Writing Help-Group For Everyone discussion

This first topic of mine is just a place where I will share an occasional story that involves me and one of my pets or an animal I know.
The ones about my pets are also going to be in a nonfiction book titled: My Pets and Their Lives.

The first random animal story is about my first dog, CeJaye. When CeJaye was a puppy he went to puppy classes. At graduation each puppy recieved a ball to take home and play with.
That last day, for the first time CeJaye took interest in another puppy. It wasn't long before we discovered it wasn't the puppy he was interested in but her ball. Yes, he had one of his own, but he wasn't happy with it. The people gave all the boy puppies blue balls and the girls got pink, but for some reason mine wanted a pink ball.
CeJaye tried two seperate times to get a pink ball. The first time he tried taking it from the other puppy, but eventually the puppy and her owner left taking the ball with them. The second time was on the way out of the store. We walked CeJaye down the toy aisle, which he only stopped to sniff the toys occasionally until he stopped at one spot. This spot was at a shelf full of pink and blue balls. CeJaye instantly grabbed a pink ball, which we took away from him and put back because he didn't need two balls.
Later, before he was a year old and his birthday was coming up, I was at the pet store with my mom. She wanted to know what kind of toy I thought CeJaye would like. I of course, thought of that other day at the pet store. I knew he wanted a pink ball.
When, on his birthday, CeJaye got the pink ball he played with it almost all day. And after getting it he never played with the blue one again, but it was always there as an option.

The second, and last animal story for today is a random one involving my current dog, Taco.
Like most dogs, Taco was taught basic commands. Unlike most he wasn't a puppy when he learned them and until recently I didn't know that he never fully learned all the commands.
Taco was a rescue dog whose previous owner didn't teach him much other than to use the bathroom outdoors. When I got him he was 4 years old and had learned no basic commands, so I began working to teach him them.
It's not that I have no idea how to train a dog, but somehow I managed to miss what Taco was learning. Although every animal I train ends up not listening unless I have a treat (I have a little bit of trouble knowing when to start cutting down on the treats.), they at least learn.
I thought Taco had learned becasue I would have the treat in my hand, say the command and he would act. The other day I discovered that if I have a treat and just say the command without using any kind of hand signal Taco doesn't get it right. He tries but never does the command I asked for. For instance, when I told him to lay down he backed up, and sit somehow meant lay down.
I experimented with this for a while. First I would do the command with the hand signal and word, then I would just say the word. It was like having two completely different dogs. As I played around with him I noticed that no matter what I was doing or saying to him his eyes never left where my hands were.
I then tried something new. I had no treat and just gave the hand signals and he knew what I wanted him to do. That only worked one time though. As soon as he knew I had no more treats he walked away and didn't come back.

I like how you write about your own dog(s). Not many here get into the habit of writing animal stories, unfortunately. Be they short or be they long.

The way you write conjures in my mind the idea that your dogs are quite cuddly, Jen. What breeds are they?

Julius wrote: "The way you write conjures in my mind the idea that your dogs are quite cuddly, Jen. What breeds are they?"

My first dog, CeJaye isn't around anymore, but he was a Toy Poodle, and cuddly, with me anyway, wasn't really his thing. CeJaye was actually highly territorial (he had a chair that was considered his and only his), guarded food, toys he stole, and other things he stole too. He almost never got along with strangers but if they came around a lot he would get used to them. Until the end of his life I was only allowed to touch him when he wanted. During the years I owned him I got bit a lot. Sometimes I knew what I did and other times I didn't. And until I began working on the book: My Pets and Their Lives I didn't really realize how many good times there were with him. Throughout most of my books, whenever CeJaye is in a fiction story, he is represented as the villain. Only in one story that I am working on called: Pitbull Park is there a toy poodle character that represents him as a good dog that was misunderstood by her owner. (Don't ask me why he is represented as a girl in this book.)

Taco though, is a very different dog than what CeJaye was. Taco is a crazy Chihuahua. He loves to cuddle, and I can do almost anything I want to him. He is an 8 year old dog now and is actually graying in a funny way. Taco has always had a white strip on his nose but his gray hairs are showing up in a white strip starting on his head and going down his back. Because he has a lot of black coloring on his back he is actually starting to resemble a skunk.
Taco is a much friendlier dog than CeJaye was and actually barks much less. The only thing Taco won't do that CeJaye loved to is play. I keep buying toys for him but if anything he plays for an average of three minutes maximum. Whenever Taco is a character in my fiction stories is often represented as a mixed up dog. For instance in Black Cat and Chihuahua, Taco is the sidekick of a cat. How Chihuahua got his powers is an accurate representation of how Taco would act if something like what happens in the story happened in real life. His personality in the first Black Cat and Chihuahua story is based off what I knew about him before he became my dog. I am working to revise the story now that I know more about Taco, just like my favorite sidekicks, Chihuahua brings humor to the story. Then in another story: A Chihuahua's tale, Taco's character is, at the moment a little brown Chihuahua from the time he is born, is raised with a litter of kittens. This story idea came out of the fact that Taco has some very cat like behaviors.

My pets and other animals I have gotten lucky enough to know really well, both past and present actually have their own section on my website: http://www.mortalrealmwitch.com/meett... Only the ones that are in both fiction and nonfiction stories are on here though. And all my pets that I have photos of have their own profile pages on cuteness.com, the pet community. I forget to update sometimes but whenever I have a new video or someone messages me on there, that's when I remember and try to update all the pets pages.

Phoebe wrote: "I like how you write about your own dog(s). Not many here get into the habit of writing animal stories, unfortunately. Be they short or be they long."

I like writing about animals, for me they are just really entertaining. When I am around an animal I never plan on writing a book or story about them, either fiction or nonfiction, it is just something that happens.

Recently I did write my first planned animal story for a writing challenge for the Goodreads group All About Animals: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/7...
This was the first time they have ever done this. The group mod put up a picture of a dog and a cat sitting together and looking at the stars. Then she told us to write a story about it in 250 words or less, which until doing this I had no idea just how short this was. And actually since there is room, this is the story I wrote: Aspen the Golden Retriever daydreamed while chewing on a toy. He was thinking about the days when he was a puppy and had littermates to play with all day. Although he currently lived with a large family and enjoyed it, he missed his puppy days. Why? Because on most days, in the afternoon all the humans left for hours and there was no one for him to play with.
The star appeared later that night and when one of his humans saw it and told him that by making a wish on the star whatever he wished for might come true, Aspen perked up his ears. Then looking up at the star thoughtfully he wondered Taking the chance Aspen silently wished for a playmate.
That night a stray, but well fed, orange cat also saw the star and made a wish. His wish was for a home.
A week later Aspen's owners decided he needed a playmate of some kind and took him to the nearest animal shelter to find one. Although the plan was to get a dog, Aspen took a special interest in the cats. One in particular caught his attention. It was a slightly overweight, orange cat. That night the family came home with a new cat.
A month later the star reappeared. Aspen and the cat, now called Pumpkin, were both sitting together outside when it did. Looking up both animals silently thanked the star for granting their wish.

Although not my best work it was my first try at this type of challenge and I had to do a lot of editing on my story to get it to the right word length.

Jennifer wrote: "Phoebe wrote: "I like how you write about your own dog(s). Not many here get into the habit of writing animal stories, unfortunately. Be they short or be they long."

I like writing about animals, ..."

One person's strangeness equals to another ones read, I guess. I think you did quite well, given the shortness of the story length. It is quite common to find oneself editing and re-editing until it is of the right. You chose quite an interesting perspective for the challenge, and it shows some deep gratitude towards their (the animal's) wish being answered. If this was definitely your first try, I'm pleasantly surprised. :)

Phoebe wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "Phoebe wrote: "I like how you write about your own dog(s). Not many here get into the habit of writing animal stories, unfortunately. Be they short or be they long."

I like writin..."

Well I am used to writing short stories because most of my books that I am working on are collections of these, I had just never done anything that short before.

Oh, so you combine all small stories together! It is indeed highly strange when you have to write so short, though... Especially if you are used to writing in humongous paragraphs. :0

I just thought of a couple other random things to share out my wacky Chihuahua, Taco.

First, in order to avoid Taco having to go to the vets for teeth cleaning and to hopefully prevent any more teeth from needing pulling, two years ago I started brushing his teeth. Because I am unsure how little dogs are supposed to be held for this, the combination of the toothbrush, even the smallest one available that I am comfortable using, is a little too big for Taco's small mouth and the fact that he doesn't like to open it, even though he lets me easily brush the outsides of his teeth, the result is usually toothpaste all over his head, face, and sometimes even chest and back. Because of this the one day I decided to get the spray. I still use it occasionally but to get Taco to open his mouth for the spray is more difficult and takes longer than brushing his teeth. From what I have timed it takes me anywhere from 15 minutes to a half hour to brush Taco's teeth and over an hour to get him to open his mouth and keep it open long enough for me to spray.

Second, Taco although he has a great personality is really cute and is one of my favorite dogs, he is very badly bred. Taco has horrible conformation. Often when he stands his front paws point towards each other. He is also larger than what a Chihuahua should be. He actually doesn't fit into anything made for Chihuahuas. So whenever I need to buy him something such as a new harness I have to find the one that says it is for Chihuahua's then get whatever the next size up is. Strangely I have always wanted to have a dog show judge give him points as they do the purebreds at the shows. I really want to know just how badly he would do. Before last year he might have been judged as a good, but not really good or best example of the breed. Now he might be considered okay because not too many months ago Taco lost his tail to a door.
Anyway I think it would be fun to have him judged by the breed standards, but that probably won't ever actually happen.

Jennifer wrote: "Julius wrote: "The way you write conjures in my mind the idea that your dogs are quite cuddly, Jen. What breeds are they?"

My first dog, CeJaye isn't around anymore, but he was a Toy Poodle, and c..."

Aha! I see.

Jennifer wrote: "I just thought of a couple other random things to share out my wacky Chihuahua, Taco.

First, in order to avoid Taco having to go to the vets for teeth cleaning and to hopefully prevent any more te..."

Brush his teeth, you say? How interesting. And to think, all that hard work and he won't even keep his mouth open!

I am beginning to wonder why I keep getting my dog toys when he rarely plays with them, (aside from the fact that I get a birthday coupon for a free toy every year from the pet store). Taco recently had his birthday this month. For his birthday I gave him another small stuffed animal. I threw it to him, he picked it up, shook it once, then dropped it and was done. Maybe I should have gotten him something that we would get more use out of like earwax remover. (He has been building up a lot of earwax lately.) At this point I have had him for five years. I think if I were going to find a toy he would play with it would have happened by now. I am starting to think maybe I should get the free toy and donate it to an animal shelter rather than trying to find something for Taco.

Jennifer wrote: "I just thought of a couple other random things to share out my wacky Chihuahua, Taco.

First, in order to avoid Taco having to go to the vets for teeth cleaning and to hopefully prevent any more te..."

Oh, dear. Dogs can be a handful, can't they?

Well, I think I would like to know what a dog-show judge would say about my dog, as well...

It's always interesting to ponder the opinions of judges on your own dog. It certainly is something to think about!

Jennifer wrote: "I am beginning to wonder why I keep getting my dog toys when he rarely plays with them, (aside from the fact that I get a birthday coupon for a free toy every year from the pet store). Taco recentl..."

I know the feeling. I used to always get my dog toys when he was younger, but he didn't even attempt to pick them up. So, we had to stop buying him toys to play with, in the end. I think it would be a good idea for you to donate any toys he won't play with.

I know I would proably have to soak toys in bacon grease before my dog would even pay a smite of attention to toys.

Phoebe wrote: "Jennifer wrote: "I am beginning to wonder why I keep getting my dog toys when he rarely plays with them, (aside from the fact that I get a birthday coupon for a free toy every year from the pet sto..."

I'm actually just stocking up toys right now for my next dog so that I am prepared in chase this next one is rough on toys or just really loves to play with them like my first dog did because I am looking for one that is a little more active. Some of the toys I bought just because I wanted them so they are actually decorations in my room now. However I do plan on weeding out when the time comes and donating some of them to the animal shelter but not until I get the next dog and know what it likes to play with.