A good post on the k9disc.com forum yesterday. I was guilty of number one, sighing and groaning, with Jessie. With Bonnie I have been more aware of staying positive about our play and training, but being the second child, Bonnie has much lower expectations to live up to. Lucky girl! In some situations “sighing and groaning” was not a bad training technique with Jessie. She had a lot more confidence than Bonnie.
I also really like number three, feigning enthusiasm, and number four, tone of voice. I am really so bad at the happy puppy voice. It is nice to be let off the hook on that.
I bet most of these ideas are relevant to parenting and teaching children and are probably pretty useful for motivating adults too.
Cathy, I just read down below you have a compartment syndrome 9and a stress fracture)? Shoot, welcome to the club! I saw my sportmed doc this morning, and she will be scheduling the surgery (kind of finally) for October. At the same time, the scar is going to look horrific! I think my husband is going to kick me out with it:( but I still have time to thinkl. Having the chronic condition takes a joy out of many runs and a possibility of training well for the ability I may never discover. Going under the knife is petrifying…
Hi Olga,
I have been amazed at all you have done in the last few weeks WITH compartment syndrome. Rocky Raccoon was my first experience with CCS. I am surprised that I still have lingering sensation. I think walking too much and too fast during RR was my problem. Maybe the key is to skip the walk breaks and just run the whole way. : )
I definitely understand the fear of compartment syndrome possibly preventing me from ever realizing my potential. At this point, I am not a candidate for surgery, but from what my doctor said, and what I have read online, it sounds like it often gives people a lot of relief.
When are you going to finish that “Everything About Compartment Syndrome” post? : )
Cathy,
Thanks for this link! While I don’t do anything too special with training and my dog (like disc play), these lessons are applicable to my daily interactions with her.
SO, so sorry to hear about your leg ails. I, too, have spent a fair bit of time on the proverbial cross-training bench, so I empathize with you. Happy healing vibes…
Ok, and one more thing. I see you link to some vegan stuff here. Are you vegan? Just curious… :)
Meghan
Hi Meghan,
I’m glad you liked the link.
I am mostly vegan. I have been a vegetarian for 15 years. It took 13 years to go from omnivore to vegetarian. I stopped eating pork when we had to dissect a piglet in 9th grade biology class and stopped eating all red meat three years later. I didn’t stop eating chicken and fish until I read John Robbins‘ book Diet for a New America in 1992.
The vegan transition is going at similar pace. In 2000 I worked in Vermont for six months. One day I got delayed for road construction right next to a veal calf lot. The farms I saw in Vermont, including that one, treated their animals relatively well, but the conditions still disturbed me. I stopped eating dairy for about a week, but was soon back to getting a regular Ben and Jerry’s fix with reduced dairy consumption.
I started reading Vegan Freak last fall and began to make a commitment to veganism beyond my own kitchen. I told my family over the holidays that I wasn’t eating dairy or eggs anymore. I had been hesitant to do that largely because my mom has been so great about making special vegetarian versions of family recipes when I am around, I didn’t want to add another level of difficulty to that. I brought along vegan holiday feast kit to try and make that part easier. My sister was a little disappointed because she had recently gotten some chickens and I didn’t want to eat any of their eggs.
A big reason I’ve progressed this year from sometimes vegan to mostly vegan was telling my friends that own the restaurant where I most often eat if I don’t eat at home. They have gone out of their way to have vegan options since … and have reminded me, in a non-pressuring way, sometimes when I didn’t want to be reminded that, “Oh, that’s not vegan.”
Vegan ultra runners, including Scott Jurek, have also been an inspiration to make this change that I’ve felt I should make for a long time. … though it may take another six years to finally stick. : )
i think those work on kids. they can smell fake and sense sighs. at what age do we lose this skill? if we know it as a kid, why do we think that as adults we can con?
sigh.
i sigh a lot.