isadorah

New question: Does anyone have experience or opinions on prong (pinch)-collar training?

 

We just enrolled in obedience class - and the teacher insists on the metal prong collar for training, rather than a food-based-reward training.

She explained it'a all about establishing yourself as the pack leader, and the collar simulates the type of neck nip an unruly pack member would receive from the alpha. And then she demonstrated on a couple of the bigger unruly dogs in the class.

 

The first dog - can't remember the breed - was out of control. She tried walking it on a leash, and the dog didn't comply at all. Then she put the collar on it, and the dog only needed to get to the end of the leash twice before he started following her everywhere obediently. It was an effective demonstration.

 

 

I took my dog to obedience training and they insisted on the prong collar. Shelters I had volunteered at had always hated the things. The first time I had it on her she whimpered and got very upset. It definitely helped keep her under control, but in my humble opinion and after all the various things I have done to train my dog, I would vote against the prong collars. If they insist on a special collar get a gentle leader. they make a special harness called the easy walk harness that buckles in the front, if the dog tries to pull, the dog gets thrown off balance. there is also a type that goes over the snout that redirect their attention. as long as you walk and keep the dog beside or behind you, this will help keep them under control infinitely easier than pinching their neck every time they get out of control. the other problem with the prong collar is that there is no effective way to transition them off of the collar. as soon as you take the dog off the collar they tend to go right back to the bad habits. think of it as constantly being pinched in the neck and being told to behave. in my humble opinion there are better ways. just remember don't let the dog walk in front of you and don't give them a lot of leash space to start with while training. i still highly recommend reading Cesar Millan's books.

I'm definitely telling that you posted that.

 

 

 

didn't take you long to discover it. i am embarrassed all over again (yet I couldn't resist posting it). *sigh*

flowers.

went and saw the Young@Heart chorus in End of the Road at St. Anne's Warehouse in Brooklyn and "Theologians" was one of the numbers they do.

i am all about the facebook. i met my now fiancé on there. reconnected with friends that i might not have been able to track down otherwise. and can instantly share photos of great moments and information with family members instantaneously that pre-facebook was cumbersome and difficult to do. one has to wonder what someone does on facebook to make it a relationship crasher. as with all things, anything is good in moderation.

 

edit: all this and what sexual napalm said.

Funny you should contrast that with NASA; definitely goes to show what the power of PR and image management can do to how a company views its safety record. Obviously, mine ownwers regulators don't seem to give a crap about how they're viewed in the public eye, because people will always work for the mines if there's a job to be had. In the case of NASA, a program struggling to remain relevant in the eyes of its funding source, 7 deaths are much more expensive. God, that's fucked up.

 

 

exactly. fucked up and a sad reflection on our way of life.

I find it interesting that NASA can lose 7 astronauts i a shuttle disaster and all space operations are grounded until all problems are identified and remedied. A mine with an extraordinary number of safety violations has the deadliest disaster in years with 29 workers dead and the government assigns the inspector that allowed safety violations go prior to a 6 person death disaster in 2006 to now be the investigator into this tragedy. If the government follows the NASA rule, the mine should be completely shut down until all safety violations and the cause are investigated and remedied. AND the regulations should change that a mine should be shut down until all safety violations are remedied or resolved via challenge. That would keep a mine from tying up the system with endless challenges and prompt them to fix problems instead of putting workers lives at risk every day.

Unfortunately, there's not much more to be said. It's a terrible tragedy. Obviously, mining is an inherently dangerous business, but this is crazy (from this morning's LA Times):

 

 

i think it is horrifying how many safety violations this mine had and how NOTHING was done about it.

article from the post about a pending court case going after a company that hired Bulgarian computer programmers to beat online ticket system purchasing.

can someone give the book report version of what "Panther" posted?

i thought Panther quit the board.

disagree on the flying thru Hoodoo Voodoo and I'm a Wheel, first off they were smokin' versions and I saw those two songs back to back at the Wappingers Falls show last summer and they were just as good and about the same length both times.

 

yes they were great. they also had to speed things up, rush on to the next song, etc though to get through them because Box Full of Letters was added in by Jeff and they had to beat curfew.

they had give-aways at last night's show that were gift certificates to dinner at a restaurant; they drew names from those that requested songs. A couple of them Jeff mentioned they requested songs that would not be played. And he quipped about the proper channels to request songs instead of just shouting them out at the shows.

Dude, Box Full of Letters! I was one of the requesters of that (I was not as repetitive as the other guy, though, it was his effort, not mine) I wanted Box of Rain next (when will they think of that? people would fucking die if they played that! especially after BFL).

 

 

because it is always good to reward bad behavior. they flew through hoodoo voodoo and i'm a wheel to make up for the appeasement.

 

it was a very refreshing show...having been to my fair share, it was pretty awesome to see the band change it up. acoustic spiders, rare songs in the mix, the (albeit weak) Jesus, etc. I was quite happy and content with the show. From my section, the crowd was fantastic, into it, and a lot of fun...except for the constant box full of letters request and the overzealous girl two rows behind me that would either yell "Tweedy" or some other random word that made absolutely no sense (i swear she was at the Ryman show several years back, one rarely forgets that pitch of 'Tweedy' being belted out all night). ah, if she'd only been busted a bit harder for trying to take pictures . all in all, great show, ear plugs were a good call, sound was awesome, venue was beautiful, and the band was great.

If that is from the Miami show, I got that shot from a different perspective. It was a pretty cool moment. I wish I was able to see myself in your shot, haha.

 

 

 

wolftrap. he tends to do that when they start "I am the Man Who Loves You"

 

My question is why anyone even wants to take shitty cellphone photos. You're at a show -- enjoy it, and remember it with your brain, not some poorly framed, shaky, improperly exposed, quasi-photographic memento.

 

 

 

 

because sometimes it isn't always about getting the crispest, clearest, perfectly framed shot...sometimes the unexpected happens...with a cellphone no less.

i got my dog when she was 6 months old and I lasted 2 days of not letting her in the bed. She slept in the bed for several years until she became a very bad bed hog and got relegated to her own bed. She adjusted quickly and didn't seem to mind. Now keeping her off the couch...that was one we surrendered to (and by we I mean someone else in the house). If there's a couch around, she will find every way possible to sleep on it.

this sounds horrible and cruel, but let him cry in the crate. by removing him from the crate or even talking to him to comfort him while in the crate, you are reinforcing the behavior of crying and you will likely not be able to crate train him. you could also opt to not use a crate, but instead quarantine him off to a small area (that is easy to clean if he has an accident) to accomplish house training, it might be less traumatic than the crate for him, but it needs to be a small area and there shouldn't be any towels or puppy pads down, etc. that teaches them that it is ok to go indoors and could lead to using rugs/carpeting, etc as a toilet.

 

it is also a good habit to not get up in the middle of the night to let him out, or to respond immediately if he wakes you up in the morning. that does two things, establishes him as the alpha in the house instead of you and can cause future behavior problems and it also keeps him from being properly house broken (well the middle of the night thing). my dad did this with his dog and she can't go more than a few hours without needing to be let out, she can never be left home alone during a complete work day. for some people that works great and is fine, but others not so much/makes it hard to get a dog sitter.

 

also make the crate available to him all hours of the day. that makes it easier for them to adjust. make it cozy too. somewhere that he would want to sleep.

I once rode up the chair lift with one of the Nelsons. You know, of Nelson. I don't know which one it was. My husband asked him, "Have any new albums coming out?"

 

I personally always thought Matthew was better looking than Gunner. When was the chair lift ride, your husband's comment is hilarious (and cruel which makes it even funnier)!

I think This Land is Your Land was written to counter the song God Bless America.

Van Gogh died poor, relatively unknown, and only sold one painting while he was alive.

i heard "What Light" at the Petco in Ramsey the other day.

The omission of Farrah was definitely a snub.

 

As for MJ, he might not have been in many movies as an actor, but his songs have appeared in many many films.

 

 

i find it interesting that her death was trumped by his death and the oscars included him in their tribute and not her.

Farrah Fawcett was a TV star. Were they supposed to show a montage of Cannonball Run and Logan's Run?

 

 

she was in The Apostle (as well as several other movies) and received a golden globe nomination for her role in a move. They managed to include Michael Jackson but not her. Anyone want to name how many movies he was in...

cute kids are always the key to winning photo contests.