Hello Di - Wayne says thanks for the comments on his new pics!
Read your message about Lilia's chewing and don't I know what you mean! Harvey has been chewing for months. We thought (or were hoping) it was just whilst he was teething but although its gotten better, he hasn't stopped.
To be honest no major damage yet - although we don't have much left of the two rugs in the living room. BUT the way I look at it, we can always replace rugs! The settees and dining room table are still intact which would cost us a lot more to replace. So, even though I come home to a trail of destruction most days and spend most of my lunch time cleaning up the mess he's made, its ok I can forgive him.
Don't get me wrong it drives me crazy (and sometimes to tears) and we have tried allsorts to stop him. Its not because he hasn't got anything else to chew - we've got a whole box full of chewing toys etc so I'm not sure what to suggest. We even asked the breeders for some suggestions but everything they said we've already tried.
So to be honest, can't really help you but hopefully its just a puppy thing and she will grow out of it! I've got my fingers crossed for both of us
Hi Rachel, Wayne certainly knows how to take a good picture - Harvey was missing though . I hope his spot has healed up now. Lilia and chewing! What can i say she is usually a good girl and doesnt chew things she shouldnt. She attacked the cushion in the conservatory when i was upstairs having a shower and i left her downstairs - a rebellious act i think. Then she decided she liked the taste of the cane chair. I now leave her in her cage again during the day for her own sake incase she chokes on something. She is a chewer but usually its her toys or bones. Most of the furniture is intact thankfully. Like you say most things can be replaced so i dont care too much. She has to get a knuckle bone and sit on my lap and chew every night they are natural born chewers and it just has to be focused on the right things LOL. Like you say no matter what they do you still forgive them and love them to bits (i can even forgive Lilia rolling in poo!). Its good to hear from you and to hear someone else has a few 'teething'problems with their dog. Speak soon. xx
Hiya Lynne, Thanks for the nice comments . Right, now for the lesson. To get the background nice and blurry you need to use the aperture setting on your camera (I know you were having trouble with this one!) you need to set the biggest aperture that you have on your camera/lens (which is the smallest number!!) The aperture is the hole in the lens that lets light through to the sensor. For example: f16 is a very small hole, which keeps more things in focus. (wider depth of field). (DOF) where f2.8 is a bigger hole which makes backgrounds blurry. (narrow DOF). The only problem with using a bigger aperture is that you have to be accurate with whatever you are focussing on because you have less room for error. The good thing about using a big aperture is that your shutter speed will be faster to et the right exposure which means you can freeze action and avoid camera shake. Don't know if this helps, I've just read it back and confused myself! (I've had a few ciders though! )
Let me know if this helps.
Hi Wayne, errrrr yep at this time of night it seems very confusing lol Perhaps I'll make sense of it in the morning lol I'll have a play around then. Loved the effect it had on your pics. I've just shown your reply to Mark and he seems to understand it so between us we'll see what we can do lol Hope all is well with you all, and Harvey is now back to his usual self. Thanks so much for all the advice you are giving me I really appreciate it. Take care, speak soon xx
Hiya Lynne, we're all good thanks, haven't been on here too much the last week or so, had our hands full with (not so) little Harvey. He had 'the op.' last Friday and has been recovering since in his ever so stylish boxer shorts. He is coming along well and is full of energy. Stitches come out on Monday so back to normal after that. How are you and your gang? All good I hope. I bet your getting excited about your trip, not too long now. Have you mastered your camera yet? Not the best time of year to practice now, I've hardly touched mine lately. Any sign of your prize from the comp yet? I'm looking forward to seeing the cards when they're done. Any way take care for now, speak soon. x
Hey, good to hear from you. Aww poor Harvey! We have been discussing having Toby done, but Mark is against it! Yet its me that will have to cope with them when Venus comes into season! Thats something I'm not looking forward to - especially when she starts showing interest in Toby - he don't need any encouraging as it is lol Loved your pics of Harvey in his boxers lol He should feel a lot better once the stitches come out, bless him. My two are great, V is still being a sod pot when we are out, ignoring me and going after anyone or anything in sight!but Toby is really good - all he is interested in is his ball, when we have finished playing ball he walks perfectly to heel while carrying it, bless him. We are all good, but Ive put the camera back to the factory settings - god knows what I did to it but at one stage everytime I took a photo the camera froze then turned itself off - but its been fine since I reset it! I haven't taken many recently either, there's a limit to indoor shots, and the weather's been crap so I don't want to take the camera with me in the rain. We are getting quite excited about the hol now its creeping ever closer! I'm dreading the flight though! I've heard from Julie and the collar set is done but she's waiting till the cards are done and is sending them all together. I think she said she was going to see them and if they were right they were going to print. Hoping they aren't too much longer - it'll be great seeing our dogs on them. My laptop crashed spectacularly last week, and speaking to the call centre has been fun - Not! Its so difficult to explain to them exactly what has happened when language is a barrier! Someone from Dell is coming out on Tuesday, but I'm not sure if they are coming equipped to deal with it. I took it into the computer shop so they could retrieve my data for me, they carried out some tests and seem to think its a problem with the motherboard, I think Dell are intending to replace the moniter - so we will have to wait and see. Thankfully its still under warrenty till Aug 09. I went out and bought a cheap one to use in the meantime, and once mine gets fixed we will have a spare to act as back-up. Take care, hope Harvey is back to fine form on Monday, hugs to all three, speak soon xx
Hi Rachel !! How are all your babies especially Harvey. I hear he had his op. poor wee mite. Does he have many stitches? My friend took her staff to get done and they went in thro' his you know what and pulled them thro . This meant that their dog didn't have any stitches, just sore for a couple of days. Bless him hope you get him to leave the remains alone to heal. Not looking forward to getting Duke done. getting him sorted before Christmas. kisses to all your babies! x x Jenny and Duke
Hello Di - happy Friday! Hope all is well with you?
We're having an interesting Friday evening and feeling very guilty - we took Harvey for "the op" today - bless him! Well actually I took Harvey for his op - that way Wayne said it was my fault!
The op went well and we picked him up at about 4 pm - he was a little dazed and confused but still a little character came through the anaesthetic haze and he wanted to jump up and say hello, followed by laying on his back and displaying all for everyone in the waiting room to see what they had done to him - it was quite funny actually as one man in the waiting room commented "oh he looks happy" at which point Wayne responded "no he's just had his balls chopped off!"
He has had a fairly good evening - we tried to keep him quiet in his crate but he didn't really like it and so he is right now stretched out on the floor and we can see the whites of his eyes - he is totally out of it! The funny thing is he's wearing little boys Bart Simpson boxer shorts back to front with his tail sticking out the button up fly to keep them on! It would be hysterical if we didn't feel so guilty! Wayne is dying to get the camera out for some comical shots but guilt is stopping him for tonight anyway! The nurse at the vets wanted us to have a collar for him but we had to explain we couldn't have one of those as Willow is terrified of them and we tried the little boys pants idea with Jester and it worked really well - you should have seen her face
But on the down side Jester is in big trouble - Wayne took him and Willow out for a nice walk this afternoon without the whirlwind around and Jester let him down - he went running off and wouldn't come back when called - when Wayne finally caught up with him he was eating from a dead rabbit - needless to say Wayne was not impressed and Jester got a good telling off - he's been in the bad books ever since. More than anything its a worry cos you don't know why the rabbit was dead - you have to hope it didn't have anything horrible.
So anyway, thats our day - looking forward to the weekend although not sure how restful it will be following Harvey around to make sure he doesn't touch his stitches etc.
Speak to you soon
Rach, Wayne, Willow, Jester and a very sore Harvey!
Hi Rach its good to hear from you - sounds like you've been having loads of fun LOL. Poor Harvey - tell Wayne to behave or its him next . Its for the best I'd love to see him in his Bart pants. As for the exhibition in the waiting room at the vets - i can understand that one too! Bless him he has been a big brave boy - give him a cuddle from me. Bad Jester - lilias the same will eat ANYTHING she can find - sometimes if i run ahead she will leave it - eventually - you gotta love em. Im having a crap time here - have had fireworks going off for the last three nights. On Wed i was walking into the close with Lilia when some went off it the garden opposite we were gone like a shot. She hid under the table. Then last night my new (noisy) neighbours came round to warn me they were having a house warming party with guess what more f....ing fireworks! Deep joy ANOTHER disturbed evening - wish me luck so no restful weekend here i dont think LOL. Catch you soon - good luck with keeping harvey away from his stitches. xx
Hi Wayne, Jester, Willow & Harvey...popping in to say hi, hope all is good with you guys...
Deb & The Floyd..
Hiya Deb, We're all good thanks, just going through a bit of a blokey crisis. Rachael, (lovely wifey!) Has booked Harvey into the vets on Friday for the 'Op'! Can't get my head 'round it, we had Jester done, but that was 'bout 5 years ago and i'm sure I felt the same then. Still have this vision of him wearing little boy's boxer shorts to stop him getting at the stitches!
I guess it's a bloke thing, dunno if it's right or wrong, just remember when I was younger we had a dog (non staffie) who used to go missing if he got the scent of a girlie in season. (been there, done that!) Would hate to think Harvey might end up escaping, we live quite close to a busy road, a good friend of mine lost his dog under the wheels of a car a couple of years ago.
Hope you and Floyd are good, take care, speak soon. x
Hi Wayne..... glad to hear that all is good in your household....ohh you men make me laugh sometimes, "bloody blokey issues" im sure Harvey wont mind loosing he's bits before he even knows what their there for LOL ...but on a serious note do whats right for Harvey, like you said your worried about him going on walk abouts in search of the girls & you live on a busy road etc. Me personaly didn't have any issues getting Zeppelin done & Floyd was done by he's previous owner b4 he came into rescue, all the male species in my house get "done" including hubby, it's a womans revenge thing lol..chatsoon & take care, sending big kisses to Jester, Willow & Harvey xx Deb
Hi All, Yeah these little chaps seem to grow so much Lilias head is just starting to split now when i look at her back legs its so scarey they are so muscular! Ive upped the training big time and she has responded so well her recall has been 100% lately im just hoping by the time the light nights reappear she will be more interested in me than other people and dogs! Poor Charlie that must have been so devastating for everyone and Charlie it seems so unfair. Friday night telly is crap especially as Jonathon Ross is off now! Just have enough Merrydown and Jacques and you wont worry about it = thats the way i get through it! LOL
tractorgirl wrote:
Hi Rach, Wayne & bubbas, Hope you are all well. havent heard from you in a while! We are off to agility classes on Sunday the trainer thinks it will help Lilia focus () i think its gonna be a public humiliation but hey in for a penny in for a pound! Hope Harveys eye is better now. Thankfully ive finished my 2nd lot of chucklehead - no more now i dont think my liver can take it! Catch you soon. Love, hugs and kisses to all your babies xxx
Hello Di - sorry we haven't been in touch for a while! We're all fine here thanks - no sign of a reoccurence with Harvey's eye - that cleared up some time ago thank goodness. He's growing so quickly, I can't believe it - I don't remember the others growing so quick at 6 months!
We were hoping to have met up with Harvey's breeder last weekend - they were taking Sassy (Harvey's sister) to her first show and were hoping to call in to see us . They asked Wayne to take some picures of Sassy and Loki (Harvey's dad) for the Staffy Annual but it didn't happen in the end. They had trouble with one of their other staffies Charlie - she was expecting pups and had them early - they had to do an emergency C-section and they lost one of the pups - I don't think I could cope with that. I'm glad we decided not to breed!
Anyway, trying to find something good to watch on tele - not much on for a Friday night! Merrydown and Jacques are with us again tonight - don't you just love Fridays!
Hi Rach, Wayne & bubbas, Hope you are all well. havent heard from you in a while! We are off to agility classes on Sunday the trainer thinks it will help Lilia focus () i think its gonna be a public humiliation but hey in for a penny in for a pound! Hope Harveys eye is better now. Thankfully ive finished my 2nd lot of chucklehead - no more now i dont think my liver can take it! Catch you soon. Love, hugs and kisses to all your babies xxx
Favorites
Digg
Del.icio.us
Facebook
Furl
Magnolia
StumbleUpon
Google
Yahoo MyWeb
Harvey has been chewing for months. We thought (or were hoping) it was just whilst he was teething but although its gotten better, he hasn't stopped. 
. Right, now for the lesson. To get the background nice and blurry you need to use the aperture setting on your camera (I know you were having trouble with this one!) you need to set the biggest aperture that you have on your camera/lens (which is the smallest number!!) The aperture is the hole in the lens that lets light through to the sensor. For example: f16 is a very small hole, which keeps more things in focus. (wider depth of field). (DOF) where f2.8 is a bigger hole which makes backgrounds blurry. (narrow DOF). The only problem with using a bigger aperture is that you have to be accurate with whatever you are focussing on because you have less room for error. The good thing about using a big aperture is that your shutter speed will be faster to et the right exposure which means you can freeze action and avoid camera shake. Don't know if this helps, I've just read it back and confused myself!
(I've had a few ciders though!
x x Jenny and Duke 
, followed by laying on his back and displaying all for everyone in the waiting room to see what they had done to him - it was quite funny actually as one man in the waiting room commented "oh he looks happy" at which point Wayne responded "no he's just had his balls chopped off!" 
