♀Ünicandy♀ - There goes my Heart

I was in an arcade and this old woman was playing like a crane machine but instead of picking toys up, the arm was basically pushing the toys down a hole - she was constantly winning and I was waiting for my go and getting fed up with waiting but then there was two kids playing and I couldnt get on it. The arcade was closing, so I was helping them put the toys in bags and cardboard boxes - I think I knew the kids? Some of the toys were really good, like big cuddlys, unicorns and pandas, but others were awful, like broken castles and action figures missing limbs, just pure rubbish really. Then I was wandering around outside and needed to phone my girlfriend - I knew her phone number off by heart but everytime I pressed a number, it turned into a different one and the numbers kept moving around everytime I tried to dial? I was getting really frustrated as I had to keep clearing the number and redialling, but although I knew it in my head, I just couldnt dial it?! I knew I had to catch the last train so was trying to run with one of my old school friends to the station, although I was already at a different station, and her brother and sister kept calling, giving us a countdown in seconds as to how long we had to get there! The phone was working fine when we were talking to them just not when I was trying to dial?! There was something about a summer camp as well, I vaguely remember trying to sort out kids meals by going to the salad bar and putting stuff in the boxes but I kept leaving them half full and accidently leaving them on the salad bar and starting a new one? I was really annoyed that I couldnt call my girlfriend and keep making huge cups of coffee! Im still really frustrated that I couldnt use the phone! The numbers werent just jumping around, they were changing into letters too. So - thoughts?!

I have a hardcover, excellent condition book by Charles R Gibson entitled "Stories of Great Scientists", printed in 1921. I have searched throughout the interent and can only find later editions from 1926 onwards in which the title has changed slightly and cannot find the edition I have at all. The later editions are valued anywhere from 40usd to 171usd. I have no idea how to gather a valuation for the edition I have as it is proving impossible to find! Can anyone help please? The illustrations are still very bright, there are no missing pages and the spine/binding is all complete with hardly any foxing.

I’m taking my girlfriend to Florence for 3 nights in February – I have flights booked but am still looking at different hotels to stay at. We are on quite a tight budget so ideally need somewhere cheap (Ive found quite a few that are under £30 a night) but I really don’t know what area I should be looking at in order to be able to reach museums and things quite easily? Preferably within walking distance, at least. Shes not been taken away for a weekend before and hasn’t been to Europe other than a school trip in her teens so Im not really looking at hostels and would really like something quite traditionally Italian as shes into old buildings and (secretly) Im a bit of a romantic at heart! She doesn’t know where we are going so I really want to get it right for her! Can anyone recommend what area I should be looking at (San Marco, Central Florence etc) or recommend anywhere to stay? Also, if you have any suggestions for places to visit, eat etc I’d appreciate it! Ive spent days reading through guides on the internet but I think personal experience would help me out here! As a side note, we are a gay female couple 28 and 31, not really into clubbing but a nice quiet bar would be nice!

Thanks in advance!

I’m taking my girlfriend to Florence for 3 nights in February – I have flights booked but am still looking at different hotels to stay at. We are on quite a tight budget so ideally need somewhere cheap (Ive found quite a few that are under £30 a night) but I really don’t know what area I should be looking at in order to be able to reach museums and things quite easily? Preferably within walking distance, at least. Shes not been taken away for a weekend before and hasn’t been to Europe other than a school trip in her teens so Im not really looking at hostels and would really like something quite traditionally Italian as shes into old buildings and (secretly) Im a bit of a romantic at heart! She doesn’t know where we are going so I really want to get it right for her! Can anyone recommend what area I should be looking at (San Marco, Central Florence etc) or recommend anywhere to stay? Also, if you have any suggestions for places to visit, eat etc I’d appreciate it! Ive spent days reading through guides on the internet but I think personal experience would help me out here! As a side note, we are a gay female couple 28 and 31, not really into clubbing but a nice quiet bar would be nice!

Thanks in advance!

Hi all

Been such a long time since Ive been around here! Im turning to here because I know quite a few of you will probably be quite knowledgeable on this! Im currently in the process of taking on a female 13yr old WHWT with Chronic Kidney Failure. She is having a second opinion today at the specialists to see just how advance it is but at the moment its not looking too good. Ive been talking to the vet who is quite progressive in his thinking regarding diet and treatments etc (he actively supports me in raw feeding and is always open to new treatment ideas for my other westie) and he suggested that although her life expectancy is not looking too hot at the moment, it might be worth trying some herbal remedies as well as the specialised diet. Has anybody looked into this before and can recommend anything? I know there are companies out there that have specific remedies already made up – but they are almost £130 for 75mls and obviously they don’t list whats in them! I know that nettles can help with reducing waste products in the system and Aloe Vera should reduce her vomiting – anyone else a bit more clued up than me in this area?!

Thanks in advance…

Theres a discussion ongoing on Facebook at the moment regarding shock collars

http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/PetSafeUK/3201837...

Which side would you stand on? Personally, I dont see them as cruel at all, if used properly, but I do see them as a cop-out sometimes for some people to avoid the issue of training their dog. I understand that in those cases, they could be used in the wrong ways but Ive had these collars on my wrist and been shocked to the hilt and wouldnt consider it to be "electrocuting" the dog.

I know I'm going to get the little "I luv dogs and you shouldnt abuse them!" brigade out here but I was just wondering about adult opinions? Ive been away for a while, so this may be discussed regularly - so apologies if so!

Would you ever use a shock collar? In what circumstances?

TOPIC FAIL - Sports > Wrestling

The background on this dog in particular is quite complicated but I'm really only looking for opinions on what route a particular behaviourist is going down with him.

I currently live with a male, neutered, 18mnth old mutt who has been acting slightly out of character for the past month or so. We had an issue with him biting a housemate when challenged over the sofa and generally being a bit "edgy" with people - even people he knows. He very much would like to control situations himself, but doesnt do it in a fantastic way at all. The behaviourist that came out to the house has basically said that what he believes to be happening is that the dog puts himself into situations that he doesnt know how to deal with and so "fights" instead of removing himself from the situation.

As an example - someone that knows the dog fairly well since he was a pup came over for dinner. The dog was on one side of the room, she was sitting on an armchair. She called his name and patted her side - he ran over, tail wagging, relaxed body language, giggly behaviour - then on reaching the person, his whole demeanor changed and he leapt at her, growling and attempted to grab her. The situation was controlled, he was removed, all (thankfully) was fine. It does seem to fit what this behaviourist is saying - that he wanted to say hi, got there, realised he had put himself in a situation he wasnt comfortable with and so went into "fight" mode.

What would be YOUR way of dealing with this?

I have my own views and opinions on this whole situation at the moment and obviously I have the whole background of the dog etc but I'm just wondering what your opinion would be if you were just presented with this information alone?

Just for fun - is there anything your dog does in particular that makes you think he/she is a bit "routine obsessed"?!

For example, my boy will ONLY go up and down stairs on the left hand side. At train stations, we wait for everyone else to do the stairs if we cannot get to that side, else he cuts everyone up by walking sideways until he reaches the left side!

He will only sleep in a certain spot of the bed - we blocked his way one night and he proceeded to climb up to our heads, foaming and panting and generally hyperventilating - which was actually quite scary with his little heart racing!

To use his dogs steps, he goes up once, turns around at the top, goes back down to the floor and performs the same routine at least 4 times before taking a big leap from the top step.

Whenever we change the furniture around, he refuses to enter the room and stands in the doorway doing "silent whines" - like whinging, except its just his breath you can hear. After he realises you are ignoring him, he will creep past whatever it is that has moved very slowly and almost like he is crawling!

I know these are just "quirks" of his and it makes us laugh, so Im really not bothered - but do any of your guys have any idiocrasies that make you believe they have slight OCD too?!

Ok, this may sound a little ignorant and I'm going to apologise for that first! With the whole Pet Passport system now, you just need bloods and such done and there's no need for 6 months quarantine right? Before this was introduced, how did you guys (as in handlers/showing dogs) go about attending international shows? Like, say you live in America and you are attending Crufts. Was there a special exemption for the show dog, or did the dog still have to do 6 months quarantine? To me, that works out that the dog would do the show, be put in quarantine on return, then quarantined for the next show etc and would spend more time in quarantine than in the home?

I may be sounding really stupid here and have it all @$$-backwards but I'd appreciate someone clearing it up for me!!

This is driving me mad!

Recently (well, the past two years, I'd say!) I watched a kind-of sketch show in which one of the regular slots was a Taxi/cab driver in London just generally chatting as he drove. The most hilarious sketch I watched was where a car was trying to overtake him, right on his bumper, flashing lights etc and he just kept really cool, talking about what an idiot he was. Something like "Yeah, I see your lights, very flashy, expect me to just jump out the way...no, I stick to my speed limit...." and finally the car overtakes him. As he goes past he's like "ooh, look there you go and you're past......just as we both reach a red light! Didn't get you very far did it?"

Now it doesn't sound funny as I cant remember it exactly - but I do remember crying with laughter at this guy - but I cant remember which show it was or how to find the clip!! I've searched YouTube with all sorts of criteria but am coming up blank!

Does anyone have a clue what I'm on about?!

English TV by the way.

I've worked my way through these authors books one by one - with the exception of about 3 that Im waiting for my library to have on the shelf.

Are there any other similar authors out there, or, based on these authors books, any books you would recommend to me?

I've read all Martina Cole's so please don't recommend her!

I'm not into vampire romance either thank you. Read the Twilight series already and have no urge to find other similar books!

I found this amusing test online for Potential Puppy Owners (hereby known as PPO's!) Imagine if this truly were the test you had to take before even considering what breed would most suit you! I could see it putting plenty of people off certain breeds, especially if they were only considering physical features!

Personally, I can think of one owner in my area that should have tried this one "PPO must hold his ground with 10 Jack Russels chasing an animal they perceive as prey. PPO must hold his leashes and not move more than 6 inches. No corrections may be issued, but PPO is

welcome to try to distract them" before proceeding to get two JRT's from the same litter!!

http://www.arllaidekennels.co.uk/potenti%E2%80%A6

Happy Tuesday Dog Section!

Suggested Category - Science & Mathematics > Mathematics !

Years ago, I read a letter somewhere on the web about a dog that had died. I believe it was possibly a Red Setter? It was about two pages long, with instructions for "God" on how to look after the dog. It said to provide him with lots of children to play with and something about "Pat his head often each day to ensure his brain doesnt grow out of his head"?!

I've tried searching for the letter as a lot of it reminded me of my own dog - but all I seem to find is a letter written by a little girl to Heaven that someone sends a reply back to. Does anyone else know the letter I'm talking about and where to find it?! I've tried every search combination of words etc, to no avail.

Ive been trying to explain to some people on here that "dominance" (which seems to be a popular explantion for just plain bad behaviour/training at the moment!) does not always equal "aggression". Everytime I read a question posted on here about "My dog jumps on me/steals food/rags my jeans etc" I could bet my house that at least 2 other people will claim the dog is "dominant" and advise "being a leader - alpha roll, pin the dog etc". Finally, Ive found a quote from an "academic"(!) that may explain in Laymans Terms, what Ive been trying to get across -

"The blanket assumption that every dog is motivated by some inate desire to control people and other dogs is frankly ridiculous. It hugely underestimates the complex communicative and learning abilities of dogs. It also leads to the use of coercive training techniques, which comprimises welfare, and actuall causes problem behaviours".

She also goes on to say "Instructing owners to eat before their dog or go through doors first will not influence the dogs overall perception of the relationship and merely teach what to expect in those situations. Much worse, techniques such as pinning, grabbing jowls, blasting hooters will make the dog anxious, often about their owner, and potentially lead to an escalation of aggression".

When will people stop believeing everything they see on a TV entertainment show and instead learn to TRAIN their dogs themselves? When will people see that "Dominance" is not always a bad thing? Nor that it means their dog is "aggressive"? And also that their dog is just spoilt and untrained, not what they perceive as "dominant" and just needs training!! Right? or Wrong?

A lot of answers I read that really slate "shelter" or rescue workers as "imbeciles" or "not knowing the difference between a Lab or a Parsons", tend to be from people residing "overseas" (I'm from the UK).

Now the place that I work at is by no-means "Animal rightist", nor does it employ "imbeciles". In fact, many of the workers here compete with their own dogs in conformation and we also have the odd breeder who does part time with us. We all participate in some kind of dog-related activity outside of our work. Each and everyone of our workers has intensive training in behaviour and dog psychology and we often have behaviourists over and on site to train staff. Although I dont agree with ALL the trainers, we've had numerous through here that give world-wide seminars and are well-respected.

At any one time, we can have upto 400 dogs on site, both strays and relinquished - so this is no small-town "shelter" that can afford all this. Its what the staff are interested in and so the employer presents those opportunities for us to continue learning.

Is this a big difference from US shelters? Is it only volunteers who work US shelters and dont really have much dog experience? It saddens me to think that all rescues and shelters are tarred by the same brush. Surely they must have qualifications or equivalent to work at the shelters to begin with? Or is that not the case? I would think its dangerous to have people work with strays etc that dont really have a clue, right?

My girlfriend has gone in for an operation on her right arm/wrist today. She will have a lot of sitting around to do to recover and we have recently got a wii. Can you recommend any games that I could get for that dont really involve whipping her wrist around with the controller? More point/shoot with the contorller and "flick" or direction moving with the nunchunk (as that would be her left hand and thats ok!)?

We recently played POTC - Worlds End and shes disappointed she wount be able to play it when she gets out due to the sword fighting. Those kind of games she likes though.

As some of you know, our "middle" dog died just over a week ago, leaving our old mongrel on her own in the family home. Over the past week, everytime she lays down, whether she is asleep or not, she is wetting. Her behaviour in every other sense is completely normal, to the point where we were joking that she hadn't even noticed the other dog had gone.

At some times it is just "spotting" but I went for a BBQ at my parents on Saturday and she lay under my chair and left a big pool. When she stood up, it was dripping from her.

She's been to the vets, her kidneys etc are fine and the only thing we can link it to now that has been ruled out, is the loss of the other dog. It has NEVER happened before, I know she is gettin old (14 1/2yrs) but it only started two days after he died. The redecoration of the living room was completed that week also, so could it be due to the change in the household/stress possibly? I'm coming up with nothing else, if medically she is ok? What would you think?

I'm not sure why my question from earlier was removed?! Sorry for those that already answered!

For the past few months, Spencer had been ill on and off and been to the vets etc who said he had a bit of a tummy bug, gave some antibiotics and that was that. He picked up and just got a bit of the runs every now and then so I checked with the vet who said just to feed him the food they had given us and keep an eye on him (I work at a shelter with vets etc on hand). Although he was 13yrs, he never acted old and was still running round the park like a pup so I believed them.

Tuesday night I had a call from my mum to say he was acting ill again, his breathing had got a bit funny and he didnt want to go for a walk (not like him at all!). As it was after hours, said I would talk to the vet in the morning and make another appointment if she thought she should see him.

Mum called an hour later to say he had died.

I feel so guilty. I knew he was ill, in my heart I knew something was up but I believed them when they said it was a tummy bug. Due to my job, I feel I should have known to have pushed for more and insisted they found out what was wrong. I feel I let him down. And worse, I wasnt there for him. I hate to think of him in silent pain, longing for me to have done something. I just want to see him one last time and tell him I'm sorry for ignoring my instincts.

I'm angry at the vet - which is horrible because she is a friend and collegue and I know she was only presented with the symptoms at the time so couldnt really have done anything.

The only comfort I take is that he was at home in his bed and went silently - my parents just thought he had gone to bed as he usually does in the evening.

How can I stop myself feeling so guilty?

I'm starting to think I should use my dog as a prediction for how my day will turn out. Today being quite a good example.....

Took the dogs over the park for their morning run with some other dog owners - my Westie, for some reason, decided to run full speed into a very large patch of nettles - then stand in the middle proclaiming that he couldnt get out and needed rescuing. Whilst debating how to do this, I recieved a tap on the sholder from one of the other owners to inform me that my partners dog was bolting across the park, in order to run home. I yelled and he stopped just in front of the alley that leads home - and I swear, he looked from me, to the alley, and back again, deciding whether to push it or not. Clearly he could tell I really wasnt messing and sat down and waited for me to clip him back on. Continue rescue of nettle pup......

On the way to work, I was accompanied in my train carriage by some EXTREMELY noisy youths and their mongrel (which they liked to call a "pit") which they were encouraging to bark at my dog and "lurching" towards me - untill I turned around in my uniform and informed them they were going to get reported any minute now.....

So far, I have informed 3 people that their dog has been put to sleep, had irate owners on the phone, annoyed that I cant find their dog (doesnt matter that they lost it, Im the one who cant find it?!), consoled one woman who has a stray dead kitten in her garden on a very hot day that NO-ONE will go out and collect for her....and countless dogs and cats being handed in.

I decided to take a walk around the park with some collegues - and for some unknown reason, my dog decided that the guy doing yoga wasnt having enough physical exercise, stole his t-shirt out of his bag on the ground and took off across the park with it...Cue, laughing collegues who pretended they didnt know me and one harassed owner chasing one dog.....

Now, its mighty strange because my dog actually has quite a solid recall and only once, when he was 4 months, has he ever done anything like that.

In future, any out-of-the-ordinary behaviour from my dog shall result in a Duvet Day for me, I think!!

Has your dogs behaviour ever seemed to predict exactly how your day is going to go?!

Having a work situation here and not quite sure where to go with it from this point.

If, after sustaining injuries whilst doing your job at work, you have been off work for almost 18 months but still undergoing treatment (ie.surgery, physiotherapy,counseling etc), is it legally fair/right for your employer to ask you to apply for another position in your workplace/department? This would involve going back onto a 3 month probation period and no guarantee that they would keep you on after this period. You have also worked for this company for 9 years. Are they within their rights to do this/ask you to do this?

There is nothing to say that after all the treatment etc, you wouldn't be able to do the job you are already employed to do. But if they have been paying you for these 18 months and they feel it is "going on for too long". can they ask this? Where would you stand in this situation?

Before you all ask, no-one can be blamed for the accident or be found to blame. It was just a freak accident that happened - no faulty equipment, inadequate training etc.

If they can do this, where would you go from here?

I know, this is the Dog section, but a lot of you guys may be able to help on this, and Im more likely to get more answers here!!