ClareC

ooh this is all very spooky......I want to know if there are any spirits in my house now, cant say as though I have noticed anything yet but its an old house.

I used to work at Virgin, I happen to be meeting a group of friends who still do work there for dinner tomorrow evening, will get the low down and let you know :-)

or that Charlie is alive and well............. ;-)

Give Halifax a go, when I was buying the property last Feb, most insurers seemed to get stressed by the SE22 postcode and quoted silly prices. Halifax already insured the property and went them, I pay @?400 for the buildings element. Its a 3 bed Victorian semi with a subsidence scary Se22 postcode - no underpinning / subsidence present.

Huge ques in somerfield last night...... When Sainsbury's reopens will it be the finished store?

Do we know for a fact that it is Foxtons coming to LL?

I like White Stuff too :-$ When does it open?

I think I have missed something.......... what is the Harris Academy?

I asked a friend who lives in Wandsworth how to avoid this traffic and she said to cut through Southfields - I havent tried it but its probably worth a look at the A-Z

so you do like dogs...... but only if they have a non menacing name ;-)

And Percival doesnt exactly sound like Animal!

I have never walked on Goose Green, sounds grim :-( I mainly walk in Dulwich Park and Peckham Rye. I never look where I am walking when en route to pick up (you need to mark the spot and keep focussed on it) and can honestly say that I have never trodden in anything untoward. Its a shame the same cant be said for some of the pavements ( lead walked dogs ;-) ) Perhaps Goose Green (and any other problem areas) is somewhere the Council could send a warden to enforce the fine provisions of the byelaw. I would happily back that :-)

I think he is a wind up merchant !! Perhaps we could start a thread on justifying your life choices :-) ( In the lounge of course)

???

"I would like to know why more rounded individuals need to keep dogs. Anyone? " Implies that the lonely and insane thing was not a caricature of the arguments given by the pro-dog lobby after all ;-) There are lots of reasons for keeping dogs, the same as there are many reasons why / why not individuals choose to do other things. Its a personal choice Alan, nobody should have to justify their decisions/choices/prove their "roundedness" when those decisions/choices do not harm others.

Whistle is fine, I would be surprised if it worked though. Not all dogs are trained to the whistle, a dog that is annoying you may well be more interested inyou because of the whistle.

Alan, Canine discipline is not a matter of using violence.

"no" in a stern manner will work with most dogs and they tend to understand that command. Its the tone of voice that counts.

Kingtubby That's entirely different, if you were attacked then its perfectly reasonable to defend yourself! I like dogs but if one attacked me of course I would defend myself. If however a dog gave me unwanted attention that wasnt of the "attacking" variety eg joined my picnic uninvited I would tell it off! I dont believe it reasonable to resort to violence in such situation. Alan Why say nothing? Why not tell the dog off and ask the owner to call the dog away?

U75 forum?

Kingtubby, Alan didnt mention being attacked.

Alan, would you kick a person / child if you didnt like their behaviour? If a dog misbehaves then it should be disciplined, and the owner should apologise. Violence isn't discipline. btw this is NOT a child analogy.

I agree, there are certain people attracted to owning certain breeds for entirely the wrong reasons. The sad part is that these dogs act the way they do because of the way they are (mis)treated, in a decent home these dogs would not act in this manner. If the RSPCA / Police had greater powers then this problem could be significantly reduced. Everybody fears something, whether it be dogs, spiders, snakes..... cats even! The list is endless and the fears needn't be rational to be real. I can and do sympathise with those who fear dogs but the answer to the problem isnt to place unreasonable restrictions on those that have done no wrong.

I still want to look round..... didnt realise we needed to confirm our interest again, sorry.

"and, if your dog responds so badly to being stroked or approached by humans, perhaps it really ought to be on a lead when it is amongst humans ..." My dogs are well behaved dogs who enjoy the company of humans, they do not behave badly when being approached. The point I was making is that not all dogs make a nuisance of themselves and give unwanted attention to children, many children give unwanted attention to dogs and their parents fail to teach them the correct way to behave. No human would like to be grabbed at / chased by a stranger in the park, yet you imply this is acceptable treatement for a dog and automatically assume that that my dogs behave badly to humans when I gave no indication as to what their reaction is other than simply saying "if they move away". For the record my dogs enjoy attention from strangers, however, they love walks and when they are on a walk they are less interested in being made a fuss of and more interesed in enjoying their walk and their freedom. They dont react badly at all they just have better things to do and want to get on with those things. I have experienced many children who have asked if my dogs are friendly and can they stroke them, I reply in the positive and both the children and the dogs enjoy the interaction they have.