What Age Group Is Mountain Dog Book Appropriate For?

Whoa, seeing your dog with a droopy face can feel like a punch to the gut, and I’ve been there watching a pup look off-kilter and wondering what to do next. If the droop appears suddenly — like overnight or after a known injury — I treat it as urgent. Sudden facial droop can come from facial nerve paralysis, a bite or blunt trauma, a stroke-like event, or even tick paralysis in areas where ticks are common. If it’s accompanied by trouble breathing, swallowing, excessive drooling, weakness on one side, or rapid changes in behavior, I’d head to emergency care immediately. For milder, gradual drooping with no other red flags, I still call or visit my regular vet within 24–48 hours so they can examine for infection, dental abscesses, ear disease, or signs of a neurological issue. I always take a quick video showing the droop and note when I first saw it — that saved time during one frantic visit. Bottom line: sudden + severe = go now; gradual or isolated = vet within a day or two. Personally, I sleep better knowing I’ve got an appointment booked when something like this shows up.

I've had a soft spot for awkward-faced dogs my whole life, and when one of my foster dogs developed a visibly droopy face after an ear infection, I learned a lot quickly. First thing I found out was that surgery choices depend on what’s causing the droop. If the facial nerve is being compressed by middle ear disease, a ventral bulla osteotomy to clear infection and decompress the nerve can sometimes restore function. If the nerve was cut or severely damaged, direct nerve repair or nerve grafting (using an autologous graft like sural nerve) may be recommended by a specialist. For chronic or irreversible paralysis, surgeons often do static or dynamic procedures: static options include fascia lata slings or cheiloplasty to support the lip and reduce drooling; dynamic options include muscle transposition such as temporalis muscle transfer to help lift the lip and corner of the mouth. Eyes are usually the most urgent concern. To protect the cornea we used temporary tarsorrhaphy and conjunctival flaps while waiting to see if function returned. For long-term eyelid protection, partial permanent tarsorrhaphy, medial or lateral canthoplasty, or eyelid sling procedures can be done. Recovery and prognosis vary — some idiopathic facial paralyses improve in weeks to months without surgery, while traumatic or neoplastic causes may need early surgical repair. Watching that dog regain some symmetry after a temporalis transposition was quietly joyful, and it made me realize how much small operations can change quality of life.

'Climb Every Mountain' is a powerful song that has been engraved in my mind, thanks to the incredible musical 'The Sound of Music.' The lyrics were originally penned by Oscar Hammerstein II, who, along with composer Richard Rodgers, created this timeless classic. It's amazing to think about how those words resonate with so many, urging us to reach our fullest potential. As I listen to this song, I often find myself reflecting on my own challenges, and it gives me a sense of hope and determination. The line that always gets me is about overcoming obstacles to find what you’re searching for, almost like a personal anthem for chasing dreams. I can imagine how the song's themes of resilience and aspiration appeal to people of all ages—it’s something we all experience in different ways. Every time I revisit 'The Sound of Music,' I’m reminded of how beautiful music can encapsulate emotions and aspirations. It’s more than just a song; it's an encouragement to never give up, no matter how tough the journey seems!

The lyrics of 'Climb Every Mountain, Swim Every Ocean' definitely resonate with a sense of unyielding determination and the pursuit of one’s dreams. They explore themes of perseverance and hope, emphasizing the idea that no challenge is insurmountable when you have love or a meaningful goal driving you forward. It paints an inspiring image of tackling both physical and metaphorical mountains, suggesting that the journey may be arduous but is ultimately worthwhile. There’s this beautiful synergy between reaching lofty heights and diving into deep waters, symbolizing the various hurdles we all face in life. Moreover, the theme of love is interwoven throughout. It suggests that deep connections give us the strength we need to tackle tough situations. The lyrics evoke a universal yearning – the desire to overcome barriers not just for ourselves, but for someone we deeply care about. Whether you’re trying to achieve personal goals or support a loved one, there’s something uplifting about the sentiment that everything is achievable when driven by passion and affection. It’s all about climbing those figurative mountains together, and it leaves listeners feeling empowered to chase their dreams, regardless of the challenges ahead. In a way, I find it also speaks to a search for meaning in life. Climbing every mountain might represent pursuing personal growth and discovering who we are while swimming every ocean represents immersion in experiences, sometimes unpredictable or daunting. Each lyric encapsulates the wrestle between fear and determination, which is something we can all relate to. It's a call to action, a reminder that within us all lies the power to overcome, grow, and love fully.

On fog-damp mornings I pull out my battered copy of 'The Living Mountain' and feel like I’ve found a map that isn’t trying to conquer territory but to translate it into feeling. Nan Shepherd writes about walking as an act of getting to know a place from the inside: perception, attention, and the physicality of moving across rock and peat become central themes. She refuses the simple nature-essay checklist — plants, routes, weather — and instead makes the mountain a living subject whose moods, textures, and timing you learn to read. Another big theme is language’s limits and strengths. Shepherd shows how ordinary words fail to capture the mountain’s presence, and yet she insists on trying, on inventing small, precise phrases to convey sensory experience. There’s also solitude and companionship in silence: the book celebrates solitary immersion but never slides into self-centeredness; the landscape reshapes the self. Reading it, I’m left thinking about how place reshapes perception and how walking can be a way of thinking, which feels quietly revolutionary to me.

Grab a pencil and let me walk you through the kinds of drills that actually change how you invent dogs from thin air. Start with gesture and silhouette work: set a timer for 30 seconds and do thirty little dog gestures, focusing only on the line of action and basic proportions. Don’t worry about fur or details — capture the bounce in the spine, the tilt of the head, the weight over the hips. After a bunch of 30-second sketches, do a round of 2–5 minute thumbnails where you simplify the body into ovals, cylinders, and triangles. The point is to make the dog readable from a distance, so try to make each thumbnail readable at thumbnail size before refining it. Next, mix anatomy studies with imagination drills. Spend short sessions drawing skulls, the major limb bones, and the big muscle groups, then immediately invent five dogs that exaggerate one trait from those studies: massive paws, whip tails, barrel chests, or giraffe-length legs. Add memory exercises: study a photo for two minutes, hide it, then redraw from memory. Compare and repeat. Play breed mashup games (combine a greyhound with a corgi, or a husky with a basset) to force you to translate real features into stylized forms. Clay maquettes or poseable toys help if you like hands-on reference. I also recommend value thumbnails and silhouette-only rounds — if a dog still reads with only value blocks or a silhouette, you’ve nailed the design. I learned a lot from books like 'Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain' for observational focus and from various anatomy sketchbooks for specifics, but the key is short, focused repetitions, variety, and having fun inventing characters. After a month of these drills, your imagined dogs start feeling alive, and that never stops making me smile.

Grab a pencil and a scrap of paper — I like starting super small and simple. Begin by drawing a circle for the head and an oval for the body; that tiny scaffold will make everything else feel doable. Put a light guideline across the head so the eyes sit evenly, then add a small sideways oval or rectangle for the snout. For ears, use triangles or floppy rounded shapes depending on the breed you want. Legs are just long rectangles or cylinders, and the tail is a curved line or a tapered teardrop. Keep your lines loose and faint at first — these are guides, not the final lines. Next, connect and refine. Turn the head circle into a dog’s face by drawing the snout out from the circle and placing a little triangular nose at the tip. Add two dots or rounded eyes on the guideline and a smiling mouth line under the snout. Join the head and body with simple neck curves, then shape the legs by adding little ovals for paws. Erase extra construction lines and redraw the silhouette smoother. Practice proportions: for a cartoon puppy, make the head almost as big as the body; for a lanky adult dog, lengthen the body and legs. I like to practice by doing quick drills: sketch twenty tiny dogs in ten minutes using only circle, oval, rectangle rules, change ear and tail types, then pick one and flesh it out with fur lines and shading. Try different postures — sitting, running, sleeping — by rotating those basic shapes. It keeps things fun, and I always feel proud when a goofy little shape actually looks like a dog at the end.

I got curious about this myself after watching 'The Mountain Between Us' again and hunting down the home-release extras. The short version is: yes, there are deleted scenes and a handful of extra moments scattered across the Blu-ray/DVD and some digital editions. They tend to be brief — small character beats, a couple of variations on the same survival moments, and a bit more of the emotional connective tissue between Ben and Alex that the theatrical cut trimmed for pacing. What I liked most was seeing tiny scenes that deepen why those characters make the choices they do: an extended conversation, a different transition after an injury, or an alternate take that plays the chemistry a little differently. None of the cuts reinvent the story, but they add texture. If you love behind-the-scenes context, check the disc menus or the special features on digital storefronts like iTunes/Apple TV; those versions often package deleted scenes with interviews and featurettes, which make the deleted moments more meaningful. I found the extras made me appreciate the editing choices more and gave me a sweeter aftertaste to the whole film.