Rainy Day Blues….
Wednesday, February 6th, 2008Contact Dee to Commission work.
Gemma…aka wild coyote. This image was taken this morning with a Nikon D300…28-70 f 3.5 @1/20 of a sec ISO was pretty high due to the lighting…and the fact I was OH so very lazy and hand held the camera. Impossible for me t0 hand hold a camera under a 60th of a second (depending on the day and how sturdy I am). Still….lazy moment and I wanted a few images for todays blog. Gemma is a mixed breed….she happened to come to me for socialization and training several years ago. I like to say I earned a good bit of money, in the end got a dog too. She actually was the most unsocialized dog at seven months or so I have ever met. After being in my care for several months….soooo much progress was made….I state that as in progress for this dog. She did not trust humans….her saving grace was the fact she so liked being part of the pack…she learned through them. My pack of five at the time were dogs that so adored people were well trained and well balanced. I was honest with the woman when asked if she would ever be “normal”….my reply was that no…you cannot go back in time to ensure proper socialization….heck….just a little bit of socialization would have benefited this dog. You can only move forward….try to make her as balanced a dog as she can be. I doubt she will ever like being in the company of people, that is other then her own. She accompanies us on vacations….as long as she is with her pack, she is a happy dog.
Her person at the time had seven other dogs…..all rescues. A very big heart, however she worked full time and had little time left for eight dogs, severall of which had behavioral issues. Since progress was so slow going…..it was decided Gemma was not to go back home. Sigh…..while I can in no way save all of the dogs….I knew I could keep Gemma safe, and those that were in her company safe….so she remained with us. So many improvements made….still, she really does not like people, change, being taken out of her environment. I like to say she is a works in progress. Gemma has so many fears….pretty sad…but we keep her active….work her and yes, adore her. We praise the wanted behavior and pretty much ignore her fears. One of her fears is bad weather. She will seek my company out and that is all right….she must remain calm. Thunder storm phobia is usually something that worsens with age in many breeds. So far I have only seen improvements….still she has so learned all of the approaching signs of a storm….barometric pressure, darkening of the sky….wind etc. Some dogs also react to their humans fear and behavior. Comforting the dogs for panting, pacing and going into a state of high anxiety….well you are rewarding that behavior. Yes, it is soooo tough for some to understand that often times we make the anxiety worse.
Again, the above image taken this morning…Nikon D300, Sigma wide angle lens…another of those situations where the use of a tripod would have come in handy. With the storms approaching there was a lot of bird activity at the feeders…all three looked up at the same time…what I like to call a Happy accident. So….rainy day blues here in the Atlanta area, waiting, keeping an eye out for we are in a tornado “Watch”…these same storms have been more then rainy day blues in surrounding states. For all in the storms path…pay attention…stay safe.
