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panda.org
by Machair1 When I was in the 6th form at school I had to be the biggest dreamer in those days, and would spend endless hours studying maps and globes, and thinking what life would be like in places so far away, I would only be able to imagine them. Since then I have always kept the passion alive by reading travel and geography books, and in later ... years by trawling websites, which are so good now, you can even imagine yourself there! It was the northern lands which really fascinated me, I remember doing Norway at school and for one of my teenage birthdays I went up to London to the giant bookshop "Foyle's" and picked a thick textbook off the shelf. This study reference manual which was covered in icy photos, all polar white, and the page which really interested me was Svalbard. Svalbard is a group of islands between 74° - 81° N and 10° - 35° E in The Arctic Ocean. They are the more northerly inhabited islands in the world, and are home to less than 3000 people. Only three are inhabited these being, Spitsbergen, Bear island, and Hopen. It is a challenge to get there, necessitating either a very long sea crossing, or a flight from Tromso in Norway, which takes an hour and a half. The islands are home to polar bears, and this is what draws me to their websites time and again. If you want to look up the islands a great place I always go to is www.svalbard.net Polar Bears are everywhere in Svalbard. I was reading a book recently which actually stated that in Longyearbyen, the capital, people never lock their front doors so that if a polar bear comes into the town anyone has an easy escape! These magnificent creatures are stunning. Only last night in the Metro I was reading how it is thought that Svalbard has only 2 of the 19 populations of polar bears which are increasing in numbers, the other being Canada. It is thanks to the work of organisations such as the World Wildlife Fund that this is happening through their conservation work, which is going on right now in these remote islands. WWF is funding work at the Norwegian Polar Institute to track and study these bears. This is the subject of this review because this work can be followed closely by logging into a website www.panda.org/what_we_do/where_we_work/arctic/area/species/polarbear/polar_bear/ For the last 4 years the polar bears of Svalbard have been closely monitored. They have been tagged and their movements closely monitored. This work is specifically designed to see if climate change is having any influence on their behaviour, and is looking for any detrimental impact which may reveal itself. An interesting fact is that the polar bears have to be female for this work as male bears have necks wider than their bodies so the tagging collars fall off! When they are tagged their health is assessed and they also age them. This wonderful work has already shown some amazing trends. It has been found that some bears wander over large areas right across the Barents Sea, whereas others stay around one small fjord around Spitsbergen. What makes this really fascinating to me is firstly these bears are all named and secondly by downloading Google Earth you can watch their movements closely yourself! The lady bears that live in and around the Barents Sea called Gro and Louise, really do cover amazing distances, whereas two other females Skadi and Borealis who were tagged in 2005 stay much closer to home and their den. 4 more bears tagged in 2007 have a mixture, one roams over miles and miles, and the other three are home birds! The website has a lovely video presentation which shows the location of these polar bears and images to illustrate in simple terms how the information is relayed by satellites from their tagging collars to the scientists for interpretation. I think this is excellent and something which I think children would adore. There is also a link to a superb You Tube video which explains in detail how climate change is affecting these bears, the polar ice is melting earlier, and the bears are being forced to come ashore earlier and earlier, with insufficient fat stores to reproduce successfully, and so it is vital that measures to control climate change are implemented as soon as possible to protect their survival. Recently tagged bears include Izzy. She is 5 years of age and has a small male cub. Froya who is another lovely bear who lives in The North West corner of Svalbard and doesn't travel far at all from her home. Bouba Le Blanc, also from the same area, behaves in a totally different way and goes wandering to the west into the north Greenland Sea! The fun begins for me when you download Google Earth and follow the links on the home page to track and follow these bears yourself! By using the time line at the top you can see the movements of the bears over a period of time. It makes quite a time consuming and fascinating story, a simplistic illustration of a much more complicated picture, the understanding of which is critical to their long term survival. It's a brilliant coffee break treat which takes you to some amazing places and looks at the harsh impact of global warming on these vulnerable creatures. Hard to imagine, but leaving that light on, or that appliance on stand by, may just be contributing to the decline in Polar bears as their icy living depends on just that- ice that doesn't melt. Read the complete review |
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sponsorapuppy.org.uk
by norton501 After visiting Crufts last year where there was a display about Guide Dogs my mind was made up about Sponsoring a Puppy. I've always had a soft spot for Guide Dogs as you see them out and about whilst they are working day to day doing their thing, but the more you learn about what they actually have to learn in their training ... the more respect you get for them. Firstly, I learned at Crufts that a Guide Dog can differentiate between when it is working (when it has its sash/ uniform on) when when it is off duty. They demonstrated this by making a Guide Dog wearing its sash walk across through normal mock up obstacle with the person it was guiding. Then they took the Guid Dog's sash off and threw a ball and the dog turned into a normal scampering floppy-eared ball-fetching tail-wagging doggie. I was blown away. I went online and signed up to the Sponsor a Puppy appeal. For under £5 a month you receive a glossy photo of a puppy newly entered into the training academy plus updates for the duration of its training. The recommended time to continue your sponsorship is 18 months so its a good idea to think about if you can keep up your monthly donations for 18 months. I've had two Pupdates, a window sticker, a certificate and two photos of my puppy and i've only held the sponsorship for around three months now. Certainly a worthy cause and value for money. Good for the whole family for an unusual gift or just for something charitable you fancy doing. Read the complete review |
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doglistener.co.uk
by mattygroves10 "DOWN, BOY! Come back here! Sit...stay! Don't pull - walk nicely! Don't widdle THERE!" Are these common exclamations in your house? Is this because you have a dog?* If so, you may well need some help from a professional. Perhaps you just need advice, or perhaps you need dog or puppy classes, or even one-on-one ... training (and you'll quickly learn, it's not so much the dog that needs training but its owner). If this describes you, you may turn to or run across the self-styled Dog Listener, aka Stan Rawlinson on his website www.doglistener.co.uk. Stan describes himself on his website thusly: "professional Behaviourist and Dog Trainer based in Hampton covering Surrey Middlesex and London. Recommended by Vets, Charities, and Rescue Societies." To support what was initially an interest, and is now his living, he set up his website. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Disclaimer ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Now I should admit here, I know Stan, and I know him fairly well. He drinks in my local. Stan IS very good with dogs. Stan KNOWS he's very good with dogs, and should you bring your dog to the pub, the chances are he will try to be very good with your dog, whether you want it trained or not. He is a Yorkshireman by birth and upbringing. His personal theory on life is "Rule 1, Stan is always right. Rule 2, if wrong, see rule number 1." He wears dog whistles around his neck regardless whether there is a dog with him. He dresses in hunting waistcoats and jackets at all times, and has been known to walk in the pub, hang a brace of pheasant on the hooks under the bar, and start snacking on biltong, occasionally dropping treats (of liver, I think) to his dogs. Having said all that, I like Stan (in discrete doses). I really do. He is knowledgeable, and he really does adore dogs. (By the way, I was hoping to put this review in the Pets category, however, as it is an internet site, sadly, I wasn't able to. But please, get writing in Pets!) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Website - Visiting the Home Page ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A few things strike me immediately when visiting the home page. It is beige. It is very busy - if a space can be filled by a link or a picture, it is. And Stan loves his initial capital letters. According to his home page, he "has appeared on Television, Radio and in National Newspapers on many occassions [sic]". Stan is also a creative speller, as can be seen. The home page has a bunch of dog food related logos at the top, which of course link to the relevant sites (Royal Canin, James Wellbeloved for example). Also at the top is the site's own logo, which links to Stan's "My approach" page, which unsurprisingly describes his approach to dog training (more on this later). He mentions his items for sale near the top. Down the left hand side are the links to other pages on the site, some of which link to external sites (there are 22 items on this menu, and many have 'sub items' - as I say, busy busy busy). There is a link to a forum. Below a pretty picture of a dog and man at sunset, there are further links ("Top tips for Dogs" - I didn't know dogs could read a website, "The Origin of the Dog" and so forth) - there are (at of this writing) six of those. Below that, in HUGE letters Stan's address, phone number and contact details. Along the right are yet more links, including information about his up-coming puppy classes, and his blog, which he helpfully defines: "I have started a Blog which is the new way of getting your message across it stands for Web Log like an online diary. I will be updating it with latest news and comments, certainly worth a look" I couldn't possibly detail every section of his site - there isn't enough time in the day or space on Dooyoo, but I'll try to give a brief feel. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Website - Content ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Apart from the external links (local pubs that accept dogs, other dog trainers etc), many of the links lead to articles that Stan has written himself in his own...inimitable style. There are guides to canine communication (or, as Stan would put it, Canine Communication), to 'toileting' your dog, and top tips for looking after and training your dog. His writing style is unpolished (although talking to him you'd think he was up for a Pulitzer - he has bags of confidence in himself and his talents), and as mentioned before, could benefit from a proofreader. The layout of the sections is again unprofessional and frankly ugly. The website looks amateurish, as do its sections. However, and this is crucial, the advice given is sound. For example, under Canine Communications, he says, "In reality, real canine language is not just verbal; it is a rich visual language, where dogs are able to converse with each other irrespective of breed or nationality. A Collie from Wales can converse with an Akita from Japan and a Poodle living in France with a village dog in Ethiopia." He's right. Watch a professional dog handler (say at Crufts or One Man and His Dog) and you'll see that the actions of the handler, and facial expressions are as important, if not more so, in the communication between man and dog. Watch two dogs meet in a park or pub, and often, neither dog will vocalise, but the mood of the dogs will be immediately apparent from the body language. He offers sensible, well thought out and kind advice, and the site is a good resource for dog owners. There are links to vets, stores and suppliers, and also links to organisations that rescue and rehome dogs. He also sells his own leads, and the 'jingler' - a bell that attaches to the lead near the collar as a training aid. He says you need the following to use this: "1 A proper leather or canvas collar, not a thin one, thin rolled collars can bite into the neck; therefore I personally do not recommend them. Never use a check or choke chain this is a barbaric outdated method of lead control and can cause neck and spine injuries. With my method there is never any reason to use one, you will also not need to use a Halti or a Harness. 2. A five foot lead, ... 3. A Dog. "This one is fairly important" 4. The Jingler, attach it to the lead nearest the collar." Yes, what a wit. But in any case, you can see he holds strong opinions. When we had the Komondorok (a Hungarian breed of large livestock guard), we were encouraged to use a choke chain. I have to say, having seen Stan in action; I suspect he wouldn't have needed one. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Website - Stan's Views ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ It should be noted that Stan is a hunter (pheasants, mostly) and part of the Countryside Alliance. As such, he is against legislation that would limit or ban hunting, and he is against legislation to ban tail docking and the like. He feels the RSPCA is super left wing and partisan against the countryside. Allow me once again to quote: "The RSCPCA is not quite the apolitical organisation it once was. Its ideals and focus appears to have shifted from a somewhat right to centre wing to the hard left of the political spectrum. It seems that the influence of the animal rights campaigners such as L.A.C.S (league against cruel sport) may have permeated and infiltrated this once august body, to the extent that many millions of charitable donations are being sidelined for political lobbying." He then details at some length his objects to the Animal Welfare Bill in general, and banning of tail docking specifically. He feels that there will be more tail injuries amongst working dogs as a result of the legislation, and he obviously is quite fervent in his views. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ My Thoughts - the short version ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ As I've mentioned, and as should be clear, I know Stan. I know what he's like in 'real life.' His website, to be fair, reflects him very, very well. ==================== The Good ==================== Stan is very knowledgeable, and there is loads of good advice and easy to follow links. His enthusiasm shows through, as does his love for dogs. He knows what he is doing, and really is a fine dog trainer. I've seen him in action with both his own dogs and with other people's. Dogs like him, even if some people find him...eccentric ==================== The Bad ==================== I disagree with some of his views, particularly those concerned with certain aspects of dog welfare (tail docking) and hunting (I'm against). His English is, in places, creative, and the site looks like it was designed by a sixteen year old...in the 1990s. ==================== The Ugly ==================== I find the site ugly and unprofessional looking. It's cluttered, and the photographs have not been optimised for the site, so some are stretched and grainy. The text varies in size, font and colour. Many of the links are 'click here' links, so you have to hunt for them. There are too many menus, and too much clutter. If you live in South West London, and you're looking for a puppy class, or even one to one training for you and your dog, I would recommend Stan. The site is ugly, but if you're willing to hunt a bit, you probably will find some very useful information. Do I recommend it? Eh. I'll press the Yes button, but only three stars, for the mess that is the English, layout and design. * (If not, you need another review - or possibly a psychiatrist or even the men in the white coats). Read the complete review |
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1 review Internet Site / Sponsor a guide dog. |
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1 review Internet Site / Category: Animals |
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1 review Internet Site / WWF-Canon Polar Bear Tracker. A website where, amongst other things, you can track Polar Bears. |
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1 review Internet Site / Everything you need to know about dealing with dog behavioural and training issues. Professional behaviourist and dog trainer based in Hampton covering Surrey Middlesex and London. |
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1 review Internet Site / Over the next 13 years Dian collected a vast amount of data on mountain gorillas. Her work, and that of the co-workers who joined her in the later years, not only led to a greater understanding of gorillas, but to a world-wide concern for their safety. |
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Internet Site / Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (Charity) - The Kathmandu Animal Treatment Centre (KAT Centre) is a non-profit registered charitable organisation dedicated to the humane management of street dogs in Kathmandu, Nepal. The Centre’s mission is to create within the Kathmandu Valley a dog fri... |
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