The Dog Cafe

[Rinkydinkydo]

I have no idea if this could be the case, it is total speculation but I wonder if several girls is better than two because everything is more diluted, spread thinner if you know what I mean?

Don't know,it could be the case. I will add that there was a good spread in there ages.

 

[Finsky]

Have you notice your dog having liking/reaction for any particularly type of music or artist's voice?
I'm asking because I have just discovered that Eva have just reacted to some old Cat Stevens songs
She does look bit like him too..with her dark hairy appearance..very 70's style dog Eva is still very hard to settle down and get her to chill and she ain't very much a lap dog or with me anyway. She seem to be more chilled with OH so as I just played some 'morning has broken and wild world'...girl was literally floppy! Totally putty in my hands and I was even able to sing the songs into her hairy ear
Not all my dogs shown any reaction to music but we've had one that used to go quiet and listen very carefully some Andrea Bocelli..he earned his nick name 'Sherry Fonzarelli' from that Italian connection. Oh yes, and then we had one that used to like a lot that I would pick her up and dance singing 'Oh Brandy' (covering Barry Manilow's Mandy song)
So...how about you & your dogs with the music?

Our hairy 'Dog Stevens'...I'm just debating if I should keep her looking natural herself or get her tidied as getting that old coat off by stripping is proving to be slow progress..

 

[Flobo]

Not noticed any of my dogs liking particular music, but did look after an African Grey once that totally loved a bit of Kerrang radio(heavy metal/rock), she used to head bang, make drum noises and lots of woowoos! My wild party parrot, we both enjoyed a bit of a rock out!!

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

Mine go mental when I put Xray-Spex on,but I think that's more to do with me bouncing off all four walls.

 

[Finsky]

Mine go mental when I put Xray-Spex on,but I think that's more to do with me bouncing off all four walls.

Ahh....I had to google what you were on about.. Well, if I were to put that on, I'm sure we would have full terrier riot going on!

 

[Buddy1]

Mine go mental when I put Xray-Spex on,but I think that's more to do with me bouncing off all four walls.

Ha ha – long time since I heard the vocals of poly styrene (although a bit before my time). Just played a bit as an experiment – not a flicker from the hound

 

[Rinkydinkydo]

Ha ha – long time since I heard the vocals of poly styrene (although a bit before my time). Just played a bit as an experiment – not a flicker from the hound

God help em if I ever end up in a nursing home,they're in for a real treat.

 

[Josie]

I know it’s been mentioned before but I just caught a bit of ‘ dogs behaving badly celebrity’

The trainer (I can’t remember his name) was visiting Micheal Owen and his staffy.

The staffy had attacked another dog. A dog walker was just walking past the property with dog on lead and the staffy came running out and attacked for no reason. Was awful as caught on cctv - you could see the staffy locked on.

Trainer told Micheal it was because he wasn’t socialised with other dogs and that he was the one showing anxiety and that was reflecting on the staffy.

So to help the staffy socialise he lined up 4 owners with their dogs and let the staffy go past them. He let the staffy get within sniffing distance. Oh my, I had to turn over. It was so tense seeing him so close to other dogs knowing what he had done to another one that was minding it’s own business!

was that the right thing to do!?

 

[JudyN]

The trainer's called Graeme Hall and I've never watched one of his programmes, but I've heard lots of bad things about him. Was the Staffie being given treats when he went past the other dogs? If not, what was he supposed to learn from it? Did he look comfortable? What/who was he focusing on?

Presumably the dog had previous history, or Michael Owen wouldn't have been showing anxiety - in which case, why was the dog able to get out of the property in the first place? Mistakes do happen, of course.

 

[JoanneF]

You too can be a Master Trainer (or whatever he says his qualification is). It will cost you about £75.

A glittering tv career awaits.

My main gripe is, just as you describe, he sets the dogs up to fail, for entertainment /shock value. I actually think it might be be possible to have him charged under Section 8 of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which provides for it to be an offence to 'cause animals to fight'. In at least one of his programmes, he set up a situation that two dogs with a history of fighting over a sofa (resource guarding) were put together. It doesn't take an awful lot of thought to anticipate what was likely to be the outcome. So I think there is a strong argument that he did this with the express intention of creating a fight for the entertainment of spectators - the programme viewers. In that episode, there was a fight, and it sounds like the potential was there for it to happen in the episode you just described too.

 

[Josie]

@JudyN no treats given as he passed the other dogs. I was so tense watching it knowing how badly he had attacked another dog before :-(
Graeme was saying to Micheal ‘oh you’re so tense this isn’t helping’

You would be tense!! Knowing how aggressive the dog was. I personally don’t think I would ever trust him with other dogs.

Plus Micheal has 65 acres of land which I think allows some good walks avoiding dogs!

 

[Finsky]

The trouble with these programs is that we don't really know the full picture what is/has been going on. Programs are so heavily edited....or can be...that big chunks of film could be chopped off or 'cut and pasted' here and there so if we were to see the real situation, it could look totally different and probably too boring for telly anyway.
I've stopped watching these sort of programs as they are so mixed picture...sometimes there is some good tips to follow and other times...well.. And it same with ALL these behaviourist programs..not one that I've seen has been a shining/good example how to do things! But then again...is any of us..and I supposed there is always a some alternative way of seeing and handling things. We are dealing with living creatures that won't fit under 'one approach will fit all -umbrella'.
I have more issues with gardening programs. Being a professional gardener..or I still was until fairly resently..makes me mad to hear some rattle from these tv-gardeners and garden designers (uggh..don't get me started with that job description...)...there is more non-sense been thrown at towards viewers than ever. If they would only let those who really know stuff to talk more rather than their so called 'professionals' (just presenters) always butting in and making their voice to be heard. And I get wound up with their personalities too...some of them just don't agree with my taste.
Hmm....I'm developing more Victor Meldrew qualities as I get on...."I just cannot believe it!" and I really don't...world has gone totally bonkers! Yeah yeah....nothing has changed..it always has been, we just look at it from different angle as we ..ahem, mature

 

[Finsky]

Oh and talking about tv programs...
One that I quite often watch in telly (if there is not much else going on) is 'the repair shop' ...but even the repair folk seem to be very knowledgeable...not all is as it looks. I don't know about them all as the craft base they cover is so wide, but certainly in the area what I am involved with, one 'expert' got discovered to be taking 'bit too much to chew' for his skill levels and then behave like he had done brilliant job.
But even that program is edited a lot, it still revealed the mistakes and mishaps from that one particular repair person! In one particular forum where we crafters chat about stuff in that skill area...oh did we have some 'fun' pointing out what went off and the visiting expert crafter who appeared in that program too revealed even more about it.
When these programs are only a 30 mins- 1 hours...they can only reveal a little window into what goes into completing each task...hours/weeks/months? Short programs make viewer friendly version of it all..more of entertainment, but when you really want to know more and learn something, oh no, not a chance. I wish they would do some proper 'nerd' versions of these programs too....cover what goes on in more detail and maybe over some weeks...'sigh'.

And I hope that is my morning rant completed....more coffee now!

 

[JudyN]

Finsky, what do garden presenters tend to advise that you disagree with? I'm just interested as I usually think that if Monty Don or Carol Klein say so it must be true.

And I need a garden designer who will tell me not what will grow in a particular bit of my garden (sandy dry shade) but what will grow that will actually look good rather than the random bare mess it is right now. If you have skills in that area, I'd love to pick your brain....

My mum loves The Repair Shop, mainly because she fancies a couple of the presenters. She's in her early 80s, bless her!

 

[Finsky]

Finsky, what do garden presenters tend to advise that you disagree with? I'm just interested as I usually think that if Monty Don or Carol Klein say so it must be true.

And I need a garden designer who will tell me not what will grow in a particular bit of my garden (sandy dry shade) but what will grow that will actually look good rather than the random bare mess it is right now. If you have skills in that area, I'd love to pick your brain....

My mum loves The Repair Shop, mainly because she fancies a couple of the presenters. She's in her early 80s, bless her!

Ohh....where to start. It ain't anything major...often it is something like 'you must prune this way'....(nope, it is not only way and certainly not the best). For example....with pruning; there is different approaches for many things and it depends what you try to achieve. RHS type of info approach is generally very good, but they are very 'stuck' with it..many things can be approach differently.
Some years ago, Monty was showing how to prune currant bushes... They were not big to start with, but there was so many of them on this quite small area and he was explaining that 'you need to do this to get best fruit etc etc' I don't disagree a lot with him, generally I like is organic approach but he does his stuff in the way that looks good in his garden.
"NO NO NO"...I was pulling my hair out. He wasn't pruning for the good crop but for the 'looks'. Having fewer bushes and letting them grow bigger and slightly wilder...basically letting the bushes to do their thing would have resulted buckets full of berries rather than few perfect specimens. There is too much of this 'perfected looks' stuff going on when less work and disturbance with the plants often achieve better results.
But the 'looks' is very personal thing....if that is what some wants, yeah it is their business but I find the options needs to be explained so people can make their own decisions rather than blindly following when somebody says so. And that is what I find is lacking from most of the 'expert'.
Now Carol....I do like her...she is proper one. Not maybe for everybody's taste but she is very thorough with her instructions and do stuff more of the 'plants point of view'.
'Tich' and Geoff....they have good advise too.
Over the years there has been some interesting gardening personalities, but I find they have soon left the TV gardening?? Don't know why because I know some are still around and do their stuff, but their approaches have not been in quite in the RHS way of things, so maybe there is some gardening snobbery going on??
Being one to always ask 'why'...I often had 'difficult' conversations when I was studying the horticulture. And it was always connected with the 'this is the only way' approach that you would read from RHS books as that was often the official way with studying too. But I had already quite a lot of experience with growing wide variety of stuff, mainly through self discovery and experimenting so I got often rather frustrated when the tutors who had one approach only would try to narrow my views. OH NO...nothing is that simple and I am still trying to experiment and learn from the younger ones as there is such a variety of amateur gardeners that borrow different ways of doing stuff from different areas of 'growing business'. Not maybe new stuff as such but tool and other materials change or are being updated so it widens the possibilities.

 

[Finsky]

Finsky, what do garden presenters tend to advise that you disagree with? I'm just interested as I usually think that if Monty Don or Carol Klein say so it must be true.

And I need a garden designer who will tell me not what will grow in a particular bit of my garden (sandy dry shade) but what will grow that will actually look good rather than the random bare mess it is right now. If you have skills in that area, I'd love to pick your brain....

My mum loves The Repair Shop, mainly because she fancies a couple of the presenters. She's in her early 80s, bless her!

So, what does grow in that part of the garden well?
I've worked in few sandy gardens...the sandiness itself is not a problem, and the shadiness is 'only' a limiting factor. The 'how much room' is there for plants can restrict a lot of you options but if you are willing to accept the fact that you may have to see the area more with a 'subtle' look that may have little bit more colourful show off once or twice a year. Often winter/spring season plant will do best in the shady situation as when there is less leaf canopy to shade they get to do their stuff before the canopy grow over. If the shade is because of permanent fixture, building etc. Then your options really are to look for plants that will thrive in shade....and that's when you have to choose the plants that will 'fin in' into available space. As if you pick plants that will grow too big, you will forever end up heavily prune them over and no plant looks good when they get regular chops and not only that, if they happen to be flowering sort...the regular chopping will remove the flowering growth too.....ending up with sorry looking plant that doesn't look lush and natural, have shopped up bits on a show and never does reach its true potential.
So that's something to start with.....
And if you have something that really thrives in that part of the garden...maybe adding something from the same plant family that may have different features to add some variety. Look for 'native' shady plants, often they have cultivated versions available that are more 'showy'.
I would love to be able to help you in more detail but not be able to investigate the area in person, it could be quite challenge to get it right.
Obviously if you have a path next to that area, it will limit any 'shady' plants that maybe bit sharp/prickly...if it is windy area, that will have its own issues or a frost pocket...or or..
All those different things that affect when choosing plants are not 'problems' ...just as a interesting challenges and sometimes plants do will happily grow somewhere even they are not supposed to like it! You just don't know until you've tried it, so those 'borderline' plants are still viable option too

 

[JudyN]

@Finsky, would you mind awfully if I PMed you with some photos of my difficult spot and asked for your thoughts? I really have a terrible eye for garden design and have 'redesigned' this bed a number of times already... Often involving OH spending ages laying out some old edging bricks to divide the area, swifly followed by me telling him I've decided on a completely different arrangement....

 

[Finsky]

@Finsky, would you mind awfully if I PMed you with some photos of my difficult spot and asked for your thoughts? I really have a terrible eye for garden design and have 'redesigned' this bed a number of times already... Often involving OH spending ages laying out some old edging bricks to divide the area, swifly followed by me telling him I've decided on a completely different arrangement....

No I don't mind at all.

 

[JoanneF]

not one that I've seen has been a shining/good example how to do things

Absolutely. I remember only two that stand out as good examples.

One was ”Me and my Dog”, sadly never repeated, it probably wasn't sensational enough; and the other was ”Dogs Might Fly”. If you can get that on DVD or catch up, it was outstanding.

 

[JudyN]

No I don't mind at all.

Thank you so much - prepare for incoming PM