Curiouser and Curiouser

When I first looked at this set after shooting, all I could think was, "Damn, does she look like Zoe from Firefly."

First shoot in my Japanese apartment! I'm learning to work with the light in this place and managed to get a really decent setup. Using big ol' white plastic sheets as diffusers over the windows, though, because damn is the sun strong here.

The model is Dominique again, same as the mermaid shoot. She'll be relocating in about a week and really wanted to work with me again, so she booked up a whole day with me and our MUA drove on down again to work her magic. We ended up doing two full shoots, and this is the first of them.

ALSO I GOT TO USE MY TORD BOONTJE NECKLACES I LOVE THEM SO MUCH

We tried to make it lived-in and wrinkled, like it wasn't a total set dressing. So we crumpled up the sheets and drapes and tossed the pillows around. The result? Super fun!

( Pinup/Boudoir style, so might be a little NSFW. )

And then Elsa decided that she wanted in on the pictures. So she invaded the set and since we were wrapping this one up anyway, we let her stay for a few shots. =)

( Bonus shots! Now with more fur! )

I love how expressive Dominique is. Seriously, so relaxed in front of a camera. She's using some of the headshots we've taken to make a comp card and look for an agency stateside - I hope that it goes well for her.

As always, favorites and comments hugely appreciated. Including on the ones with the furball.

It's her first birthday today. She got a new toy, a giant chew, and scrambled eggs in her kibble this morning.

I'll be sending pictures to her breeder to show "Hey, she's still alive!" and might give her something extra at dinner.

Otherwise, business as usual for my spoiled age-now-measured-in-years brat. =)

Two new commands: "here" with sticking her nose in my hand, and "stand," each taking less than 5 tries to learn. How is it that she can be that intelligent and still lose to this:



Seriously. It taunts her. She'll go at it for 20 minutes at a time, eventually settling on barking at it until it stops moving. She's tried everything. Sitting on the spring, attacking the base, sneaking up on it - all to sweet, hilarious failure.

But adding to the intelligence front, Elsa has become a tactical striker when it comes to stealing. Like something out of a caper flick, she knows to go in, get the good stuff, and get out Mission Impossible-style. Most dogs can't resist the urge to sniff around in the trash or shred tissues, but Elsa knows what she wants. And whenever she's in a place she's not allowed to be unattended, she makes efficient use of those precious few moments, silently beelining for the best loot and zooming back to her bed in the living room.

In the kitchen, it's eggshells. In the bathroom, it's q-tips. In the bedroom, it's receipts. And she knows enough to bring them back to her bed to gnaw or shred them, as we can glance over and see "oh, she's in her bed" and not immediately be as suspicious as if she were in another room.

Also, the little brat has learned to muffle the bell on her collar. I'm not kidding. She's learned how to creep without the bell making any noise, and she's gotten to be fast. Thank goodness for that baby gate - it foils her attempts at thieving more often than I can track.

She's become an outright, in-front-of-your-face thief as well, when it comes to food. She learned long ago that begging gets her nothing, so now she'll just walk up and try to take things. It's the new habit to break, and we're making progress.

However, last night, I found it hard to discipline her because it was so goddamn funny. She was sitting with elenuial as he played Dragon Age, like she usually does, and he had a bowl of the plain stove-popped popcorn in his lap. Every once in a while, he would grab half a handful and pop it into his mouth, which is nothing out of the ordinary. Except that between handfuls, Elsa would casually grab individual kernels with her tongue and munch on them while watching the screen, like a kid in front of a movie. When I noticed, I laughed and pointed it out to him, which got Elsa relegated elsewhere and the popcorn guarded much more closely.

I was also feeling shutter-happy this weekend, and remembered that I hadn't taken pictures of her since around Christmas. So here she is, ten months old, and getting to be a very pretty girl, with her freckles on her toes and muzzle and her big girl haircuts and changing colors.

?

( Pictures below the cut! )

Elsa likes bananas. So I froze one and gave her a chunk.

Me: Elsa, want a banana?
Elsa: :D
M: Here, [take it.]
E: D:
M: What?
E: It's frozen.
M: Yep.
E: No me gusta.
M: You like frozen peas!
E: This is not peas.
M: You like bananas.
E: Not frozen, apparently. Send it back.
M: You can just wait for it to thaw.
E: Good idea. Let me go hide it somewhere where I'll forget about it and it'll rot.
M: Please don't.
E: How about under the futon? Everything's better with dustbunnies.
M: No.
E: elenuial's shoe?
M: No.
E: Litterbox?
M: No.
E: I'm going to go around to every possible place except out in the open.
M: And I'm going to veto every time.
(She does, and I do. A minute and a half later:)
E: The filter compartment in my water fountain?
M: FOR CRYING OUT LOUD NO.
E: ...Oh, hey, it thawed.
M: Good. I'm so happy for you.

And thus, Elsa devoured her deliciously room-temperature banana after it melted from her carrying it around in her mouth for a good two minutes.

The importation procedure for dogs into Japan is ridiculous. Understandable, seeing as it is a rabies-free country and the U.S. isn't, but still challenging at best.

There is a 20-page document detailing the procedure, and though going to Japan isn't 100% guaranteed, I'm going through the motions anyway. Because we won't know for sure until March/April, and it'll be too late by then.

According to the timeline, this is what I will need to do:

T minus 240 days - Microchip with an international ISO standard and rabies vaccination #1. (Any vaccinations before microchipping are, for some reason, irrelevant.)

210 days - Rabies vaccination #2.

180 days - Blood titer sent to Japan. Regardless of how long it takes to ship (the whole titer testing period can take up to a month), the blood cannot be drawn earlier than 30 days after the most recent vaccine. Titer results must show an antibody level higher than 0.5 IU/ml. I have no idea how to send this to the lab.

40 days - Advance notice to the airport (one of eighteen that are authorized to import dogs) that you plan on importing the dog. This is more flexible; it can be earlier than 40 days before departure.

2 days - Certification of Export obtained from Still-To-Be-Determined federal agency. I'm not sure which agency it is, but they (and my vet) need to give Elsa a once-over and fill out forms verifying that she does not, in fact, have rabies or any other transmittable health issues. These forms are provided by the website.

So, on the day of, her total quarantine time should be less than 12 hours. If I follow the procedure exactly.

And elenuial will arrive for orientation and whatnot a good 3-4 weeks before I do, long enough to make sure that the housing allows pets and, if not, arrange otherwise. Upon reading, dogs under ten pounds are generally much more accepted than large dogs, and there are apartment buildings that say "no" to dogs but change their tune once you mention that said dog is under six pounds.

This is starting to seem much more do-able. Intimidating, but do-able. I'm not leaving this dog that I've assumed responsibility for and invested so much effort and emotion into alone with strangers during her formative years. Also, she might just be the only thing keeping me sane over there.

Besides, she'll love Japan. Not the plane ride over, but the place?

She'll adapt better than I will.

If I hear one more person say "Aw, now she won't get a chance to be a mom," I'm going to scream.

Yes, I had my dog spayed. No, it's not a horrible tragedy. Bug off.

Maybe I'm just projecting my own issues about being female onto my dog. Lord knows I could anthropomorphize a stick, never mind a living creature I care for on a daily basis. And I could be over-emotional from days of grieving and worrying about the surgery. But this has been going on for a while. elenuial's mother tells me every single time we talk about how she cries over the fact that Elsa will never be a mother. I expected this from her - she's completely oblivious to the reasons behind spaying and neutering other than "it's just what you do."

There are so many reasons to not breed your dog. To be perfectly frank, I don't think that anyone should breed their dogs unless they're part of a recognized breeding program and have at least as many depositors on the litter as there are potential pups. Never mind the physical toll it would take on her body (pregnancy ruins dogs) the financial and emotional aspects of it are just something I would never go through. The only creature I want Elsa to have to worry about and take care of is Elsa. As her owner, I want nothing more for her than total happiness and contentment to just be herself. And I don't think that not being bred will keep her from happiness.

But last night, elenuial picked up Elsa, cuddled her, and sad how it was a shame she could never have puppies.

atxcduafyuglsihiroghowaienrgbfn

I took a deep breath, then decided that I'm giving him the benefit of the doubt and not kicking him to the curb.

Anyway, what's pissing me off is that it's mostly been women telling me how wrong it is to fix her before she has a litter and experiences that part of being female. Swear to freaking God, 75% of the women I've told that I'm fixing my dog say something along the lines of "aww, she'll never fully realize what it's like to be a woman."

Really, ladies? You're not a proven female until you've popped out a litter?

I hate that the culture that tells us that women aren't really women until they give birth even permeates to our dogs.

Know what I say to people who think that way?

Fuck you. I'm a woman.

I don't have kids. I might not ever. But I refuse to believe that I am any less of a woman because of that.

Now, I'll admit, my definition of womanhood isn't exactly typical. I believe that those who undergo SRS or even MFTs are women in my eyes, maybe even more so than genetic females.

(I just told off a client in my mother's waiting room who just said "aww, you don't want puppies?" She got a fifteen-minute earful, after which she admitted that she wanted to breed her female boxer until she saw the fees for stud service.)

I do agree that pregnancy and childbirth is an incredible thing. But I don't think that it's the be-all, end-all of being born with the equipment to do it.

And if you tell me otherwise, or imply that my dog is any less female because she'll never experience the joy of parenthood, I'll kick you in the crotch so hard that you never get to experience it, either.

It's been a while since I updated on Elsa. She's almost six months now - and a seriously smart little thing.

She's getting fixed on Tuesday the 16th. I'm so nervous. Little dogs usually respond poorly to anesthesia. Or rather, worse than big dogs. But my vet is awesome, they have a great track record, and I comfort myself with the fact that if they can easily spay 2lb kittens, they can definitely spay a 4lb dog. Also, while she's under, she'll be microchipped.

She's also using the litterbox fully now. We're on step 3!
Step 1: Potty pads on floor.
Step 2: Potty pads in box.
Step 3: Litter in box!

She absolutely loves the litterbox. The transition went seamlessly, as I put in litter, she dug around, then went to the bathroom and came running over for a cookie.

The litterbox has some huge upsides. The house actually smells a whole lot better than when we used pads, we don't have to take her outside every 2 hours to relieve her tiny bladder, and she hasn't had an accident in the house since we made the switch, which is awesome. I guess since using the litterbox is fun, going to the bathroom has become an actively enjoyable activity. It also reinforces my theory that in her mind, pee on pads=pee on anything padlike. She'd thought it okay to pee on the kitchen rug and front hall doormat. But now with litter, there's nothing litterlike for her to generalize to.

Which further proves that she's a weird dog, since dogs typically can't generalize, and need to be trained to do so. Or maybe she's too smart for her own damn good.

The main downside to the litterbox is the fact that she loves to dig in it, and buries cookies in it to eat later. Nine times out of ten, she'll forget and leave it there, but still. We discourage her from doing that as much as possible.

She's on the head halter for walks now. I actually had to make one (thank god I can) since they don't sell one in Elsa's size, but it's amazing. She does spend about five minutes in "MOMMY I HATE YOU" mode at the beginning of the walk, but otherwise slips right into it. She no longer barks at geese (thanks to three weeks of threshold training) and has housebroken herself when she comes with me to the salon. Seriously. It's amazing. She learned that doors mean outside, and outside is where the strip of grass with all the pee is. So she runs up to the door and sits, waiting for me to clip her leash on.

Freaking genius dog. If this is what she's like at six months, I don't even know what she'll be capable of as an adult.

Speaking of growing up, she's in a chunkerbutt phase. See, puppies get lanky, then chunky, then lanky, then chunky, then even out to where they should be. And she is going from lanky to this slightly pudgy fluffball thing. And regularly spits out baby teeth into my hand.

On another note, Monday I groomed four Great Danes in a row. It was exhausting. My body is one big pulled muscle. It's very difficult to get a 180lb dog to do anything he doesn't feel like.

Time for tea and paperwork. And Ibuprofen.

Elsa's about to hit 4 months. The teenage years.

Hoo-ray.

Anyway, it's been a while since I took photos, and the weather was (temporarily) nice. Plus, I like to keep her breeder updated once in a while.

Help me pick the ones to send? A few favorites should do. But I can't pick.

( Romp in the backyard fotoz. )

I've noticed the she looks less puppylike, and is growing into dog-ness beautifully. Of course, now her hormones are turning her into kind of a jerk - which I knew would happen as she approached adolescence.

Ah, well. At least she's cute.

Commands Elsa knows so far:
-Sit
-Down
-Up lv1 (stand on her back legs to touch fingertips with her nose)
-Spin lv3 (meaning she can spin about 3 times before she gets dizzy and falls over)
-High-five (both paws hitting the palm)
-Paw lv1 (just one foot so far)
-Take it lv2 (whatever is in my hands she can't take without permission)
-Crawl lv1 (butt on the floor, she can go about a foot)
-Watch me (maintain eye contact)
-Speak

Commands Elsa is working on:
-Over (roll over to the left, command works about half the time)
-Drop it (new) (whatever's in your mouth, put it down!)
-Leave it
-Wave Wave (new) (sit up and flail her front legs)

Right now, my main focus is on leave it and Fetch lv2. Leave it is still tough, but going well. Fetch she understands well, but still gets overexcited and grabs for our hands when we have the ball. Level 2 will be when she sits to ask us to throw it and drops it neatly in front of us.

I did have an awesome couple of moments today, though - out of curiosity, I sat on the floor with treats and put one in my outstretched palm, our cue for "you can have it, but when I say so." We'd only ever done 10-second bursts, but she surprised me by going easily through 15- and 20-second waits. At the 30-second mark, she sat and sniffed my hand, but didn't so much as move to take it. Super impressed, I gave her a huge chunk of liver for her effort. I think she might've even gone longer, but that was like a freaking hour for a 3-month-old puppy. And, even though I'd only taught it to her hours before and using her toys, she spat out a stolen tissue when I told her to "drop it!" from across the room.

Genius pooch.

When she wants to go into the kitchen, instead of pawing at the door, she sits to ask. Same thing with food - when I have her food dish in my hands, it only hits the ground when her butt does. She's awesome about that.

She's been barking to demand things a lot less lately. In fact, it's almost gone completely. She'll bark once in a while when we're training on something new to let us know that she's getting frustrated and needs a break, or else she's barking at something she's hunting, like while pursuing a ball we threw. Her predatory instincts are frightening - the growling and gurgling she makes when she's taking down plastic prey is almost identical to that of a pit bull. But the barking situation is great.

Nipping is still a little bit of a problem. She's three months old, and constantly wants to fight. She gets yelled at for putting any pressure down on fingers, toes, and pant legs, but still needs to be reminded once in a while. Otherwise, she's great at directing her puppy rage toward the toys.

Leash walking is going well, too. She doesn't pull or drag (except for the dead bird - she wanted that thing so bad) and will generally leave things alone and continue when told "let's go!" She greets people by wiggling her whole body and either crawling toward them or rolling onto her back. She does the same thing to other dogs, but the attention span for the latter is less than half what it is for two-legged creatures.

She's doing wonderfully - I couldn't have asked for a smarter, more eager-to-please puppy. She's only about fourteen weeks now, and I can't believe how well she's doing.

I guess the test will be how she does when elenuial's folks visit in a few days.

We've set a date. May 14th, 2011. Holy shit, this is happening.

Elsa has graduated from restricted to two rooms of the house to having five rooms! When she's out, she can travel freely between the office, living room, kitchen, pantry, and bathroom. Housebreaking is going well, and she's so good with commands. We've added "high five," "roll over," and "crawl" to her repertoire.

Right now, we're trying to dissuade her from fingers and toes. She's very fierce and has tiny, sharp teeth before she enters the teething phase. She's doubled in size since the day she came home, a fact that mystifies us every time we notice.

So far, so good.