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Post by Szmantha on Nov 2, 2023 5:40:47 GMT -7
You know, I still haven't decided if I'm actually doing this or not. Link to 2nd Annual No-Dopt November thread. Stamps collected: Adoptions slotsI've begun breeding for Advent, which means I've inevitably kept a pup for myself. Per the rules of the challenge, I'll use this first post to keep track of my 10 "free" slots from within my own crew/breeding stock:1. Taken on Nov. 2 - Dominosteine2. Taken on Nov. 8 - Goose3. Taken on Nov. 25 - Gretel4. Taken on Nov. 28 - Qauver5. Taken on Nov. 28 - Treble6. 7.8.9.10.My self-imposed addendum to this rule is that I can take a crew picture for my "slot" pups, but I can't do anything else with them. (Sadly, that means no taking show pictures. But it's OK. I have 17 pups actively showing right now. And another half dozen or so from within my crew that I have plans to pose.)Honestly, I don't think I'll hit 10 of my own pups, but let's see!Gameplay challengesI know myself, and therefore I know I will never do all of these, but I'll try to get through at least one a week.Week 11. Take out a pet you have never played with and try to find them a friend2. Have a pet dress themselves up by putting out tons of clothes in the clothes closet, and using an auto-rolling ball3. Play with a pet of the species that you prefer less (if you prefer catz, play with a dog)4. Try to find out which of your catz are tricksters5. See how many treats it takes to get your pet to do a fat waddle6. Do some obedience training, teach a pet to come, sit, and down7. Create a cute graphic to show off some petz and share it on a forum or discord
Week 21. Play with one of your oldest or most fave companion pet and tell us all about them 2. Decorate a playscene for an upcoming holiday and have a pet help you decorate 3. Have a posing session with a pet, and enter them in a show if you're up to it 4. Clear out some folders you need to organize and shop in your own folders for petz 5. Take a pet to your fave playscene and tell us what you love about it 6 . See if your petz like the watering can7. Have your petz help you plant and grow a gardenWeek 31. Do some agility with a pet (have them jump through a hoop, pick up a ball and jump back through the hoop). 2. Send a pet on a playdate and have a pet over for one 3. Give your pet a present in the present box 4. Put your petz in the basket and see which ones will hop out 5. Take a couple of petz on a date6. Give a pet a spaw day 7. Have a pet play with the paintcan and see what colour(s) they end up I'm going to exclusively use my naturally raised crew for the gameplay challenges, so for those who have not been introduced, here's the current crew:
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Post by Szmantha on Nov 4, 2023 10:57:11 GMT -7
Take out a pet you have never played with and try to find them a friendThough I took Cadfael out a couple days ago to dress him up to go trick or treating, I have not actually introduced him to the rest of the naturally rasied crew yet, so this seemed like the perfect opportunity. Cadfael is a puppy (16 days old), and I don't currently have any other puppies (Riley and Cerys are 43; Ginger is 87), so I thought it would be interesting to see how they got along, especially since Riley and Cerys have been raised together since puppies. Will they allow a new face into their friendship? I first took them all to the playpen just to get a feel for who would take to whom. Look at how scared poor Cadfael looks of these older dogs!It quickly became apparent, however, that they all wanted to play with their own toys, separately. So then I took away their toys (*mean*) and pu5 Ginger away, to give Cadfael a chance to bond with the two younger dogs.This is how they reacted to her being put back. Cerys was downright furious.It was also immediately apparent that Riley and Cerys were most comfortable playing with each other. Poor lil friendless Cadfael!
But Riley became the first to tackle Cadfael and bring him in on the fun.
Not sure why Cerys is so hesitant here. (Actually, she's always been the most timid of the group. Most grow out of this after puppyhood, but I think she's retaining some of her scaredy-cat-ness)
I got several more screenshots of Cadfael and Riley playing, but I'm not sure if Cerys ever interacted with their new "friend."
Everyone was starting to get hungry, so I took them to the kitchen next, where Cadfael revealed he was too scared of his food bowl to eat.
But! He and Cerys finally had a wrestle. I think we can consider them all friends now!
Cadfael took to howling to express his hunger, and yet he still wouldn't eat from the bowls.
I had to break out the bottle to get him fed. Ginger was back out at this point (I put the other two away to give Cadfael and Ginger some alone time), and look at how she reacted to the bottle!
And we end this little "first date" with Ginger giving Cadfael a tongue bath!! OMG, my heart. She's his surrogate mommy!
So this was overall a success! Nobody hates each other (which has unfortunately happened before in the crew), and I think they're all well on their way to being good friends.
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Post by Szmantha on Nov 5, 2023 9:09:57 GMT -7
See how many treats it takes to get your pet to do a fat waddle
If you insist...Do some obedience training, teach a pet to come, sit, and downI brough out both Riley and Cerys for this, as well as some toys. I figured one of them could play with the toys while the other working on training? But nah, that's not how it works.They both wanted to show me what they are capable of. Riley was a pro at sitting.It was cute when they would both do the same thing. Riley would sit frequently, but Cerys would more often than not do something else (she loved the "sit and wave"). I don't think it helped that I was rewarding Riley, which may have meant also rewarding Cerys' bad habits.I guess this is why you don't train two dogs at once.Ultimately, we didn't spend too long training, as they got tired of my confusing reward system and went back to playing with their toys.
For my own recordkeeping, everyone's ages today: Cadfael: 20 Riley & Cerys: 47 Ginger: 91
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Post by Szmantha on Nov 19, 2023 9:39:59 GMT -7
Day 19, still going strong on the not-adopting, but having less time to actually play with my petz this month than anticipated (or did I anticipate this? Hm.) Have your petz help you plant and grow a garden Decided to take Riley and Cerys on a lil date, so I let Cadfael and Ginger help me set up for it in the autumn-y backyard: While I planted flowers, I tried to distract them with the stick. Wittle baby Cadfael loved playing fetch, but he promptly fell asleep with it in his mouth: When he woke up, he was feeling a little needy: "Mommy, I need your attention!" (I have no clue why Ginger was acting so put out here.) But then she gave her surrogate baby a few licks <3 Confirmed: Cadfael hates the watering can. We took a quick interlude for lunch because everyone was hungry. And then we finished decorating for the date by hanging up some lights on the fence. From there, it was time to put Cadfael and Ginger away and bring out Riley and Cerys. Take a couple of petz on a date Who immediately started to wrestle. And nip at each other. And play fetch. Riley also hates the watering can. They kept pausing to stare up longingly at the box of treats on the fence, so I fed 'em a few hearts. Then they went back to their usual shenanigans of wrestling and tripping each other. Overall, they had a very fun and platonic date. I don't think these two are destined for romance. For my own recordkeeping, everyone's ages today: Cadfael: 24 Riley & Cerys: 51 Ginger: 95
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Post by nebula ☃️ on Nov 19, 2023 23:23:18 GMT -7
ginger is so sweet with cadfael <3
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Post by Szmantha on Dec 1, 2023 7:41:01 GMT -7
Made it through my first-ever No-Dopt! Here's a stamp for you to collect if you did too: Here's what I learned about myself this No-dopt:
1. Turns out, my primary petzy interests are breeding and adopting (and, you know, making graphics like family trees for all my bred and adopted petz). Though I do enjoy (very slowly) natural raising my petz, I simply cannot be forced to do it any faster it by limiting my other petzy activities.
2. Not participating in adoptions (along with breeding in secret for advent) means I'm far less active in the community, particularly the discord servers (which I was previously trying be more active in). I don't know how to interact with people when I'm not adopting their petz or offering them new petz to adopt (thank you, social anxiety).
3. Confirmed: I love showing. I've kinda always been an on-and-off judge, but within the last month, I had a pretty active rotation (for me, at least) of my own shows at WW and even a bit at RKC, and I think I've found a 'thing' that works for me that straddles the line between showing and breeding - SGCh litter prizes. I don't know why I get anxious about posting litters just for straight adoption, but breeding prize litters for shows makes me happy. And I like to think that including the show pictures makes the showring more accessible/less scary to newcomers. (It's also forcing me to diversify my crew because I can't just offer dalis every single time.)
4. I am now very excited for Advent - so No-dopt was a success for me in that it refreshed my love of adoptions again and made me super appreciative of the ways the PC interacts with each other. I did a small comb-through of my crew (MPA'd just 5 petz), and now I'm ready to start adopting again!
Did y'all learn anything new/interesting about yourselves during this time? So curious to hear other's experiences!
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