation. One of my happiest moments with them yet.

Show me your pups out in nature!

Last night I took my dog to the ER Vet due to possible rat poison ingestion. I was walking my dogs around Shaw yesterday evening and looked away from my younger pup for all of 10 seconds when I noticed him munching on some weird pellets on the floor.

At first I thought it was some weird cereal or food. It had just rained so they were soggy. I immediately pulled out all I could from the back of his throat (luckily he’s easy to handle). I took some home in my hand and did some research on the way to confirm my suspicion. The bright coloring tipped me off that it was likely rat poison.

Since I wasn’t sure if he had ingested anymore than I pulled out, we went to the ER within the hour to induce vomiting. Turns out all they found were some kibble, treats, and pieces of sticks my doofus ate.

While this is a hard reminder that we need more training (and maybe a muzzle) to avoid eating random stuff off the street, it’s crazy to me someone would just dump a pile of poison out on a public sidewalk in a residential area. Right by a trash can too.

Long story short — with all the rats in this city, I guess you’re bound to run into rat poison.

If this happens to you, don’t wait to see symptoms. Early treatment is the best way to prevent more serious complications for your pet.

Pic of my dog driving us to the vet included.

My mom recently sat down to teach me how to embroider and I decided the best way to practice was to problem solve a design I’d enjoy. The second photo (blue dude with the heart) was my first project. The first photo (jester) is my second one. I’m usually a pen and marker artist and have recently started drawing on tshirts, but I think I’ll really enjoy embroidery, especially as far as wearable art goes.

I’m excited to keep learning. Seeing what everyone else is doing one here is really motivating me to push my limits and to not feel restrained by being a beginner. There’s so much versatility with thread!

That said, please do share some of your favorite YouTube or instagram channels to follow for learning techniques or general tips about the craft’ :)

We recently adopted Bubba, a 1ish yo pitbull mix (50lbs), in early January to grow our dog family and provide our girl (Daizee, 5yo 70lb pit mix) some company. While there's been the usual challenges for adjustment like potty training and practicing loose leash walking, I've noticed a change in behavior that I can't wrap my head around.

Bubba is your typical adolescent boy pitty -- high energy, silly, and still working on his manners. Initially, the biggest focus was working on impulse control to decrease leash pulling, focus, and chasing after squirrels, but he was generally friendly to other dogs. The folks at the shelter even said they used him as a helper dog because he was so flexible with other dogs. But over the past month, I've noticed that his tolerance for other dogs has decreased a lot.

It started with greetings on walks quickly becoming aggressive -- him lunging and growling, where he used to sniff and wag. At dog parks, he started to fixate on some dogs (usually high energy) and end up lunging and trying to bite. At first, I thought it was dog-specific but it started becoming more frequent so we've cut out parks. About three times now, he has also bitten my leg on walks when I try to put myself between him and another dog as we walk by.

At the moment, we're doubling down on impulse control, such as reinforcing "wait" commands, working on recall like "touch," and structuring dog encounters on walks (e.g. pulling him to the side, no greeting, focusing on me and not reacting). I also signed up to work with a trainer to work on this issue specifically and see them again soon. So far, he's doing a little better, but I'm still a bit baffled.

Considering the 3-3-3 rule for adopted dogs, I understand that some of this behavior could be emerging as he becomes more comfortable or acclimates to life outside of the stress of the shelter.

However, I'm wonder what if some other factors could be contributing to this. Namely:

• Giardia Infection -- we're on our 3rd round of treatment and the little guy still has loose stools. His energy and appetite are still there though.
• Confidence issues due to our other dog -- There's been a learning curve as far as cohabitating between our two dogs. Daizee, our older dog, has always been a bit more of a dominant lady and has some trouble sharing. Things have improved some, and we often try to reinforce good boundaries. There haven't been any tiffs for >6 weeks now. But Daizee still has the impulse to tug away whatever toy he might be playing with, especially if we tug with it. They play chase often, but I've also noticed he is a bit more timid cuz she runs into him sometimes.

I'm thinking about getting a muzzle in the meantime, but I really do hope we can work on his friendliness and get back that gentle dog we adopted.

If anyone has any insight or similar experiences, I'd love to hear what helped you.