# Resource Guarding Towel after a Bath



## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

MercyMom said:


> I have noticed the last few times that I have given Mercy a bath, she growls and grumbles as she dries off. Understandably, she is uncomfortable being wet and cold. She rubs herself on things around the living room to dry herself off and growls while she is doing it. She also chews on her towel, growling as she attempts to dry herself off. When I command her to drop the towel, the growling only grows more intense and she snaps at me when I take the towel out of her mouth as she reaches for the towel to chew on it some more. She only behaves this way after a bath and when she's wet. I am able to remove things from her mouth at all other times without a problem. She appears to be in a grumpier mood when she's wet due to discomfort. She does have mouthiness issues. If she is experiencing something uncomfortable like having her nails clipped or being brushed, etc. the mouthiness appears to be aggrivated by it. Has anybody else ever experienced this bizarre resource guarding of things that their puppy uses to dry off with?


 
She should not be in discomfort at all after a bath, Golden Retrievers are water dogs.
I'd break this cycle by squeezing out as much excess water as you can prior to toweling her. Wrap the towel around her and press rather than rub. Then I would move her to a table or other area where she is somewhat confined, and use a dryer on her. 
Don't let her have the towel.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

Is it aggression or is it playtime zoomie? I think every single dog I have owned gets the zoomies after a bath, which usually involves some play growling, and grabbing a towel or toy for their mouth.


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## A1Malinois (Oct 28, 2011)

Isnt she 12 weeks old according to your signature? If she still is a puppy, puppies growl, grumble etc. She needs to be taught at this age thats not acceptable. Also, you said you have bathed her a few times...thats a lot for a puppy.


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## MikaTallulah (Jul 19, 2006)

Lucky was noisy after a bath his entire life but never aggressive. He loved to drag the towels around and rolling on them while growling. He never looked uncomfortable but was having a great time. I would play tug of war with him then and only then with the towel. He would be growling with "shiver lips" (teeth shaking on the towel) while I was pulling. He would however drop the towel when I told him to.


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## mylissyk (Feb 25, 2007)

I would consider it playing, not resource guarding. My dogs and puppies think it's a great game to growl and grab the towel, pull it away from me, tease me to chase them and play keep away with the towel, play growling the whole time.

You seem to keep identifying normal puppy behavior as problems. Try to just enjoy her, laugh at her antics, don't see them as behavior problems.

edited to add, mouthiness is totally normal for a puppy her age.


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## Pammie (Jan 22, 2011)

You say she is wet and cold... do you bathe her outside? If she is inside and you are using warm water she is just fine and is just having after bath zoomies like cubbysan said! My dogs have always tolerated baths, but loved the after play!! zoomies, rubbing on everything, tuck-butt running, and general mayhem! I love bath time because the dogs are always so happy!!
I hope you are just misinterpreting Mercy.


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## aerolor (May 27, 2011)

I don't think it is bizzarre or resource guarding behaviour - it is normal puppy behaviour and if she is uncomfortable with what you are doing it is to be expected that she will object and not welcome the experience. My OH is just rubbing my pup off after being out in the rain. She is on her back, mouthing the towel and rolling about thoroughly enjoying herself and welcoming the contact. OH has now stopped and she is following him around asking for more. Make a game out of it and you may find your pup enjoys her towelling off times. Does it matter if she grabs hold of the towel and tries to play? Also, it's probably not necessary to bathe your pup as often as you think.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

cubbysan said:


> Is it aggression or is it playtime zoomie? I think every single dog I have owned gets the zoomies after a bath, which usually involves some play growling, and grabbing a towel or toy for their mouth.


I am hoping it is only play growling. She seems so snippy though when I take the towel from her though. I will try to find another way to dry her off.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

Lincoln_16 said:


> Isnt she 12 weeks old according to your signature? If she still is a puppy, puppies growl, grumble etc. She needs to be taught at this age thats not acceptable. Also, you said you have bathed her a few times...thats a lot for a puppy.


Yes, she is twelve weeks. I know it's alot. Every time I bathe her, I keep saying no more for a long time. But her fur gets sticky and messy more easily than my previous dog. Golden fur tends to hold dirt in more than Lab fur. I am already doing everything I can to teach her to know that the growling is unacceptable. I do not act scared and I firmly let her know that I will not tolerate it. I am trying also to get her used to being groomed. I am trying to brush her often and clip her nails every two weeks.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

When Tess was Mercy's age, I would wrap a towel around her after her bath and have her on my lap while drying her ears and playing with her paws. She quickly associated baths with cuddling and still loves to be dried off when she's wet after walking in the rain. When she became too big to sit on my lap, I dried her off in the bathroom and put her in front of the fire place, after major zoomies.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

MercyMom said:


> Yes, she is twelve weeks. I know it's alot. Every time I bathe her, I keep saying no more for a long time. But her fur gets sticky and messy more easily than my previous dog. Golden fur tends to hold dirt in more than Lab fur. I am already doing everything I can to teach her to know that the growling is unaccptable. I do not act scared and I firmly let her know that I will not tolerate it. I am trying also to get her used to being groomed. I am trying to brush her often and clip her nails every two weeks.


 
I'm a fan of frequent baths, and start puppies young. So I agree with your approach.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

In the spirit of 'choose your battles', I used to let Penny have a hand towel to hold in her mouth while I toweled her off. She didn't try to grab the towel I was using when she had one of her own. Also, I let her run around with it afterward. Eventually she lost interest in it and I picked it up. Of course, if your pup wants to shred it and eat it, that would be a different story.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

Penny's Mom said:


> In the spirit of 'choose your battles', I used to let Penny have a hand towel to hold in her mouth while I toweled her off. She didn't try to grab the towel I was using when she had one of her own. Also, I let her run around with it afterward. Eventually she lost interest in it and I picked it up. Of course, if your pup wants to shred it and eat it, that would be a different story.


 
Try this: LOL


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## mybuddy (Mar 2, 2007)

OMG.....NO WAY!!! That is soooooo funny! Love it!


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

MikaTallulah said:


> Lucky was noisy after a bath his entire life but never aggressive. He loved to drag the towels around and rolling on them while growling. He never looked uncomfortable but was having a great time. I would play tug of war with him then and only then with the towel. He would be growling with "shiver lips" (teeth shaking on the towel) while I was pulling. He would however drop the towel when I told him to.


Hmmmmm. Sounds like you are on to somthing. This is probably the case with Mercy then. I will make sure she drops the towel like everything else. I could be misinterpreting her. Maybe she is happily drying off. It's her snapping when I command her to drop the towel that has me concerned. She's a hard one to figure out. I will continue to strive towards teaching her appropriate behaviors.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

Pointgold said:


> Try this: LOL


We have 5 rubber duckies...Guess who is always holding one while in the bath?


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

mylissyk said:


> I would consider it playing, not resource guarding. My dogs and puppies think it's a great game to growl and grab the towel, pull it away from me, tease me to chase them and play keep away with the towel, play growling the whole time.
> 
> You seem to keep identifying normal puppy behavior as problems. Try to just enjoy her, laugh at her antics, don't see them as behavior problems.
> 
> edited to add, mouthiness is totally normal for a puppy her age.


Thank you. I will continue working on that. I think I am projecting my previous dog on her too much, although my previous dog did not growl drying off. He still ran around vigorously drying to dry off as fast as he could.


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

MercyMom said:


> It's her snapping when I command her to drop the towel that has me concerned. She's a hard one to figure out. I will continue to strive towards teaching her appropriate behaviors.


Just curious as to how you "command" a 12 week old puppy to drop anything. Have you taught her trade? That is the easiest, most nonthreatening way to teach a puppy to give you something you don't want them to have. It sounds like you might somehow be eliciting the unwanted behavior of "snapping" at you and you might want to rethink your technique.
Just a thought...


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

Pammie said:


> You say she is wet and cold... do you bathe her outside? If she is inside and you are using warm water she is just fine and is just having after bath zoomies like cubbysan said! My dogs have always tolerated baths, but loved the after play!! zoomies, rubbing on everything, tuck-butt running, and general mayhem! I love bath time because the dogs are always so happy!!
> I hope you are just misinterpreting Mercy.


Me too! It makes me feel better that she might not be too uncomfortable after all. I bathed her in the bathtub last night. The time before that, I did bathe her outside. I think she was cold then. She did not seem to mind the warm water this time. The hose water she seemed more apprehensive about.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

aerolor said:


> I don't think it is bizzarre or resource guarding behaviour - it is normal puppy behaviour and if she is uncomfortable with what you are doing it is to be expected that she will object and not welcome the experience. My OH is just rubbing my pup off after being out in the rain. She is on her back, mouthing the towel and rolling about thoroughly enjoying herself and welcoming the contact. OH has now stopped and she is following him around asking for more. Make a game out of it and you may find your pup enjoys her towelling off times. Does it matter if she grabs hold of the towel and tries to play? Also, it's probably not necessary to bathe your pup as often as you think.


If she is uncomfortable, whether she is justified for acting out or not, I want that to change. If she has negative behavior, there is reason for concern because she is upset for some reason. I want to make sure Mercy is happy and comfortable. I want to change what might be making Mercy unhappy, or train her to not be afraid where it is not warrented.


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## Pointgold (Jun 6, 2007)

mybuddy said:


> OMG.....NO WAY!!! That is soooooo funny! Love it!


Oh yeah  He loves holding ANYthing while doing ANYthing!!!

Rubber Ducky, you're the one! You make bath time so much fun!


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## mybuddy (Mar 2, 2007)

Pointgold said:


> Oh yeah  He loves holding ANYthing while doing ANYthing!!!
> 
> Rubber Ducky, you're the one! You make bath time so much fun!


 
Bless his heart :--heart:

I always have such a soft spot for the ones that always have to have something in their mouth. It reminds me of a child with a pet blanket. 

My brother rescued his boy from a sad situation. I cant even talk about it....

Anyway, the first thing James gave him was a ball. That ball has never left his mouth! He will even go to sleep with it hanging out of the side of his mouth. James said sometimes he will wake up suddenly and look all around, find his ball, put it in his mouth and go back to sleep. It is soooo cute, sweet and innocent.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

BayBeams said:


> Just curious as to how you "command" a 12 week old puppy to drop anything. Have you taught her trade? That is the easiest, most nonthreatening way to teach a puppy to give you something you don't want them to have. It sounds like you might somehow be eliciting the unwanted behavior of "snapping" at you and you might want to rethink your technique.
> Just a thought...


I am teaching her commands while she is young so that by the time she is an adult, she will obey them well. I don't expect her to have her commands down pact right away. I am just getting her started on a track of successful dog training. I do agree that trade is a better option. I have offered her alternative things after commanding her to drop. I admit that I need to do that more often than I do. If I have something handy nearby, I will make sure to command a "trade" instead of a drop.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

Have you taken her to puppy class already? In my opinion, you are trying and expecting too much too soon. She is 11 weeks old...! First try to enjoy her, play with her, make yourself the most popular person in the house. The rest will come!


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

I think in your dedication to be a good doggie mom, you are a little intense. Teaching your puppy basic commands is always good but don't forget to relax once in a while and let her be a wonderful, goofy, playful Golden. 

The thing you don't want to do is make her first year nothing but work. Goldens naturally want to please so you don't need to think about this as an adversarial relationship.

Take a deep breath and relax, you'll be fine and so will she!


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

There is nothing wrong with teaching a puppy at a young age. The key word is "teaching". Your puppy does not know what a "command" means just because you say it. For example you can tell a dog to stand a million times but if you haven't actually taught a dog what that means there is no point in saying it.
If you tell your dog "drop it" but haven't taught your dog what that means you might as well be saying the word "bananas".
Have you thought about taking a puppy class? They could give you some ideas on how you begin to teach a puppy as well as games to play that both of you would enjoy.
Please understand so many of us have been down this road in trying to communicate with our dogs that we realize it can be a difficult task to get our point across. Just as a child learns step by step to read and write so do our dogs. 
Wishing you the best...


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

To further your point, Baybeams, the 'command' could actually be bananas if the behavior of 'dropping it' is rewarded with that word and a treat. 

Humans know what words mean so it makes sense to us to use the appropriate ones. It makes sense to us to use the words "drop it" when we want the dog to drop something. But dogs don't know our language, our words make no sense to them at all.

A dog associates a word with a behavior by repetition and positive reinforcement. It happens over time. And they pick up on some words all by themselves. Like saying 'oops' when you''re in the kitchen. Penny comes trotting over looking intensely at the floor because everytime I say 'oops' (excited utterance) to her it means food on the floor. SHE gave the word meaning; a different meaning from what I meant when I said it.

I love the ins and outs of animal communication. They never fail to amaze me. I love listening to them 'talk' to me!


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## BayBeams (Jan 3, 2010)

Penny's Mom said:


> To further your point, Baybeams, the 'command' could actually be bananas if the behavior of 'dropping it' is rewarded with that word and a treat.
> 
> Humans know what words mean so it makes sense to us to use the appropriate ones. It makes sense to us to use the words "drop it" when we want the dog to drop something. But dogs don't know our language, our words make no sense to them at all.
> 
> ...


Good Point! Since my dogs are older now it amazes me how much of my "language" they have learned through association and reinforcement. It also amazes me how much they have learned inadvertently....


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

But still, not to hijack the thread, Tess is bilingual. She knows commands in Dutch and English. I think dogs are a lot smarter than we sometimes think.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

I would also ask a trainer about teaching a dog not to growl. Dogs do not always growl for aggressive reasons. There are different types of growls. MacKenzie gets growly when she is trying to tell us something, like she has to go outside or time for supper.

Also, a growl is a dog's warning, a dog that is taught not to growl, is not allowed to give a warning, and has more of a chance of biting.

Enjoy that time after a bath or rain storm when drying your puppy. It has been some of my favorite bonding experiences with all the dogs I have had. They all love being towel dried, and they have all grabbed the towel. Some of them even will keep running towards their people growling and snapping in the air, but in my experience it has always been in play.


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## cubbysan (Mar 13, 2007)

inge said:


> But still, not to hijack the thread, Tess is bilingual. She knows commands in Dutch and English. I think dogs are a lot smarter than we sometimes think.


It is also amazing how they learn how to understand words spelled in front of them too - like W A L K and R I D E.


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## toliva (Nov 24, 2011)

I have to agree with the many posts of this being normal puppy behavior. 

I just gave Zeke a bath today. Dry-off time cracks me up, because he goes CRAZY. He likes to grab the towel, and sometimes he growls at it. But it is all in play & fun. Someone said pick your battles.... same here. Today, like always, I gave Zeke his own towel, and he growled and shook it while I dried him. The extra towel gives his mouth something to do while I dry him. Same as was said before, eventually he lost interest in his towel and I put it in the wash.

To me, growling is communicating. There aren't many ways a dog can talk. That's one of them. Mercymom, I have the opposite opinion of growling as you do - I LOVE it when Zeke growls. But he does it his own sweet way - it is how he talks to us.

Anyway, when you start the bath, maybe next time put a handful of yummy treats in your pocket. When she grabs the towel, if you don't want to give her her own, or a toy, then trade it for a treat?


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

Miss talkie-talkie Rumor vocalizes about everything!(I should have known better then to give a pup a 'talkie' name )

She LOVES to drag around towels (or anything that is larger then she is!)
They are a fantastic catch as far as she is concerned. Seh talks and growls and barks at them. So if she loves them that much she can work for them!  She will release it...I gently towel her off a bit more and toss it for her to chase and drag around a bit...she returns...gets toweled and I toss it again...the toweling becomes just a part of the game.
Do I do the same thing to the adult dogs...nope...it would take forever! But every now and again I do indulge them with the puppy game they remember. 

Having said that...If your pup gets _truly frantic_ at being toweled off - then by all means dont rub and over stimulate - do as PG suggests...hold and gently daub/press the water off...


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

Liberty Me, your story about Rumor dragging things around reminded me of Penny's first year. We HAD a rug in the half bath but eventually had to put it away. She was ALWAYS going in there and dragging it out into the hall. She never played with it beyond dragging it around. As many times a day as I put it back, she would drag it out. Finally gave up.

After a few months, when she was a year or so, I put it back and she never bothered with it again.  Another puppy antic, gone.


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## Elisabeth Kazup (Aug 23, 2008)

I had a neighbor who had to resort to saying "perambulate the canine" and finally to SPELLING that! And he STILL caught on that he was going for a walk. Just couldn't say ANYTHING in front of that dog!!



cubbysan said:


> It is also amazing how they learn how to understand words spelled in front of them too - like W A L K and R I D E.


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## inge (Sep 20, 2009)

Penny's Mom said:


> I had a neighbor who had to resort to saying "perambulate the canine" and finally to SPELLING that! And he STILL caught on that he was going for a walk. Just couldn't say ANYTHING in front of that dog!!


Perambulate the canine? My gosh....that is some literate dog! About talking dogs: Tess always starts talking when she is happy. Yesterday I was at her breeder to pick her up, and we got a chance to see her sister Mariah's puppy's. While I was stroking one of them with Mariah in my lap, Mariah and her two week old were growling/grunting. Seems to be a family thing. I love it.


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## LibertyME (Jan 6, 2007)

awwww....the things that make you batty when they are pups are so often the things you long to see 'just one more time' when they grow up... 



Penny's Mom said:


> Liberty Me, your story about Rumor dragging things around reminded me of Penny's first year. We HAD a rug in the half bath but eventually had to put it away. She was ALWAYS going in there and dragging it out into the hall. She never played with it beyond dragging it around. As many times a day as I put it back, she would drag it out. Finally gave up.
> 
> After a few months, when she was a year or so, I put it back and she never bothered with it again.  Another puppy antic, gone.


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## Willow52 (Aug 14, 2009)

mylissyk said:


> I would consider it playing, not resource guarding. My dogs and puppies think it's a great game to growl and grab the towel, pull it away from me, tease me to chase them and play keep away with the towel, play growling the whole time.
> 
> You seem to keep identifying normal puppy behavior as problems. Try to just enjoy her, laugh at her antics, don't see them as behavior problems.
> 
> edited to add, mouthiness is totally normal for a puppy her age.


Hank gets the after-bath-zoomies after a bath. He grabs the towel, jumps, runs around rubbing on the carpet and rugs all the while barking and growling. He's having a great time! It's in no way resource guarding, it's normal behavior.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

inge said:


> Have you taken her to puppy class already? In my opinion, you are trying and expecting too much too soon. She is 11 weeks old...! First try to enjoy her, play with her, make yourself the most popular person in the house. The rest will come!


She is in puppy classes, but unfortunately we are having to miss a couple of classes due to my volunteering at the Dog Walk event yesterday and my husband and I going away for our anniversary this week. The puppy classes are on Saturday mornings. We will be resuming classes on May 12th. I hate missing classes! I am also going to be taking Mercy to another puppy class, an AKC S.T.A.R. puppy class starting May 24th.


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

Penny's Mom said:


> I think in your dedication to be a good doggie mom, you are a little intense. Teaching your puppy basic commands is always good but don't forget to relax once in a while and let her be a wonderful, goofy, playful Golden.
> 
> The thing you don't want to do is make her first year nothing but work. Goldens naturally want to please so you don't need to think about this as an adversarial relationship.
> 
> Take a deep breath and relax, you'll be fine and so will she!


I am sorry if I am acting as though this is a adversarial relationship. That's the last thing I want! She is my beloved baby pie! I want to enjoy her. She is my floppy face and my floft (fluffy+soft) ball! Thank you for the encouragement!


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## MercyMom (Dec 19, 2011)

cubbysan said:


> I would also ask a trainer about teaching a dog not to growl. Dogs do not always growl for aggressive reasons. There are different types of growls. MacKenzie gets growly when she is trying to tell us something, like she has to go outside or time for supper.
> 
> Also, a growl is a dog's warning, a dog that is taught not to growl, is not allowed to give a warning, and has more of a chance of biting.
> 
> Enjoy that time after a bath or rain storm when drying your puppy. It has been some of my favorite bonding experiences with all the dogs I have had. They all love being towel dried, and they have all grabbed the towel. Some of them even will keep running towards their people growling and snapping in the air, but in my experience it has always been in play.


Thank you. I will keep that in mind.


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