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happiest little Doberman on earth in this shot

A Farewell to Laevatein

    This entry is part 8 of 8 in the series Cancer & the Fight
    happiest little Doberman on earth in this shot
    happiest little Doberman on earth in this shot

    I wanted to write a new post for the new year. This wasn’t what I wanted to write.

    Today, I lost Laevatein. She had a great morning of playing in the snow as I unloaded dog food and running about the house kill-shaking her toy dinosaur. She jumped in the car I was unloading, ready to travel even though lately we’ve been going only to her chemotherapy, and was generally happy and enthusiastic. I left her out to enjoy the yard in the comparatively warmer temperatures, but when she didn’t return I went out to check on her. I walked over the entire fenced yard, looking see if a drift had made a ramp over the fence or anything, but when I returned to the porch by a different angle, I found her lying on it.

    A Trip to the Clinic with a Reactive Human

      Did you ever wonder exactly what the heck could be going on inside your dog’s head at the vet? Maybe why your toddler is freaking out, or why your cat tries to make your insides into your outsides when it’s time for a medical exam or treatment?

      We don’t have mind-reading equipment yet, but we’ve got the next best thing — a human who can explain from inside a clinic where she’s uncomfortable.

      Laev lying on her side, receiving chemo

      Laev’s Progress

        This entry is part 7 of 8 in the series Cancer & the Fight

        Time for another update, though I’ve been kind of putting it off….

        First, the Bad News

        So. Wednesday was supposed to be Laev’s last chemo treatment — except that her lymph nodes were enlarging again, and while she achieved clinical remission pretty quickly, her oncologist isn’t happy with her latest progress and the lymph nodes. So I’ve been worrying a bit.

        A Behaviorial Look at National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo)

          The setup for NaNoWriMo at home, if I need to ...
          photo by clickthing.blogspot.com/2008/10/tennish-anyone.html

          So right now a lot of writing friends and I are stocking up on coffee, candy, and Prozac, building our bunkers for National Novel Writing Month (fondly known as NaNoWriMo). Only I don’t like coffee, so I make up for it with chocolate. To each her own.

          NaNoWriMo is a blitz to write at least 50,000 words in 30 days. (Of course, no, one isn’t writing a publishable book in 30 days, nor is 50,000 words a complete novel in nearly any genre. But that’s not exactly the point, either, so work with us here.)

          Considering that at my sugar-and-caffeine-induced perfect zone, I peak at about 1000 words per hour, and that’s not really sustainable — I know a lot of professionals who are quite pleased with 250 words per hour — and considering that normal life doesn’t actually suspend for most of us, you can see the challenge here. So motivation and discipline are big concepts for the NaNo community.

          There are lots of ways NaNo writers motivate themselves, but it boils down to several commonly-used terms — small incentives, big incentives, anti-incentives, and rituals.

          Let’s look at them from a professional behavior perspective, and maybe you’ll find them useful for any big projects you’re facing.

          Autumn Fun

            It’s autumn, perhaps my favorite season, and I’m keeping an eye on the Dober-thermometer (the tightness of a Doberman’s sleeping curl indicates the overall temperature). So far it’s been mild and lovely, but I expect to see tighter sleeps in the coming week. First snow might be Wednesday. I’ll have to stock up on firewood.

            Laev is NOT LOOKING at the caramel apples off the right side of the picture.
            Laev is NOT LOOKING at the caramel apples off the right side of the picture.

            We took a trip to a local orchard, just for fun. Laev was walking happily beside me until we got the caramel apples. Then she sniffed the goodie-laden air, got excited, and promptly flattened herself to the ground. “Look at me! Look at how not-pushy I’m being around the yummies! Do I get one?”

            Monster Mania!

              Promotional photo of Boris Karloff from The Br...
              (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

              Autumn is coming, and Canines In Action is sponsoring our favorite monsters at The Historic Artcraft Theatre‘s Monster Mania! All six of Universal’s famous monsters in one fabulous film festival? When can we start?

              (Win free tickets below the jump!)

              A Few Photos and Farewell

                This entry is part 6 of 8 in the series Cancer & the Fight

                I mentioned in my last post that I wished I had more good-quality photos of Shakespeare. (Most of his work was in the days before there were decent cameras in phones.) So my mom sent… 

                Shakespeare’s Last Week

                  119-1910_IMGToday a friend bid goodbye to her dog. And today I made the awful appointment to end Shakespeare’s days with us.

                  I have much to be grateful for. He was given as little as 3 weeks to live when diagnosed, and today marks the 7th week. He’s positively ancient for his breed; if I had his pedigree, he could have received a longevity award nearly 4 years ago, and aside from the cancer he’s physically in better shape than other Dobermans I’ve seen his age. And despite all that I’ve read and heard about the horrid pain of bone cancer, Shakespeare seems to be in fairly little discomfort, which is an answer to prayer.

                  But that makes it hard, too. He’s not in severe pain. He’s still enjoying his life, chilling on the couch or sunning himself in our early autumn weather. How can I take that away from him?

                  Polite and Pushy Deer

                    Yesterday my friend Mark sent me a page about polite and, hmm, less polite deer in Japan. And of course (as he suspected would happen) my little behavior brain took over, and we have here not only a great example of deer learning to work a system of tourists, but how we unintentionally create behaviors both cute and dangerous in our pets.