khanu

Motivation from me? Really!? Cool What trainers did you get? Now that I've decide to sell my motorbike I seem to have swapped "stuff I want to buy" from bike stuff to running/cycle stuff instead At the moment I am stepping up training to get a sub 30min 5k - I was not happy with my time from last weekend I realise sub 30 is still slow, but I really am a crap runner..... Was thinking of doing a 1/2 marathon before year end, but haven't decided yet. Might wait to decide until I do a sub-30 5k. Oooh and please let your OH know - I moved my saddle forward by about 1mm and also moved the cleats on my shoes back and OMG what a difference! I actually didn't have to fall off the bike this weekend....

Morning. Currently working on a timetable for each day of the week so I can fit everything in that I need to. Haven't had to do this since I started working from home, but now I've decided to step up tri training I need to figure out how to fit that in as well as time for college, dogs training and walking and work. All I can say is that it's a good job I do work from home 4 days a week now, it gives me an extra 4hrs a day! Talyn goes for his first massage this wednesday and then has his first training class afterwards. Not ideal timing but was only time available for the massage at short notice, although he hasn't been lame for a bit now, but it's probably still worth getting him looked at. I don't suppose we'll be doing much in the class anyway. He has also got a place on the pre-agility class at my agility club and that starts in September. Need to work on a wait then....

I'm not against just putting a head collar on either - I've done it with one of my own dogs. But I was pretty certain she wouldn't have a problem with it. With the others or any dog where I'm not sure about what their response will be, I do some CER work. The ABRI site is a really good resource, I like it a lot

Jean donaldson does build up good association - video here - look for the conditioning emotional response one, where she gets Buffy to love having her head collar put on. Unless I had a dog I was certain wouldn't care I'd do as Jean Donaldson does. It doesn't take long.

Talyn is suddenly becoming rather costly. Not only am I taking him to hydro to help muscle tone and coordination I am now going to be taking him to massage appointments as he goes intermittently lame (most probably because of the poor way in which he is put together). First massage appointment is next Wednesday. No doubt Breck will benefit from the massage too, he gets to go to hydro with Talyn as it's good for fitness for agility after all...... I'm also wondering whether McTimoney chiropractor might be a good idea for Talyn honestly I'm a bloody mug.

Is it just that he needs to jump higher into the mondeo than the berlingo? Perhaps a ramp would help?

Do you think it could be hot spots? Heat would say to me infection/inflammation of some kind. Does Cocoa have dense fur? Sometimes if I haven't been great at getting the undercoat out from the GSDs when they go through a moult they can start licking/chewing on themselves and start a hot spot if I don't spot it quick enough. Once I get the undercoat out though they stop the licking etc. Things I've seen recommended for hot spots: cool compress a few times a day (think the idea is to soothe it so they stop bothering it) tea bag compresses and washes I've seen neem oil recommended but I'm not sure about putting it on open wounds to be honest. I thought neem oil was for prevention of fleas ticks etc. so would be more appropriate to use once healed to try to prevent it happening again (assuming it's been caused by irritation due to fleas/ticks etc.) most vets seem to recommend hydro cortisone type cream. We were given this for Willow when she opened up a wound on herself on her front leg near her paw. Cleared it up pretty well, but she had to wear a buster collar until it had gone. We haven't had a recurrence that required treatment again since, but it's fairly easy to spot when she has been licking a lot as the saliva stains her fur and she gets a pinky patch on her tan bits. I think if it's oozy and very hot I'd be inclined to go back to vet to check for infection, if the infection is deep then topical applications probably aren't going to touch it. Hope you find a way to manage it soon, as a sufferer of eczema it's horrible to be itching so much that you end up giving yourself an infection.

Back from the 5k currently lying aching on the sofa trying to summon the energy to take the dogs out. Am not very pleased with my performance but it has motivated me to sort it out at least. Traffic was appauling to the venue, I made it before they locked the gate by about a minute which didn't help - no time to warm up etc. and boy did I feel it. Still I hobbled round, worked through the cramp, and now have a lovely blister on my right heel . Am rewarding myself with a cherry coke....... Mission "5k in less than 30mins" starts next week.

I'd be inclined to use a head harness with normal harness and double ended lead. I don't like canny collars, all the dogs I've used it with have snorted as it seemed to restrict breathing somehow. I much prefer dogmatics, but they don't suit all dogs, so it may be worth looking at haltis or gentle leader (which is often better for large headed shorter snout breeds). As far as training goes, what you probably really need to do is some counter conditioning and desensitisation. The easiest way to do this by far is if you have something your dog will sell his soul for and only ever use this when in the presence of another dog. It is obviously a struggle if you have a dog that doesn't appear to be interested in anything. Is there something that he goes mental over when at home? Or at least show the flicker of interest for? Is he eating normally at home now? As I might be inclined to use his meals for training outside. If there is something he loves indoors but won't take outside that indicates to me that he is possibly too stressed outside. Breckin is very much like this over tugging - he'll tug on anything and everything indoors, but won't outside or training. I therefore have worked a lot on making him comfortable to do ti outside - I've done this by pairing it with something he will take outside and loves - food for Brek which I admit makes it easier. I've basically done 5secs of tug, followed by food, in the house in every single room, and then extended the amount of tug time. Then repeated in the back garden so he'll tug for a few minutes outside (can now use it as a reward in its own right at home/garden). Then in the front garden, then outside on path etc etc. We are now at the point where he will tug at training for about a minute (this is followed up with a treat) and I can use it as a reward there, he'll tug for about 30s in the park, and it isn't enough of a reward in its own right there. With Ben I'd be going through a list of things that he will do and enjoy at home - try out different foods (baby food off a spoon? peanut butter? cream cheese? steak, chicken, etc etc.), different toys. If you do find something reserve it for training in the house and start pairing it with other things, so say it's peanut butter off a spoon, I'd start pairing tug/ball with it - to start he maybe needs to nose the ball to get the peanut butter, then put his mouth over it etc. Keep these sessions really really short. Also try the peanut butter in the garden - will he take it there, do some really really easy stuff outside (like sit if he knows it really well, better if it's something with more movement though like a spin, but it has to be something he knows really really well and is easy for him) and reward with peanut butter, again really short session, to start with I'd even just do one cue, he sits, big party of peanut butter, back indoors. Then repeat out the front, then just outside front gate, and gradually get away from house building his love of peanut butter every where and any where. Then you can start using it for counter conditioning. It may be a lot of work, but it is worth doing, and for a variety of different things. Training is so much easier if you have a hierarchy of rewards you can use. I have an A B C list for all the dogs. I use A rewards for counter conditioning and difficult/new training, B rewards when we are maintaining things (with A rewards sprinkled in) and work on getting C rewards up to A/B standards.

Oh no! Definitely time to find something else

I have used agencies to recruit for positions in the past. They were always paid a % of the starting salary as their finding fee/commission. If there was a CV that came up multiple times I would just tell the agencies that had subsequently shown it to me that i'd already got that CV (or just didn't say anything and didn't ask them to bring that candidiate in to interview and just asked the first agency). However that may or may not be the norm.

Was a great weekend with fab company and even better to raise a decent amount of money. Thanks for being an excellent host Mark, you might get some repeat custom

That's great news! I got very fecked off with work yesterday and came home and drowned my anger in wine so haven't made my morning run What I should have done was go for a run or beat the crap out of the punch bag, but I went for the lazy option......lesson learned. Really must find a gym so I can go swimming when I'm in that kind of mood, it always used to help swimming laps. Still annoyed about work but trying to reach a zen-like calm about it as there isn't anything I can do about it.

Those showers are great, I've used a similar idea before, expect ours was a bucket with holes in - you covered up the holes to heat the water, and then had a very fast shower once warmish. Been running this morning with the 2 sheps. Found a new path that looks as though it will have a stream when we get some rain. Have taken the 2 spangles swimming. Talyn swam exceedingly well, and his life jacket was removed very quickly as it was deemed unnecessary. He was really stretching out his back legs behind him and had lots of fun. Breckin still needed his life jacket as he hasn't quite got body position nailed yet, but he did have some time out of it and has really started to swim quite well, with less splashing. Neither of them appear to be very tired though, which they really should. Am watching Talyn closely as he may get a bit sore as he doesn't normally use his back legs properly all the time still. Will do some TTouch later probably. Will wait till it cools down to take Syd out, although I might wander over to the summer fete at Petworth park with him this afternoon. I'm feeling quite tired though, think I've caught a bit of a cold as I've been sneezing all over the place, and seem to have a blocked nose.

I'm sure you will be fine. I hope you don't react like me upon waking up from anesthetic though - I nearly always burst into tears Have no idea why, but it's happen 3 of the 4 times I've been under.......very embarrassing.

I use Axa pet insurance for my lot. Have an oldie saluki insured with them and he must have been 8+ when I took out the insurance with them. Also have the new springer insured who has a pre-existing condition (fused spine) and they just need confirmation from vet when claiming that whatever I'm claiming for is not due to pre existing condition. In total I have 5 with them - 2 GSDs aged 7 & 8, saluki - 11, ESS - 3&5 and they are all between £22-27 a month each. You get £7k a year, lifetime cover. I've never had any hassle claiming from them the couple of times I've claimed (all for stitches for cuts on the saluki ). My vet doesn't claim direct from insurers normally so they pay me by cheque.

Morning, been out running with the springers this morning - was nice and cool as it looks like it is about to chuck it down. Other lot will have to wait until after work as I'm getting my hair lopped off at lunchtime. I've decide to cut it right back. At the moment is comes down to about half way down my back, but it's wavy/curly so longer when wet. I've decided to go much shorter - above shoulder length, so it's just about long enough to get into a ponytail when I need to. A bit like this I think:

I have a bit of a list and some of them I have used for more than a year, but they have certainly saved my sanity this past year. 1) ipod classic. Massive storage which means I have at my fingertips all my training dvds (and important music). It gets taken everywhere and whenever I get a free few minutes I get to watch the DVDs I've had hanging around for ages and not yet watched. My favourites at this time are seminars by Kathy Sdao - she rocks! 2) ebook reader - same premise as above, I can put journal papers as well as books, and i've found a few free textbooks on line too. Again goes everywhere and I can read for pleasure or for college or even work wherever I am. 3) Garmin - running has never been the same since I bought this gadget. It records everything, heart rate, pace, gps positioning, has sensors for my bike so I can track cadence etc. I get to look at all my stats and see how I'm progressing - my inner geek (that isn't so inner really) loves it. 4) Turbo trainer - although it is a love/hate relationship. It saves me from cycling outside in horrible weather, or from leaving the dogs for hours to go for a ride, but it does mean I often have a bike set up in the middle of the living room, and you do get extraordinarily hot and sweating when riding on one and if I use a fan it means I can't hear the TV - which is another reason I like it, I'm all for multitasking as frankly there aren't enough hours in the day for me. 5) Fizik Arione Tri 2 saddle - it's saved my butt! Plus the red and white goes well with my white frame. 5) Blue roll - we no longer use kitchen roll, we use the enormous rolls of blue paper that you see in garages. Kitchen roll doesn't last 5 mins in this house with all the mess the dogs manage to make. Blue roll is my saviour and has been used so much since Talyn arrived you wouldn't believe. Fortunately he is piddling less now that he is gaining confidence but I did consider buying shares.... I have no feelings about cleaning products, but anit-bac and/or bleach spray gets used in similar amounts to blue roll, I have no allegiances though and get whatever is cheapest when shopping.

So I've been learning about horses for a few weeks now as future plans require me to know about these things. Today I started learning how to lunge (sorry Lochie, I know my signals were very confusing) and I also moved some ponies from one field to another which involved catching them, putting head collars on leading them and then finding out afterwards that the ponies I was so kindly left to lead were awkward so and sos and likely to spin and kick. So grateful for TTouch as I did some stuff wihtout thinking that obviously helped as they were pretty good for me Anyway yesterday I decided to join my sister and her friends on an early morning ride on the beach - I wasn't riding, I did baby and dog sitting whilst they galloped up and down West wittering beach. The spaniels had fun though and so did we. Some ponies/horses on the beach Talyn Breckin Dogs with OH My Nephew While his mum did some of this

and because I like these photos as it sums the two of them up perfectly Wherever there is one, the other won't be far behind. Wherever there is water you'll be sure to find......Khanu and Breck

As there were a couple of requests of pictures and i need very few excuses to show off my dogs here they all are. I don't have many very recent ones uploaded anywhere though so some of these you've probably seen before. Khanu and with a bit of Breckin in the background Willow Syd Breckin and Talyn

And for the others who also requested but I didn't quote - I'll go and do a photo thread in dog chat. No photos of everyone together I'm afraid as my 'snappy' camera has gone and broke and my other one is too big to lug around on the off chance they all stand still long enough to get a pic.

I am very very proud of my springers today. Talyn had to go to the vet to have some lumps checked and to get microchipped. He was a superstar - no weeing even when lifted on and off the table and he even gave the vet a little kiss as she was feeling around for his lumps. Lumps are just fatty and nothing to worry about and only so noticeable as he is soooo skinny. Also took him to agility tonight with Breck, and he took some food from people, no crouching down trying to hide, and no spinning about everywhere and barking at the other dogs. Breck was also a superstar at agility and nailed every single weave entry, and only sniffed the floor once and that was because I had got myself in a mess and he didn't know what he was supposed to do. And......Khanu has been a superstar all day with Talyn, even though he has been hot and bothered. Not one grump today, and he even just stood there when Talyn ran underneath him to get outside I'm really very proud of my guys, they put up with a lot really and just take it in their stride much of the time, and Talyn is really settling in well.

So sorry :GroupHug: I hope you will have more time to enjoy together