Tempest

Happy birthday Victoria - hope you're having a fab day :partytime:

Am so so sorry to read this news :mecry: Thinking of Alan and his family at this time - they must be devastated

Sarah - just wanted to say I'm so sorry that Bran and you all are having to go through this He's a very lucky man though to have landed with your family as he's in the best place he possibly could be

Just wanted to say that I'm really sorry things haven't worked out Wendy - I'm sure all the info you've gained on Pudding's personality whilst she's been with you will be invaluable in finding her forever home though

Just wanted to say thanks for all the kind messages - they really are appreciated

Hi all – not sure where to start really as this is probably the most difficult post I’ve ever had to write but basically due to some health issues on my side that have meant I’ve been unable to walk Jess I’ve taken the really hard decision to rehome her through LRSE&C (she’s originally a LRSE&C dog) I think its honestly been the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life and I’m in absolute bits at the moment but I know in my heart that I’ve done the right thing for my girl and am just trying to cling on to that fact I just wanted to take this opportunity to say thank you to everyone at LRSE&C as you have all been absolutely fantastic and supported me through what has truly been one of the most awful things I've ever had to go through Sorry not to be posting more but at the moment I'm just

We've not tried accupunture as basically the lovely M&S (who we are insured with) will stop paying for Ollie's hydrotherapy if we claim for accupunture - they've pulled hydro from all their policies now and the only way I managed to get them to continue paying for it is on the proviso that Olls needs no other drugs or alternative treatment for the arthritis. I'm really angry with them as financially I can't pick up the tab for accupuncture (which is why I have insurance, or so I thought!) and I feel that the hydro will be of more benefit if I have to chose one treatment as it will actually improve muscle tone/strength etc whereas the accupuncture won't Also what's a PLT?

Following on from Ollie's other threads he's been on the Previcox for about 10 days now and I'd literally had a chat with the vet about him this afternoon. He's only got 1 day of Previcox left and the vet wanted us to leave him off it for 5 days and see how he goes as she doesn't want him on it long term Anyways I've noticed for the last few days that his poops have been really 'shiny' and no sooner had I got off the phone to the vet but I let him out in the garden and he's done a huuuuuuuuge lot of diarrohea So phoned the vet back and she said not to give him tomorrow's tablet and see how he goes without it. Am hoping he's going to do okay without it but the fact that he's had the runs on the Previcox doesn't bode well for him staying on it long term if he does struggle without it. I'm going to take him back to the vets once he's done his 5 days without it and see how he is as I'm concerned about him staring in to space, swaying from side to side and crossing his legs and randomly falling over Having said that this morning he was chasing Jess round the garden in the snow and going like a loony (which i think may be due to the pain relieving effects of the Previcox). Just wondering if anyone else had tried any other meds that might be useful for him but weren't Rimadyl, Metacam or Previcox I think he's major problem is that he's just 'weak' on his legs and I'm not sure what the answer to that is really?

I'm now feeling a tad hacked off with the snow - just tried to walk Jess and the pavements are just like sheets of ice and I slipped and jarred my already dodgy back so we had to come home Plus are all the schools are shut round here I'm not getting paid while I'm not working which is no good for the bank balance Is anyone else hating the snow or is just me moaning?

Its snowing quite heavily again in Essex Just took Jess out for a street walk and it was treacherous though - very slippy so we didn't go out for too long and as I'm so rubbish at driving in the snow I don't feel like venturing out in the car somewhere Also just had some hideous kids playing snowballs outside the front door with their parents and this awful boy came right up to Jess to throw a snowball at her I said to him ' please don't throw it at her as you'll frighten her' his mum shouted at him not to and then he did it anyway Thankfully she didn't react but he was inches from her and I wouldn't have been surprised at all if she'd turned round and barked at him! Oh well I guess more snowballs games in the back garden later

We've got a few inches here this morning - and the best bit is I was scheduled to be at a really tough school today and they're shut due to the snow

I was surprised as I didn't know there were any traveller sites in the immediate area so was trying to figure out where they might be as I thought it was a mainly residential type area. Its a shame I couldn't organise a visit to the school before applying but I only saw the job the day before the closing date so rushed the application in at the last minute. The other slight issue is that I've already got supply work booked for the day of the interview (Wednesday) so was going to just be honest with the agency and say I've got an interview but not sure how they'll react to that?

Only just read that Dee but just wanted to say thanks for saying that I think that's what you have to tell yourself in those kinds of schools - that the kids actually do need you much more than in the good schools quite often as school really offers a 'safe' and 'stable' place for them that many lack at home

Just to give a quick bit of info about my career history - I'm secondary English trained, left teaching in 2002 after doing my NQT year and 2 terms of my next year and have then been working in publishing ever since and started supply teaching in primary this term. I've much preferred the primary work I've done so far (all KS2 mainly) to secondary and thought I'd take a chance and apply for some maternity cover jobs that have come up at schools locally. The problem I'm finding with supply is that I've repeatedly being sent to some quite tough schools in 'rough' areas and am not really enjoying that BUT I am enjoying the nicer schools I'm sent to and at the moment am only doing 3 days a week which is good for the dogs. Anyways I got a rejection letter from the first school yesterday but then literally a call about 30 mins later from the second school I'd applied to inviting me to an interview next week. The only slight hitch is that I've applied for 5 posts in total and out of the 5 this is probably the school that I'm least interested in working at. The other 3 jobs that I'm waiting to hear back on haven't even had their closing dates yet (one isn't until 20th Feb and is probably the post I'd want the most). From what I remember of teaching though the jobs are offered on the interview day and you have to accept there and then but I wasn't sure if this was still the case? On the one hand I'm over the moon to get the interview as I thought schools may feel that I'm wasting their time (given my secondary PGCE training) but at the same time I'm thinking that maybe I shouldn't go to the interview and wait on the outcome of the other 3 jobs I've applied for? The slight issue is that all the maternity covers would mean working 5 days a week and I'm not sure I'd want to do that because of the dogs (we have got a really good dog walker though). On the one hand it does mean that I'd start in April and would only be working for 14 weeks and would have 7 weeks of paid holiday as I'd get half term off and the six weeks' hols paid for too. My other thought was that in the summer term though I could take them out in the evenings after work too. I also just had a look on the Ofsted website for the school the interview is at and thought it seemed quite negative (I thought the school was in a decent catchment but hadn't researched it too much). The summary said: 'The school takes children from a wide mix of social backgrounds. A number of children come from two Travellers' sites. The proportion of pupils who are eligible for free school meals is broadly average. A small number of pupils are at early stages of learning English and there are fewer children from minority ethnic backgrounds than in most schools. The proportion of pupils with learning difficulties and/or disabilities is above average, as is the proportion of children with a statement of special educational need. The school population changes frequently and over the past two years there has been a high number of staffing changes. Attainment on entry to the school is well below average.' I was particuarly surprised to find that their attainment is 'well below average' and that they take pupils from two Travellers' sites I guess I'm worried about taking a long term post at a school that I might not end up liking but then don't want to rule them out just because the catchment is possibly tougher than I first thought The downside of supply is that I don't get paid for hols/sickness and will potentially be sent to 'tougher' schools quite regularly but am liking doing 3 days a week and not having to do marking and stay behind for parents/staff meetings - I'm out the door about 5 mins after the kids

Sorry I didn't put his whole history in but he had spinal x-rays about 8 weeks ago and they were all clear and his showing no pain in his spine when examined, whereas his hips are quite arthritic so we're fairly confident its hip related. The staring in to space thing hasn't really come on suddenly, he's been doing it for a while but its got worse of late - the standing up for long periods again has been happening for quite a few months now but again is getting worse. In the evenings he'll stand in the middle of the lounge for long periods (say 30 mins) just standing still and swaying/shivering I'm wondering if its painful to get up/down so standing still is more comfortable?

After being really optimistic about how Ollie was doing the last couple of days he doesn't seem so good again today He's not having any adverse reaction to the Previcox so far so that's good but its more that he seems generally weak. For the last few months he tends to stand and stare into space a lot with his head bowed but I've noticed this week that he seems to be shaking a lot too and he's still very weak on his back legs He'll also stay in one spot for ages just swaying from side to side This morning when he was eating his breakfast I could see his back legs were slipping from under him but he fell before I could get to him to steady him and the same thing happened when he was standing on the laminate. I thought it might just be that the laminate/tiled kitchen floor is more slippery but then his back legs gave way again in the study on the carpet I think its just a general 'weakness' with his back end and he tends to move/walk quite alot almost as if he's drunk - I know that sounds odd but its the best way I can think of to describe it. Having said that he can still bound onto the sofa and ran out into the garden first thing this morning - he can get up/lie down/move around on his own and is having no probs going to the toilet or getting up and down stairs. I took him for a little walk this morning (just 10 mins on lead) and he seemed fine with that - a very slow pace and lots of sniffing but that was fine. I even looked out into the garden this morning and he was humping Jess But that makes me think that he can't be in any pain? I really don't know what to make of it all tbh - the vet said no walks or swimming this week but I'm not sure that missing hydro is going to help at all?

He's still doing really well - he does have the odd fall and is quite 'wobbly' but he's holding the tablets down well and tomorrow I'm going to take him on his first little jaunt out of the house

So far the news is all good and he seems to be back to how he was on Friday which is honestly beyond belief given how he was on Saturday Am just waiting to speak to the vet and see what we should be doing now as we're out of the Previcox and I'm not sure if he's okay to walk/have hydro at the mo so need some clarification

Thanks for the feedback guys - it definately seems quite common that once you can 'cope' you end up back at the tough schools After hearing what you said about the murder round the corner from the school that reminded me what one of the teachers told me about the school I was at last week. Apparently a severed head was found in a bush near the school last year and basically it was the mother of a pupil - the father had murdered her and dumped her head in the bush It was all over the news apparently but I must have completely missed it. It honestly beggars belief what these kids must see going on at home

Just to update to say that Olls is still doing really well The tablets are still staying down and he seems back to how he was before Saturday's 'episode' He's still very wobbly and unsteady on his feet but he's able to get up and downstairs and lay down and get himself up a lot more easily - not sure if its just been a time thing of how much the drugs are responsible though

I started supply teaching at the start of this term (so am only in my fourth week) and am trying to switch from secondary to primary so have mainly been working in primary schools locally at KS2. I'm registered with a few agencies and there seems to be no shortage of work (I only want to work 3 days a week anyway). The problem I'm finding is that recently I've been sent to a couple of, shall we say, *challenging* schools but am finding it difficult as I don't know much about our local primary schools so don't know which are good and bad. Today was the first day I had with a new agency and the school was a complete nightmare. I'm finding that I keep getting sent to Basildon and in all honesty most of the schools there aren't great (no offence to anyone that lives in Basildon) and I think today's must have been one of the worst I had year 5/6 in a mixed class the teacher told me that they were a 'nightmare' and basically to batten down the hatches and try and survive the day The morning was surprisingly fine but this afternoon all hell seemed to break lose resulting in a couple of full on 'fights' amongst a couple of lads and I ended up having to get the deputy head in and even he couldn't really deal with the situation. Then one lad decided to throw a chair at another child and there was a second when I thought it was going to hit me and I actually felt quite scared of being injured The supply teacher for year 1/2 was asked to leave at lunchtime as she couldn't control the class and the day ended with the head calling me into her office and offering me a full time job I'm already booked in for 3 more days at Basildon schools this week/next week and now I'm feeling like I just really don't want to take them. I don't want to upset the agency as I'm already booked in for them but don't really know what to do? I think part of the problem is that I seem able to 'cope' or shall we say 'survive the day' in the challenging schools the agencies are keen to put me back in there as they know I can hack it and I'm not going to ring them up and say I want to leave by 10am but at the same time I'm really not enjoying being in such tough environments Part of me is feeling like I really want to develop the flu by my Friday booking (which the agency has already prewarned me is a 'challenging class' and I need to go in 'tough' ) and see if something better comes along with another agency (which I know sounds terrible!) but I'm afraid that if I ring my original agency and say I don't want to go to these kinds of schools they'll stop getting me the work The kids in these schools aren't bad kids but they're coming from horrible home environments, lots from homes with substanstial amounts of violence and domestic problems and they just have a lot of anger that they're trying to deal with. The head told me that Mondays and Fridays are always worse - Mondays because of the things the kids have seen/had to deal with at the weekends and Fridays as they know they have to spend 2 days at home err.gif

Ooooh Alex those look interesting - where would you find something like that? I don't need a huge one and probably want one in something like chocolate or dark beige?

Awww Happy Birthday Max :biggrin:

We got rid of our rug downstairs last week as the whole lounge/dining room/conservatory is laminate and the dogs had been sick on it so many times over the last year or so that we couldn't really get the smell out Anyways this means that its just laminate only downstairs and I think its making it harder for Olls with his wobbly legs so we need to get a new rug. The main problem is that if one of the dogs is sick in the night its ALWAYS on the rug and NEVER on the laminate naturally So I need something that's easy to clean and not too easy to stain - so I'm guessing anything light coloured is out. Also need it to be fairly cheap really as they seem to get ruined quickly with muddy paws, vomit etc. Any ideas? I must have made a slip with the title - not sure why it says Rug O

Well he seems quite bright this morning which is excellent news - is moving around the house ok and seems quite perky He's had another tablet with his brekkie so really hoping that they seem to be doing the trick. He's had a couple of falls again this morning where his back legs just give way so we're going to try and get a bigger rug for the lounge so there's less laminate for him to walk on as I don't think that helps We've got enough meds until Tuesday and then I need to speak to the vet again - I know with the metacam it took a few days for the sickness to start so I guess its a case of waiting to see if these stay down okay really.