May The Stars Light Your Way
We got up screaming this morning — we woke at 9:30am and needed to be at the theater by 10:00am to ‘strike’ the set of LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS. (Strike means to reset the space, removing our sets, props, costumes, and the rest to make…
Tonight was closing night of Wendy’s show, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, and the 17th season at Falcon Theater. Wendy & I drove down to the theater together, though I had to go back out shortly after arriving — seems that the actor playing Audrey II…
From: Drew Vogel drew@drewvogel.com
Subject: Bell Training your dog
With an early start and concentrated effort, it is possible to train your dog to ring a bell whenever they want to go outside to relieve themselves. Bell training is not difficult, but it requires a great deal of consistency and dedication during the training. Here’s what you need to prepare for the training:
Recommended:
The Training:
I got Stanley when he was 5 months old and started bell training right away. I’ll be anxious to hear about successes with younger dogs.
At first, I fed Stanley only twice a day — once at 8:30am and again at 5:30pm. (Stanley is now a self-feeder. I don’t meter or time his feedings.) About 45 minutes after each meal, I’d take him to the bell hung on my back door. Then, I’d take his paw, hit the bell with his paw (VERY important — the dog must strike the bell, not you), verbally praise him, and take him outside. We’d stay outside until he did his duty or a reasonable amount of time (5-10 minutes) then it was back inside with loads of praise and a treat if he did his potty while outside.
| Stanley was crate trained as well. I’m a big advocate of crate training — this allows the owner to leave the home without worrying about coming back to find an overturned garbage can, messes on the floor, or other signs of doggy-destruction, and a crate is like a little apartment for the dog — when Stanley is feeling tired or stressed, he’ll go lay down in his private space. I know that he likes having his own space a lot. Crate training assisted in Stanley’s training a great deal since dogs don’t like to mess where they sleep. When it’s time for me to leave for work in the morning, I say “Get in your box” and he goes right in and lays down.
However, some owners do not like the idea of crating their dog. In this case, consider creating a space where the dog stays when no one is home, for example, the kitchen with dog-proof barricades at the doors to prevent the dog from roaming the house. Dogs, when left on their own, feel the need to defend all of their space. If the dog has run of the house, they feel the need to defend the whole home. If they’re penned in the kitchen (for example), that is a more managable space. Even better with a crate. |
If the dog makes a mess in the house, they get a firm scolding over the mess (never EVER push the dog’s nose in it!). Then, clean the mess with paper towels and take the soiled towels outside and set them where you want the dog to potty. Go back inside and get the dog, ring the bell with his paw, praise him for ringing the bell, take him outside, allow the dog to smell the soiled paper towels and praise him. Though this may seem a little odd to a human’s way of thinking, this makes perfect sense to the dog.
The hard part is this — a short time into the training, the dog begins to get the idea that ringing the bell means that they get to go outside. They want to test the idea. Every 30 seconds. I mean it. Every 30 seconds. And guess what? You have to follow the steps listed above each and every time during this, the most critical, training time. This is when the dog is learning and making the bell training their own, and when you’re most likely to get frustrated. You’ll certainly get your exercise opening the door for them! Stay strong and take the dog out each time — a little inconvenience at this point will lead to a well-potty-trained dog.
| During this time, Stanley and I were also doing light Alpha Training — training that establishes the alpha order in the household (essentially, who is the “boss dog”). To accomplish this, I would lay Stanley on his side on the floor in front of me, his back to my crossed legs, and I would gently hold him down for 30 minutes a day each day for a month or so. He could do anything he wanted while laying there — sleep, look around — anything except get up. Once 30 minutes had passed, I’d let him up, give him just a little bit of praise (nothing extravagant since he’s just obeying me, something he’s expected to do anyway), and let him go about his business. This type of training is essential for a well-behaved dog, and especially important if you have a dog that will grow large. |
That’s the gist of this training. The alpha training and bell training is very much worth it — Stanley hasn’t had an accident in the house in a long time, and if he rings the bell to go out and I don’t respond within a minute or so, he rings the bell again. And again. It’s great!
Should you need any further help, or want to talk about the finer points of bell or alpha training, please let me know via email. Please let me know how it goes — it went so well with Stanley that I swear by the method. I’m anxious to hear your story.
Year: 2006
Writer: Akiva Goldsman (screenplay), Dan Brown (novel)
Director: Ron Howard
Producer: Columbia Pictures
Length: 149
Category: Drama
Media: Film
Studio: Imagine Entertainment
Distributor: Sony Pictures Releasing
Rating from MPAA: PG-13
Review from 67rocks.
Four words – wrong star, wrong director.
Hanks and Howards best work, both together or separately, have been when they embrace intrinsically American values in their films. All their most memorable movies have involved individuals overcoming hardship through an unshakable belief in love and courage, usually set against an outwardly US-centric interpretation of events. Think Apollo 13, Forrest Gump, Cinderella Man, Saving Private Ryan – all fine films, all centred on an American hero rising above their circumstance.
What is conspicuously absent from either man’s resume is a European-set, religious-themed mystery thriller. Having sat through their arduous, laborious adaptation of Dan Brown’s novel, I can now see why.
The plot is total bunkum – a hodgepodge of “what ifs” and “oh my god” moments spun on the ludicrous premise that Leonardo Da Vinci had some sort of insight into the life of Christ – but loopy story lines have not stopped many films from being enjoyable.
What makes The Da Vinci Code so deathly dull is the heavy-handed, oh-so-serious approach Howard applies to the material. Combining with his cinematographer to give the film a sleepy nocturnal feel (not so clever given the 150min running time), Howard’s film is just a constant flow of expository clues that fail to create any tension or engender his leads with any human qualities. Even for those that haven’t read the book, a couple of obligatory ‘big twists’ in the story are very obvious from early-on.
Hanks (looking more like Jim Belushi than ever) and McKellen blather on and on and on about knights and saints and symbols and God as if they were giving a lecture at some Ivy-league school for the supernatural; Audrey Tautou is lovely but has little to do in a role that is plot- not character-driven. Jean Reno ambles thru another of his token French cop parts (he was better in the Pink Panther); Paul Bettany’s evil albino Silas at least got some audience reaction, though giggles and guffaws were probably not what he was hoping for.
Whatever sense of fun and excitement the book provided is fully-drained from this adaptation. Come credit time, I had the realisation that all this hokey, airport-novel religious hooey and B-movie plotting would’ve made for a great X-files episode in that series heyday. As the end-product of a publishing phenomenon and carrying the tag “Years Most-Anticipated”, its a boring dud.
I flew by the house this evening after work to let the dogs outside then left again pretty quickly. Since Wendy had LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS at Falcon Theater tonight, I’d decided to go see THE DA VINCI CODE at my local multiplex. I’d purchased…
I found this interesting optical illusion while surfing around on HappyScrappy…
Stare at the plus sign in the middle. You’ll notice that the moving dot becomes green, and then the pink dots should disappear.
Here’s an explanation, courtesy of some college professor on the author’s dad’s friend’s e-mail list:
Pretty basic principles at work here… our eyes have so many light receptors that our brains have to do lots of work to process the input, and so we pay attention to some things that change, and not to things that are stable. There are different kinds of light receptors in different parts of the retina, and that influences what we see as well. And then our neurons tend to notice change more than steady input (that’s why we get used to smells and background noises). With light, there’s an afterimage effect. I’m sure wikipedia can explain this better than I can…
Tonight was a simple dinner because I was very tired… Last night’s heavy thunderstorm seems to have frightened …some animal… into our attic and the scared little critter was pawing at the ceiling drywall, which woke Wendy up. To her, the noise was so distracting…