purple_mog

that's soo amazing Trudi RMF: parentals visited at the weekend, not much could have gone any worse. It appears that since I am no longer living my life as they expect they are unable to be pleased about anything I do I honestly never thought they would be like this. Families baffle me

RMF: the free range guinea pig plan is going well, both have spent loads more time wombling about the kitchen than just sitting in their bedroom crate Farah is ridiculously sweet with them, Finn is not to be trusted RMRant: I struggle to understand how someone can manage to have paid for a pedigree lab puppy yet be unsure if they can afford puppy classes because they are a single mum etc. Cost of dog - several hundred pounds, cost of classes maximum of £60 *sigh*

hope the Shingles isn't too bad Laura Today is one of those days spent largely in meetings, feeling as though am chasing my own tail. Last night I came home from work, ate dinner and then ended up basically working through till gone 11pm. On the plus side I got stuff done for dog business, on the downside I feel ratty and worn out. Decision - should I go to a social gathering tonight (and see some lovely friends) or curl up at home with my dogs and take a long bath? Either way I have at least an hour of work to do first once I'm home...

erm - you know its next year...right?

*snort* truthfully I get the feeling that yes, he generally does work with dogs, and owners that perhaps need a less than subtle approach! Does the book go into the aversive citronella collar training stuff too? Its interesting - more so because he presented it in some detail yet there were people in the audience with relatively little experience of training let alone behaviour, and no idea if they had the necessary timing skills to use it effectively... Not sure there was anything to add to what you're already doing, but happy to send you the handouts? Fundamentally I may be a softly softly person who just doesn't see the need for causing stress so I'd rather go out more often? For example his video of desensitising to presence of another dog made me cringe...At the point where the dog kicks off you missed all the signs of unhappiness, this is not a success and staring frantically at your face to avoid looking at the scary dog is not my preferred idea of a coping strategy. But anyway!

I'm still undecided personally - but the Gadget show had a really comprehensive review of the options recently if you can find it on iPLayer?

Replied in a T&B thread to save RMF Not random or mundane, but have just heard a staffie I was working with has been put to sleep. Owner felt she couldn't/wouldn't cope or be able to work through his issues, and rescue has made what I think was the only decision they could. At least he is now free of fear and anxiety, but I really do feel for the little dog

Carrying on a conversation with Khanu that started from the David Ryan chase/behaviour seminars over the weekend - I had commented on the use of NRM (no reward markers) which he uses a sound like "ah!" or training discs for. Its not something I use either with my own dogs or with client dogs as yet, basically because I've never needed to. Kelly's comment was So why don't I see the need for it??? Maybe its because like you I do more of the 'pure' style clicker training, that most of the dogs I deal with are pretty damn nervous and lacking in confidence - so the last thing I want to do is give strong negative feedback.... Indeed the only confident dog I've worked with that I even considered it for would have seen even a NRM as an attention reward! I do my sessions differently too, I'm not comfortable with giving people an intense couple of hours then letting them get on with it. I do shorter initial sessions about an hour face to face (after phone calls and vet consent/history) and then at least one or two follow-ups, and for reactivity/lack of confidence conditions I then move them into classes to practice more real-life behaviours. So I'm actively trying to change the way they interact with their dog and communicate - my experience is people are very very keen to give negative feedback and get carried away with it. Even when training a leave command its hard to keep voices happy and light! So I don't want to encourage the old mentality of correcting the negative - so we usually use witholding the reward and nothing more... So its still negative punishment BUT seems to have less impact on the dog (but still enough) and makes the owner focus on what was motivating the dog rather than a magic correction word... Am rambling now so will stop! PS I don't actually think NRM are the devil's work etc, just not sure needed or helpful when changing the owner's perspective?

ace David Ryan seminars, some differences of opinion but what's new! And finally met the utterly lovely Kelly-Khanu and Khanu himself

Hey folks, just looking to see what other experiences are really - one of the rescues local to me that I do a fair bit of rehab work with has a new policy to follow. Just to make it absolutely clear this has been introduced by a head office type place, the local staff are very unhappy about it and feel it doesn't help the dogs or their work. Basically, every time a dog is surrendered/taken in as a stray etc the staff have to fill out a questionnaire which includes the (ridiculous) list of 'type' characteristics. If the dog is deemed to have any ONE of these, the police must be informed and a 'trained' officer will assess the dog. If dog is felt to be of type, the dog will then be destroyed. I'm trying to find out if this is a national policy in any sense, if any other rescues/branches of rescues have been asked to do this and their experiences. Is it in fact a legal requirement??? Many thanks Mog

hugs to those that need them Am going home soon to return lots of calls about dog training, snuggle the puppies and drink a big mug of tea - not so much random as mindless mundane facts!

woot! We're hoping to hit Manchester on Saturday or Sunday if you're around and up for a walk?

Hello my lovely - sorry we won't be coming your way this time but hopefully on another trip

*nom* brown bread with spread, sage and onion slice and sweetcorn

The mog dogs and Mog (and Sam) are currently on a holiday type expedition in the South of Englandshire We're staying in the New Forest at the moment (Lyndhurst) but going over to Cornwall for a couple of days then heading to Bristol, possibly Wales'ish and home via Manchester sort of. You can see its not terribly well planned...but if anyone is on our route and would like to say hello, meet the MogDogs and/or go for a walk please shout!

Squeeeeeeeeee Happy Gotcha Day gorjuss boy - sooo pleased to see he's as bootiful as ever and still with his mum

Tramadol is an opiate based pain killer - so has pain relieving and anti-anxiety effects but it absolutely is physical dependency forming and animals and humans can experience withdrawal symptoms There is debate around how much it can cause psychological dependency, but certainly to some extent, depends on the dosage etc. Obviously for Bendolina its just a case of weighing up all the options, but its certainly one reason why its not a first option drug... Some info from Wikipedia

Morning :waves: time for breakfast I think! RMF: I have found one pair of glasses at last *yay*, had lost both pairs!

Looks pretty good, but not sure if we need a newbie section? If only because none of the areas are so busy that we'd lose sight of new posters?

RMpiggieF: Willow and McVitie Pig prefer to stay outside even when its raining so long as they have a cover over the run

Hey - I've been at a big national exhibition teaching remedial myofascial release for TMJ problems beside someone doing Hawaiian Lomi Lomi massage and round the corner from the Chinese man who massaged you using his breath...What I'm saying is that if you look for someone who offers remedial work, decent training and experience you'll do okay. The Galen thing is, IMHO, a nice piece of marketing. They seem to be pretty good, but its still massage therapy Shame I'm not any closer...though in all seriousness we might be coming past you in a week or so??

I'm going to the weekend at Bishop Burton in September!

Fantastic to hear about bodywork helping so many dogs! I certainly don't want this to come across as sour grapes, but Myotherapy and Galen therapy are basically different names for massage therapy and bodywork. There are more people practising this than you might realise, and a good massage therapist is the same thing. Just to bear in mind when looking for local practitioners. Bodywork comes in all flavours

The APDT and APBC are some of the organisations involved with this, and the idea is to work towards better self-regulation and possibly even protection of title at some stage....I'm quietly hopeful!

hmmm I used to be a fairly frequent poster in lots of the areas, but to be honest I really dislike the very subdivided broken up feeling, as in for T&B and dog activities there is a million little sub-boards? and a whole area for newbies....which I never remember to visit anyway? Personally I get quite frustrated with it all (and hence why I rarely manage to post on the Wiccs boards either), and the techy problems did mean that the few minutes I had to come on I then gave up! I would like (in a perfect world) *fewer sub forums *return to clear welfare focus *easier to read training/advice sections as even though I'm busy I do manage to go on some networking places, so would be happy to make an effort and post more?