http://www.bow-tiger.com Video Highlights: 0:15 – Start as quickly as possible 0:57 – Let your dog associate different things with the baby 1:32 – Their schedule with you is going to completely change 2:11 – When the baby arrives at home 3:03 – If you’re not going to allow your dog into the babies room Transcription: Hi everybody. My name is Harper Jones with Bow-Tiger, and you are watching Saturdays with Harper, and today I wanted to talk about introducing and preparing your dog for a new baby. This can be an extremely stressful time for our animals, especially if they have not been around little ones before, they are essentially the baby of the family. We want to make sure that we very readily prepare them, when we got to have our actual baby. The first suggestion that I could make is start as quickly as possible. When you find out you’re pregnant, you want to start preparing your dog just as you start preparing as well. The first thing that you can do is as you start to get baby items in like baby toys, blankets, different things, kind of open them up, let them be around so the dog starts to get used to these different odd items that he or she is not used to seeing around the house. The other thing that you want to do is start to let your dog associate different things with the baby. Bring them around where they can hear babies crying or talking, babies playing, not necessarily in close vicinity to a stranger’s baby. That may be at the park, just different areas so they get used to the laughter and the screams and the crying, and all the things that babies and children do. Us as adults, if we have a dog, they don’t really hear any of that until we get to the situation of having our own children. This is good just to kind of prep them for what’s to come. Another thing that you want to recognize is, yes, the majority of your time is dedicated or a lot of it is dedicated to your animal when you don’t have children. Their schedule with you is going to completely change, once you have that child. Instead of starting after you have a child and making it a shock to the animal, lets take, let our pets know now, that the schedule’s going to change. We can start changing up when they’re walked, how often they’re walked, you do want to make sure they’re walked enough, but maybe we’re a little overzealous with the whole walking we’re doing with them now. We want to get them on a strict schedule so we can manage both pet and baby when that time comes. When the baby arrives at home, one thing you do want to do is you want to have an introduction with your dog and the baby. Make sure that it’s in a safe place and that you do have help available. Most of the time, you’ll find that dogs have a very nurturing attitude towards babies, but just to keep precautions and for safety sake, we do want to make sure we have somebody else available, just so we can have a little help while we’re facilitating that introduction between baby and pet. And then once the baby is here, just make sure that you are still spending time with your dog, giving him or her the attention that she deserves and she desperately wants from you, but also let her know that there are no boundaries. There’s schedule changes, there’s boundaries of where she can go and what she can do because we want to make sure that we keep our baby safe. If you’re not going to allow your dog into the babies room, a lot of the time people don’t want the dogs in that room, make sure prior to that baby being brought home and prior to the baby being born, that we stop that dog from being able to come into the room. We tell them that it’s not allowed and make sure that they also know certain commands. You want a sit, stay, drop it, different types of commands. We want to make sure that our dogs understand these because it’s going to be so much easier for them and so much less stressful for us, when the baby comes, if our dog is already acclimated to how it needs to behave with the baby at home. If you are watching this video on Facebook or YouTube, please be sure to check out our blog on Bow-Tiger.com. Thanks.

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If you are over 25 you will need to look into a technical certificate such as a City & Guilds. Or you can undertake one of many Part P courses. These courses are designed to give individuals formal electrical training in the field of Domestic Electrical Installation Work. These qualifications are recognised by accreditation bodies, meaning that you can register with these bodies and certify your own work. By participating in Part P training you also have peace of mind that your work is safe and compliant.

One of the most popular courses is the BPEC Part P Electrical Full Scope course. Some courses require an element of electrical knowledge and experience but this course is ideal for beginners. The course covers levels A,B,C and D of electrical work and once the course is completed you will be able to join the full scope electrical competent persons schemes offered by ELECSA. You will also be able to test and certify your own work.

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Forgive me if I reminisce a little!

The other day I heard a song that I’d not heard for ages. It took me back a few years, I can tell you!

And while I was mentally reliving years gone by, I realised how relevant this song still is to us all today! Some things just never change!

I’m talking about a song called ‘I Whistle a Happy Tune’, written by the brilliant Rodgers & Hammerstein and sung by the British governess Mrs Anna Leonowens in the hit musical ‘The King And I’. The musical was based on the true experiences of Anna and this song explains how she dealt with her private fears when she found herself in new and strange surroundings.

She taught these techniques to her young son  –  and now I’m explaining them to you!

This is a song that was copyrighted way back in 1951 but, take a look at the lyrics below and you’ll see that it’s aimed well and truly at all of us anxiety sufferers!

See what you think:

Whenever I feel afraid, I hold my head erect,

And whistle a happy tune so no one will suspect I’m afraid.

While shivering in my shoes, I strike a careless pose

And whistle a happy tune and no one ever knows I’m afraid.

The result of this deception is very strange to tell,

For when I fool the people I fear,

I fool myself as well!

I whistle a happy tune and every single time,

The happiness in the tune convinces me that I’m not afraid.

Make believe you’re brave and the trick will take you far.

You may be as brave as you make believe you are!

©Rodgers & Hammerstein 1951

This could have been written especially for you!!

It sums up exactly what I’m always telling anxiety sufferers:

• That if you behave as if you are confident (even if you don’t feel it inside) then you’ll trick your brain into believing you really ARE confident.

• That your body language is important to the way you feel and how people treat you. Stand tall (‘hold my head erect’) and be counted!

• That if you use distraction techniques (the whistling of a tune or such like) you’ll take your mind off any scary thoughts you may be having.

• That people can’t always tell you’re feeling anxious even if you’re convinced they can.

• That appearances can be deceptive (striking the ‘careless pose’). Look cool and collected and that’s how people will see you.

• That positive happy thoughts (‘the happiness in the tune’) can usually override negative ones and help to reduce your anxiety levels.

• That always having a ‘little trick’ in reserve (like whistling a happy tune, for example, even if it’s just silently in your head!) is an excellent stand by to have for those times when you need some extra help.

And we all know what a difference any of the above things can make to help you in anxious situations!

Have a think about how you deal with scary situations. Do you have a ‘happy tune’ you can call upon? If not, maybe you might find it helpful. Who knows, maybe you might find that actually it’s THIS song that stays in your head, ready for when you need it most!

Good luck, and happy whistling!

You see a cute dog and suddenly the desire to start talking in an irritating high voice is overwhelming. But why?