I have never seen fireworks at bb games. Universities don't usually take cheerleaders to away games. Yes, they have lots of time outs. I attended our women's game tonight and we beat Nebraska by 21 points, I think. The second half was the best because we pulled ahead of them. Nebraska played really rough and got lots of fouls. Did you enjoy the game?

Lisa, I considered suggesting she let Blaze play with the lead, but thought perhaps she should first teach him to leave it alone, then let him play! Also, I was assuming that she is just trying to teach Blaze manners, not planning to show him? If you are going to show, Lisa is correct, you cannot take toys or food into the ring. I was going to add that if you do find that a toy helps with the leash problem, you will now have a great training tool. You can use the toy in many ways as a reward. For example, you will probably be doing sit stays. You can take the toy with you when you leave your dog (hide it in a pocket or someplace). When you return and release your dog, you can tell him very enthusiastically how good he is, then toss him the toy and let him play for a few minutes. Make sure you get a "high motivation" toy, something he will really want to work for, but also something small enough that you can stick it in a pocket, or in a butt pack or elsewhere on your body so you can pull it out when you want and put it away at other times. There are several online resources for training toys, one I like is jjdog.com. You could read what they say about various toys and probably find something similar in a local store. In our agility classes, there are several people who use leads that are thick braided soft leads. When the dog does something great, they then get to play tug-of-war with the lead. Tug can be a great motivator, depending on your dog. Some people will not recommend playing tug, for two reasons - if you want your dog to be a hunting retriever, you don't want him playing tug, and if your dog is dominant, tug can increase the dominance. I have never had a problem with that, but it depends on your dog. In my opinion, the best way to get Blaze to work with you in training is to make it fun for him and to reward him highly for everything he does right. Good luck.

wildchild, it sure does seem as though there must be some chemical imbalance that could explain DN's inability to ignore a sudden impulse, but they're frustrated because so far no combination of therapy and medication has been successful. No, DN has never been seen by an actual psychiatrist. He has seen a school psychologist, a regular psychologist and is on his third therapist (only because they were relocated to different cities). He did see a neurologist, but that doctor only evaluated him for his Cat Scan, it wasn't a psychological evaluation. So they are really looking forward to DN seeing the psychiatrist in a few weeks. DN seems to have a pretty normal social life. When he isn't grounded, his friends come over or he goes to one of their houses. They do the normal teenage stuff, movies, bowling, etc. He's between girlfriends right now. Some of his hobbies are playing guitar and writing music, woodworking and skateboarding. He has a pierced eyebrow and likes to wear funky suspenders, so I guess that would qualify for how he expresses himself? lori, yes my DB and DSIL know I'm asking my 'forum friends.' I've been keeping in touch with him regularly so I could ask about specific questions many of you have posed, since I didn't know the answers to all of them. I sincerely hope no one felt slighted after making a thoughtful suggestion, if I had to explain that it had already been examined and eliminated as a possibility. It's just that pretty much everything that has been brought to the table so far has already been explored except for the advice by a few posters that DB push for an M.R.I. (which DN has never had) just to rule out anything medical that may have been missed. DB and DSIL are basically all out of energy trying to figure this out and the appointment with the psychiatrist on June 5th can't come soon enough as far as they're concerned. You mentioned that since everyting seems to have been explored, what else could there be other than that DN is just choosing to do what he does. Believe me, DB has confided to me that at this point he doesn't know which he fears more...that there might really be something physiological wrong in DN's brain that is causing this behaviour, or that the psychiatrist will conclude DN is just some kind of master manipulator who by all appearances is a kind, loving son, brother and friend, but gets a weird kick out of acting deviant once in a while and pulling the wool over everyone's eyes by acting so contrite and ashamed afterwards! DB hasn't tried to put his son into military school because DN is well liked at his current school and gets good grades. He's already been to 5 different schools in as many cities, so they don't want to enforce another change unless it's the last hope. As well, DB feels that typically, military schols are best suited for young people who have problems with aggression or defiance, in other words, kids, who need a major attitude adjustment. DN is amiable, respectful, and kindhearted, so they actually don't want is attitude adjusted, just his behaviour. Your suggestion for some kind of alternative school or behavioural modification school is a good one and that will most likely be DB's choice of action, pending the psychiatrist's assessment. I will for sure let you all know what the psychiatrist concludes, because everyone has been so thoughtful in bringing forth anything they felt might be of help.

I would amend the previous poster's advice: If you have patience -- and cash reserves -- THEN you can wait for the right buyer to come along. In the meantime, you're pouring money down a deepening well. We sold our home four months ago, at a price only slightly higher than we paid for it 13 years ago. The loss of value was a shame, but we were ecstatic to find a buyer (a demanding and difficult one, like most these days...), as the process of selling took us over 15 mos. all together and with my husband out of work we had virtually zero $$ left in the bank to pay the mortgage on the day we signed the contract. As 2010 winds down, we find even more reasons to feel lucky. Home prices in our city -- B of A's headquarters, no less! -- have dropped steadily since we closed, as unsold inventory has grown. I don't know what kind of economic factors you must weigh in your area, Phoggie, but if our recent experience is anything to judge by your best bet is to price your house as low as you think you can bear economically (and be prepared for the buyer to offer well below that), and get out of this killer-market quickly. A jaw-dropping price will generate a straight-up offer, and you can avoid contingent contracts. They can be a total nightmare and don't always result in a deal, as we found out on the first house we sold. Meanwhile, while waiting on the buyer to come through, you've lost time and opportunity. Good luck with this situation. You say you have an 'interested' buyer. Yes, in all fairness and justice, your buyer should come up in price now that you've chopped your asking price. But in order to sell your home you may have to drop your idea of what's fair and go for what's effective -- what's going to get you to the closing table. If it were me, I wouldn't dither!