The Chillout Zone (Off-Topic Thread)

Pumpkinseeds

I cooked a turkey crown in butter and streaky bacon and I thought the 3 boys were going to climb on my head to get at it, Poppy on the other hand has no interest and walked away from it, cats:rolleyes: She used to love poultry but now if it isn't raw she won't eat it. I wouldn't give them raw turkey though. Then there's all the palava of scrubbing surfaces after having the raw turkey on the work top. My mother instilled a sense of paranoia about food poisoning from raw turkey on surfaces when we were kids. I can still picture her scouring the kitchen with bleach at Christmas after she'd stuffed the turkey.:)

Kovu

Strange question but does anyone else have a cat that sits on things during play? Kovu will reverse onto Squeak and try to sit on her and maneuvers that brilliant SS banana gift to his arse so he can sit on it. Scent glands?

SingItOut

The dogs went mountain climbing with my dad this morning and they are absolutely shattered all day! The silence from Alli not barking at birds every two minutes is absolute bliss

muddypaws

The dogs and I had a super day out in Tipp yesterday, and met fellow boardsie angeldaisy and her lovely family. I hadn't realised until yesterday, how many people had heard about Riley, but apparently the rally organisers were getting phone calls beforehand to make sure he was going to be there, and he had tons of visitors wanting to meet him and get a kiss.

angeldaisy

muddypaws wrote: »

The dogs and I had a super day out in Tipp yesterday, and met fellow boardsie angeldaisy and her lovely family. I hadn't realised until yesterday, how many people had heard about Riley, but apparently the rally organisers were getting phone calls beforehand to make sure he was going to be there, and he had tons of visitors wanting to meet him and get a kiss.

It was lovely meeting you too Muddypaws, and especially your fab dogs. Vincent is an absolute sweetheart:)

We met some fabulous dogs and their owners, it was a great day out.


Elly has always laid by my feet when I am on the couch. Problem is now we have a new couch which is a recliner. Great for doing college work with my feet up! only thing is she likes laying underneath it! I can't always see if she is there - she's almost been squished a few times:p

VonVix

Finally paid up to attend the Ray Coppinger seminar, yay!

Also, my boys swam for the first time today, yay! Though one of my boys' eyes began bugging out when he realised what he was doing, he still did it though!

muddypaws

VonVix wrote: »

Finally paid up to attend the Ray Coppinger seminar, yay!

Yay. There's a few boardsies going to it, will we recognise each other? Might have to wear name badges with our boards names on :P

VonVix

muddypaws wrote: »

Yay. There's a few boardsies going to it, will we recognise each other? Might have to wear name badges with our boards names on :P

We should have a special code word that we go around whispering quietly near people we might think is a boardsie.

muddypaws

VonVix wrote: »

We should have a special code word that we go around whispering quietly near people we might think is a boardsie.

:pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac::pac: brilliant

borderlinemeath

VonVix wrote: »

Finally paid up to attend the Ray Coppinger seminar, yay!

Yay. There's a few boardsies going to it, will we recognise each other? Might have to wear name badges with our boards names on

I'll be there too

SillyMangoX

At the moment we're having a bit of a hard time at home as I've a relative very sick in hospital, so we're not home a lot of the time because we're in and out to him the whole time. Because of this the cats routines are completely messed up and they're spending more time in the utility than in the rest of the house when they come inside in the evenings. Now cream is acting up and spraying every upright surface in site it's very annoying but I can't blame him, he's upset from the lack of attention

nala2012

Somebody please adopt my foster baby! He's the best puppy ever... had him out on our boat today and he seemed to love it until he fell asleep! He sleeps the night and is nearly toilet trained. Gets on with every dog, cat and chiId he meets. I can't understand why people don't go for hound pups. I first saw him when I went with my sisters friend to help her pick a pup. She chose I crazy collie boy over my baby!

Pumpkinseeds

Our bed has become like a feline Game of Thrones. Usually Toby is on the end of the bed with Felix and Jazzy taking turns in trying to oust him from the bed so that they can have his place. Poppy lurks in the background waiting for the 3 of them to annoy each other out of the room before sneaking in and seizing the bed for herself.:D

tk123

There's signs up on every gate in the park about the dangers of toxoplasmosis and telling dog walkers to pick up after their dogs and visitors to the park to wash their hands. Very tempted to stick a note on the end of each one

"Toxoplasmois is among just one of the diseases that are carried in human feaces eg <list of diseases> - please use the rubbish bins provided for dirty nappies and refrain from letting your children to poo in the bushes in the top field" :pac:

Pumpkinseeds

I finally managed to trim Poppy's claws. She is so paranoid about having her paws touched, but with the Pododermatitis her pads are too large for her claws to wear down. She was dozing next to me on the bed so I managed to get most of the front ones done while she was sleepy, she still didn't make it easy though.:rolleyes: Well, at least she's not sticking to the carpet now.:D

SingItOut

Any bird people in here? specifically Parrot people? My boyfriend and I would like to add a cockatiel or senegal to our family later this year but would rather adopt, Are there any parrot or bird rescue centers in the south east? searched google and found nothing.

Pumpkinseeds

It's getting very hard to make the bed these sunny days/evenings. It doesn't seem to matter what time I go to do it, there's at least one sunbathing puddy cat on it, and well, you just can't disturb a comfy cat.:) Our room catches the sun from lunchtime until sunset and Jazzy's virtually living there. He loves the sun but doesn't like to be out in it. Toby doesn't seem to like the sun much. He goes out for a few minutes, then comes back in and passes out for a few more hours, only moving to shift positions.:D

mymo

I decided to give Tiffi a wash and trim today, half way through trimming her the clippers stopped and the blades came off. Can't get blades back on, and poor Tiffi is half cut!
One front leg and most of her front half is short, the rest is long and shaggy!
Groomer can't fit her in until Friday! So she's going to have to suffer the indignity of a truly awful haircut until then.

Zapperzy

mymo wrote: »

I decided to give Tiffi a wash and trim today, half way through trimming her the clippers stopped and the blades came off. Can't get blades back on, and poor Tiffi is half cut!
One front leg and most of her front half is short, the rest is long and shaggy!
Groomer can't fit her in until Friday! So she's going to have to suffer the indignity of a truly awful haircut until then.

Ah you can't tease us like that and not post pictures :-p

mymo

Zapperzy, just for you....

She won't even look at me

tk123

^^ :pac: Ah it doesn't look that bad. I'm the same when I'm trying to trim Bailey's. I'm lucky if I get one done in one sitting so he'll be going around one half tidy looking one and the rest all raggedy!! He was distracted the other day wanting to go into the kitchen to see my brother so I managed to get them all done without him realising! :P

mymo

Photo doesn't show how bad it is, Tiffi does pose at the best of times, her head and shoulder and one leg are shaved, the rest shaggy.

tk123

Sorry have to vent!! Normally I bite my tongue at stuff like this.... Bumped into somebody who has recently taken on a second dog from a bad situation. The guy is a thick as two short planks.. I bit my tongue when he was telling us how he was the alpha, when he was holding it down on it's side, when he was forcing it to sit by yanking its choke chain and for the first 10-15 times he smacked a stick out it's mouth shouting at it to give when the dog was resource guarding and extremely stressed out. (Lucy likes sticks too so the resource guarding set off alarm bells for me- the dog had already snapped at it's new brother when he went near him and Lucy had never met the dog before so she wouldn't know not to approach the dog..)
When he was complaining that the dog doesn't listen and has to be told 20 times I just couldn't bite my tongue any longer. Told him the dog was actually resource guarding and that he'd be better off trading him for something like another stick before he pushed him to far and gets bitten. Also suggested he look into positive reinforcement training methods.
This is exactly the reason I tend to avoid the park in the evenings - so I don't have to deal with fckwits like this!!!

Pumpkinseeds

I'm sitting in the living room watching Jazzy try to pull the fire guard down and climb up the chimney. Thankfully there's a chimney balloon up there so he can't get up. He's in a really playful/naughty mood this morning.

aonb

Pumpkinseeds wrote: »

It's getting very hard to make the bed these sunny days/evenings. It doesn't seem to matter what time I go to do it, there's at least one sunbathing puddy cat on it, and well, you just can't disturb a comfy cat.:) Our room catches the sun from lunchtime until sunset and Jazzy's virtually living there. He loves the sun but doesn't like to be out in it. Toby doesn't seem to like the sun much. He goes out for a few minutes, then comes back in and passes out for a few more hours, only moving to shift positions.:D

being new to cats, I just cant believe how much a cat sleeps. Such sleepyheads! When I disturb Tux she gives me this slitty stare that is just pure venom!! Then as soon as dusk comes she is off and out and adventuring!

Oh by the way, she brought in a tiny mouse-let last night First kill (apart from the spiders, butterflies and flying insects)

Pumpkinseeds

aonb wrote: »

being new to cats, I just cant believe how much a cat sleeps. Such sleepyheads! When I disturb Tux she gives me this slitty stare that is just pure venom!! Then as soon as dusk comes she is off and out and adventuring!

Oh by the way, she brought in a tiny mouse-let last night First kill (apart from the spiders, butterflies and flying insects)

It might be a vole. Oh, it's many years ago now, when Mr Pumpkinseeds used to work permanent nights, our cat at that time brought home a vole, I'd never seen one before and thought it was a baby rat. I'm terrified of rats and rodents and panicked thinking there must be a rats nest somewhere nearby. It was almost time for Mr P to finish work and I was too scared to stay in the house so I walked up and waited for him across the street from his workplace.:o

ShaShaBear

Back door open all day today and was able to leave Abi in the highchair in our kitchenette (and in full view of me) while Opie came in and out. Gave him a handful of frozen steak pieces (I think that's okay?) from the freezer and he sat on the doorstep (about a foot from me) and ate it while I fed Abi. Big improvement considering he would snarl if you even took a step toward him from TEN feet away while he was eating! I still don't tempt fate and wouldn't approach him too fast, but while he was eating it I only got one very soft rumble because I had to get out to the washing line. Fingers crossed by the time baby number 2 is here it's mostly out of him!

tk123

ShaShaBear wrote: »

Back door open all day today and was able to leave Abi in the highchair in our kitchenette (and in full view of me) while Opie came in and out. Gave him a handful of frozen steak pieces (I think that's okay?) from the freezer and he sat on the doorstep (about a foot from me) and ate it while I fed Abi. Big improvement considering he would snarl if you even took a step toward him from TEN feet away while he was eating! I still don't tempt fate and wouldn't approach him too fast, but while he was eating it I only got one very soft rumble because I had to get out to the washing line. Fingers crossed by the time baby number 2 is here it's mostly out of him!

Bailey found a bone in the park yesterday morning. I was lucky and managed to lasso him twice - he backed out the first time but the second time I was able to clip Lucy's lead to him.. He carried it home and swapped it on the spot for a turkey neck. I now have some stinky dried beef gullet (I think! The writings in German lol ) wrapped up in some lunch bags in my backpack in case I need to get something off him when we're out.
Now if I was following the same training methods as that gombeen in the park yesterday I'd be writing this from hospital having had my hand bitten off!

ShaShaBear

tk123 wrote: »

Bailey found a bone in the park yesterday morning. I was lucky and managed to lasso him twice - he backed out the first time but the second time I was able to clip Lucy's lead to him.. He carried it home and swapped it on the spot for a turkey neck. I now have some stinky dried beef gullet (I think! The writings in German lol ) wrapped up in some lunch bags in my backpack in case I need to get something off him when we're out.
Now if I was following the same training methods as that gombeen in the park yesterday I'd be writing this from hospital having had my hand bitten off!

Shocking approach he had to take on trying to get a dog to give up whatever he has! I'm surprised you kept quiet for as long as you did!
Apart from the obvious cruelty of it, I wouldn't dream of risking connection with Opie's teeth unless it was a life or death situation! We started feeding him outside at the back door where he can eat in peace with no interference, he is given all of his treats in his crate so we can move freely and he knows he is safe. We're not even close to ready for "swapping" yet, but getting there. It probably isn't the most proactive attempt at removing the resource guarding but since I have a small child that is on finger foods, it seems the safest way to ensure he can eat in peace and no-one gets a doggy lesson :pac:

mymo

Arabella is finally allowed outside, what's the first thing she does?
She brought us a live fly!

It's now a walk and won't last long.
She spent yesterday going in and out of the door, not straying more than about 3m from it, but today she's exploring the garden a bit more, not left it yet, and runs in at the slightest noise or movement, but it's a good start.
She slept like a log last night, no galloping up and down the hall at 3 or 4 am.
We'll keep her in when out for a few months yet, and we always keep them in at night just to be safe.

ShaShaBear have you tried offering more food while he's still eating? It may be the next step before swapping.