the past revisited

It won’t come as a surprise to you when I tell you that it is gloomy with freezing rain in the forecast for this afternoon and overnight into tomorrow. That’s been the trend this year and it seems that the trend won’t be broken anytime soon.

I had such a good time browsing old photos the other day that I may include the odd one here and there.

This is Titan. He was part of the group of 3 dogs before the current ‘set’. Pan (Pandemonium), Grizzle, and Titan were a fun bunch. Pan and Grizzle were sighthounds that could run like the wind. Titan was a Rottie mix with bad hips, he couldn’t keep up and I think it made him grumpy. He loved the water though and in the summer could usually be found in the pond, which made him a very stinky dog. We’d have to wash him with disinfectant to get the stench out.

This is Brigitta. She was born in 2004, the year I got sick. Luckily her first few months were during my manic phase so she got lots of training. I used to ‘imprint’ the babies which meant doing stuff with them as soon as they were born, before they even dried off. The training would continue for the next few days. I’d try to expose them (in a positive way) to all kinds of stuff that might otherwise scare them. It was important to always end with them accepting or complying in a soft way. A lesson could never end with any fear or uncertainty or that would grow into a phobia.

They also learned to give to pressure, a skill that lead to leading on a lead rope. They needed to be comfortable having their feet handled. Backing up out of people space was a skill that they learned early. Every day, until they went to their new homes, we’d practice good behaviour. The vet loved working with them and their new owners were always thrilled with how easy they were to train.

New babies are perhaps the thing I miss most about not having horses.

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
    Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
    And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
    Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
    Be through my lips to unawakened earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O, wind,
    If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
~Percy Bysshe Shelley