RP3 Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Just thought I'd share my dilemna with the rest of the group -- for laughs if nothing else. This Christmas my two grown children presented my wife and I with a 3 month old Australian Shepherd puppy as our Christmas gift. This was out-of-the-blue but understandable since we had been forced to put down our ailing 14 year-old Aussie last summer. The puppy is delightful and full of energy -- wherein lies my problem. Aussies are dogs that need a job and currently her job is seeing to it that I spend almost all my free time keeping her entertained or taking her for walks to do her business. If I try to take time away from her to practice on my concertina, she becomes self-employed and the results of that can be disasterous to the house, furniture, and clothing! Hopefully I can channel her energies into non-destructive pastimes as she gets a little older so that I can have some music practice time. If not, Noel's going to give me a hard time at class this August. Any suggestions would be appreciated - commiserations also accepted. Happy New Year, Ross Schlabach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Well, I'm delighted to say that my Christmas present has had no adverse effect on practice, and a beneficial effect on my outdoor playing. Contented, of Croydon. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan Day Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 My first suggestion would be to go to Oxfam and purchase some cuddly toys,these are dirt cheap and your money goes to a good cause.Remove all glass eyes beads etc and hand them over for her to demolish or cuddle up to. Keep to strict time schedules these dogs have a fantastic built in clock. A time for walks,food,sleep and play can be enforced by you quite easily, but you have to keep to the time table.When she is into the routine you will start to enjoy each others company. If you do not want her in certain rooms or jump up at the table now is the time to enforce it but it takes time and patience.For a concertina player this will be a doddle. That was for the wife!! Now for the Dog !! Al Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bruce McCaskey Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Ross, I'm sending you a message via c.net regarding my advice on this matter. I spent a couple of years running a dog training business and hope you'll find something useful in my comments. Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asdormire Posted January 5, 2007 Share Posted January 5, 2007 Get some ducks. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Johnson Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 I have a remarkably similar problem Ross, though it was at least partly of my own making and a border terrier rather than an Aussie. Fortunately he doesn't mind concertina playing as long as he is allowed to be close by. Otherwise he... "sings" . Fortunately, he is also remarkably obedient, and seems to accept our choices of things he is allowed to destroy. Dana Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RP3 Posted January 6, 2007 Author Share Posted January 6, 2007 Hi again everybody. I appreciate your comments and encouragement. We are starting down the road to formal puppy training in the morning when we visit her puppy shcool. We are using a crate effectively, have established outselves as the pack leaders and have a good routine set up for her. Even at only three months she knows that outside is for doing her business and she has plenty of "cheap" toys to both help entertain her and help with the growth of her teeth. Better them than our furniture or my concertinas. She's getting lots of exercise and good initial people socialization. Dana, I do believe that you chose an even more high-energy dog than we received. The one thing we need want is for this job-oriented puppy to become self-employed! I am committed to getting my music practice into the routine and having a well-behaved and well trained dog too. We just need to stay with it. Thanks again to all, and Happy New Year. Ross Schlabach Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mike byrne Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 Well, I'm delighted to say that my Christmas present has had no adverse effect on practice, and a beneficial effect on my outdoor playing. Contented, of Croydon. Peter, I had a beret similar to yours but brown, I dropped it in a field full of cows and tried 10 on before I found the right one. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 (edited) Peter, I had a beret similar to yours but brown, I dropped it in a field full of cows and tried 10 on before I found the right one. Hi Mike, This one's very dark brown**. I will heed your warning, and avoid fields full of cows, etc., just in case! Regards, Peter. ** my Oracle advises that it photographs black, because it is black! Edited January 7, 2007 by PeterT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rhomylly Posted January 6, 2007 Share Posted January 6, 2007 As a dog trainer myself, I will add: A well-exercised puppy is a tired puppy. A tired puppy is usually an unconscious puppy. An unconscious puppy is always a well-behaved puppy. I wish this worked as well for kids. My 2-year-old daughter wants to play concertina, too! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fidjit Posted January 8, 2007 Share Posted January 8, 2007 Well, I'm delighted to say that my Christmas present has had no adverse effect on practice, and a beneficial effect on my outdoor playing. Contented, of Croydon. Looks like you've put your "cuddly toy" on your head Peter. Don't want to put a damper on anything but, I walked into an Irish pub in Oslo with a black beret on , and my friend from Belfast advised me to take it off sharpish as the black beret was the uniform of the IRA! Chas Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterT Posted January 9, 2007 Share Posted January 9, 2007 Well, I'm delighted to say that my Christmas present has had no adverse effect on practice, and a beneficial effect on my outdoor playing. Contented, of Croydon. Looks like you've put your "cuddly toy" on your head Peter. Don't want to put a damper on anything but, I walked into an Irish pub in Oslo with a black beret on , and my friend from Belfast advised me to take it off sharpish as the black beret was the uniform of the IRA! Chas This is a very special, and magical, hat! I took it out to the French/English session, at "The George", tonight, where it received favourable comments, and looks. It has already achieved celebrity status, having appeared in "The Guardian" on 27th December, on its first public appearance. I will also heed your warning, Chas, and avoid Irish pubs. Another one to be added to my list. Regards, Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Drinkwater Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Well, Peter, when I saw you at The George session on monday night, you were kind enough to show me your recently acquired headgear and politely asked me to refrain from making any comments about it on C.net, so I won't. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trilby Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I know this is slightly off topic but I feel qualified to reply on two counts. Firstly my penchant for headwear ( hence the name) and secondly trouble with pets and practising. I have inherited, through marriage, two parrots. One Amazon which is quiet and loving. The other psycho killer African Grey. It once went for my neck with its claws leaving me to explain the injuries in A and E. Even worse, when the scratches got infected it looked like the worst ( or best) love bite you have ever seen ! Anyway, the redeeming feature of this bird is it is incredibly good at whistling harmonies. He loves to join in and is always in key but is very loud and incredibly off putting. I have been forced to play in the furthest reaches of the house yet still he calls and joins in at the top of his (very loud) voice! Luckily the neighbours are understanding but if it wasn't bad enough living next to someone with a very vocal parrot, for them to be in the early stages of learning the concertina must bring your house price tumbling. We still got xmas cards though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Sylte Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 I just realized that I had an appropriate contribution to this topic! I already posted this link in another thread... My blue heeler Ruben cracks me up. I first learned that he was a singer when he was just a furball. Whenever I played my harmonicas he would point his head skyward and join in. We live on a cattle ranch and at the end of most days he's quite spent. If he isn't absolutely exhausted his singing often degenerates into barking, and I have to say "no bark, Ruben, NO BARK." Then instead of playing melody lines I'll just play one sustained note and tell him, "Ruben, SING!" and he does. He is beginning to understand the difference between singing and barking, although he's much more keen on matching the style of my playing than listening to my verbal commands. I have not had the heart to discourage him from singing. He doesn't stop until he's finished, which is usually after about 10 minutes. Sometimes he sings a lot longer though, and I just have to mentally tune him out or stop playing. Fortunately for us, we have no neighbors My stepbrother Rory lost a brown suede cap in our cattle pasture when we had been imbibing a few years ago. We were out trying to see if cows could really be tipped (as far as we could tell, our cows don't sleep). He didn't realize until we got back that his hat was not on his head. Based on our adventure, we could only narrow down our search area to about 200 acres. It was a couple years later that our ranch hand found it when he was out feeding. Some bovine had tactfully concealed it's position by dropping a large load right on top of it! I gave it back to my step brother almost 4 years later, and it was half sunbleached and half yellowed by being preserved in... well... you get the idea. This is a true story! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave Higham Posted January 10, 2007 Share Posted January 10, 2007 Orl tergevver now! "Where did you get that 'at, Where did you get that tile? Isn't it a lovely one?, it's just the latest style. I would like to 'ave one just the same as that! Where did you get...........etc, etc. Dead easy on the Anglo. But it's not really a beret is it? Where I come from they don't have seams. Looks good though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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