When it comes to rehabilitation I am a sort of a knowledgable pratitioner when it comes to motivation. For years I used a sort of pragmatic, warm and humorous approach when mobilising young people in their wheelchairs for the first time, a time which is fraught with issues that can zap the psychological strength out of even the most robust of characters.
Rehab in animals can run on similar lines, but employing bribery and treats can work much quicker and more effectively than they do in their human counterparts.
Winnie's rehab after her stroke has been Bluebell. Every day I have rattled the car keys by the back door ( a signal all of the dogs understand as " car trip") and a minute later she has joined the pack, waiting patiently for leads to be put on.
Now initially she had to be lifted into and out of the car ( something that increased my flatulence quota considerably) but now with some thought, she can jump up into the back seat, always first, and always with a stupid grin on her big chops.
Winnie adores car trips.
She adores them with a passion only usually reserved for boiler suited workmen and it is this simple psychological feeding of a need not to be bored , which has given her an extra bounce in her step which has in turn overcome her previous odd gait and tilt of the head.
Last night I had a tv night in. I was tired after Monday's night shift and couldn't quite muster up the energy for Choir Practice.
I needed comfort food , I needed a catch up with The Walking Dead and I needed The Bake Off semi finals.
And so with a homemade sausage casserole ( oh err missus) with mash
we all shared the couch and binge watched.
I am still obsessed with the Walking Dead but even I must admit that it has gone off the boil over the last couple of years . Season 9 still has a few problems , but the reboot by Showrunner Angela Kang ( when did producers become Showrunners btw?) has provided a much needed boost to the vitality and feel of the show.
My take on the downside of the new Walking Dead is the size of the cast. We now have five communities to deal with and a main cast of characters that number well over twenty. With new cast members arriving soon, it is clear that many of our old favourites with have less and less screen time and less and less scream time means less and less drama.
It's a shame .....in the first three episodes Tara, Rosita , Jesus and Siddig hardly had one sentence to utter which seems such a shame given their popularity .......
Just a thought Angela ...please note
The Great British Bake Off however has gone from strength to strength, thanks as usual by the delightfully eclectic batch of contestants that were shortlisted. The quarter finalists are so sweet they are almost painful to watch. An effeminate and probably autistic scientist , a mental health worker who looks like a stereotypical mental health patient, a slightly disabled spunky mom, and a sassy wisecracking thirty something each character brings a great deal of joy to the bake off tent and I think is clear that they think of each other as a family rather than just friends.
This week the delightfully warm Birony left the competition which was fair but such a shame and I must admit when Sandy Toksvig tearfully announced her demise from the show there wasn't a dry eye in Chez Dog I can tell you .....
