In Flanders Fields - by John McCrae

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep,
though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

For the Fallen

With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of her spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.

Solemn the drums thrill; Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres,
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.

They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted;
They fell with their faces to the foe.

They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old:
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.

They mingle not with their laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England's foam.

But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;

As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain;
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.

Little Gemma!

Couldnt resist taking this pic today of little Gemma, a 10wk Standard Schnauzer puppy. Meeting little cuties like this is one of the best parts of my work!

So Sad....

I've been to quite a few Fun Day type dog shows lately as I've been socialising my foster pup, BluBelle and I've been so saddened and at times angered by the use of choke chains on dogs... Just when I think that dog owners are becoming enlightened and more sensitive to the feelings of their friends, I see a whole range of dogs being literally choked to breathlessness by their owners yanking their dogs by the throat, ignoring the fact that they are doing massive soft tissue and blood vessel damage...

Please, if you currently use a choke chain, do some research on the damage you are causing your dog who trusts you to provide their care and keep them safe.

I can provide research on the negative effects of choke chains... Its not too late to change the tool you use and there are brilliant alternatives available.

Think about your dog. Chuck away the chain....

Busy Times!

Again I have had problems logging into my blog so all I've been able to do lately is post photos! Apologies for this. I'll try and get you up to speed with things at DogPsyche UK.

Meet Ozzy... A spirited, sweet little baby Staffie that I visited the other week for a Puppy Consultation. He was super-intelligent and very quick to learn.

Puppy Consultations are the ideal way to get your and your puppy off to the right start in life, learning from day one how to successfully communicate with each other, how to get your puppy to listen to you, how to understand your puppy's needs and generally make sure that you get the best foundation for your relationship that will hopefully last the rest of your dog's life.

Ozzy's owner was very committed and experienced with the Staffordshire Bull Terrier's 'unique' character and I'm hoping that he'll be ready to join us at one of the Walk Clubs soon.

This little sweetheart is Berkley.

He was another puppy whose owner wanted to give the best start in life and had a Puppy Consultation with me.

At the time of this photo he was barely 9wks of age and had only been in his new home for a couple of days.

This was the perfect time for the Puppy Consultation because we could nip bad habits in the bud and form brand new good ones to take their place!

Other recent news is that I was a judge for 'Britain's Brightest Dog' at the recent 'All About Dogs' show at Brentwood, Essex a couple of weeks ago. Although crossbreeds, Collies and Terriers were well-represented, the unanimous decision of the panel of judges was that a Springer Spaniel by the name of Sullie performed all of the tests beautifully. A brace of Hungarian Viszlas were the 2nd and 3rd brightest dogs of the weekend, working out a series of tests of intelligence at an astounding level. Congratulations to all of them and their owners!

It was fascinating for me to see the wonderful relationship that can be formed between dog and owner when the owner puts in the time and effort not just to train their dog but to enjoy time with their dog in the form of games and other mentally stimulating tasks. All of the judges agreed that it was wonderful to witness...

There is more info on the competition here:

http://www.allaboutdogs.org.uk/page59.html

The Walk Clubs continue to go from strength to strength with big successes with some dogs who have previously been quite stressed around people and other dogs learning gently to accept their place in the group and relax. Tillie, a young female German Shepherd has made huge steps forward in learning to trust her owners and relax around other dogs to the point that she is intermingling in the group amongst the other dogs now very calmly. Wonderful job, Paula and family!

One of the breed types I specialise in is the Cane Corso and we recently had a rescue join one of our Walk Clubs called Herman. Poor Herman hasn't had the best start in life and had his ears cut off (illegally) to make him look tougher. Thankfully Herman is a gentle, loving soul who loves other dogs and humans, despite having every reason not to. He is responding beautifully to training and his owners know how lucky they are to have such a special dog...

My Gus

I was sitting with my dog Gus and if woke up with this expression on his face! I couldn't resist taking a pic!

Poor Little BluBelle

My little foster pup recovering after her major eye surgery. Still sore and raw but ravenously hungry so obviously feeling better!

Little Blu

This poor little soul is the latest foster pup to come under my wing...

BluBelle was found on the Yorkshire Moors, we suspect dumped by her breeder because she was very ill, suffering from severe secondary infections all over her body but mostly on her feet due to extremely bad demodectic mange caused by a poor immune system. She had not been well cared for by her breeder in the first place but to be dumped on the moors to die in winter...

As if that wasn't bad enough she is almost blind due to one of the worst cases of cherry eye I've ever seen in such a young pup (20wks).

I'm not only the behavioural consultant for Neapolitan Mastiff Welfare but a foster carer too so she has come down here to Kent where she will be given the right to fight for her life...

How long has it been since my last blog post?!

I can't believe it's been so long since I updated my blog! The last few months have absolutely flown by!

A brief recap:

October and November: things continued much as normal but I noticed that the work I was doing for Neapolitan Mastiff Welfare was starting to take more and more hours in the day, not just through admin but more dog transports, homechecks etc.

The Supervised Walk Clubs were starting to pick up slowly. I had been concerned that, being outdoors, owners would not be as keen to keep coming but having initial consultations helped me to determine whether the owners would be likely to participate enthusiastically or to recommend other forms of training and I found the owners to be wonderfully enthusiastic and dedicated to this unique type of training club!

December: I had to take in an emergency foster. Luca had been taken into kennels in early November but was suffering from extreme kennel stress and was within a day or two of having to be put to sleep to end his suffering. Even though I knew I had to go into hospital for an operation just before Christmas, I knew I had to give this boy one more chance so he came home with me. It wasn't easy and to be perfectly honest, my consultancy business suffered the effects in that I wasn't able to spend the time actively promoting it as I normally would, but I found that the Supervised Walk Clubs were thriving... Was this signalling the end of the indoor clubs?

January: The hard work paid off and Luca was rehomed at the end of January. Unfortunately with the lack of time to promote the indoor Puppy Clubs, they have had to cease but as one door closes, another door opens and this sequence of events has led me to believe that indoor dog training classes are not necessarily the best way to train dogs! The Supervised Walk Clubs are working better than the indoor clubs EVER did, with dogs who were previously suffering from dog proximity issues making unprecedented progress as part of a Supervised Walk Club!

That brings me to February, and I've got some photos for you of the Supervised Walk Clubs!

A December Walk: Toby, Jess, Alfie, Basil and of course my Bailey!

Bailey & Alfie enjoying scenting a tree stump.

A February walk meeting another pack also on a walk.

Bailey, Bramble, Magic & Alfie enjoying a wonderful game!