Olaf here, I’m April’s Yorkie. And, I lost a friend this week.

I too visit the Assisted Living place with our human mummy, April. My little brother, okay, my younger brother Henry got a lot of attention last summer when he helped “flip the switch” and give one of the non-verbal dementia patients a moment of clarity.1 But, I visit there as much as Henry.

Since I’m so much smaller than my younger brother, I help with my friends who are struggling when their bodies start to falter. My human mummy lets me sit with them, and I comfort my friends simply by being there.

Last week, one of my favorites was struggling. I sat with him for several hours. I comforted him if he moaned or cried out in pain. He pet me often. Here is a picture of me with him:

My human, wants to protect my friend and his privacy, so you only get to see me at his side. His hand is holding me. He died two days later.

He was a good friend.

There are no ordinary people

Sometimes humans seem to forget that there are no ordinary people. I never forget. Even if the person is old and frail. Even if they can’t remember my name. I know that everyone is unique and special. My human mummy, April, read a quote by C.S. Lewis to remind people struggling that their lives are important:

“There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations - these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat....it is with the awe and the circumspection proper….that we should conduct all of our dealings with one another, all friendships, all loves, all play, all politics. There are no ordinary people.” 2

Please Don’t Forget

Please don’t forget that you are extraordinary, valuable and sacred. Even if your physical body is failing. If you’ve survived Childhood Sexual Abuse, or other significant pain or trauma, please remember that you are not permanently flawed. You might be wounded and need to heal, but healing is possible. You are irreplaceable.

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Tonight, my human was walking with us and the sun was setting. We paused and gazed at the golden sky.

Our human mummy whispered “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”3

Notice the beauty for it is temporary. Never forget the sacredness of your own soul.

Puppy Love is a section of Paperdolls.Today Each section has ties to healing and joy. Our goal is to help lighten the load for anyone struggling with pain or healing from trauma. To subscribe/unsubscribe to a specific section please follow substack’s instructions

From Henry:
My Human Gramama invented Bear Spray

In case you are hiking in the mountains, and you don’t have a dog like me with you, my human Gramama invented Bear Spray.1 Here’s a pic of my gramama, Carrie Hunt, with some bottles of bear spray:

My special tie to my grammama is shown here with her holding me—or one of my brother’s or sisters—shortly after we were born:

There’s lots more about my heritage and what Grandmamama Carrie has done to help humans not be so afraid of bears, here. Her goal is to reduce “Human Wildlife Conflict.”

We can share this planet. Our world can be safer for humans and bears.

Speaking of Bears….

From April:
Dr. Nadine Burke Harris’s presentation at the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experiences) seminar

My goal for the sections of Paperdolls.today, is maintain ties to healing from trauma, specifically healing from sexual assault. Besides my adage that “I’m so much more than just a sexual abuse survivor,” this post seemed to be a stretch. Then, I remembered, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris’s presentation at the ACE seminar:

Dr. Burke Harris was trying to get the audience to understand the hyper-vigilance that happens to children’s bodies when they child experiences trauma. Dr. Harris’s presentation included an photo of a huge grizzly bear.

She explained what happens to a child’s body when it experiences trauma, or even perceives the threat of imminent danger. Dr. Burke Harris compared the persistent stressors as the equivalent of living with a bear.

Sadly, children in abusive homes will experience this phenomenon and danger more often than any of us will encounter a Bear.2

Hopefully, with our shared voices, we can continue to bring awareness to the damage and long term ramifications of childhood sexual abuse. Until then, get some bear spray, or a Bear Dog, and keep sharing the information about the hideous effects of Childhood Sexual Abuse.

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Every 74 seconds someone is sexually assaulted.

I pray one day, there will be a cute, ditty entitled, Lions, Tigers, Bears, and pedophiles…..oh MY! And we can all chuckle about how unlikely it would be to be attacked…

Keep talking. Use your voice. Remember, the only thing we have to fear is fear itself. We can cure this. If human wildlife conflict can be reduced, we can eliminate adult to children abuse.

Puppy Love is a section of Paperdolls.Today Each section has ties to healing and joy. Our goal is to help lighten the load for anyone struggling with pain or healing from trauma. To subscribe/unsubscribe to a specific section please follow substack’s instructions

Fireworks video courtesy of pexels.com

Hey, Olaf and Henry here. We are April's dogs. Now, neither of us much like fireworks. Seems some humans love 'em. The fireworks would be okay if they weren't so noisy and sudden.

We like surprises but not such noisy ones. Our human doesn't really like surprises much at all. Apparently when our human mummy was a little kid, most of her surprises were not very nice. Even now, she warns people to never surprise her. She admonishes, “Don't even think about lurking behind a corner and jumping out.”

Once, we heard her tell a story of some guy she was dating. He snuck up behind her. The guy thought it would be funny to put his hand over her mouth. Instantly, our human elbowed him so hard in the ribs, that she cracked a couple of his ribs. She also bit his hand, and almost drew blood.

Our stance on that is: serves the idiot right. Who thinks it's funny to sneak up behind someone and gag 'em? Don't surprise our human.

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Anyway, that's how we feel about fireworks. Our human mummy doesn’t want us cracking any ribs and certainly not biting anyone. Here is what our mummy does to help us stay calm and feel safe during the silly human noisy explosions:

She puts us in a room, with all our favorite stuff (ex. toys, blankets, even a bully stick or two). She turns on soft music. Then, she usually sits with us, in case we get extra startled. We both love that part. She reassures us that all will be well, and she's here for us. We know that we can get through it, and everything will be okay in the morning.

That's our message to you.

Even if you are having a hard time. All will be well.

You might want to sit in a safe room, listen to soft music, with someone you love to reassure you that things will be okay. If you don't have all that, please trust us, you can get through it.

With support, courage, and love,

Olaf and Henry

PS Our mummy is working on a new water feature in the front yard. So, Henry grabbed our garden watering can and tried to help her with it:

Courtesy of WeRateDogs

Our mummy is careful, and always asks if someone wants to pet us or say hi. There have been a couple of residents who have shook their heads “no.” And, that’s okay. We get it.

Sometimes, people with dementia go into a special place called Memory Care. There’s a lady in Memory Care with a nice son and his wife. When they visit, they bring his mother out of the Memory Care area. It’s such nice weather now, that frequently, they wheel her out in the front on the porch.

I know this lady really well. She doesn’t talk like other humans, but slaps her hand on her wheel chair. I carefully walk up and sit down in front of them. My human mummy asks her son if it’s okay to come closer. Once they say yes, I stand up and walk forward.

The son and his wife like to pet me, but I always go directly to his mummy. I know how important mummy’s are. She stops patting her wheelchair and pats my head. Sometimes she makes sounds, that sound like laughter.

Last Thursday, we started to do our standard routine. I sat down in front of them. My human mummy asked if we could come closer and the mother said really loud, “Yes! Henry! Come here!”

I almost wagged my tail off. I approached and she smiled and laughed and said my name three times. “Henry, Henry, Henry!”

Then she smiled! She has a really pretty smile, I’ve never seen it before.

Then she said, “Henry my good boy!”

I looked over and the son was crying. Not sad crying, joyful crying. His wife was crying too. As I walked back to my human mummy, she was wiping her eyes too.

I love it when humans cry happy tears.

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Puppy Love is a section of Paperdolls.Today Each section has ties to healing and joy. Our goal is to help lighten the load for anyone struggling with pain or healing from trauma. To subscribe/unsubscribe to a specific section please follow substack’s instructions

I realize everything is relative, but the grooming is one of the worst inventions ever! Who cares if everyone says how fetching I look now. I was fetching before. Sign, the things ya do for love! So, no matter what you are worried about, remember, “Everything is gonna be alright!”

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Puppy Love is a section of Paperdolls.Today Each section has ties to healing, joy, with a goal to help lighten the load for anyone struggling with pain or healing from trauma. To subscribe/unsubscribe to a specific section please follow substack’s instructions

My human, April, took me to a Easter Egg Hunt and I won! I won! I won! I found and ate 3 hard boiled eggs. The shell was particularly crunchy and yummy. When I found the 4th egg, my mummy decided I’d had too much.

I thought it was fun as she chased me around the yard and tried to get it out of my mouth. We didn’t get a video of my mummy and I chasing around, so you’ll have to settle for me chasing around with my friend, Hazel:

In case you are wondering, eggs are good for us, especially dogs. Even the shell.1

So if you have any extra eggs from Easter, don’t even bother to peel ‘em. Just take a bite and enjoy!

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I’m the boss around here, and take care of everything important. Lately, Henry has been trying to climb on our mummy’s lap and snuggle. Henry is a Karelian Bear Dog, and he weighs about 85 pounds. When Henry tries to snuggle, our mummy holds him for a minute and says, “Honey, you are too big! You aren’t little.”

Last night, Henry was paddling around under the bed. His head kept bumping us and the entire bed jumped. Our mummy climbed out of bed, leaned over and said, “Henry, honey, you can’t fit. I think you have might have body dysmorphia.”12

I’d never heard of it before, so when I got a chance, I looked it up and found this great article, “12 subtle warning signs of body dysmorphia.3”. Now, I know that Henry doesn’t have it. He’s still a puppy, a BIG puppy, but still a puppy and just isn’t aware.

I can prove it:

1. You're preoccupied with one or more body parts, frequently honing in on any perceived "flaws" you believe you have.
   Henry loves belly rubs, but that’s about the only thing he’s preoccupied with.

2. You spend a lot of time thinking or worrying about your appearance.
   The first time Henry saw himself in the mirror, he reared back and slipped on the rug. He crept up to the mirror and started barking at it. So, no he wasn’t “worried” about his appearance. He was just scared. Now, he can race by the mirror and not even notice.

3. Your perceived flaws weigh heavily on your self-esteem and how you think others feel about you.
   Henry cries and howls if I get to go in the car with our mummy and he doesn’t. He really needs to be included. But, I don’t think he believes he’s flawed. He just thinks he deserves to go everywhere our mummy goes—especially if I get to go.
   
   When she takes Henry and not me, I simply curl up on a pillow and take a nap. I know they’ll be back soon enough.

4. You spend excessive time comparing yourself with others and feeling like you don't measure up.
   Well, this might be related to #3 above, but I wouldn’t say Henry spends excessive time worrying about it. His noisy abandonment issues only flare up if I get to go with our human mummy and he doesn’t.

5. You ask others for their opinions about your appearance, or you avoid discussing it altogether, for fear of calling attention to the flaws.
   Henry doesn’t really ask, he simply leans into people to get them to pet him.

6. You're struggling with anxiety or depression not related to your appearance.
   Lately at dinner, Henry kicks his bowl around. I think it’s because our mummy puts treats in the bottom of the bowl. If we eat all our dinner, we get a treat at the end. Henry has figured it out, and kicks his bowl over to get to the treat first. If we have friends over during dinner, they think that Henry is kind of weird. I don’t. I know he’s simply a dessert first kind of guy.
   

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7. You have obsessive rituals or habits around your appearance.
   Well, Henry does lick himself in certain areas—a lot. But, well, so do I. No comment on this, it’s unique to dogs and that’s all I’m going to say.

8. You spend excessive amounts of money and time to "fix" your flaws.
   Henry, the only thing he does excessively is bury his bones. He does that because he thinks I’ll get ‘em. It’s so silly because I watch him do it. Then, we he’s lounging on his swing or chasing a squirrel, I prance over and dig ‘em up. It’s excessive and he can’t fix it, it’s just our thing.

9. You're altering your life or schedule due to fears or anxiety around your appearance.
   Our mummy spends a lot of time trying to alter Henry’s behavior. He’s getting better and better, but HE doesn’t have an ounce of fear or anxiety about his behavior—or appearance.

10. Your thoughts or worries are intrusive or never-ending.
    Well, Henry is extremely concerned about the squirrels. He might worry that he’ll never catch ‘em. He blasts our the door when the squirrels are playing in our trees. But, it’s all about the squirrels, not him.

11. You either spend a ton of time looking in the mirror or avoid mirrors altogether.
    See #2. He doesn’t spend one second looking at the mirror now. I don’t know if he avoids looking at it, he just doesn’t care.

12. Your eating or fitness habits are extreme in order to "fix" body flaws.
    See #6 above, the kicking the bowl around is the only weird thing he does. Again, I think it’s because he wants the treat first. Not any weird eating fetish to fix any flaws.

You see, no Body Dysmorphia4 for Henry. I don’t have any idea why he paddles around under the bed. I think I know why he tries to sit on our mummy’s lap: because I do! It’s just fair that he can too.

Gita, a 13-year-old rescue dog, put herself in the middle of the main road, bang in the center of oncoming traffic. In Washington State, a police car was patrolling a rural, wooded area in Stevens County when, out of nowhere, the driver spotted a dog in their path. As most people would do, Deputy Colton Wright got out of his car and coaxed the dog to budge from her spot. She was adamant.

Assuming the dog was missing, Deputy Wright looked around, scanning for inhabited homes or people roaming outside, but there were none to be found. In a seemingly deserted area like this, the dog’s behavior signaled something gravely wrong. A later statement from the Sheriff’s office read, “Sensing something amiss, Wright went back to the dog [who] was now lying on the centerline.” The deputy quickly realized that Gita’s adamant behavior must mean something serious. He labored to rally her into the police car, hoping to drive around and find her owner(s).

Instead of complying with the officer, Gita got up and bounded down a steep, unmarked roadway. Overgrown hedges, branches sticking out, no stable pathway — these pointed to the untravelled, almost undiscovered nature of the path they were descending. Gradually, as they drew closer to an opening in the woods, Deputy Wright spotted a summer cabin. Gita ran into the property, prompting the police to follow. As they began their search of the area, it wasn’t long before they could hear a feeble cry for help. Soon, they encountered an old man lying helpless on the ground outside.

The 84-year-old’s leg had been injured during the fall, which made him unable to get up on his own. When Keith Johnson woke up that morning, the elderly man had experienced a sugar fall. Deciding to go into the kitchen for some food, Johnson thought he’d first attend to the dog, who wanted to be let out. Gita, being in an adventurous mood, pounded into the woods. Johnson followed for some 20 to 30 feet before he collapsed under a wave of dizziness. The impact also broke his hip. Lying in such a secluded area, overcome by agonizing pain, Johnson had tried calling for help.

Initially, there was hope. As more hours elapsed, he resigned himself to his fate, almost sure that no one would find him. When Deputy Wright finally arrived, Johnson had been calling for help for over 6 hours. Given his age, the seriousness of his injuries, and the multiple medications he was regularly on, Johnson would not have survived much longer in the woods. In the notice issued soon after, the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office also noted, “We credit Gita for saving his life that day. The loyalty and heroism of our furry friends never cease to amaze us.”

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And that my friends, is Puppy Love! By the way, I’m confident Olaf would do this also. We love our mummy. Pupple Love is a section of Paperdolls.Today. To subscribe/unsubscribe to specific sections of April’s Substack, please follow substack’s instructions

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I dare you not to smile. I’m still laughing.

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The two females were discarded on the side of a road, in Idaho. They were both pregnant and ready to give birth.

A wonderful organization called Aska’s Animal Foundation picked up the soon to be mamas, helped whelp …

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Tomorrow is our human mummy’s birthday and we are being extra good so that we can go with her! She likes to go skiing or snowboarding on her birthday, and we are playing out paws right! See you on the lift!

Oh, I’ve been trying to talk her into skijoring. We’d be great!

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Now look what’s happened:

I run this place,1 and I have plans. I’ll have it fixed in a couple of weeks. Stay tuned.

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I think I’m friends with the squirrels. They talk to me and jump from tree to tree. I run on the ground beneath them. It’s a good time.

When I was a mere pup, and trying to figure all this out, Olaf added a video of a squirrel I’d “treed.” Scroll to the bottom of this post, and you’ll see …

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It’s winter. Our rose bushes are dormant. They still have thorns.

Physically, I’m little. About a tenth of Henry’s size.

We were running around in the backyard and I ran into one of the thorns. It really hurt. I cried. Our human mummy ran out and took the thorn out of my paw. She said I was as brave as a lion.

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Henry here. Last weekend, I took my human mummy on the Bonneville Shoreline Trail. We’ve had a bit of a warm spell, so the trails weren’t snowy or icy. They were muddy. We were walking along I was so proud what a good boy that I am. …

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With uncanny athletic ability and will, Henry zipped in twisting his body at ea…

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Remember my human mummy has that Shakespeare quote etched on glass? And, remember how I took the opportunity when it served last September?

Well, I did it again.

This time, there was a big stick …

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