As so often is the case with "all-nighters", my efforts to invent a muzzle for my dog, using steel and a soldering machine, were entirely fruitless. But I cannot blame myself for my effort being unsuccessful, since I have purchased several muzzles in dog stores and my dog has torn every one of them to shreds or removed them from her head as if she were Houdini.
The dysfunctional aspect of my behavior was in seeing my efforts as something worth losing sleep over, knowing all the while that failing to sleep at night leaves me depressed, irritable and unstable, as well as unable to participate in the following day. I took the medicine that is supposed to oblige me to sleep, but the manic determination to finish this project was stronger than the medicine.
Finally, the muzzle I created does not muzzle the dog, is too heavy to be useful, looks like a tool of torture designed by the insane and for the insane. In fact, its crudeness reminds me of meal dispensing machine that my older manic brother made two decades ago in an attempt to limit the food he would eat. The machine was made of steel and each meal was in a compartment with a little padlock to which only my brother would have they key! The idea is not so much more insane than those little pill holders that help pill-takers to separate their medication into the days when it should be taken, also helping us to remember if we have taken our medication or not.
My brother's metal food dispenser did not help him to lose weight, and my crude and useless steel dog muzzle will not help me to avoid the attention of the police (who remind me that my dog MUST wear a muzzle) when I take her for a walk.
So now, woefully sleepy, I'll just go to sleep, as I should have done fourteen hours ago.
There is also a terrific "opportunity cost" to spending the night on unworkable projects while others are chatting at music bars with their friends, or simply sleeping with a loved one.
2 comments:
You'll probably have to get her used to one of the ones she can get out of easily (ones she tears apart are less useful). If she responds to attention, giving her a lot when you put it on might help.
Zimbel, it's so frustrating being at a public park full of frightened children and parents and having Lana tear off her muzzle over and over again. And then the police and the frightened parents insist, with moral and legal authority, that "Your dog should have a muzzle on!"
I am between a dog and a hard place.
Post a Comment