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It is important that people especially children learn to recognise the signs, and be able to differentiate between a dog that is happy and relaxed, and one that is not. Small children should never be left unsupervised around animals.

Pitbulls

I get really disappointed when I hear people talk so negatively about Pitbull terriers. You hear so many horrible comments. In many places Pitbulls are classified as a dangerous breed and are in fact illegal to own.

But is it really the breed of dog or the people who own these dogs that are responsible for the negative image?

I honestly do not believe that any breed of dog is dangerous. If an animal is treated with respect, kindness and love it will become a gentle loving sole. The same goes for every other animal on this planet including humans.

I love these images which I found on both Pintrest and Facebook, I think they capture how I feel about this perfectly.

Melbourne is shock after 11 year old murdered

Melbourne is in shock today after the senseless murder of an 11 year old boy by his father after cricket training last night. Although the details have yet to be released what we have so far heard is the the boys father attacked the poor child after his cricket training session in front of his team mates.

He brutally beat his own son with a cricket bat and then stabbed the little boy repeatedly with a knife. Police were unable to subdue the man with capsicum spray. When he finally turned on police they had no choice but to fire their weapons. The man died hours later in hospital. Counselling has been offered to all the children that witnessed this horrific event.

From what I have read the father had been estranged and had a history of family violence, in the last few years he had become homeless. Police believe that this was in fact premeditated.

As a parent I cannot get my head around this horrific event, it makes me sick in the stomach to think that a parent could do this to their own child.

Tonight as I check on my children sound asleep in their beds, I pray that they will always be safe and sound, healthy and happy. I pray too that this innocent boy will rest in peace.

Running out of time

I don’t know how many times I have said it, or the countless times I have thought it but being a parent is so bloody hard.

What do you do when your child is suddenly bigger than you and tries to use their size against you?

There is this invisible line that cannot be crossed. What happens if it does get crossed through? What then? How should a parent handle something like that?

And why must teenagers be so negative? Why does everything have to be such a big deal? Why can’t they just go with the flow? Relax and enjoy? Why do they insist on bringing everybody down with their smart ass comments and negative outlook?

I don’t have any of these answers I am afraid. I am still trying to get my head around the teenage years in general. Most of the time I can turn a blind eye or ear to the less than desirable attitude and language, but every now and then it does get to me and I can’t help but wonder what I am doing wrong. Am I the only parent that feels like this?

If I was to be honest with myself I would have to admit that the realisation that I am running out of time with my children is really terrifying me, and I find myself struggling to come to terms with this.

My son is almost 15 years old, realistically I only have another 3 years left with him. After that he will be old enough to be doing his own thing, living his own life, he will be an adult accountable for himself.

Is it wrong therefore to want to make the most of the precious time we have left together?

Izzy’s Story

Today I came across a very upsetting post by savingpets.com.au in regards to some really criminal behaviour that the RSPCA in Perth, Western Australia has been accused of. According to this article a beautiful timid King Charles Cavalier and her four, four week old puppies were euthanised for no comprehensible reason.

It is really is a sad day indeed when people running animal shelters are found to be harming animals instead of protecting them.

Here is the article about the RSPCA and Izzy, maybe if more people hear about this, something will get done to prevent other innocent animals losing their lives.
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The RSPCA WA is being questioned by the state government regarding their processes for euthanasia.

The WA Government has raised fears the RSPCA is destroying pets that could be kept alive.
Documents obtained by The Sunday Times reveal Agriculture Department boss Rob Delane was told of a case last year where medical histories did not support the destruction of some pets.

“It is unclear whether the RSPCA had sufficient grounds to destroy these animals,” a briefing note for Mr Delane dated May 2013 said

The notes prepared for Mr Delane warn the RSCPA’s processes were “inadequate”.

Even RSPCA staff seemed to have little faith in the ‘system’;

Revelations of the documents come as a former RSPCA regional inspector, who asked not to be named, also expressed concerns about the treatment of animals by the organisation.

The inspector, who resigned last year, said she would regularly try to rehome animals in country areas rather than bring them to the Perth shelter because she feared they would be put down.

“I wouldn’t take my animals up there,” she said.

“Some puppies would get put down at eight weeks and they would say they had behavioural problems,” she said……

The RSPCA remain unapologetic:

RSPCA state chief executive David van Ooren said no disciplinary action had been taken and the allegations in the report had not been substantiated.

An RSPCA spokesman said there were “very clear” and “well-developed” policies relating to the euthanasia of animals.

So how does this “well developed” policy work in practice?

The dog pictured above is Izzy. She was a breeding dog seized by the RSPCA under an alleged breach of WA’s animal protection laws. She entered the care of the RSPCA in March 2012. She was only a baby herself (probably less that two years old) but she was heavily pregnant.

Izzy was placed with foster carer, Cath (an experienced human midwife and dog lover) and her husband (a senior vet) so she couldn’t have been in more compassionate, capable hands. It was a new start to a happier life.

Izzy gave birth to four healthy babies; Izzy was ‘typical’ of many neglected dogs; sad, skittish and scared. She was terribly and heartbreakingly under socialised. The family worked hard to make her life peaceful, to give her good food and comfort, and to let her know everything was going to be ok. And under their care, Izzy showed she was a loving and competent mum – working hard to clean and feed her pups, growing them into cute little fat bellies.

Cath’s family worked hard to make sure these pups were getting all they needed to grow into healthy, happy dogs. Her daughter delighted in helping ‘socialise’ these babies and they learned to walk and eat solid food.

Not surprisingly, the family fell in love with these guys and considered adopting one themselves, but found that even as volunteers, the RSPCA adoption fees were prohibitive;

“We were going to keep one, but despite the fact I was volunteering my time to look after Izzy when she was pregnant and now raise a litter of puppies for them – they still want to charge me $700 for a puppy!!

Cath kept Izzy, and the four pups for a total of 4 weeks, before taking them back to the RSPCA for their scheduled check up. Cath assumed that she would drop them off in the morning, and pick them up in the afternoon, to continue her fostering.

“They simply wouldn’t give them back after I dropped them all in for a check over. I rang every day asking what was happening and when could I go back and get them. They kept fobbing me off. It was only after I asked for a meeting with the CEO and they realised I wasn’t going away that I was told they were already dead.

I had Izzy behaving and responding to us beautifully after a while. But they killed her and all of her pups. They didn’t indicate to me at all that they were at risk – they did it all without telling me.

My husband is a senior vet. We never saw the pups do anything strange behaviourally. Izzy was timid, but she was really coming good. And those pups were fine.”

Izzy and her pups were given a ‘behavioural assessment’ at the RSPCA kennel facility. All five failed.

Next, as is the procedure, each of these young dogs were held. Their leg was shaved. A syringe of poison was drawn. And then one by one they were injected until their lively, waggling bodies went limp and they were dead.

All under the RSPCA’s “well developed” policies.

The community has the expectation that animals entering RSPCA care will be given every chance to be rehabilitated. Pet lovers give tens of millions of dollars in donations every year believing that they are supporting life affirming processes. I don’t know a single rescue group who, if called, wouldn’t have found a place for these guys. But they didn’t survive being ‘sheltered’ by the RSPCA.

Izzy deserved a second chance. Her babies deserved a first one.
Our shelters should not be this way. They do not have to be. The killing has got to stop.

Parenting At Speed. Are You Enjoying The Ride?

Parenting at Speed, are you enjoying the ride? Was the name of the information session I attended tonight at our local Council hosted by Rod Dungan, Director and Trainer for Thriving Youth Australia. It was a fun informative almost three hour session providing parents with handy tips and resources for staying in touch with and building growing relationships with their children while still maintaining effective boundaries.

There were over twenty parents at the information session who all had children with ages ranging from 10years to 18years, each one with their own story, their own struggle.

One thing that Rod said that really hit home with me is that as parents we are all learners. This is the first time we have ever had our child at this age, therefore it is the first time we are facing these issues. We all want what is best for our children but sometimes we have to think outside the box in order to be able to get through to them.

We heard that the ages between 14 and 16 is when a child (or young person) is establishing their identity and that the years between 16 and 18 are known as the grief years because these years are the ones were they start to lose their identity. They are moving from child to adult and can feel lost and scared. These are the most critical years when a parent most needs to be present in their child’s life.

There was lots of interaction between Rod and the audience which is always good. I really like hearing other people’s stories, I especially like hearing that the temper tantrums, the mood swings, the gross over reaction is all normal behaviour for children of this age, and in time it will pass.

Rod talked about a spike pattern that occurs in a persons life at 1 years old and then again at 11 years old and at 21 years. So at this time unless there is a massive intervention in between, the behaviour learnt will be repeated. So at 1 year of age a child learns to separate from mum to see himself as a separate person, this will again repeat itself at 11 years as he moves in to grade six and again at 21. At two we have the terrible two tantrums this will again be repeated at 12 years and at 22 years. At 3 it is all about why, and yet again at 13 why again and so on and so on.

It was a very interesting evening and I walked away feeling positive and armed with some newly found wisdom. As Rod explained at the very start of the session, all that we as parents have is wisdom, our children have all the knowledge but we have wisdom hopefully it will be enough.

Alzheimer’s

Today at work we had a professional development day on understanding Alzheimer’s a form of Dementia.

The three hour presentation was both informative and scary and completely sad. According to the figures the amount of people diagnosed with Dementia is set to soar, the prediction is that by 2050 figures would have risen by 300% that’s an alarming increase for sure.

There is no cure for Dementia however there are treatment options available that can help slow the progression of the disease down.

We heard how the younger a person is diagnosed with Dementia the faster the disease will spread, this is because as we age our bodies metabolism naturally slows down.

There is no one determinate that causes Dementia but it has been proven that a healthy lifestyle can go a long way in helping to prevent Dementia. Brain training exercises that stimulate brain development are also very good.

Tooth brushing was used as an example of a skill that needs to be taught, first one learns to hold the toothbrush, then place a small amount of toothpaste onto the brush and then to actually brush our teeth. Once we have mastered this skill we are able to perform it without having to think about the steps involved so it was suggested that we now teach ourselves to brush our teeth using our other hand. Learning this skill will create a new pathway inside our brains and in the event that we are affected by Alzheimer’s and the initial pathway for brushing our teeth is erased from our memory we will still have another brain pathway in order to brush our teeth.

Anything we can do to create new pathways in the brain will go a long way in the fight against Dementia.

Aside from short term memory which is the first thing to go in a person suffering from Dementia, they will also lose their insight, their ability to plan and their spatial awareness.

I cannot imagine how it would feel to slowly lose your life, apparently the disease begins well before there are any signs present.

We were shown a breakthrough video on a person so heavily affected by Dementia that she could no longer talk and the amazing way that Naomi Feil founder of Validation therapy was able to communicate with her.

Please note that this video is very powerful and extremely moving.

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=CrZXz10FcVM&feature=plpp

Starting today I plan on exercising my brain every opportunity I can, I’m sure once you have seen the video you too will feel the same way.

My Bird Hates Me Again

So my bird hates me again. Every year around this time just before spring is here Stan’s hormones kick into angry bird mode and my beautiful loving little Quaker turns into a mad little biting machine.

If you have birds you will know exactly what I am talking about, his whole demeanour changes, there is a look in his eyes a certain way that he moves, he is reluctant to come out of his cage, very vocal, there may be beak clicking or tail wagging, but if you miss all those signs you won’t be able to miss the excruciating bite that is no doubt heading your way.

Much like the self absorbed teenager, a parrot too becomes self absorbed and defensive around this time of year. Try not to be too hard on yourself or take it too personally.

So what can you do to snap you bird out of this phase? well nothing really, you just have to ride it out. Thankfully this uncharacteristic mood change does not last long and just when you think there is no light at the end of the tunnel that you have lost the love of your beloved friend for ever then suddenly he is back often sweeter than ever, calling out to you to come and play, giving you kisses, singing and talking happily again.

Unfortunately for me Stan’s transformation from loving bird to angry bird is only just commencing but I know that before long angry bird will be no more than a distant memory, and my beautiful boy will love me again.