Mamma Munch & the Safe Place

[madshutterbug]

We've indeed had intermittent thunder, and sprinkles to light showers. Mamma Munch came out with me to let the boys stretch, and walked with us while Friends K & D fed the ranch critters. She also came out when fatfred stopped by for a brief visit. We walked around a little to show her parents the ranch... at least the little bit easily seen from our private road and the house.

After all of those jaunts, though, she's retreated to her Safe Place. This is between Ruthie's island workcart and the counter/cabinets next to the stove. It's safer, according to Mamma Munch, than even the master bedroom which has only two windows. Sometimes she'll go into the second bathroom, but even that is not as safe as her Safe Place.

She might come out with me to feed the boys, but no promises.

Since she came to live with us as an adult dog, I often wonder what happened in her life to cause her fear of thunder and loud noises so. It's not something that needs great intervention; she's quite content if she can be in her Safe Place.

There's another Safe Place which is under the back deck of Studio 318. That one is for when she's left outside and the storm comes before we get home. It's pretty good, too, underneath a set of steps at the low end. Those steps are boxed in, not typical riser/tread construction, so I'm not surprised it became the outside Safe Place.

But it's not as good as the inside Safe Place. The inside Safe Place is, according to Mamma Munch, teh die for.

Not too bad walking around, back is stiff and achy but the spasm seems to be done for now. Standing still isn't comfortable for long, walking isn't bad as I said, and sitting is OK. So is laying down, but it doesn't take long to get very stiff when I do that.

I could use a massage.

Comments

oh of dogs and thunder

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

jax...whose picture i just used in this reply... was picked up at a mojave desert "rescue" centre by us... a few years back. he was skinny. and very frightened of everything. two months after we brought him home... he went into a high fever and we eventually discovered that he had a kidney stone the size of a tootsie roll pop. after a little debate, we all decided that removing the kidney was the best course of action as he wouldn't be able to pass it and no one was doing kidney stone reductions on dogs. well the vet's brother is a doctor and actually HAS a machine in his office to do it...was willing to do it if we could get the dog to minnesota. but then we and the vet talked about it and really knew he wouldn't have survived a plane trip...not really. so the kidney went out.

while he was under, we got his teeth cleaned. wood chips and other debris were found under his gums where he'd tried to eat lumber to gain any bit of food he could. he doesn't eat wood now that he's living with us so i don't think it was a habitual thing...just a necessity.

we wonder sometimes what his life was before us. he still has to sneak up on his water dish to drink from it. he's deathly afraid of baths. he doesn't know what toys are but he does chew on his man-shaped fuzzy toys ... around the edges and in that chittering bite like they have fleas. he's only in the past year or so started roughhousing with the other dogs but he still stops halfway through and looks at you to see if it's okay. if you scold the other dogs, you immediately have to follow up with, it's okay jax...not you. thunder is the enemy. we have a sky show here that has huge fireworks and we turn the television up and comfort him. he shakes so much i'm afraid his bones will break sometimes. or he'll get a heart attack.

but he's very sweet and apparently everyone adores him. he's really my dog draven's dog since we drove all those hours north to get a companion for draven after the dog he grew up with passed on...D was quite depressed. JJ, well... he's broken but very loveable.

i'm glad MM has a few safe places. Jax does well if he's near draven or curled up on the loveseat next to me.

and if you were closer, i'd offer a massage. i'm quite good at them. i've had people fall asleep. :)

Re: oh of dogs and thunder

[madshutterbug.livejournal.com]

Several similarities between Jax & MM. Leave out the wood chips and kidney stone. She doesn't have to sneak up on the water dish. But if any of the household critters (including her sons, the Border Collie Bros) catch any type of discipline comment other than a voice conversational level "No" she goes into submissive mode. She doesn't play with toys at all, but will rough house with the Bros. There's an old piece of carpet out there, and she, Smudge, and Squrrel will often get into a three-way tug of war with it.

We got her from our next-door neighbor, who has given us a bit of her history, not much; she got her from an ex-boyfriend.

She's fairly good with the cows and hogs, not quite so with the goats. She seems to love people, she definitely loves going for rides. What's particularly interesting to me is that Michael, who is our next-door neighbor's border collie, is her main squeeze, and there is no other male for her than Michael. One of the few times I've seen her get riled was with another male when she was in heat. With the Bros, she will simply sit down. With this other dog, she got snappy.

I did some photography for a masseuse last year; will probably schedule an appointment with her next week. If you were closer, I'd happily take you up on the offer.

Re: oh of dogs and thunder

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

she ...the dog... sounds so sweet. the masseuse sounds nice. she might be sweet but i don't know her that well :)