Ashanali

JS - yep, it's very flattering when people ask. I can't speak on Rocco's behalf but the amount of emails I was responding to regarding my photos and also the business side of things has gotten to the point that I'm launching a business to mentor photographers. My husband kept getting annoyed at me with how long it was taking to respond to all the emails. He kept telling me I should be getting paid for my time and effort - so hopefully I will be soon. Planning on having a gallery as a part of the business also and I'm trying to convince Rocco that she needs to be one of our first exhibitions I think a Rocco and Ralph exhibition would be awesome.

How about she tells you all her processing secrets so you can go out and replicate the whole thing. Note to ALL people who ask questions such as this: You think it's just one small email and easy but people who produce good work the way that Rocco does, can receive literally dozens of these emails each week. It takes alot of time and effort to respond. That being said, there's a right way and a wrong way to ask these questions. The right way, "Hi, I love your images, If you're willing can you please share a few things that you do to make them look so good?" Don't try and guess or pre-empt an answer, it really does come off the wrong way and is a bit cringeworthy. (I'm not having a go at you GotAnyBlacker, but I see these same sort of questions asked constantly from many people so just thought I would take the opportunity to let people know that they can ask the questions but do it in such a way that the photographer/artist doesn't want to ignore you.) ps - feel free to ignore me people. I'm having a hectic day, have been up since 4am doing work that I thought was urgent and just found out that I was doing it all for nothing - I'm just a bit tired and over it. Rocco - I'm still a Rocco fan. I think you need to get a good "shaking dog" photo of him :D

I'm sure its probably ideal not to bring kids to the salon while you're getting your hair done, but sometimes people just can't get around it. Where I worked, one of our regulars was a single mother, with no family or anyone to watch her 4 year old daughter while she gets her hair done. She's the sweetest kid, she sits in the toy corner and draws pictures to give to all the staff I don't think it is unreasonable for parents to bring their kids to the salon if they are well behaved, and they should be able to do so without having their kid attacked by a dog Have you read the whole thread? I was talking about children around 20 months old - the same age as the girl involved in the incident. Not four year olds who are a completely different kettle of fish.

I haven't groomed for a few years but there were always repeat offenders who you knew didn't touch the dogs since the last time you saw them (A cocker spaniel I groomed about once every four months comes to mind. Poor thing was always a foul smelling mess) and then there were a few who did the right things. I re-educated two couples. They were friends and both couples bought Cairn Terriers. They had both let the undercoat grow through and were terribly matted the first time I saw them. However I showed them how to brush them properly and they brought them to me every 6 weeks after that for stripping. I loved those clients and the dogs were great little dogs also.

Finally getting around to posting these. My boys did a great job putting up the tree - they had lots of fun Ashley Casey trying to work out the lights

Naahh ..... I disagree. But if I were an owner, I'd be making sure my dog was somewhere so I could protect him/her from people. My mum would occassionally take her dogs to the salon. She either had them crated or tethered outside but within her field of view. I didn't like it when they were tethered as too many people would walk up to them for pats or take their dogs over to them to say hello (she was in the same complex as a vet - who knows what they could have caught!), I didn't mind it when they were crated though - always out of the way of clients etc. Still, it would have been easier for everyone if the dogs weren't there at all. I think that's just my bias though.

Okay I have to ask about the car??? I've just got the ordinary stuff in mine.... wings, necks, carcasses, livers, hearts, a few fishies. oh I forgot! We actually have some plastacine dinosaurs in ours at the moment (because they kept melting in the heat so the freezer was the obvious place for them). Kids, eh Pandii? :D Everything goes in the freezer.

Years ago I was grooming an Old English sheepdog. The people did NOT want the dog clipped so over a period of four weeks, I was to groom out the matts and only cut when I couldn't get through them. Every Saturday for eight hours a day this poor patient dog had to sit while I groomed it. It wasn't matted to the skin but there were enough huge flea nests that were in the matts to justify it but the owners put their foot down and said no. They said if I wasn't willing to groom the dog out, they would just leave her until they found someone else to do it (because obviously they couldn't do it themselves ) It was disgusting and horrible. The poor dog should have been shaved to the skin. I regret not just doing it. I did get her groomed in the end but that was four weeks of pain for that poor dog. And why did they buy an OES? Because she was cute and they were told that all she needed was 5 minutes of brushing a day. Some people have no idea.

Are you talking osteo-arthritis? I have this (on me) it's due to injuries that haven't quite healed right. In my case I was in alot of car accidents from the age of 15 - 21 and suffered a fair amount of whiplash injury that wasn't seen to at the immediate time. I should have had physio and chiro but nobody told me this. Anyway, over time the body 'sees' the injury and tries to repair itself and deposits calcium in areas of 'trauma'. The grow into little spurs off the spine. Chances are that the dogs have played long and very hard when they were younger and perhaps have done alot of jumping. 7 an 11 years old are good ages for dogs and any injuries in their youth would be showing up now. You can't prevent or stop it from happening, but you can ease it. Look into adding 'joint guard' to the dog food and perhaps getting the dogs to a chiro occasionally for adjustment. (if it is osteo-arthritis you are talking about.)

I have a frozen towel in my freezer on Wednesdays so I can take it to netball with me. Frozen cloth =

I'm just playing devil's advocate here. I don't watch the news or read the paper anymore so I am unaware of what the media has been saying apart from what is in this thread. Your experience with Chachos is irrelevant. I have a dog who is the sweetest natured dog you will ever meet. Loves other dogs thinks people are awesome. But after an incident last year with an idiot out the front of our house, he now HATES this one dog that walks past with a passion. At 4pm each day, we have to make sure our dog is locked away as we know that's when the other morons go walkies. Just because you have a good experience with him, doesn't mean that everyone elses experience is the same. Some dogs don't care, some do. My girl Sunni can be locked apart from other dogs and around a corner out of direct view and if there is food down she will guard it for hours until she's ready to eat it. If she is in the same yard as the dogs and she has hidden food somewhere, she will come belting out of nowhere to tackle any dog that goes near her stash. It doesn't matter if food is in a back room or right next to where someone is standing. If food was anywhere around the vicinity, Chachos could still have been wary of someone wanting to take it... dogs don't see children the same way we do. A child could easily have been considered a threat particularly seeing as she was unknown to the dog. I haven't seen anything about the owners being uncaring. To me I would say that they are probably the opposite if they feel the need to take the dog to their place of work. Dogs can have displays of jealousy... perhaps Chachos is a little spoilt and felt that the little one was a threat to his position. We have no idea what the dog could possibly have been thinking. No it isn't strange to not hear a noise. Many dogs can snap without sound and without warning. A cut to the lip doesn't constitute a mauling but if it was done by the dog it is still a cause for concern. I have no idea of the circumstances surrounding the incident but there are always three sides to a story. The truth is usually somewhere in between the two. Seriously? There are saddistic and twisted people out there torturing, starving and abusing their children and you want to have someone investigate the parents of a child because she has either been bitten by a dog or fallen over somewhere (depending on who you believe). That's a little overboard don't you think? And no it's not suspicious for the media to be there immediately. They have these things called police scanners and they are often on the scene of accidents and anything that could sound like a good story before the police are. I used to work in a police station, the media are attracted to stories like this like flies. I agree that the dog and the child are innocent victims in all this, however you have to seperate your personal experience from the incident - unfortunately it just doesn't count. I personally feel that the dog should be released BUT the owners should have to comply with dangerous dog regulations and keep the dog safely contained at all times. No more salon visits! Salons - not the place for a dog no matter what.

I'm off to see my dad at his salon this morning. I'm getting my hair done so I'll be leaving the kids at home because I know I won't be able to keep an eye on them while my hair is being done.

Loving this thread so far. I actually took photos for the challenge yesterday (yes, I'm participating this time ) expect to see lots of photos of Christmas decoration :rolleyes:

no. To be a full member you have to have been working full time as a photographer for two years. It doesn't matter how long you've had a business name for, lots of people have business names but don't work in that as a full time income.

Emerging member. Yay. You and Rocco can fight it out for emerging photographer of the year at the 2010 Aust Pro Photo Awards.

So take it from a Grinch perspective ;) Let us see it through your eyes.

um... ahh... guilt trip! (that actually has had some affect )

I've had to launch December a little early as I have a huge amount of work on today and don't know if I'll get the chance to come back in later. December's theme is "Deck the Halls"! Anything "holiday season" is accepted. This can be as simple or as complex as you like but I'd like to see regular challenge participants try and think outside the square for this month. Push yourself - BUT have lots of fun!!!

Fair enough. But the child actually quite a long way from the adult in that picture. Definitely far enough to reach out to a strange dog or whatever. I hate child harnesses like that and would never use one. going off topic now but...that's nice for you. I used to see them used regularly when I worked at the airport. A place where travellers have already had to ditch the pram and it's incredibly busy so it makes sense to use a harness (particularly if you have a child who likes to take off... or like me, you have twins that like to run in opposite directions). I don't have harnesses here and I never used them for my older boys, but I will never say never for the twins.

can you feel my frustration coming through the computer yet? Stop posting this stuff unless you're going to make me happy :thumbsup:

2 weeks sounds good then

Also in the wild there is a higher mortality rate. A wild dog with bad joints wouldn't last very long.

same here

Well actually, you can...