Jo's Old Site

While the physiotherapist was doing the lower leg exercises with my legs we were chatting away and I found out from her that: apparently there was some sort of research that was done for some reason she didn’t give but from it they discovered that it is quite common for women to develop some sort of problem with their mobility at age forty.

Ilse is just a puppy, so I been getting her used to being brushed and combed but the only problem is she thinks they are toys!

So as I have some experience as a dog trainer I decided to give her some dog treats while I am doing it and it’s a lot easier. I also suggested to mum that she should give Ilse some treats while clipping her toe nails and she said yes I distracted her with a glove while doing her nails.

Also I have recently been looking up info on grooming a schnauzer, and found out that quite a few people have suggested distracting the dog with food while grooming.

Mum and Dad got me a dog crate for my 35th birthday, and it is great as I can open and close it myself; and while opening gates and things is not a challenge to some people I find that I cannot open everything myself.

I still remember that day when Dad suggested to me that I should have at least gone down and let Darcy, and Phoebe out of their pen and this was a gate that you had to lift (how he expected me to do that I don’t know) as it was heavy.

Anyway, as Ilse was getting out of her crate before I closed it decided from now on to throw in a few dog treats and she has been no trouble ever since.

A few days after a cyclone was expected to hit North Queensland (didn’t discover what they called this one) we recieved a storm that included hail, thunder, and, lightning.

Anyway, I had Ilse my mini schnauzer in my flat when lightning hit our roof somewhere, and Ilse ran to the other side of the room; but when I called her she came back to me.

Now as I got a book by Caesar Milan called Caesar’s Way, he advises in the book that if anything negative happens react like nothing had; so I wasn’t concerned that she went to the other side of the room.

Then she started playing with her toys on her own accord, and I decided to play with her as I remember that someone was telling mum either at training or the trials that if there is a storm going on she heard that someone played games with their dog.

Mum even came in to check if Ilse was alright but saw that Ilse was showing no concern and after the first fright she didn’t run off anymore while it was all going on.

In fact after she had played for a while Ilse went over and stood at the door looking out.

We also recieved some damage to a couple of wattle trees, as one is now permanently tilted and another had a branch broken off.

Ilse is twelve weeks old now, and before getting her have brought some good books on socialising and training pups one of them is called Ultimate Puppy.

Anyway I read that if you don’t want your pup to bite than keep your hands away from its mouth.

I also read that some pups stop biting when they hear the word “ouch” but this isn’t true with every pup as sometimes this reaction gives them more incentive to bite.

Also though I’m not purposely letting Ilse “play” this way I find that sometimes Ilse gets a finger or part of my hand in her mouth.

When she does this I try not to react verbally, and just remove whatever part of my body she has from her mouth; and now find that she is biting more softly though I still remove my hands or fingers from her mouth.

As I’ve been having problems with my leg seizing up for quite sometime, I decided to tell a doctor about it and found her very positive.

Mum told her that I had cerebral palsy, and the doctor said that because of my physical disability I have to make physiotherapy my life even if it means that I have to make myself do it.

Well now that I have been to the physiotherapist, she given me a list of lower leg exercises which I have to do twice a day and they are:

While Lying On Back Do:

Hamstring Stretches and Hold for Thirty Seconds (two times)

Active Straight Leg Raises (five times)

Slide Each Leg to the Side and Back (five times)

With Knees Bent:

Lift Bottom (five times)

Rock Knees Side to Side (five times)

Right Calf Stretches – Pull Foot Up While Knee is Straight

While Sitting:

Push Right Heel Down and Raise Toes

Lift Left Foot to Straighten Knee (five times)

Also when I was a kid I didn’t have problems getting about as I was only mildly affected by cerebral palsy and I went to the physiotherapist on and off.

I also wasn’t aware back then of what I was in for further down the track, and I admit that I wasn’t doing the exercises at home.

I’m not so niave about this now as knowing that I now got more incentive to do them: as my goal is to get back into training and trialing.

Bryce Courtenay wrote this wonderful book, and its ISBN is 0-670-88351-4 and is published by Viking Penguin.

The story is set around 1910 in a rural area of New South Wales and is about the Bergman family who live on their ten acre farm but the main character in the story is Jessica Bergman.

Jessica is an outdoors type of person, and though her parents aren’t divorced she is brought up mainly by her father, who is getting on in age and needed help around the farm while her older sister was brought up by their mother.

Meg is her sister, and Jessica and her really don’t have much in common accept they both really like Jack Thomas and their mother wanted Meg to marry Jack Thomas who lived on a farm next door as he came from a rich family.

Also as Jessica finds work as a tar boy on the Riverview farm, she develops a friendship with Jack Thomas, and another guy named Billy who both decide to call her tea leaf.

But Jessica’s employment isn’t approved by everyone, as other tar boys get jealous and Jessica becomes a victim of bullying. Billy and Jack then finds out and Billy tries to sort it out with the tar boys and a accident happens which leaves Billy brain damaged.

Billy then finds work as a gardener on the Riverview farm, but then becomes a victim of mental abuse as Jack has a mother and two sisters who aren’t really nice.

Jessica is a real heroine, as when Billy murders Jack’s mother and two sisters she keeps herself calm and takes Billy to the magistrate.

She even goes against her father’s advice at the trial as she thinks for herself and tells Richard Runche who was suppose to be representing Billy his side of the story and convinces Runche to say something in court.

The youngest Bergman daughter then falls pregnant, and this is when it gets really crazy and all sorts of things happen I really enjoyed it.