K9Fran

You can spend the day shopping for nice things, but you've got to take your mother in law with you..... I wish I could teach 14 year old Bonnie she does NOT have to bark at me at random moments.....

I agree wholeheartedly - my 3 boys have always eaten at the table (it's a treat to eat off laps in the living room, and usually involves fish and chips from 't chippy!) They have chores to do as well (which they don't get paid for - #2 son makes sure everyone has a drink with their evening meal, #3 son lays the table with crockery and condiments and clears the condiments away afterwards, he also puts the recycling in the recycling bin,#2 son empties the dishwasher) as well as chores that they do get paid for (mainly helping with my Puppy School class, laying out the chairs, spraying disinfectant and mopping afterwards) - they have a choice wether they complete these chores and earn this money. Pocket money is earned by keeping their room tidy and complying with a list of expected behaviours (no arguing, being respectful etc.) and can be reduced according to how well they have complied with this list. 'Please' and 'Thank you' are compulsory, as is 'I beg your pardon' - although we are still struggling with those as I suspect it's only required at home, not at school. Yes, their Dad and I swear occasionally, but I try not to in their hearing - they know these are 'big boy words' and not to be used by them - they have alternatives we find acceptable, like 'fudge' and 'sugar'...... But, it's hard work, and for couples who both work full time, or single parents, I can imagine it's very hard to maintain those standards all the time - you just don't have the energy. This is why I dispair when I hear that single parents will be forced out to work - they are already doing one of the hardest jobs there is out there (and some of them seem to need help to do that!) I'm proud to be able to say though, that the hard work does pay off, and it's really nice to hear a stranger commenting on how well behaved your children are - like the other day, when a charity worker overheard my two discussing how they would spend their pocket money on sweets - they didn't have enough each to buy what they wanted, so they were pooling their money to buy big packets. We often get comments in restaurants, and when we went to America, we were allowed to upgrade to business class on the return flight, which is unheard of when you have young children - it seems the out bound crew had noticed how well behaved they were, and were happy for us to fly back the luxurious way (and there is no other way to fly - it's business class or nothing for me from now on )

Crisps are no longer lovely or fattening, but they are sadly all you have to eat, forever...... I wish a handsome man would offer to make me a cup of coffee.

Somebody has cut the grass for you, only it's a large Billy Goat called McGinty and he's also eaten all your washing off the line.......... I wish somebody would clean my car.

For many years this has been sitting in my jaw, having been 'substantially restored' (as my dentist described it) but with an underlying infection which only caused me a slight problem in that it was deep in my facial sinuses and occasionally popped through the roof of my mouth - causing a hard lump full of gunk, which I would pop with my tongue (yuck, yuck yuck!!) I mentioned it to a friend with some medical knowledge, and she didnt' like the sound of it, I think several of you on here said it wasn't a good idea to leave this in my mouth, as infections like that can get into your brain - and that's not good....... So, yesterday, I was really really brave, and it was removed! I have a fear of dentist, but I have to say he was excellent, I had lots of RR before hand, and some Arnica 30c, which I took afterwards as well as some heavy duty painkillers - today I have a pain score of 1.5 out of 10, and don't really need the painkillers at all.

She may have wee'd to mark the bed if Harri was on the same bed, to remind him (and her) that it was her bed......

I gave #2 son arnica after his appedectomy - the Drs were amazed at his recovery rate.....

Update on skipping and the bonkers headmaster - skipping has been banned for one week because the skipping ropes were being abused!!!! Now when I run puppy classes and a puppy won't play nicely -they don't get to play at all, I do NOT stop all the puppies playing........ Yes, he can skip at home, but much prefers to do it at and to and from school with his friends - he's skipping mad!! Apart from this today I have been mostly a) doing a one to one with an italian lady with a Cavalier King Charles spaniel puppy who spent the whole time telling me what a lovely little dog he was, how pleased she was with him, how good he was, and sending him out into the garden to play while she talked to me, so I had to keep following him out and inviting her to come out to experience the exercise so she could teach him when I've gone...... And she hadn't even looked at the training video I'd left with her nearly a week ago!!!! b) a one to one with a Springer owner who was a lovely chap, with a teenage springer who kept saying (in 'dog) f*** off I'm busy when the owner called him Started to teach him to use the dog whistle to retrain, spoke about NILIF and said it might be an idea to get him to pay more attention to the owner when walking on lead, and maybe take the food up off the floor so the dog doesn't 'graze' all day........

#3 son has just come home from school - his mad headmaster has banned skipping ropes from school - after spending school funds on getting a skipping 'expert' into school to teach the kids to skip, and selling skipping ropes to them at £4 a throw!!!! The frustrating thing is, #3 son is over weight, and really enjoyed his skipping and had started to loose weight through it

It's not roly polys, it's the squiggles and wiggles!! Well it is in this house anyway, and normally takes place after a long relaxing snooze.......

He can't just turn round when it gets too much, he must do it as soon as she starts barking, or she's being 'randomly reinforced' for the behaviour, which is a technique we use when we want a behaviour to continue without always rewarding it. Alongside this, he must make sure she is rewarded with what she wants when she's quiet as this is equally important. Once she's learnt, and the more consistent he is, the quicker she will learn, then the more he will be able to play with her - and surely this is about what he wants, not what you want?

There used to be a Yahoo group dedicated to the Spin One....

Do your visitors want to make a fuss of him? Maybe they're pushing him a little faster than he's ready to go (and it's quite normal, doesn't mean he'll grow up agressive IF you take the right steps now) A good puppy class will help - I'm currently taking booking for April, so don't leave it as the good ones get booked up quickly - and go and see a class before signing up, they do vary considerably. You don't want one that lets the puppies play willy nilly - look for carefully chosen combinations so that bully puppys don't learn to bully more, and shy puppies don't learn to get agressive to get their space.

It sounds like an excited or frustrated bark - as if the dog is saying 'cummon quick, through it again'? Am I right? If this is right, I would deal with it by turning my back on the dog as soon as it starts barking, and only turning back when the barking stops - this sends the message that barking actually stops me wanting to be involved, if you want me involved (and throwing again) you'd better learn to contain yourself - most dogs will understand that and it's normally quite effective in those sorts of circumstances. Even better, once the dog is concentrating, teach it to do something that's impossible to do while barking - like lie down......

Just getting ready for puppy class this morning - OH decided to throw a major rant at #2 son this morning - silly lad gave his brother a shove (as kids do) and he fell on OH's £50 joystick (which he's used all of twice since he had it, and it was put away in the converted loft, which the boys use as a computer room) - #2 son is now banned from using his computer for a week!!! Now I think that is over kill, OH is sulking in his room (not much change there to be honest) and I'm wondering if it's this bad when #2 son is just 11, what is it going to be like when he's 14????

I was a Cub Scout leader, and I did a similar project with my Cubs. I also gave talks to other groups about staying safe around dogs. If you want to help, try getting in touch with your local District Commissioner for Scouts or Guides and they will be glad to put you in touch with a group who needs assistance. It's hard work, but very very rewarding, especially watching kids doing the sorts of mad things we used to do when we were young, but they don't get the chance to do today - stuff like running mad in woodland playing cowboys and indians......

Missy runs in ever decreasing circles.......

The pics I've seen ain't of no boy!! ;)

Jeff Waynes War of the Worlds - can listen to it again and again and again (which is just as well) Tubular Bells - ditto Bread - the sound of bread Robbie - Swing when you're winning......

Warner Brothers can't be too worried, because Sarah Kennedy was saying Daniel has signed up for the last two HP films. (and yes, I think he's worryingly phooooooarr too!)

Thinking of Remmy and all of those who loved her as she moves on to cross the Bridge.

I don't like to use aversives like anti bark collars. This is for two reasons - if it doesn't work, will you then be prepared to increase the aversive to something like a static (electric) shock collar? or - what happens if the dog is supressed from displaying its first choice of behaviour for demonstrating it is stressed about something - will it then start to perform and even more undesirable activity, such as chewing (furniture or even itself)? Surely it's far better to find out WHY the dog is doing the unwanted behaviour, and solve this problem?

It sounds like vestibular syndrome - sometimes called a stroke (but it's not) - quite common in older dogs, they often make a full recovery.

http://www.dogbasics.co.uk/ I don't know these folk personally, but she has been highly recommended to me. HTH

Where abouts in Herts?