purple_mog

afternoon all am working at home but its going okay and the day did start with collie snuggles and a Lush bath Me and the dogs are going to meet a training next week - in Leeds admittedly but sounds really really good - fingers crossed we've found someone to help Finn hope everyone is having an exciting weekend?

*grins* see now the thing is I am was planning to make my career in acdemia and health services/complementary medicine research at least part time. And I think I still want to, its just the phd ing bit thats the tricky thing - in fact its mostly the supervisor who my signature is entirely devoted to erm - will OLG actually explode soon? Is there another level of fugee addict for the rest of us to aspire to???

think I may be drowning Says it all really. Partly from overload of work, other stresses with doglets, and partly from a sense of stupidity. This week I have relearned about Cronbachs alpha, confirmatory factor analysis and a bunch of other stuff. I have also learned for the first time about multi-trait multi-method analysis and multi-level models. But not enough to understand if I should be planning to use them in my protocol. And my brain hurts - so much of the basic stats simply doesn't stick - like what a standard deviation is and why its important for frak's sake. So largely I feel pretty dumb. And I don't want this much responsability. And I'd like for life to go a little more smoothly, I really would. Currently I have no confirmed sources of participants for my PhD studies, and a bunch of not finished literature reviews that I have no time to go back to but worry I have missed something crucial. I'll be on holiday in a week's time up north with my dogs and my mum. Which will be great but I'm starting to feel as though I really need some actual time to myself with out anything/anyone else. Guess I'll just have to compromise then! I *think* I'm coping okay so no worrying please. Just conscious that I would like it to be a teensy bit easier.

good morning all, Finn had a lovely day yesterday at the vet for acupuncture and meeting Janet in Leeds for TTouch - now I need some treatment for myself! very busy at mo so sorry for being absent. in the meantime you can buy second hand books here for donations to Wiccaweys Second Hand Books!!!

morning all so far I have - slept in till 7am, sheer bliss! - cooked Cullen Skink for lunch, set table, washed glasses and cut bread - cooked a ham for next week - loaded dishwasher - poo picked and fed dogs - drunk several coffees and now am getting on with sorting out my business accounts *sigh* so much for a quiet weekend without the OH

Oh my I always forget quite how handsome Jacko is and then you post photos like that and Some day I really have to meet that gorgeous lad, there's something about collies with squinty faces that just makes me melt much chirpier now

morning fugee peeps hope Anne can find a way to skive off work! Today is a good day because there have been no jets yet so both dogs are happily crashed out after their walk and breakfast. Today is a bad day because I HAVE to sweep downstairs (muddy wet dogs for 2 days and its manky), then I have to try and come up with backup plan z for my job and PhD as yet more obstacles have appeared thanks to my crappy boss and now ex-supervisor. Who is on holiday for 2 weeks. Currently it feels like I no sooner have a solution and settled down to work at it than another brick wall shows up in my face - life doesn't normally do this... anyway - hope everyone had a good sleep, and any more pics of collies in snow or puppies is all good!

hello fugeees, we're back from the vets in Leeds - Finn has new remedies, has been punctured in many places and tried to pull the needles out himself, and Farah tried sniffing the acupuncture needles coz she felt left out We have a bit of a plan for Finn and feeling more hopeful since he's actually crashed out asleep right now. Its been pretty rough the last few weeks and for the first time caught myself wondering if we're doing the right thing for him. RMF Farah is yipping quietly in her sleep, awwwwww

Hey there! hmmmmm well fingers crossed it doesn't stretch to furniture. I'll have a think about different chewy things we can try this weekend and maybe try TTouch on her mouth - although it seems to be a fun thing rather than a "need" to chew???

thanks guys! its nice to know you're around at least. If you can find out what that remedy is it would be great Nat.

I think that sounds great - maybe you could fit a little nap in later on? On a totally different RMF - anyone with 2mins to spare please read my threads in T&B - looking for some good ideas please

yup - me again, two dogs so each gets their own special post Finn (estimated 5year old neutered BC with some issues from previous life, been with me about 2 and a half years now) has a number of ongoing challenges, the biggy right now being sound sensitivity. Previously we discovered he was reactive to thunder, lightening, loud rain, bangs of any kind and sound of footballs being kicked. We worked on the thunder and fireworks etc very successfully with desensitisation and reconditioning. Long story but a variety of things happening all at once resulted in a resurgence of the thunder fears and these spread over onto low flying jets which we get multiple times every day here in York. His coping strategies for any noise stress are: panting pacing repetitively obsessive checking of the house if lying still being super alert including not sleeping much when bad If closed out of rooms he will jump to open them repeatedly damaging the frame etc If closed into a couple of rooms he has chewed part of the door frame, door, plaster and steel corner, on another occaison a large part of a wooden door and carpet We have not had success with desensitisation to the thunder this time, I suspect because the fear has generalised so widely. We are trying: - homeopathy with a fab vet - acupuncture and acupressure with same vet and treatment at home from me - other energy therapies for both him and me - rescue remedy in water - TTouch bands and wraps - TTouch, also hoping to see another practitioner in a week or so - food to distract including raw bones etc (can't focus for long enough to eat kongs, difficult to give good bones since I can't close him into rooms suitable for bloody mess of bones) - training to distract and reset - sometimes works but not long term and obviously still distressed when I'm not there - talking to vet about melatonin We are due back to the vet this Wednesday coming after a particularly awful weekend to talk over our options and if you guys can suggest anything else I would be incredibly grateful. And even if you don't knowing that I've asked helps me too! Aside from the fact that he is obviously distressed for a large part of most days (and we have been working with this issue for about 6-7 months now) it also has a knockon effect to his back/leg pain (no known pathology) and his reactivity to people and dogs. Mog xxx

Farah is a gorgeous 1 year old deaf double merle collie girlie, spayed and with no known health problems. She is little of course but has really gotten the hang of toilet training (thanks Annac and Patch for talking me through it!) And she loves to chew. No problem in this house since Finn has an abundance of toys, they're fed from kongs and activity balls regularly and get raw bones too. But - she is chewing lots of other things when I'm not at home. I *think* its because she darn nosey and curious and loves different mouthfeels. It doesn't seem to be anxiety related and occurs whether I go out for 1 hour or 4 hours. But not all the time! What I do at the moment: 1. make sure she's had a play or long walk and had time to calm down before I leave 2. leave her with plenty of her own chewy toys and usually an activity kong (jumping jack) with frozen liver or cheese spread on it 3. try not to leave appealing things around. What I can't do: 1. not leave her at all (job etc) 2. crate her - Finn won't stay in her sight and she gets quite panicky 3. close her in one room - she's absolutely fine with it but Finn will literally chew the doorframe off (see other thread!) and Finn can open doors 4. spray anti-chew on the things - most of them haven't been very sprayable She doesn't chew when I'm at home except on allowed items but is quite destructive with soft toys etc - should we stop that? Also she plays mouthing games with my OH but under controlled circumstances. I'm planning some DIY to try and remove the last accessible items in the bedroom out of her reach but am a little concerned she may just turn to the furniture which so far has been safe! Any suggestions very welcome - I have considered some kind of gum shield with a nice texture, sort of like permanent chewing gum

*sneaks in* hello things are not going so well right now but hopefully will get better in the next week or so. Finn is having a rough time with the thunder and kids kicking footballs around, pretty constant stress for him Back to vets next week and have new remedy this week to try. Having serious conversations about where we go from here. Farah is a happy girlie of course and signed up for training club in October (earliest we could get in) Mum is in hospital, OH caught without insurance at weekend (company seem to have cancelled our policy!! still investigating) and not currently sure whats going on with my research job, if my PhD will happen at all. Oh, and I have my period *sigh* I am slowly catching up and its nice to have the Refuge to browse on even if I never actually post!

We have tried those kinds of mid-chase recall training with some success. two additional challenges 1. there is no helpful person to train with, OH is totally unreliable about when he will come out and help etc 2. Finn really goes for the ball unless told to do a wait first and belts to the end of the long lead - this hurts me and may hurt him as we feel he has some sort of muscular back problem. I'm really not trying to be difficult I promise! I'd like to have a way of teaching a mid-chase recall that encourages him to think without the physical barrier if that makes sense, and only requires me.....

hmmmm - ok - maybe we could practice going to the park when its busier and keep him on long lead? What I'm pondering if that this just keeps him would up but focused on me - rather than learning not to chase other people's balls (!) so if I need to have him on a short lead say we still have a problem?

hey you I think my OH is going to paintball on Sunday so will be free but no car - if you want to come over to visit with children/dogs whatever and/or I can have a look at your knee? Mog, and the FarahFinn

So - I have collies and they love balls, toys, anything that moves Actually I worked really hard to get Finn so interested as it was one way of keeping him focused on me and coping with the world. He would rather retrieve a toy to me than pretty much anything else including chasing other dogs... Until recently he was not able to be offlead much with other strange dogs etc in the park and so on - we've been doing it more over the past few months but a recurring challenge is what happens when someone else has a ball/toy and is throwing it. Given half a chance Finn will flee over, nick it and bring it back to me Of course that isn't always going to go down too well, and if I've put him back on lead he's very strong (24kilos of straining collie) and we have to at least get out of sight or leave the park. So - any suggestions to encourage the toy focus only when its me throwing it given that I don't have anyone else reliable to train with? (OH is a bit useless) Hi self control is okayish - he can sit and wait while I throw a toy, give eye contact, do tricks, recall away from the toy IF he's done a sit/down wait but if you just throw the toy there's little chance of him hearing you!

hey there I've not been sure whether to post or not, in case I confuse things really! But when Finn was at the same stage as Ty and I was stressing about it over the phone to raceylacey, she gave me some really helpful suggestions. I'd felt that I had to keep pushing him to avoid the habits forming and it becoming easier for him to refuse walks etc. But he did have good days where he would be more relaxed about going outside. She suggested that I quit worrying about him getting enough exercise, and focusing on getting out for walks and just work with what we could. So all I did in the morning was get us ready for a walk, go to the door and assess Finn's reactions. If he seemed very stressed then I gave him a tasty treat at the door and we went back inside. If he was okay ish then we did a short walk round the block or maybe a wander round the car (he was car phobic too) with loads of food and praise. If he was having a good day we went on a longer walk but I was always careful of not pushing our luck. What we found was that slowly the okayish days came more often, and then the good days until now we only have less good days and he's positively thrilled to be going out for a walk. I know its terrible anthropomorphic or whatever that word is, but it felt like when he trusted me not to push his boundaries he could relax, and then I pushed a little - he was okay so we could do a little more. But in a sense he was in charge because if he started to stress I had to pick up on that asap and try to relax him. not sure if that ramble was clear? best of luck anyway! Mog Finn & Farah

Farah photos and videos are in dog chat now I hope. Just realised we haven't taken nearly enough and forgot the camera on holiday so no pics of her first visit to the beach

afternoon all much work related stressing going on in the world of purplemogness recently but Farah girlie is a wee lifesaver. Finn is a very stressed bunny at the moment too but Farah just never stops smiling - everything is always okay for her Just took a 3 hour nap for first time ever to try and shift a migraine headache thing and she came up with me and slept with her nose tucked into the back of my neck gotta love my dogs. Now if I could just fire my boss life would be doing pretty well.....

morning all have posted ramblings in doggie chat....

Hey 'fugee peeps so its been actual months since I last posted and there's not a hope in hell of summarising everything that has happened. Been trying for days and keep giving it up as a bad job! It is 8.20 am and I have now been up since 5am. 4 dogs have been walked for an hour, a garden has been watered and tended to, and 4 dogs have been fed. *yawn* I'm house sitting for my folks in case anyone thinks I've gone totally mad and now have four dogs Today I am working on a draft PhD chapter and attempting to gently poke my supervisor with a sharp stick (from Scotland) in an effort to get him to send me the draft of our pilot trial. In theory he wants the ethics forms in for 21st June HA! I need to write the consent and info sheets but can't do that without intervention details.....*tapping foot for last 2 weeks* Anyway, aside from the fact I am working instead of being on holiday at least its in a different place and I have a view down the loch from the office door. will try and catch up on all the happenings now! Mog

hrmmmm I seem to have fleas. bugger

afternoon all very tiring weekend, have accomplished lots but trying to put off doing actual work work just now. Had very very successful trip into York with OH and the dogs yesterday (brag in T&B) and I think OH is really taken with little Farah - he walks her with us and everything!!! Finn is hiding upstairs because everyones grandkids are playing football in the gardens. Farah is sticking her head through the fence to be stroked by everyone....