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-   -   What's making you happy today? (http://cellar.org/showthread.php?t=14055)

DanaC 02-22-2013 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aliantha (Post 853964)
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 02-22-2013 12:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BigV (Post 854004)
Is there such a thing as mandated reporters in your area Griff? Are you one?

Yes. Yes.

Aliantha 02-22-2013 05:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DanaC (Post 854017)
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.

DanaC 02-22-2013 05:30 PM

Oh I agree. Fortunately neigther Pilau or Carrot have shown any signs of possessiveness around food. I always made sure whne they were little, if they were chewing a bone, for example, I'd occasionally say give to me and take it from their mouths.

But a toddler suddenly sticking her hand into a dogbowl as they are mid munch is not a good idea. I'd certainly tell the dog off in that situation. But it would also be a valuable lesson for the child. Certainly wouldnt consider it a rehoming issue. Unless the dog properly bit over it, or was randomly and regularly snapping at little ones.

glatt 02-25-2013 04:24 PM

Spent the day at home with my sick boy, which was pretty dull. But I am very pleased with myself that I figured out how to stream Internet videos to my TV from my iPhone. Using only cables I had on hand.

So I just watched that PBS Nova special Earth from Space that tw was recommending.

So far, it works with PBS, YouTube, and Dailymotion. Sweet.

morethanpretty 02-26-2013 09:15 AM

More like a big relief than anything. My insurance company denied coverage for part of the surgery I had to fix my sinuses, they sent me a letter telling me I had to appeal and show that I tried other treatments first blah blah blah. A big fucking headache I don't need. I call the doc's office today and they said that my balance was paid by the insurance company and that they would write off anything the insurance didn't pay. Also, they would appeal the case for me if it needed to be done. You have no idea how much better that makes me feel. One less worry.

Chocolatl 02-27-2013 06:55 PM

My gray hairs are coming in all in a little clump above my left ear. I'm hoping to get a nice little bride of Frankenstein streak going.

ZenGum 02-27-2013 08:31 PM

I got a job!

Plans A (teaching at private college where I was 2008-9), B (Teaching in Uni preparation course) and C (casual tutoring) didn't fire, but plan D has come through!

I'll be a casual academic advisor in the Writing Centre at one of the universities in this town. My abrupt departure from my last job is no problem because two of the people in the new department are also refugees from the same evil manager.

It's only 20 hours a week, but at around $37 per hour, that's enough for a bloke with no family or mortgage.

orthodoc 02-27-2013 08:44 PM

Congratulations!!

Aliantha 02-27-2013 08:59 PM

I hope you get lucky Choco. lol

Good for you Zen. :)

Clodfobble 02-27-2013 09:45 PM

Hooray! It's been awhile since I heard of anyone getting a good new job. Congrats, Zen.

footfootfoot 02-27-2013 10:29 PM

Excellent Zen!

Remember to wear a raincoat in the shower and you'll be all good, vis a vis neither kids nor mortgage.

Aliantha 02-27-2013 10:47 PM

Is it wrong to be happy about having a clean bathroom? Two in fact. Even if you cleaned them both yourself?

DanaC 02-28-2013 04:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aliantha (Post 854954)
Is it wrong to be happy about having a clean bathroom? Two in fact. Even if you cleaned them both yourself?

No. Happiness is an entirely appropriate response to clean bathrooms.

:)


@ Zen: bloody hell, well done mate. That's excellent news.

Griff 02-28-2013 05:15 AM

Congrats Zen!


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