NaBloPoMo Analysis

Since I've been participating in National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo), I have been noticing a couple of things, which I find interesting.

• As a "duh" kind of stat, my hits are way up-- easily doubling the previous month. Not all of this comes from NaBloPoMo, but probably a third of it does. Thanks to everyone, and come on back.
• Entropy seems to be affecting NaBloPoMo participants. Most people seem to be keeping up with their posts, but the enthusiasm in surfing the different sites seems to be dying down (my own enthusiasm included), and I see a lot fewer comments from random visitors. Again, this isn't so unexpected.
• This last one does surprise me: I'm noticing some NaBloPoMo sites in the randomizer that are blocked, allowing only access by invitation. I came across two in a row Sunday morning, and I am pretty sure I remember one was public access when the event started.

I'm thinking that some participants were a little freaked out at the responses they were getting from the non-regular visitors on their sites. I can imagine getting a comment that would creep me out, but dogs blogs aren't much of a lightening rod for loonies-- well, not that kind of loony. I like the loonies I get.

P.S. Ailing Pappy is much improved. He's toddling up and down the stairs with ease, wagging his tail, and is even playing a little slow-motion ball. Now he just whines because he's bored, bored, bored.

Suffering

Well, I spoke too soon about Pappy's rebound from his injury. Once the painkillers wore off, or once the muzziness of the sedation kicked in, he spent a lot of time standing like a zombie. Today the muzziness seems to have worn off, but now he's standing around lightly wimpering despite the pain pills. It's a heartbreaker. It seems like he handles short sharp pains better than long-term soreness. The light at the end of the tunnel is that, when we saw a dog on a short evening walk last night, he was rarin' to meet.

In Temple Grandin's Animals in Translation, she talks about dog and animal perception of pain as compared to humans. She mentions some tests on human chronic pain sufferers, who had been bedridden because of their pain. They had neurosurgery to have some connections severed to their frontal cortex, where most of the advanced functions of the human brain reside. This surgery didn't cut the link to the pain receptors, but somehow isolated the pain from the higher-level brain. Formerly bedridden patients were then up and around. When asked, they said they felt the same pain, it just didn't bother them as much-- they weren't suffering. Grandin then goes on to draw parallels between this surgery and the fact that animals have a much less developed frontal cortex, and so may not suffer quite the same.

But the way things stand right now, it's seeming like ol' Pappy suffers plenty.

Pappy on the Mend

Well, I've picked up Pappy after the stitches, and am $400 poorer. The vet warned me that Pappy might be a little woozy following the anaesthesia, and may just lay around. Absolutely no evidence of that, and he's ready to go chase balls. They gave me some pain pills; no evidence of any pain. They told me to keep him quiet for a couple of days, but I think I'm going to have to sit on him to make that happen.

For his convalescence, I might take him in the back yard and let him sniff the leaves while I rake.

Poor Little Guy

Pappy and I went to the dog park this morning, as usual. What wasn't usual is that we were meeting up with geocaching dog blogger, 3dogcache (motto: "dogs go with geocaching like pickles with peanut butter; no, really, it's good"), and her three pooches, Maggie, Ellie, and Andy.

Pappy was playing feverishly with all comers, and at one point I thought I saw a flash of red on his side. I looked him over but didn't find anything. An hour's play later I saw it again, but this time I found it-- a rather ugly gash behind his shoulder. Everybody at the dog park was really helpful, and one guy was apologetic and really worried that his dog had caused it (but my first glimpse came long before he arrived). We went straight to the vet. She said because of the way the skin was pulled apart, it wasn't going to heal without sutures. So Pappy's getting sedated and stitched up as I write this.

Pappy has this incredible pain tolerance, and it really worries me at times. He got his chip implanted without a sound, had a cordless phone dropped on his head without noticing, and I'm always finding scratches and cuts. He's a skinny twerp playing rough with much bigger dogs, and it doesn't seem like he knows when to ease up. One of these days I'm afraid he's going to snap a leg and still be trying to wrestle Jack.

No dog park for Pappy tomorrow, but we'll be back next weekend.

Blog Subjects

As subjects for a blog, dogs are sweet and all. But I'm not sure they are nearly as funny as... heaven help me... cats. I just see blogs like this, and videos like this that crack me up. But they also make me wonder why you'd ever invite a cat in your house.

But you'll never see anyone writing this about a cat:

Dog Experiences Best Day Of His Life For 400th Consecutive Day

My Experience with Dogs

Before we had Pappy, if you had asked me whether I'd ever owned a dog, I would have said sure. We had a couple of them when I was a kid. But at this point I'd have to revise that. The way that many kids own a dog (at least how I owned a dog) is by playing with it when they are inclined, ignoring it when they aren't, and not doing much else. There isn't a lot of end-to-end responsibility there.

To lighten up on myself, we got our first dog, Winnie, when I was five years old. I think it was Easter, and I remember that I couldn't decide whether I was more excited by the pup or my new plastic Batman glasses. I can't remember how long we had her, or exactly what she looked like. We let her run loose, and eventually she bit a neighbor so my parents gave her away. Our second dog, Fletcher, was a Lhasa Apso born to my Aunt's dog. Someone had taken the puppy, roundly neglected and/or abused him, and then returned him to my Aunt. We agreed to take him in as a semi-fostering arrangement, but he was a mess-- unhousebroken, really fearful, and with chronic separation anxiety. My brother and I were in school and both my parents worked, so no one was around to help him. Before too long, we found Fletcher another home.

Not an established track record of dog accountability there. My wife and I thought long and hard about whether to get a dog, and I like to think we have taken to ownership like ducks to water. But I'm always learning something new.

All of this exposition is leading up to a critical question for the experts, and I just don't have enough experience to know whether Pappy is unusual. Is it typical for a dog to be bow-legged and pigeon-toed in back, and knock-kneed and duck-footed in front?

Adventures in Dog Walking

Pappy and my evening walks in the autumn have been distinguished by three things:

1. It's dark out;


2. There are a lot of fallen leaves;


3. There's a creepy bamboo thicket behind the baseball field.

As for the darkness, there's not a lot to say. I took a picture of it on the right, and that's pretty much what it looks like.

The piles of leaves are like ambrosia to Pappy. He wades in up to his elbows, and then just sniffs and sniffs. The following haiku is by Pappy (interpreted by me):

myriad smells composting
in the piled leaves

wait, i'm not done

The bamboo thicket is immense and dense. As I approach it with Pappy, we're suddenly confronted with the calls and rustling of hundreds of birds-- but we never see any of them. Pappy is actually less freaked by this than I am. Partly it's fear of some Hitchcockian nightmare, partly fear of showering bird doo.

Fame, Fortune, and Terriers

I was just alerted in a comment by HotDog of Wikifido.com that Pappy's Blog has been selected as Blog of the Week. Pappy gets to follow in the footsteps of many august blogdogs who have visited this page and left their marks. I couldn't help but notice a disproportionate number of terriers in the past winners' circle, not that I have any problem with that. Now, I collect my prize... a subject for one more post during National Blog Posting Month.

It wasn't so long ago that I was despairing that our blog seemed to fall off the Googlable internet. Now we've rebounded, baby, like Robert Downey, Jr. I'd like to thank Pappy, the Academy, and of course my wife...

Law of the Jungle

A couple of incidents at the dog park gave me some food for thought regarding Pappy's place in the dog pecking order. The first was that Jack had a scary fight with a creepy Akita. He was uninjured, but upset. Jack's pretty unflappable-- his favorite game at the dog park is "Jumping Jack" where five dogs simultaneously attack him. Later that afternoon he was pretty shaken, and only wanted to play with the little dogs at the dog park; some R&R amongst the Lilliputians.

The second incident involved Truman playing with a huge Lab. Truman is no wuss, in fact his owner worries that he can be aggressive at times. But he was alternately running around with this Lab, then rolling over in abject submission as the Lab sniffed around his nethers at great length. Truman's owner had never seen this before, and was aghast that her dashing dog had been so totally unmanned.

So, in considering these two situations, I kind of ponder how Pappy fits into dog society. Apart from the time that Joy, a stocky Boxer, pinned a surprised Pappy on his back and sprawled on top of him, he's never demonstrated anything resembling belly-up submissive behavior to dominant dogs. He's no strutting he-dog, he just somehow sidesteps the really dominant ones. As for aggression, he generally stays out of trouble despite all of his rough-housing. Whenever there is a fight he makes a bee-line right towards it, but he never ends up in the middle. I certainly don't need a tough guy, so it's okay with me the other dogs don't take him too seriously and he stays out of trouble. It's fine if he is the Barney Fife of the dog world.

NaBloPoMo Blog of the Day

Momopeche Go has to be one of the most compelling blogs to follow during National Blog Posting Month. Each day I can't wait to see what she whittles next-- salami goldfish, chapstick owl, etc. And she's looking for ideas!

Driving Barometer

Pappy is a pretty good little passenger on car rides. He's never sick, and he can get pretty relaxed and flop down on the back seat. However, my wife likes to point out when I'm driving and Pappy is standing ramrod straight, propped in the corner of the back seat, with a slightly startled look in his eyes. I don't have much use for editorial comments about my driving from my wife, but I sure don't need them from my dog.

Pappy says don't forget to dog the vote.

Gladiators of the Dog Park

In honor of National Blog Posting Month, the movie they said couldn't be done. Ancient Rome! Fantastic battle sequences! A cast of thousands! Pappy! For what you are paying, you won't be disappointed.

Creatures of Habit

Pappy and I have a weekend drill. To many it might seem wildly boring, but I think dogs actually like it that way-- especially if it includes a visit to the dog park. The thing I really like about it is that, before we had a dog, I would fritter away my weekend mornings until around 10AM. I'd get the paper read, but not much more. Now, by 10AM, I've done more with my dog than most people do all day. And the dog park regulars are pretty entertaining.

Pappy's Sunday Soduko

As a onetime effort to make Pappy's blog entertaining and challenging, here's Pappy's Sunday Soduko Puzzle. This is a toughie; he ended up mastering the swordfish technique to get it.

Immovable Object, Meet Irresistable Force

As part of the Saturday routine, we went to the dog park. Jack was there, but for some reason Pappy was consumed with wrestling Hamlet, a Great Dane easily three times the size of our 36-pound hero. I was a little worried that Pappy would get snapped in two, but he was holding his own with his lunges and flashing terrier teeth-- he even had Hamlet down a few times early on. Pappy's pretty used to tangling with bigger dogs, but sometimes a little fear would be a good thing.

Deja Vu, All Over Again

When I was a younger fella, strangers would sometimes walk up to me out of the blue and say -- "I think I know your cousin in Topeka" -- when, to my knowledge, I've got no cousin in Topeka. I always attributed this to the fact that I am somewhat distinctive looking. You take a typical person and you see someone similar, and... no big deal. But, you find the twin for someone more idiosyncratic in appearance and, Shazam, they must have been separated at birth.

This type of epiphany happened for Becky at Jell-o Universe today when she happened across Pappy's site. She has a pooch, Maggie (no not that Maggie), who could be said to be infringing on Pappy's Unconventionally Good Looking^® trademark. She's much better groomed than the Papster, but let those brow hairs grow and she definitely has the same charm and charisma in photos. Becky got so excited she had put down The Grapes of Wrath, turn off The Beatles, and write a blog entry documenting the miracle.

Now if she'll just tell me what kind of dogs we have...

Foiling PtTD

Yesterday we wandered into the Big Bad Woof with hopes of finding a new challenge for "Pappy the Toy Destroya" (henceforth, PtTD). Next to the door we noticed these Tibetan boiled wool toys. They looked smelly and tough, just the thing to keep PtTD entertained when he's taking a break from making potholders of his other stuffed toys.

When we got home, PtTD was instantly nose first into the bag. After the presentation ceremony, he started doing his toss-it-up-and-prance celebration over the new toys. He even tried a feeble tug o' war with the ring, but this isn't one of his strong suits; his neck's pretty puny.

While we were eating dinner he set to work on the pumpkin toy, which had a nice little two inch stem sticking out of the top. He finally managed to tear this off only to find... What? NO STUFFING? This thing is a SOLID LUMP OF FELT? It blew his mind.

Since that discovery, PtTD hasn't shown a whole lot of interest in the pumpkin. Everytime I try and play with him using the ring, he takes it into another room and puts it away. It seems that these toys have violated his sense of order.

Hello?

In making the rounds of the NaBloPoMo Randomizer, I'm beginning to think I may be the only male participant in National Blog Posting Month. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I'm feeling a little like I walked into the wrong bathroom. Then I begin to wonder whether the only men bloggers out there are haX0r dw33bs, drunken subliterates, and Matt Drudge wannabes.

Guys? Guys? Is there anyone out there?

Toy Terminator

As I talk with dog owners, it seems pretty routine for our pooches to demolish the toys they love. Pappy assumes we are asking him to destroy anything we give him, and he takes this mission very seriously. I got him a couple of tougher looking toys recently, only to have one eviscerated within the hour. The second, a rugged canvas dog, I stitched back together with some carpet thread after his ears were ripped off. I was pretty confident that this addressed his main vulnerabilities, but Pappy opened him back up within five minutes. He's been slowly pulling out the stuffing over the course of the past couple of weeks and scattering it around the living room floor.

Given that sagas of demolished toys are old news, I thought I would explore some fresh territory-- what to do with the remnants. My wife has decided that we should rinse off all of the pelts of dead stuffed animals and give them as potholders this Christmas. Pappy's going to very busy for the next month, but we'll definitely be giving one-of-a-kind gifts.

Inaugural NaBloPoMo Posting

This is my inaugural posting for NaBloPoMo, striving to keep alive through 30 consecutive days of postings. In honor of the event I photochopped Pappy as a poor man's Warhol portrait. Here's a prayer that Pappy will do enough interesting things this month to merit seven-day-a-week coverage.

(Let's see, we've got Thanksgiving, a new Pappy movie nearing completion, we'll be doing a bunch of raking sometime soon, maybe we'll get some snow, could do a tour of the local dog parks... yup, I think we're covered.)