Straight-Like-A-Stick, Part 2

(Make sure to read Part 1 so your paws know where we’re headed…)

I followed the rule in our house: sniff more than once before deciding what’s true. And as mad as I was that I had to do this again, I wanted, for once, to show Mama I was right and she was wrong about my straight-like-a-stick tail being my friend. It had to be impawsible. So I looked around again and again, even in places I’d already poked my really cute nose.

And just like I'd found patterns before, I found a new pattern about my straight-like-a-stick tail, which Mama said was my friend, but it was ruining all my fun. I noticed there were two times it always showed up even though it wasn't invited and made my heart beat too loudly, and my paws feel stuck and very shaky. It showed when there was a chance of real danger, like me wanting to chase away the much bigger neighborhood dogs when they came around sniffing on MY lawn, which could never end well for me (or my Mama). So pawhaps there was some truth to Mama's story in this one instance.

But, I know also what a very good friend is because I have one, and he never stops me from having fun and always shares his very tasty snack with me. So when my straight-as-a-stick tail shows up at the park and makes my heart beat too loudly, and my paws feel stuck and very shaky, and ruins all my fun in the park with the big blue mountain, I don't know how that could ever be the sign of a good friend.

So with all my snooping around and finding a very hard pattern, I still didn’t know if my straight-like-a-stick tail was my friend or not.

And, as usual, ChatGPT was of no help at all, so I went back to my most reliable and only source of accurate information: my Mama, to help me figure this out.

This is what my Mama explained, and even though I don't want to admit it, it actually made quite a lot of sense. She said my tail had a job to make sure I stayed safe. And it already knew all the things that a sweet, floofy dog like me had no place doing. And, because it had also been right behind me, watching over me since the day I was born, it also knew all the things I’d never done that could be scary. And the way it does its job and helps keep me safe is when it knows there is danger, it goes straight-like-a-stick and makes my heart beat too loudly, and my paws feel stuck and very shaky. Mama says this is how it gets my attention and slows me down to think about what I'm going to do to make sure the plan in my head is a smart and safe one. And I told my Mama I understand how stopping me from chasing the big neighborhood dogs is a very kind thing to do, but it still does NOT explain why it's ruining my fun in the park. She said the reason it made my heart beat too loudly, and my paws feel stuck and very shaky at the top of the big blue mountain was because my straight-as-a-stick tail didn’t know I’m seven and not two, and even though it was a scary thing to do, it was something I really wanted to do. So she said in those instances if I wanted to be a very brave dog and do fun and scary but safe things, I had to help myself out and teach my straight-as-a-stick tail athat sometimes what it thinks is scary, I don't anymore and even if I do I might still want to do it so I'll get my paws unstuck one way or another and even if they're shaky and my heart is beating too loudly I'll still do new and scary things so my life is lots of fun and never boring or dull.

And my Mama said sometimes I'll manage to get my paws unstuck and not feel shaky, and sometimes I might struggle but do it anyway, and sometimes I won't get them unstuck at all. But the more my straight-as-a-stick tail sees me doing hard, scary, or new fun things, it will learn that I'm getting brave and I'm smart enough to be safe. Then my straight-as-a-stick tail won't be so straight, and my heart won't beat too loudly, and my paws will be less stuck and less shaky. And that's why she said we should be friends and work together like a team. Then my tail would learn that sometimes I would want to be extra brave and do new and scary things, and there'd be no reason to be straight-as-a-stick and for my heart to beat too loudly, and my paws feel stuck and very shaky. And sometimes I would need to trust that if my tail did go straight-as-a-stick and my heart beat too loudly, and my paws feel stuck and very shaky that I needed to p-a-w-s and think clearly because stranger danger might be around the next corner and I needed to pay extra attenton so I stayed out of trouble.

So I decided to see if what Mama said was true. It all sounded very smart, but would it actually work? So we called my best friend Luca to go to the park and see if this time I'd manage to slide down the big blue mountain and have lots of fun!

This time I was in charge, not my tail, and I told it was going to do something scary, but I was excited to do it, and I wanted to do it - I was going to slide down the big blue mountain with my best friend Luca. But then my tail went straight-as-a-stick and I started getting upset again. Mama said to keep going because I had to teach my tail the difference between what it thought was scary and what I thought was scary, because sometimes it wasn't the same thing - like the big blue mountain at the park.

Down the Big Blue Mountain

So I tried again and went to the top of the big blue mountain, right to the very edge, and look what happened....

But then Mama, being that coach that has a hard time switching off she also told me that sometimes I’d want my tail to be straight-like-a-stick and my heart to beat too loudly and my paws to feel stuck and very shaky, but my tail would know better — and that wouldn’t happen so that I would try things I didn’t think I could do. And that sometimes it would be impawtant to listen to my straight-like-a-stick tail even if I didn’t like what I was hearing...because that’s what brave dogs do.

I wasn’t sure how I felt about this news flash, but I wasn’t going to think about that now — because I had a big blue mountain to climb and keep sliding down.

So yes, Mama was right — and now my straight-like-a-stick tail are pretty good friends most of the time but the most helpful thing I learned is that even when it’s stiff and straight-like-a-stick, it’s not trying to ruin my fun — it just wants me to p-a-w-s and make sure what I do next is the smartest thing to do.

I'm sure you can see how confusing all this was for my small, floofy head to understand. But because I wanted to learn and was willing to listen, I’m a much smarter dog and a much better coach because of this lesson. How do I know this - because my tail didn’t change — I did, and that means I'm braver and wiser!

3 Impawtant lessons I learned: 1. Your straight-like-a-stick tail isn’t trying to cause you trouble — it’s your built-in protector that sometimes needs a little help knowing when you don't need to be protected, but it will also know when you're trying to stay protected, and that's not the best thing for you to be your best and your happiest. But either way, it's a signal to pay more attention to what's going on in your life. 2. If you take time to p-a-w-s long enough and sniff everything out, you’ll figure out what your straight-like-a-stick tail is trying to say and what you're maybe trying to avoid. But then you can also use your very smart brain to devise a clever plan that helps you move forward and climb to the top of your big blue mountain. 3. But even the cleverest plan in the world doesn’t work unless you’re brave enough to do it. That means putting one paw in front of the other — even when your heart beats too loudly and your paws feel stuck and very shaky. Because that’s how you become braver, and that’s how you have more fun and

So I hope you always pay close attention to what you really want — and don’t let your straight-like-a-stick tail stop you before you sniff out the whole truth. And even when the signals feel hard, they’re trying to help you do great things you’ll be proud of.

It’s always better than feeling sad about the things you didn’t try.

Toffy xoxo #lifewithtoffy #toffysdogblog #thinkliketoffy PS: If you loved this edition of Toffy's Dog Blog, please share it with your friends and family and help me share my message to live*love*play!