Want to know the secrets of a top dog trainer who has the power
to turn your disobedient, reactive, misbehaving pet into the
“best-friend” you’ve always dreamed of.
Here are our top 3 tips simple tips that will make a world of
difference to your relationship with your pesky pouch.
Tip # 1 Put Your Pouch on a “Leadership” Programme
Put simply, your dog needs to know that you’re in charge. Dogs
are pack animals, and like all pack animals they require that
someone is in charge. While your dog would prefer that you took
the lead role, if they decide that you’re not up to the task,
then they’ll take on the job!
If your dog currently thinks that he’s the leader of your
family’s pack, then you need to implement a leadership programme
in which you re-assert yourself as the Top Dog! This doesn’t
mean being unkind or unloving to your dog - it simply means
understanding your dog’s psyche and behaving in a way that
reassures your dog of your ability to take charge.
Some simple ways to demonstrate your dominance include: eating
your meals first; ensuring that your dog waits at the door for
you to walk through first; don’t walk around your dog if he’s
sitting in your way (give him a gentle nudge and he’ll move);
and determine when your dog gets your attention (ignore your dog
when he demands your attention as he’s simply demonstrating that
he’s in charge of you).
For more detail on how you can show your dog that you’re the
boss, visit:
http://www.dog-training-central.com/articles/5-surefire-ways-to-s
how-your-dog-youre-the-boss.html
Tip # 2: Consistency Is the Key To Success
When it comes to training dogs, most people fail to consistently
reinforce positive behaviour and punish bad behaviour. Without
consistency, your dog will be confused and over time lose
respect for your commands. If you fail to follow through on your
expectations, the dog will determine when it suits him to
respond.
If you’ve been consistent with your expectations, then in time
your dog’s responses to your commands will become pre-programmed
and eventually anticipated. This will ensure that your dog will
behave in a predictable manner time and again. A dog who clearly
understands the boundaries of his behaviour and the consequences
of his mis-behaviour is a much happier dog who will be a
delightful member of your family.
For more details on basic dog obedience training, visit:
http://www.dog-training-central.com/articles/dog-obedience-traini
ng-basics.html
Tip #3: It’s Much Easier To Train A Puppy Than To Teach An Old
Dog New Tricks
As soon as your new puppy is welcomed home you should get
started on your Leadership Programme, and consistently implement
it until your puppy is automatically programmed to behave in
precisely the manner that is worthy of a “best friend”!
The more quality time you dedicate to your puppy up front, the
fewer on-going headaches you will encounter for the life of your
dog.
Reinforcing positive behaviour is the simple most effective
training tool available to dog owners, however from time to time
you will also need to reprimand your dog for inappropriate
behaviour (a clear, firm “BAH” or “NO” will do the trick -
there’s no need to resort to shouting or hitting).
For more details on getting an early start on your canine’s
leadership programme, go to:
http://www.dog-training-central.com/articles/dog-training-early-t
raining-is-essential.html
If you follow these top 3 techniques used by leading dog
trainers, both you and your dog will enjoy a much happier and
enjoyable relationship.
Copyright © 2006. http://www.dog-training-central.com All rights
reserved.
This article may be re-published “as is” (unedited) as long as
the author’s bio paragraph (resource box) and copyright
information is included. The URLs in the resource box should be
set as hyperlinks if used on a web page.
For a problem as pervasive as traumatic brain injury one would
think that the different forms it can take would be widely known
and understood. However, in my practice of community-based
neurology I find this is not the case. Patients and their
families are seldom familiar with the concepts of cerebral
(brain) contusion and concussion, and a common error is to
believe that they are basically the same, except that a
contusion is a more severe form of a concussion.
Before exploring the differences between these two terms, let’s
first acknowledge how they are alike:
* Both are due to head trauma.
* Both are common.
* Both are serious.
But that’s where the similarities end. The differences between
cerebral contusions and concussions can be boiled down to two
basic concepts:
* Contusions are localized, while concussions are widespread.
* Contusions are macroscopic, while concussions are microscopic.
To flesh out these concepts more fully we’ll need to discuss
brain anatomy, brain physiology and brain-imaging technologies.
A contusion is a bruise. At one time or another everyone has
bruised himself or herself, as, for example, when they banged a
forearm against a hard object. This caused bleeding within or
beneath the skin. In the days following the injury it turned
purple and perhaps a variety of other colors as the body’s
repair mechanisms degraded and absorbed the red blood cells that
had escaped from the injured blood vessels.
The same thing can happen to the brain, except that the bruises
are not located in a place the eye can see. However, with the
help of imaging technology the bruises (contusions) can be made
visible. To a close approximation, computed tomographic (CT)
scans and magnetic resonance (MR) scans can “see” a level of
detail corresponding to what the naked eye can see, except that
the information is presented like slices of a loaf of bread,
shown one slice at a time. “Macroscopic” means that the naked
eye can see the contusions (with the help of a scanner). If a
similar process occurs at a “microscopic” level, it is too small
for the eye (and scanner) to see.
CT scans are more useful than MR scans in evaluating patients
with acute brain trauma because seriously ill patients can be
better monitored while receiving CT scans and because fresh
hemorrhages are more apparent. In images created by CT scanners
fresh blood appears intensely white, while normal brain tissue
appears gray.
Although contusions can be multiple, they occur in single
locations. That’s what “localized” implies. So a brain contusion
is both macroscopic and localized. One common pattern of
contusions is “coup-contrecoup.” When a moving head is abruptly
stopped (as occurs during a fall when it strikes the ground) the
brain nearest the point of impact bashes against the inner
surface of the hard skull, producing a contusion. That is the
“coup” injury. But then there is either a bounce-back of the
brain within the skull or a suddenly created vacuum that
produces a second “contrecoup” contusion on the opposite pole of
the brain.
Contusions can occur in large enough numbers to produce a
“salt-and-pepper” appearance on CT scans. Adjacent contusions
can also coalesce via further oozing of blood to produce larger
blood-deposits. If a collection of blood becomes large enough to
compress and distort the rest of the brain, it might require
surgical removal.
It is important to realize that injury to brain tissue is not
limited to that produced by bleeding. The same physical blow
that disrupts blood vessels is also capable of damaging the
brain cells directly.
Now let’s contrast these findings with what occurs in a cerebral
concussion. In a pure concussion there is no macroscopic,
localized collection of blood. Any bleeding that occurs is at a
scale that escapes detection by the eye (helped by the scanner).
In a concussion there is diffuse, widespread, homogeneous
impairment of brain tissue, but nothing that shows as a
macroscopic, localized abnormality on a scan.
In fact, it may not be fair to imply that even a microscope
could see the changes that occur in a concussion. Although in
severe concussions there can be a physical snapping-in-two of
axons (the long extensions that brain cells use to communicate
with each other) a concussion disrupts the physiology
(functioning) of brain cells more than their anatomy
(structure). That is, the trauma makes large numbers of brain
cells sick without actually killing them. While sick, the brain
cells under-perform. As a result, the victim of a concussion
might lose consciousness or become confused. Because emotions
are also produced by interactions among brain cells, the
concussed patient might show tearfulness, irritability or other
changes in behavior as a result of the injury.
While a person with traumatic brain injury might experience
contusion without concussion, or concussion without contusion,
having one does not preclude having the other, and it is common
for both to occur together. So while cerebral contusions and
concussions are different from each other, a victim of head
trauma might be unlucky enough to have both.
(C) 2005 by Gary Cordingley