khanu

Happy Birthday Hope you chose a good toy

Underwritten by E&L insurance. Personally I'd avoid

My dogs are going to send me mental..... Talyn has been growing in confidence, so now he thinks it's funny to drop his ball into a place where he deems it is "ungettable" and bark until someone retireves it for him. I've been ignoring him or telling him to get it himself since he mostly can, so now he is putting it in places where I don't want him to get it himself - like in the middle of the coffee table by the glasses/candles/whatever - little sod I'm now only getting it if he stares at me quietly. Have had all the dogs in and out of my room today, since Khanu needs acclimatising with Talyn around me - they are fine when I'm not about (but watching through the patio door). Had Talyn in the crate as he was running around dementedly so then he starts barking whenever another dog comes over to me. So now I'm rewarding quiet behaviour in his crate. Then OH starts winding up the other dogs so Syd starts barking, then Talyn joins in etc etc. All in all I'm about ready to leave the lot of them to it. OH has gone upstairs now as "the dogs are too bloody noisy" (yes that would be you, you arse!). I've got Talyn in with me in an attempt to calm him down and the others shut out of this room so they can't all wind each other up. Only next door has got his lawn mower out so Syd is barking at that now God I hope they all settle down soon I'm not sure I can take it, and before the neighbours start complaining about the noise.

I recently bought a Janome 8077 from here. I love it although admittedly my comparison is with a very cheap (less than £50 model from Tesco). Has computerised selection of stitches which I really like as I had trouble selecting the stitch I wanted with the dial on my other one (probably something to do with the model rather than mechanical selection itself though). I'm also liking the top loading bobbin which is so much simpler, and silly things like the up down button for the needle. I'm doing quilting at the moment so that has been really handy, the stop start button is also handy for quilting too. I'm not exactly a seamstress - I can sort of sew in a straight line and so far I've just made a couple of quilts, some curtains and cushion covers. It has more than enough for me without being humongously expensive, although I really only spent that much as I "found" some money I didn't know I had! The difference in smoothness and quietness is huge compared to my other machine though....... I can't believe I've just given a review of a sewing machine

So sorry :GroupHug:

Bless her She has such soulful eyes

Breckin is the taller one with a tail! Talyn has an almost entirely liver face, much shorter and skinnier and has a little stump for a tail that he can't move. Breck has the white muzzle with naughty spots and large white stripe down his face. Breck also has a pink splodge on his front paw in the vid since he chewed a red pen and got ink all over him the other day...... He is shorter than Breck (who measures around 19" and made it into large ) It's hard to measure Talyn though as he worries so much and doesn't stand still very often. I *think* he should be under 17" but it may be borderline. Doesn't matter if he does measure large, but I don't think I'd let him jump that so he'll have to stick to UKA where he'll be standard height like Breck, or the "fun" classes where he can jump lower heights. Unless of course he jumps large easily in which case I may see how he goes and keep a close eye on him. It would be nice though if he did measure medium.

Talyn is officially staying - he has been for a couple of days but I didn't want to post when others were having such a bad time. I got some video of him and Breck playing today though so I thought it was time to officially welcome him to the mad house.

Well I've done it, I've filled in the forms and English Springer Spaniel Welfare have agreed to let Talyn (was Piglet) stay here for the rest of his days. To be fair it wasn't a very hard decision although it was a somewhat painful one for me - I had planned for a very long time to get a working cocker puppy and had waited 18months for the said pup to be born due mid April. It was obvious though once Talyn arrived that I wouldn't have time to work with him (even if he didn't stay forever) and a new pup so I had to let the breeder know I could no longer take a puppy. I've since tortured myself by looking at the breeders website and seeing that the pup of my dreams was indeed born, but never mind, some things just aren't meant to be. Instead I have a somewhat nutty springer who is definitely older and the wrong the sex from what I had planned! Fortunately he is very sweet, eager to learn and stole our hearts within hours He's been through quite a bit since he got here - had his tail amputated and was castrated. Pulled his stitches out and had to be restitched and wear a buster collar for almost 2 weeks straight. He has taken it all in his stride really and it is a joy to watch his confidence grow and start to think for himself. His movement is also improving and his coordination over his back legs is much better than it was before. Only recently I've noticed he isn't panting constantly like he was when he arrived. I'm not sure when that stopped, I only realised he hasn't been when he started panting after playing with Breckin! I hope I will be able to do agility with Talyn. I am hoping (praying) that he will measure medium. Although his fused spine should in now way hinder him according to the vet, I feel it would be a bit much to ask him to jump large, so if measures large we'll be sticking to agility for fun. I also aim to do some gundog work with him (and Breck) and will be looking at doing the gundog club tests. I don't have any new photos I'm afraid, my camera seems to eat batteries and is too bulky to take on your average dog walk - I really should get a new one. I do however have some of favorite photos of Talyn, and a bit of video footage of him and Breckin playing earlier today. The play is slightly one sided, but as Talyn grows in confidence it should even out a bit.

So sorry :GroupHug: Sleep tight Sir H

So sorry :GroupHug: Sleep tight Lucy

Really starting to see the difference in Talyn now outside the house. Today I had to take my van to the garage to be looked at. We took Talyn with us and went for a wander for an hour then back to the garage and waited in reception for over an hour. Talyn was great, after investigating stuff he played tug with me, then we did a bit of clicker work, then had a bit of fuss and cuddles then I did a tiny bit of TTouch and he laid down by my feet and settled. I admit to being a bit shocked at that, I thought he might sit for a bit then basically fidget and need occupying as we were much longer waiting around than I had intended but he was a superstar . He was so relaxed I was able to read a magazine with him laying at my feet and at one point he was laid flat out on his side. We had a moment (well a long moment) in pets @ home as there were some kids playing with squeeky toys and he found that very hard to cope with and focus on me. But when they stopped squeeking with them, he was able to pay attention to me again. I don't suppose many dogs would have been able to ignore it either though.

Gosh, I'm all embarrassed now I don't do much really, I wish I had more time to be honest to do a lot more. I'm just glad that I can do something useful with the knowledge I've got from college and now TTouch really. I just love working with dogs, they are so honest - there's no hiding you can do, you need to be just as honest with them. You can't pretend and hope to get away with it, you need to be genuine so for instance when you play you really need to be playing and enjoying it for what it is. They've taught me a lot and I think I'm a better person because of them.

have added new topic in dog chat. Not many photos I'm afraid - I'm pretty bad at taking photos day to day. My sister came over on Friday night and we went to wildlife centre near Lingfield on Sat. I got some nice shots of the buzzards No green squirrels but a rather nice red one

Well Sam asked for more photos so I've had a look through for some. I don't have very many though - I'm not good at taking photos really. Assuming we are allowed to Piglet will be staying and his name will be changing to Talyn (I might have been calling him Talyn for a little while now ) He is a superstar really. His confidence is coming on well, he loves toys and food so training him is a joy. He has a strong tug and a not bad retrieve although he doesn't like to give things up, but that's ok we can work with that. He pulled his stitches out of his tail and so had to be re-stitiched and wore a buster collar for 11 days straight. He wasn't too bothered - honest! the repairs were within 24hrs of wearing it too..... He can now relax in the same room with dogs and people - he'll lie down and chew on a nylabone or kong or something. My sister came over with her 5month old and he was great. A bit overactive as he was slightly nervous of the change but he managed well and spent a lot of time cuddling up to my sister then running off with a kong in his mouth. He was very gentle with my nephew and after the initial sniff pretty much ignored him. My nephew is very used to dogs and animals so wasn't worried at all either. I've started doing basic obedience with him but he does find self control a little difficult but it is coming along. He does get wound up by playing very quickly so I'm keeping it short to avoid over-arousal. Doing daily TTouch still, but using wraps less. Starting to do more ground work to help his coordination of his back legs. I'm certain he'll enjoy agility and I've started doing restrained recalls and the like. Have also decided to do some gundog work with both Breck and Talyn, will be working through the gundog club grades. Will also be working through Sue Ailsby's Training Levels with them both too, but especially Talyn. Talyn's fused spine is a non-issue at the moment. I'm giving him cortaflex since Syd gets it anyway these days and it won't do him any harm. It shouldn't prevent him from doing anything although my vet doesn't think his coordination will get any better. I'm hoping that TTouch and hydrotherapy and some exercises to improve balance and coordination that I do for agility anyway will prove him wrong - I do so love doing that to him that I'm sure he says things won't improve just so that I'll go away and do it anyway.... Breckin managed to get Talyn to play for short while today when they were in the living room with me. I hope that they will be able to build on that and that Talyn will gain confidence in his interactions with other dogs as a result. Talyn will always be a nervy boy I think but I hope we will be able to give him the confidence to enjoy everyday life (and agility trials!) and not sweat the small stuff. All in all he is a joy to have around - so very sweet and loving and coming on leaps and bounds. So all that's really left to do is think of a name for the activity register - I'm thinking Talynted Monkey Magic at the moment since I appear to call him monkey a lot! I really need to get pictures of him with the others. Even Breckin towers over him and Breck can walk under the other 3!

We had playing!! Only about 30secs worth, but finally after weeks of trying Breckin managed to get Piglet to play with him Operation integration is going so very very well. Only Khanu is still having moments, but they tend to be over guarding me and aren't exactly unexpected knowing Khanu. Even those episodes are over before they start and are few and far between. Piglet is still a bit overawed when all 5 are out together in the house and garden (walks are fine as my lot tend to do their own thing with the odd play interspersed) but as his confidence is growing he is finding it easier to deal with. I'm so proud of my guys, they pretty much leave him to it after the initial invitations to play. He slept with the others in the kitchen last night in the big crate and not a murmur was heard all night. Syd is pleased with new arrangements - he has been grumbling at the others through the night recently so he has been coming upstairs to bed and so his crate has been free. I'm not so pleased - Syd almost scared me to death twice last night by jumping on the bed beside me when I was fast asleep, I swear I screamed the first time he did it. I may have to get another 2 dog beds now. 1 to replace the one that Breckin is determined to destroy and one for Syd upstairs. Maybe I'll take the partially destroyed one upstairs and get a tuffies for Breck since those beds are the only ones that have withstood him so far.

I have 4 cages in the van - 2 up 2 down. I like the dogs to be completely separated when traveling. Not sure what I'm going to do if we do keep Piglet, I'll have 5 dogs and 4 cages....

I am soooo tired. Busy busy weekend got a lot of photos and videos for my dissertation though which is good. Agility training tonight, which I really can't be bothered to do, but really can't afford to blow off again. Is there a cold bug thing going round? I've had a blocked nose for weeks but now have a sore throat and I'm really struggling to breathe when walking the dogs at times and it's not just due to my general unfitness I don't think.

I like the perfect fit harnesses from the dog games site. I have 2 springers wearing them plus a saluki x. Syd the saluki x can be an escape artist from harness but he has never managed to get out of the perfect fit. You can size up the pieces separately so you should be able to get the right fit to remove pressure on the neck, although I'm pretty sure the harnesses are designed to do this anyway. I also like them as you don't have to put them over the dogs neck - there are several fastening points so I can put it on a dog and do up the clip for the head hole without having them shy away etc. They only down point IMO is that there is only one attachment point for a lead - having done a TTouch course I am into using several different attachment points, but I've just customised mine which wasn't too hard and now they are absolutely perfect

Might be....... Well OK we have a new name, and future plans and things, but nothing official yet as operation integration was put back thanks to the pulling out of stitches incident last week Really I'm a mug who is incapable of fostering dogs, and still offers knowing full well I am incapable of *just* fostering......

Nice, very nice. I *will* get out on my bike this summer

Operation integration is going very very well

I hope so. I don't want anything difficult because we won't maintain it, but hopefully we'll be able to do something with it. Excellent I *think* the petrol mower fits the criteria. I did read somewhere that you can chop off the top of the hillocks and put them in the divots, so we'll have a go at that, or at least filling in the holes with soil as we go. Hopefully by this time next year it'll be pretty much sorted. I don't mind undulating but at the moment you can go ankle deep in a hole, which means doing any kind of agility training is dangerous. I am going to plant a Rowan tree I think too, because they look nice and appear to be pretty hardy and we don't have any trees in the garden and that seems a bit weird to me.

I think I will save my pennies to get a pair. I don't like wearing shoes very much but can't really go about barefoot anymore, even in the house it's a bit iffy with the dogs leaving bits of chewed up toys and things strewn about. I've lost count of the number of times I've removed a piece of plastic of unknown origin from my foot I've been wearing crocs but they still feel like shoes. Yay! Hope it works out

I've wanted a pair of them for ages! Do report back how you like them (or not)