[demonthief.]

Precontest Rules:
You can begin with your first blog post. It can occur the day before you "adopt" your Guardian. It should set the stage, laying out your training location, trainer tone, and plans.

If your Guardian is not claimed by Sunday the 15th of March, your Guardian will be put up for readoption.

Please submit the below form to claim your Guardian.

Code: Select all

[b]I'm claiming this Guardian![/b]
[b]Owner:[/b] happysshirt
[b]Name:[/b] {You may leave blank until the Guardian is revealed if you wish}
[b]Gender:[/b] male
[b]Fears:[/b] Thunder and lightning.
[b]Past:[/b] This male was found chained to a stone wall inside a shed that was rusted shut. It is assumed that his owner placed him there and then moved away without bringing the Guardian with them. Being alone in the darkness and the bright light lighting up the small space whenever a storm hit the area has caused the male to fear thunder and lightning, especially thunder as the small shed echoed the deep sound around him. The chain dug into his skin on his paw, it has healed now but he gets rather snappy if you touch it. Has a very mattered coat and is very, very skinny.

General Rules:
You may keep your Guardian if you have a minimum of three blog posts for it by the end of the contest. Otherwise it will be put up for readoption.

You'll be added to the drawing on Saturday, after your Guardian is unwrapped. You may add objects and/or accessories to your Guardian (clip, bandanna, collar, etc.) but you may not edit the main lines in anyway major way.

[happysshirt]

I'm claiming this Guardian!
Owner: happysshirt
Name: Agua
Gender: male
Fears: Thunder and lightning.
Past: This male was found chained to a stone wall inside a shed that was rusted shut. It is assumed that his owner placed him there and then moved away without bringing the Guardian with them. Being alone in the darkness and the bright light lighting up the small space whenever a storm hit the area has caused the male to fear thunder and lightning, especially thunder as the small shed echoed the deep sound around him. The chain dug into his skin on his paw, it has healed now but he gets rather snappy if you touch it. Has a very mattered coat and is very, very skinny.

I am very excited for the guardian foxes arrival, and have set him up his own room. It is soundproof and has a nightlight and toys, I may have to sleep in the room with him as we was found scared and alone and may not like being alone. I was told not to touch one of his paws as he doesn't like that, but I'm hoping to get him used to it. If there happens to be a thunderstorm I will surely stay in the room with him, especially if the thunder is very loud. I cannot add anymore as I have to make sure the room is perfect for his arrival.

[happysshirt]

Day One

I wait outside under the dark clouds, soaked on the front stoop. Agua is coming today, and I cannot wait for him to arrive. I just hope it doesn't turn into a thunderstorm, that was the catch. Agua is afraid of thunder and lightning.

A white van with the word Gaurdians on the side in fancy lettering turns the corner and drives down the road turning into my driveway. A man hops out and asks "happysshirt?"

"That's me."

He motions for me to follow him around the side of the van, and I do. The man pulls open the back doors and hops inside, opening a crate labeled 17. He pulls out a black guardian Fox with dark blue spots on his shoulders, and turns to exit the truck.

"Take care with this one, he doesn't like his left back paw touched."

"So I had heard."

The man hands the Fox over, and I take Agua tucking him under my coat giving him some protection from the rain. I jog back inside as the van pulls out of the driveway, but just as I'm turning the handle lightning flashes and thunder roars a mile or two off. Agua whimpers and presses himself closer to me for comfort. I hurriedly go upstairs and grab the air mattress from the closet and take both Agua and the mattress into Agua's room.

The storm is almost overhead now, I realize as I set Agua down just before another bolt of lightning flashes and a large bout of thunder rolls. Agua jumps back into my arms as I'm standing up, so I end up setting the air mattress up one armed. I forgot a sheet, but I'll have to go without one. Agua isn't going to let me put him down, and the thunder would be too loud for him out of the soundproof room as we can still hear it clearly even when it's not directly overhead.

I look at my watch, it's 10:00 later than I thought. Crap. No training today.

I lay down on the air mattress, on my back of course, and set Agua on my stomach. Another bout of thunder rolls, loud even through the soundproof walls. The lightning flashes through the window, and I feel Agua tense up. I lay my hand on him hoping it will help him relax, and stroke him gently with my thumb. Agua whines at another flash of lightning and thunder.

"It'll be okay."

He flashes me a sarcastic look, almost as if saying it wasn't okay last time. But he calms a bit, but he is still very tense.

This continues until the storm drifts away, and both Agua and I fall into fitful sleeps each to our own nightmares.

[happysshirt]

Day Two

I wake to the sun shining through the window and Agua pawing at the door. I assume he has to pee, so I walk with him into the backyard. Agua bolts to the grass and does his thing, then saunters around the yard no fear appears to be left from last night.

"Done Agua?"

He yips in reply.

"Can I trust you?"

Agua yips again.

"We're gonna take a walk, but I don't want to use a leash. Can I trust you to not run away?"

The reason I don't want to use a leash is because it might remind him too much of the chain that kept him from escaping the shed. I think he understood that because he barks, runs in a circle, sits, and then nods.

The walk is fairly peaceful, not many people are out since its still quite chilly. Agua sniffs at every fence post, mailbox, tree, or bush. Agua is very excited for the beginning of the walk, but when we reach the corner of the towns main street Agua stiffens and stands still as a statue. In the direction he stares there is a man. The only part of Agua that moves is his eyes, following the man. When the man sees Agua his jaw drops and he sprints off. Agua had growled at him, with a growl worthy of a lion.

After the man has gone Agua relaxes, and looks up at me. I stare down in mild surprise, then Agua turns and leads the way back home. When we reach the front door he sits and looks up at me. I open the door and Agua trots in hops on the couch, knocks a pillow to the floor, hops onto the pillow and curls up for a nap.

Maybe we can train later, but not now its time for lunch.

[happysshirt]

As I finish my sandwich Agua trots in and sits on the floor next to me. He knows its time for training, though how I don't know.

They said he was scared of the lightning mostly because it flashed in the dark of the shed. My thinking is get him used to flashing lights of different colors, then flashing white lights and maybe the lightning won't scare him as much. For thunder play water fall noises and waves noises progressively louder and then thunder starting quietly. Of course I don't know if this will work.

I finish my sandwich and put the plate by the sink, then walk into the living room and cover all the windows. I already have the blinking colored lights set up, so now all I have to do is switch them on and the main lights off.

At first Agua hides behind the couch, then under the cover of various furniture he makes his way to me and hops into my arms. I walk around the room with him, nearer and farther from the lights. After awhile he calms and struggles to get out of my arms, when I set him down on the floor he goes to investigate the lights. He sniffs around them and cautiously lies beside them, yawning and settling down for a nap. I turn on the lights, and turn the flashing lights off.

After Agua takes his nap I ask him if he wants to go for a short walk, and he runs to the door. I know I can trust him without the leash, so it stays hung up in the closet. I open the door a crack and Aqua runs to the stoop, but before hopping down he turn to look at me and sits. When I come up next to him he stand up and walks down the driveway with me, and we walk the same path as the first walk. Agua sniffs at a few trees, but not nearly as many as last time. When we get back I stop halfway up the driveway. I forgot to feed him this morning.

"Oh, Agua I'm so sorry I forgot to feed you. Lets get you some food, you must be starving. Tell me next time okay?"

We walk into the house and to the kitchen and I open the cupboard I keep his food in, grabbing the food and closing the door. I then grab both of Agua's bowls and fill one with the food and set it down where it goes, the second I refill with fresh water before setting down. Agua gratefully laps the water up, I've never seen anything eat that fast. I then make my own dinner and by the time I finish, it's dark.

"C'mon Agua, you gotta use the bathroom?"

He runs to the door and scratches at it.

"Alright, I'm getting it!" I laugh.

Agua comes back in and we walk to his room. I sit down and rub his ears, and he rolls over for me to rub his belly.

"Belly rubs! Belly rubs!"

After we play tug of war and various other games, I get up and walk to my room. Well, I try. Agua stops me before I can get down the hall, grabbing my pants leg and gently dragging me back into his room. He stops and hops onto the air mattress, then looks up at me.

"Alright, alright."

I lay down on the mattress next to him, and we both fall asleep.

[happysshirt]

Today was great, we woke up, ate, and took a walk for starters but I won't go into details there.

I gave him a bath, and brushed his fur. I hadn't noticed how matted it was until I fixed it, and he seems much more relaxed. Agua appeared to enjoy the bath, he groaned when I pulled I'm out of the warm water. Though he wasn't a big fan of the drying process, trying to get out of the towel.

During training we progressed to flashing white lights. Agua just stared at me. The entire time. It obviously didn't look like lightning. So I pulled up a YouTube video of lightning, and turned the sound off. Agua panicked, sprinted around the room and jumped into my arms. This wasn't the day for that, so I paused it and printed pictures of lightning. Pasting them in random places around the house. Agua avoided those for the first, eh half hour? Hour? We'll go with 45 minutes, but after that he just glared at them. By sundown he was ignoring them completely. I plan to show him the lightning video tomorrow. On Wednesday we'll take a break from training assuming the video goes better than today. Then on Thursday we'll start thunder. This lesson plan isn't written in stone though.

Agua is currently pulling me down hall by my pants leg, we've just finished dinner and I let him out to take care of business. Agua has repeated last night's lie-down-on-the-bed-and-do-puppy-eyes, so I give in and lie on the air mattress next to him.

[happysshirt]

Another great day. We had our usual morning routine, even met another guardian on the walk. After lunch we had training.

"Agua, remember the video a showed you yesterday? Well I'm going to show you again okay? I can always pause it." He lays down and rolls over.

"Goof."

I pick him up and we sit on the couch with the computer. I pull up the tab and press play. Agua whines, but gets used to it eventually. I'm surprised, I was expecting none of the training to go well. I can just assume he trusts me and feels safe around me.

"You still afraid of lightning bud?"

Agua licks my hand happily, which I can only assume means no.

"That's good. We're gonna take a break from training tomorrow, you alright with that?"

Agua yips, which I can only assume means yes.

"Ready for dinner?"

Agua runs into the kitchen, and sits by his bowl. I pick the bowl up and scoop kibble into it, and set it down. His water bowl is half full, but I add some anyway. Then I make my own dinner.

After we've both eaten I let Agua out real quick, and then we walk upstairs. He tries to pull me into his room again, but instead I pick him up and carry him into mine. I get under the covers, and set him down. Agua immediately borrows under and lies next to me, and let's out a content groan.

"Night Agua."

Another content groan.

Off into dreamland we sail.

[happysshirt]

We've taken the last two days off, and today we went back to training. Agua didn't react to the waterfalls or waves, but by that time it was too late to try thunder sounds. We went to bed, Agua burrowing under the covers just like the last three nights.

[happysshirt]

Due to some unfortunate circumstances Agua and I havn't been able to do regular training lately. We're back today though.

I pull up thunder soundtrack, but then I see I don't need too. On the weather it says there'll be a thunderstorm coming through in just under an hours.

"Agua be prepared, thunderstorm is comin'."

Agua groans and then sighs.



By the time the thunderstorm gets here, we're eating dinner. Agua starts at the first thunder clap, but continues eating. I've just finished eating, and get an idea.

"Hey Agua, when you're done meet me by the back door."

He does, and we sit on the back porch under the overhang. The thunder isn't too loud or anything, but even so Agua shows no signs of nervousness. This surprises me because he was afraid of thunder the most.

When the storm finishes off, Agua goes for a whiz. When he trots back I tell him,

"Nice, we got over all your fears."

Agua looks smug and proud as he trots inside.

"Ready for bed?"

He jumps the stairs two at a time, and slides under the covers before I've even reached the top of the stairs. I get into bed, being careful not to sit or lay down on Agua.

"Night Agua." I say as we drift into the land of dreams.

[happysshirt]

Since my last post, we've been incredibly busy. Agua and I have been visiting parks all over, he has and overly large amount of energy. There have also been several thunderstorms since our last update, and Agua did fine during all of them. He does seem to prefer to be near me though.

Right now we're heading to a park nearby with a creek, its Aguas favorite one. He loves to splash in the water, but since he gets so muddy I've had to put a tarp in the backseat of the car. We've just gotten here, and I need all of my attention to watch Agua. He's so excited.

Hopefully I can get another update in soon, assuming circumstances allow.