Interesting Stuff From South Australia

At Naracoorte in SA I experienced my first live horse dancing competition. This is where the riders get music to match the horses hoof prints and they need to carry out a certain number of pace changes during the event.

I saw some terrible exhibitions of this but there was one lady who stood out totally, forgive me for not remembering her name, I will find that out but she used the classical track by Elgar - Pomp and Circumstance March No 1

She had it arranged at a sound studio to get the tempo of the track changed to match her horses hooves. Unlike many of the other contestants she didn't need to cut the track and leave horrible pauses in the track.

It stood out magnificently and i was so inspired. I can't wait till i get my next horse, I will have it dancing around in no time :)



These are some friendly Kookaburras that visited us at Pete's Place In Mundulla South Australia


I thought this seat and table was interesting. You can find it outside the tourist centre in Bordertown South Australia.

Stallion ... He Bites

One of my adventure days in Naracoorte in South Australia me and two friends were wonderring through the stables after the eventing was finished.

Se came across this horse who was overly friendly with his mouth and we all decided he might be a bit bitey so we should keep clear of his stall.

Then we noticed the fine print on the canvas sheet by his head, it says "STALLION ... HE BITES"!

We thought the owners could have made a bigger effort on the signage lol :)

Family Trip To Freo

On my way over East me and the folks decided to spend a day travelling through our old town Fremantle in Western Australia


Here are some pics of Dad ...We had a giggle forcing him to stand under them all lol :)

Stress & Destressing

Well as you can see it’s been a few weeks since I last posted something, I’ve been traveling all over the countryside.

I will start posting my pics and stories shortly but for now I wanted to tell you about my day. My life has turned un-necessarily stressful recently and having once had burn out I can feel it coming on a bit recently, so I’ve decided to pull away from those people and situations that detract from my happiness.

Today I spent the day cleaning my mum’s back area which has that horrible fake grass that collects dirt and with three dogs in the backyard they make a great mess of it all. After vacuuming and washing walls and thing tops it looked like a million dollars and I was so proud.

I was still feeling a little wrestles so decided to tackle some weeds in my front yard and have only got raking and disposal of them to go.

I guess when all these jobs are done I can start focusing on work again but for now I am happy pretending I am stress free.

It’s pretty funny sometimes I will be watching tv at mum’s house and I will warn her that some shows are prone to making me cry and she laughs but without fail the waterworks have started before the end of the show.

I guess I am being a little emotional but until I find my place in this beautiful world I will remain emotional lol

You will just have to get used to me the way I am J

How To Stop Dog Biting

In one of my earlier blogs I mentioned a few dogs that were destroyed for biting people, I feel bad for the animals, disgust at some irresponsible dog owners for not training or restraining their dogs. When I was a child I was bitten on the stomach by a sheepdog, it was a working dog and I was a stupid kid who threw my arms around it’s head as if it was one of my own dogs. I think this is why I still don’t trust many dogs and don’t tolerate irresponsibility.

The dog that bit me wasn’t bad, people should look after their dogs as well as their children, and both shouldn’t be left unsupervised at any time.

It is usually possible to train a dog not to bite, if it is a young dog doing it as part of play with you and other people that he knows. The best way is to say 'No' or 'Ouch!' firmly and loudly right at him, and stop playing with him whenever he does it.

This is the same way that mother dogs teach their puppies not to bite too hard. First, they bark and growl at the puppy. Then they turn away and ignore the puppy for a while. If he continues to bite, the mother will grip the scruff of his neck and shake him until he submits. Going limp is a sign of submission.

Your puppy may have been taken from his mother before he learnt this, so you may have to play the part of the mother. Don't hit him but if he persistently bites you despite being ignored, take hold of the scruff of the neck and shake. But don't lift him when you do this - it is not necessary and could be dangerous.

If your dog is a puppy, he is probably teething. Like a child, he needs toys to chew on, so you should make sure there are plenty of these that he knows are his. However, do not give him a toy immediately when he bites you, or he may see it as a reward. That would encourage him to bite you every time he wants a toy to chew on!

Then at other times, when you see him chewing on his toy, praise him and give him attention. This will reinforce the good behavior. This can be the hardest thing to do. While it seems natural to us to correct bad behavior, we usually ignore good behavior. But if you fuss when he bites you, and ignore him when he chews his toy, what do you think he will prefer to do? Yes, bite you, of course!

If an older dog bites, the problem can be more serious, especially if it is a large breed. Bites that break the skin can become infected, and if your dog is allowed to continue biting there is a risk that someone may be seriously injured.

Biting is natural to dogs and they do have to be trained out of it. It will be harder now that he has the habit, but even more important to train him successfully. You will need to be very consistent in your training over several weeks or even months.

You may have adopted a rescue dog whose history you do not know, or an older dog that you were told was well behaved but now is not. Try the same methods, but don't try to shake a big dog. Keep in mind that this may be a temporary behavioral problem related to the stress of the dog's new life in your home. Your training will be most effective if accompanied by a lot of love. Let him keep any toys that he brought with him. These might help him to settle, as well as being something that he can safely bite.

If the dog is aggressive in other ways, e.g. growling when people approach his food bowl or acting aggressively toward other pets or children in a way that is clearly not play, then he is trying to be dominant in the household. Often, the dog will allow one adult to be 'leader of the pack' but he wants to be second. This can be a dangerous situation and you may need to work with a professional dog trainer on this.

If you have small children it is better not to take on dogs that have been bred for guard dogs or sheep dogs, who tend to bite more seriously than others. These include Doberman, Chow Chow, Collie and Rottweiler. There are other breeds that don't get along well with kids for other reasons, including Pekinese, Chihuahua, Toy Poodle, Cocker Spaniel and Dachshund.

If you have one of these dogs and then you have a baby, you may have to consider finding a new home for your pet. In this situation it may not be safe to rely on being able to train a dog not to bite.

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How Do You Train Your Dog Not To Jump On People?

Isn’t it annoying when you visit a fiends place and their dog’s straight away jump up to greet you! Not only can it be a frightening experience if you don’t trust the dog yet, it wants to be close to your face, or greedy dogs wanting to smell your mouth or sniff your hands. Some dogs are too heavy to simply push off you!

Most owners of puppies need to train the dog not to jump up at people. Most young dogs are very interested in any new person and they will be so eager to meet your visitors or any other human that they encounter, that they will jump up on their legs in greeting.

This is in fact submissive behavior on the dog's part. It is showing that it has no intention of starting a fight with the person. However, the jumping can be very frightening for children. A big dog can easily knock a young child over, without intending to hurt them at all. This can lead to some kids becoming terrified of dogs. This is unnecessary and I am sure you will want to make sure that your dog does not cause that kind of reaction.

For adults, it is usually not scary (unless they had a bad experience in childhood) but it can be annoying if the dog is wet or muddy and leaves marks on their clothes. However, it is often the case that the person will react in a friendly way, by stroking the dog, saying hello and playing with him. People may do this either because they genuinely like dogs, or to stop the dog embarrassing them by sniffing their groin.

This can be a big problem if you are trying to teach the dog not to jump. He gets a confusing message. On the one hand, you are saying 'Down!' or calling him to you; on the other hand, the visitor is clearly rewarding him for his jumping with lots of lovely attention. So it is better for you not to react when he jumps on a stranger.

If you concentrate on training him when he is jumping on people that he knows, you can enlist their help. Be sure they know that the dog is not allowed to jump up at them and must not be rewarded for it. If he jumps, they should just stand very still and not even make eye contact with him.

You can do the same when he jumps on you. He will soon get down and when he does, you can speak the command 'Down' or 'Off' and reward him. This way he is only rewarded for getting off - not jumping. Or you can wait a moment, then tell him to 'Sit' and reward him for that.

You and your family members will probably know the dog well enough to see when he is about to jump at you. You can forestall him by turning sideways and slowly walking away. This will show him that you are neither afraid of him nor aggressive toward him, and it will calm him.

It is very important not to punish the dog for jumping by slapping him down or grabbing his paws. Remember that the dog is showing his submissiveness by doing this - so if you are aggressive with him, he thinks his message has not come across and he will try even harder with the same behavior. It is very important not to either reward or punish the unwanted behavior when you want to train a dog not to jump.