What's making you happy today?

[orthodoc]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

You know, it's a good thing Canucks aren't aggressive or the US would be in deep shit.

That makes me think of the scene in Canadian Bacon where the Canadians are all getting pushed around, knocked down the hill etc., and they're calling out, "Sorry! So sorry, old chap! Excuse me for being in the way!"

Of course it's a fallacy that Canadians are unusually polite; just take in a hockey game to see the true Canuck personality. We all play hockey, growing up. It's required.

[Griff]

Maybe not happy but a small bit hopeful, for the time being, a couple kids will not be living with a belt wielding Dad or a beyond neglectful Mom whose friends use children for God only knows... tiny tiny hope

[infinite monkey]

Griff, you're an angel, you know? The things you see and deal with must break your heart sometimes. You're needed, and you make a difference. I admire that.

For me, kind of happy though I know it can be fleeting if I don't watch it: I really like my therapist. She gives me great advice on how to keep going with the skills i've been working on since the bin. It can be hard to remember to stop and think before my anxiety elevates to an unmanageable and inordinate level. It's a learned skill, and one not learned quickly or easily. It takes diligence. So I can't beat myself up when I slip, I just keep working on putting things into perspective.

She just really gets at the bottom line gist of things, or gets me to do that. I have lucked out on the therapist lottery.

[Aliantha]

Of course, it's actually Max lying on Cleo, but so cute. I took this pic a week or so ago, but was just looking at it, and realised I had a big smile on my face.

[Griff]

Now I have a grin on!

[Aliantha]

He lays on her like that all the time, or sometimes he lays on the tiles and just uses her for a pillow and Sally, our mini foxy lies on Max. I don't know what that kid would do without his puppy dogs. He usually feeds them now too, which is great.

Pets are an essential part of childhood imo. Sometimes I've thought that our increasing urbanisation away from rural roots and general animal husbandry is half the problem with kids today. Some kids have never had a pet! I just can't envision a home without animal members in the family. As much as they can be very annoying at times (similar to teenagers really), you still love them.

[DanaC]

Beautiful! Kids and Dogs, go together like Ice and Cream.

What's making me happy today:

A birthday card from Sundae It is totally awesome. I'll take pics later and post. But it really put a huge smile on my face.

Ta muchly mate



[eta] hahahahahha I just read the back of the card - 'A Cherry and Diz Perduction' nicely done.

[Sundae]

Glad it arrived in polenta of time and glad you like it
I thought about it for Christmas for you & Limey, but as you know things were tricky then.

Figured it wouldn't hurt to be reminded of our trips whatever the time of year!

[DanaC]

It's wonderful

Christmasteers!

[Trilby]

Sundae is a member of two very exclusive and important groups:

The Christmasteers and the Strawberry Festival Queens.

Nice work, Sundae.

[BigV]

Originally Posted by Griff

Maybe not happy but a small bit hopeful, for the time being, a couple kids will not be living with a belt wielding Dad or a beyond neglectful Mom whose friends use children for God only knows... tiny tiny hope

Is there such a thing as mandated reporters in your area Griff? Are you one?

[BigV]

@i.m. Very good news about your success with your therapist. That is such good news!

@ali I love that picture. You're right, teenagers are wonderful yet challenging pets. I think all parents should give their kids a chance at such an important experience. Wonderful, wonderful photo. Thanks.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Aliantha

Pets are an essential part of childhood imo. Sometimes I've thought that our increasing urbanisation away from rural roots and general animal husbandry is half the problem with kids today. Some kids have never had a pet! I just can't envision a home without animal members in the family.

Couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately alongside our increased urbanisation in general terms, there's a growing tendency not to allow kids to learn about animals and animal handling.

Example: our vet was telling us about a dog that was brought in to be put to sleep. Because, as the owner said, it had 'bitten' their youngest kiddie.

There are different kinds of bites. This was a nip. When asked if it had drawn blood, they said, yes....then no...not really. It had slightly broken the skin.

When asked what the child was doing at the time they said 'climbing in the dog's bed with the dog'.

So, a dog whose only private space in a house with three kids is his bed, has nipped at one of the children to tell it to go away.

Had the dog growled before this? yes...apparently it had growled at the child several times whilst she was clambering about in it's bed, and the adults hadn't intervened.

In their opinion that dog should never have nipped and should accept young children climbing on it whenever the fancy strikes them, regardless of whether said dog is trying to sleep, and regardless of the fact that it had gone to its one private refuge.

Not only were they not taking into account the dog's needs in this equation, but they also lost a great opportunity for the child to learn how to safely interact with dogs.

Time and again, I hear of cases like this. Where a family dog is given up because it has given a warning nip. How else is a dog supposed to communicate its needs, when its initial growls are ignored? How else is it supposed to teach the child where its boundaries are?

I'm not suggesting that a dog be allowed to savage a kid, but come on...that was a good dog, a well-mannered dog, teaching the youngling in exactly the way it would do a puppy: a harmless little nip when all other warnings have been ignored.

Another case involved a similar incident of a family dog nipping a kiddie...why? Because kiddie had stuck her fingers into the dog's feeding bowl whilst it was eating.

Pisses me off.

[Griff]

Originally Posted by BigV

Is there such a thing as mandated reporters in your area Griff? Are you one?

Yes. Yes.

[Aliantha]

Originally Posted by DanaC

Couldn't agree more.

Unfortunately alongside our increased urbanisation in general terms, there's a growing tendency not to allow kids to learn about animals and animal handling.

Example: our vet was telling us about a dog that was brought in to be put to sleep. Because, as the owner said, it had 'bitten' their youngest kiddie.

There are different kinds of bites. This was a nip. When asked if it had drawn blood, they said, yes....then no...not really. It had slightly broken the skin.

When asked what the child was doing at the time they said 'climbing in the dog's bed with the dog'.

So, a dog whose only private space in a house with three kids is his bed, has nipped at one of the children to tell it to go away.

Had the dog growled before this? yes...apparently it had growled at the child several times whilst she was clambering about in it's bed, and the adults hadn't intervened.

In their opinion that dog should never have nipped and should accept young children climbing on it whenever the fancy strikes them, regardless of whether said dog is trying to sleep, and regardless of the fact that it had gone to its one private refuge.

Not only were they not taking into account the dog's needs in this equation, but they also lost a great opportunity for the child to learn how to safely interact with dogs.

Time and again, I hear of cases like this. Where a family dog is given up because it has given a warning nip. How else is a dog supposed to communicate its needs, when its initial growls are ignored? How else is it supposed to teach the child where its boundaries are?

I'm not suggesting that a dog be allowed to savage a kid, but come on...that was a good dog, a well-mannered dog, teaching the youngling in exactly the way it would do a puppy: a harmless little nip when all other warnings have been ignored.

Another case involved a similar incident of a family dog nipping a kiddie...why? Because kiddie had stuck her fingers into the dog's feeding bowl whilst it was eating.

Pisses me off.

Some people shouldn't have kids OR dogs I guess. That's probably a bit harsh, but it gets back to my point before about people getting so far away from their rural roots that they've got no idea about how to deal with animals, so they make wrong choices.

Sally snaps at Max occasionally. Mostly because she's an old dog now and sometimes just wants to lay in the sun rather than be dragged around the yard on a lead or carted around in a kids wheel barrow or something similar. Most of the time she's up for anything, but every now and then she just can't be arsed. It's taken Max some time to learn that if she doesn't respond the first time, she's probably not keen.

One thing I will say though. If a dog is possessive of its food, it's needs some retraining. Our dogs snap at each other over food from time to time, but they know very well that any human is superior and therefore they must submit as far as food is concerned. I wont tolerate snapping or growling at humans over food. I think that's the good thing about getting a dog as a puppy. I know with Cleo, Max used to practically sit in her bowl while she was eating, so she got used to human interaction at meal times. I've also, always put food down and taken it away during the course of the meal so the dog knows that it could happen at any time and it will just have to wait patiently till the food is down again. Cleo is at the stage now where she wont touch her food till you've taken a few steps back and given her a nod, just to be sure it's ok.

She's a beautiful dog though. We've been very lucky with our doggy pets really. We've never had any issues at all, except for Cleo jumping the fence at other dogs. She has built in springs i think. Anyway, she's safe an secure now, so it's all good.