Trigger Finger

[kennywtelejazz]

I was ready to throw in the towel with Milo the first year I had him . He was overly excitable and suffered from an extreme case of separation anxiety .

I could never leave my house . Every time I left my place he would mark an area and  leave me a turd . I never knew what I would come home to.

When I finally put the key in the door and tried to enter my place he would be so worked up that I was home he would run as fast as he could around the whole apt narrowly missing my music gear / guitars and then pounce on me  .....usually that whole routine lasted as long as it took for him to burn some energy ...5 to 10 mins ...  

Then I got the bright idea to lock him in the bathroom with a chew toy ...Yeah that was OK at first until the day he developed a taste for the door and substituted the door for the chew toy ....I was only gone for a doctors appointment about one hour total and when I got home he chewed his way through the doors molding and trim .

Somehow a former caseworker /mental health counselor I had seen for a few years had heard about my issues w Milo . She suggested too me that  I might benefit greatly and improve my home life w Milo if I was able crate train him ...

By this point he was pushing close to 90 pounds and when I looked at a few prices for them at Petco and online . A crate his size  was a little expensive .

She said let me see who I know and left it at that . A couple of weeks later she called me and told me a doctor she works with had a crate that would fit Milo and she was willing to gift it too me . The doctors large Golden Retriever had recently passed away and she wanted to  give me the crate for Milo .

After I received the dog crate I wound up going online and doing a fair amount of research to determine the best approach to get Milo to warm up to this thing  ...lol

What I took away from my research was a Doggie crate is supposed to create a place of safety  for the dog and offer it a place to chill out and treat it as if the dog was in his little man cave or something ...what it wasn't was a place to send Fido when Fido was a bad Boy ....or punish him ...

That was tough for me to follow at first because I was very careful about trying to force him in there and giving him bad vibes ....

What I eventually  did was to leave to door open and feed him in there his dry food ...I also would hide treats in there and add a well placed chew toy...

Then we went through  a phase when I would shut the door and he would freak out....I got that one to pass because I double downed on my efforts .

I  would walk him before I put him in there , then I would put him in there  , close the door and comfort him .....

To make a long story short it took a couple of months and now he loves going in there .....we got man caves and studios ...he has a dog crate ..

He loves being in there chewing away on his favorite toy  of the week ....

FWIW, Getting and crate training my dog Milo was the absolute best approach  to improving our collective peace of mind and our relation ship ....

all the best ,

Kenny

 

Edited November 19, 2022 by kennywtelejazz

[Sheens]

maybe Milo want to chew on

Edited November 19, 2022 by Sheens

[craigb]

[kennywtelejazz]

                                    Before Any Medication  

                                

 

                              After Heavy Self Medication !

                                        

 

Kenny

Edited November 19, 2022 by kennywtelejazz

[kennywtelejazz]

                                                                                                

 

                                                                       No teeth Darling ! PLEASE No Teeth !

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

 

                                                                                                 

Kenny

Edited November 19, 2022 by kennywtelejazz

[bitflipper]

Well, that was uplifting. Nothing affirms one's own well-being like listening to somebody who's clearly more screwed up than you. It's one of the reasons I keep coming back to the Coffee House.

I once spent a couple hours in a wheelchair, at the Experience Music Project. It was an eye-opening experience. Some people opened doors for me, which was nice. But then they'd talk to me like I was 5. I'm thinking like, wtf, dude! I'm over 60, I just happen to be the same height as your kid, who btw, is over there licking the doorknob.

[Rain]

The tragic story of guitar virtuoso Jason Becker who suffers from ALS is another one. He was diagnosed in 89, at the age of 20, after joining David Lee Roth's band. He managed to finish the album they were working on  deaspite his hands being weakened, but he could not tour. And his state quickly deteriorated. By 1996, Becker had lost the ability to speak, and he now communicates with his eyes via a system developed by his father. He continues to compose with the aid of a computer.

I was going to share a personal story but let's simply say that I have lived with a sword hanging over my musician head - nothing as tragic as Mr. Becker's story, though. But enough to know that my guitar playing days may be numbered.  And it's not a pleasant perspective. That being said, it's been accompanying me for decades, so I guess I am somehow prepared.

Ironically, my music rarely features any guitar, and the most important thing for me is to write music, so I guess it's not all that bad. But I am sure that if I couldn't play anymore, I'd go insane not having that option and my head would be buzzing with guitar music. So I can relate.

Edited November 20, 2022 by Rain

[jesse g]

I had the Trigger Finger once, and I loved having it.

This was my first Drum Pad from M-Audio.