I just have to say this

[Joe Anne]

As I sit here reading posts on these boards as I have for awhile now. Some have been posting waaay longer than me and some are brand new. Over the time I have been posting, I can say I have run the gambit of emotions. One extreme to the other. One day we could all be at total opposite ends of the spectrum and even get a bit testy (well a lot testy!) with each other. We are humans after all. Sometimes I've wished I could just go knock on someone's door and have a face to face conversation or confrontation. Then there are those times I wish I could knock on someone's door and just put my arms around them and give them a big hug and damn the differences!!

One thing we all have in common is love for our dogs, and that is good enough for me. Whether they are pets, working dogs or both, I hear a lot of concern for doing what is right by them.

At the risk of sounding too mushy (which is sorta how I am feeling right now), specially with what is going on with "Border Bob", and Miztiki and Boyden and others, I feel blessed to have all of you as my extended cyber family/friends.

Someone is always on these boards, no matter what time of night or day. The only other one I can say that about are my sweet precious fur babies, all of them, but especially my dog's.

Just like the roll-a-coaster of emotions here on the boards, we ALL experience the same ride in our lives. Dosen't matter our political persuasion, our gender or race or nationality or anything.

These boards help restore my faith in humanity, and believe me, at my age.... there is not much of that left.

I am sorry to lament so... but, I really needed too. I am feeling extreme excitement for my and Phoenix's day tomorrow, and I am feeling helpless and sad for those cyber family members who are hurting right now. I suppose this is what life IS all about.

Thank you ALL, thank you for being there or here From my heart

[Kassies mom]

JoeAnne,

What beautiful thoughts. I'll second them.

THANK YOU ALL !!!

[sandra s.]

I know what you mean. Before Kessie came along I thought I didn't have any real, not-faked emotions left at all...but that wasn't true, and I've cried my eyes out more than once for people and dogs on these boards! Of course, some threads make me wish for an asteroid impact, some make me feel incredibly grateful for living in Europe, but all in all it's always a nice warm place to come back to .

 

I wish you a great herding day!

[Miztiki]

What a wonderful post Joe Anne!

 

I love everybody on these boards. I've said it before and I'll say it again; some of the greatest people in the world post right here on the Border Collie boards, and I'm honored to be a part of everyone's life. And they have the smartest, most talented, bestest looking dogs too!!!

 

My family and friends (except for one) have no idea that there is even anything wrong with Boy. I am NOT a mushy person, but I am here with you all for some reason. Y'all know a side of me that most people don't even know exists.

 

Heck, I don't even open up to Boyden like I do you guys! If he knew I was such a softy then he'd probably snicker to himself!

 

This forum is like a soap opera sometimes. Maybe we should call it As the Fur Ball Rolls.

[Dixie_Girl]

These are all my sentiments exactly. When we all got over the top with the dogs in the back of the truck thing. Everytime I heard a car I thought it was someone from the boards coming to give me what for! Then I thought of hunting some of them down myself! Other topics have done the same. But what happened when Cheyenne was sick just this week? Everyone rallied around me and gave nothing but love and support! If the rest of the world worked like this board, we would all be living in Paradise. Yeah, emotions run high on this board, but let someone have a bit of trouble, and we close ranks like drowning ants!

 

What a great group of people.

And the guys can just reply, "ditto".

 

 

I like that one Miztiki! Or, how about, Days of our Dogs?

[Root Beer]

I agree!

 

There have been several occasions when I've decided that enough is enough and I'm not going to read here anymore - even when I've had no particular part of a conversation!!

 

And then the next day I'm baaaaaaack! And I've usually forgotten what I got all huffy over in the first place!

 

I am feeling extreme excitement for my and Phoenix's day tomorrow

I am very excited for you and Phoenix, too! I hope you really, really, really enjoy it!

 

And my thoughts are with those who are going through difficult times, too.

[karrie]

Ditto guys.

[IronHorse]

Well stated Joe Anne.

I have a great deal of respect for the opinions and expertise of a great many of you even if I am sometimes in disagreement.

These boards have been a great help to me in making life changing decisions for a great number of dogs that now have the quality of life that they deserve.

I thank all of you who have willingly voiced your heartfelt opinions and helped me to better understand and serve the breed we all love.

 

I also send out a big THANK YOU to all of you who stepped up to the plate and assisted in the situation that brought me to these boards in the first place.

Your time and involvement are very much appreciated by this man and the dogs that were helped in the process.

[mado]

I'm having a lovely Sunday of work while the sun shines , so I'll try to start a big fight on this one ; the board is all everybuddy stated above , sometimes arguments , sometimes mushy , sometimes all in a huff over opinions on every thing and nothing , but because there's a majority of women , and we all know that at the end of the day women are more sensible than their male counterparts ,it always ends up with hugs and support and love for all . hehehe let's see how this goes :cool:

[mado]

UCLA Study on Special importance ofFriendship between Women A landmark UCLA study suggests friendships between women are special. They shape who we are and who we are yet to be. They soothe our tumultuous inner world, fill the emotional gaps in our marriage, and help us remember who we really are. By the way, they may do even more. Scientists now suspect that hanging out with our friends can actually counteract the kind of stomach-quivering stress most of us experience on a daily basis. A landmark UCLA study suggests that women respond to stress with a cascade of brain chemicals that cause us to make and maintain friendships with other women. It's a stunning find that has turned five decades of stress research-most of it on men-upside down. "Until this study was published, scientists generally believed that when people experience stress, they trigger a hormonal cascade that revs the body to either stand and fight or flee as fast as possible," explains Laura Cousin Klein, Ph.D., now an Assistant Professor of Biobehavioral Health at Penn State University and one of the study's authors. "It's an ancient survival mechanism left over from the time we were chased across the planet by saber-toothed tigers." Now the researchers suspect that women have a larger behavioural repertoire than just "fight or flight". In fact," says Dr. Klein, "it seems that when the hormone oxytocin is release as part of the stress responses in a woman, it buffers the "fight or flight" response and encourages her to tend children and gather with other women instead. When she actually engages in this tending or befriending, studies suggest that more oxytocin is released, which further counters stress and produces a calming effect. This calming response does not occur in men", says Dr. Klein, "because testosterone-which men produce in high levels when they're under stress - seems to reduce the effects of oxytocin. Estrogens, she adds, "seems to enhance it." The discovery that women respond to stress differently than men was made in a classic "aha!" moment shared by two women scientists who were talking one day in a lab at UCLA. "There was this joke that when the women who worked in the lab were stressed, they came in, cleaned the lab, had coffee, and bonded", says Dr. Klein. "When the men were stressed, they holed up somewhere on their own. I commented one day to fellow researcher Shelley Taylor that nearly 90% of the stress research is on males. I showed her the data from my lab, and the two of us knew instantly that we were onto something." The women cleared their schedules and started meeting with one scientist after another from various research specialties. Very quickly, Drs. Klein and Taylor discovered that by not including women in stress research, scientists had made a huge mistake: the fact that women respond to stress differently than men has significant implications for our health. It may take some time for new studies to reveal all the ways that oxytocin encourages us to care for children and hang out with other women, but the "tend and befriend" notion developed by Drs. Klein and Taylor may explain why women consistently outlive men. Study after study has found that social ties reduce our risk of disease by lowering blood pressure, heart rate, and cholesterol. "There's no doubt," says Dr. Klein, "that friends are helping us live longer." In one study, for example, researchers found that people who had no friends increased their risk of death over a 6-month period. In another study, those who had the most friends over a 9-year period cut their risk of death by more than 60%. Friends are also helping us live better. The famed Nurses' Health Study from Harvard Medical School found that the more friends women had, the less likely they were to develop physical impairments as they aged, and the more likely they were to be leading a joyful life. In fact, the results were so significant, the researchers concluded, that not having close friends or confidants was as detrimental to your health as smoking or carrying extra weight! And that's not all! When the researchers looked at how well the women functioned after the death of their spouse, they found that even in the face of this biggest stressor of all, those women who had a close friend and confidante were more likely to survive the experience without any new physical impairments or permanent loss of vitality. Those without friends were not always so fortunate. Yet if friends counter the stress that seems to swallow up so much of our life these days, if they keep us healthy and even add years to our life, why is it so hard to find time to be with them? That's a question that also troubles researcher Ruthellen Josselson, Ph.D., co-author of Best Friends: The Pleasures and Perils of Girls' and Women's Friendships (Three Rivers Press, 1998). "Every time we get overly busy with work and family, the first thing we do is let go of friendships with other women," explains Dr. Josselson. "We push them right to the back burner. That's really a mistake because women are such a source of strength to each other. We nurture one another. And we need to have unpressured space in which we can do the special kind of talk that women do when they're with other women. It's a very healing experience." Taylor, S. E., Klein, L.C., Lewis, B. P., Gruenewald, T. L.,Gurung, R. A. R., & Updegraff, J. A. (2000). "Female Responses to Stress: Tend and Befriend, Not Fight or Flight", Psychological Review, 107(3), 41.

 

 

Sorry for the length , but I really think it's worth the read , and I suppose this applies to dog-loving gals too ...

[Tammy525]

Ditto Joe Anne and Miztiki and Dixie-Girl

[Joe Anne]

Mado, very interesting indeed!

[mado]

I suppose these forums , in helping like-minded people bond around their shared concerns and hopes , play the part of olde worlde get-togethers our grandmas enjoyed ...

[Tiga's_mom]

The people on this board are my first resource when it comes to the care of my dog. Occasionaly other topics have come up and I've had very different opinions then some people on here, but I usually just keep my opinions about these things to myself. I'm sure I'd have some pretty heated discusions with some people if I were to speak up. But to me it doesn't really matter.

 

I read the boards to help care for my dog. The one thing that I love about all the people here is just what everyone has said so far. I can come here and ask whatever I need to know about my dog and I always get a response, and it's usually pretty quick too. I trust the advice I get here more then I trust advice from people that I know. Most times I ask question here before I talk to my vet.

 

I love that a group of people can put their differences aside and be able to help each other. I think it's the BC's that bring out the best in us.

[Root Beer]

Originally posted by mado:

I suppose these forums , in helping like-minded people bond around their shared concerns and hopes , play the part of olde worlde get-togethers our grandmas enjoyed ...

I think there's something to that. I am an active member of several message board communities and I definitely have more conversations with people that I know through these communitites than I do with people who live on my own street!!

[Debbie Crowder-BaaramuLuke]

I liked all that...many are the times I get online and read about all the different experiences, opinions, sadnesses, joys and think how truly similar we all are. You read a thread, and it's amazing to me how far-reaching this stuff is, all over the world, and the common denominator is the Border Collie. My first intro to this came about this time last year, I think, when I was scoping around for a "good vet in Lexington, KY". That turned out to be a prophetic post for me, and I found out how far-reaching the love and support from this community is, and how helpful it was to me at the time. I'm making the trip again this year, largely for the sake of closure (I dislike that term, but use it for lack of a better one), but also to truly enjoy the trip and the work. I hope to meet all of you guys one day.

[Guest JoeysMom]

I love these boards, and the people on them! In all honesty, if it weren't for you guys, Joey would not be the dog she is today, nor would I be who I am with her. She isn't perfect, neither am I, and her imperfections stem from my own. However, the people here that I have met and turned to for help have been beyond wonderful. This is a great place, and I thank everybody for being such great parts of it.

[donna frankland (uk)]

joe anne, that was a lovely thing to do!

 

i also love this board, ou have all been so kind and caring about tikki's illness and losing my molly last year.

and when i posted after i realised i was suffering from depression, i recieved so many fantastically warm and thoughtfull posts it really did make a difference.

i want to hug you all!!!!

thankyou guys so much, i dont know where i would be without you!

 

(actually i do, i would be rocking backwards and forwards in the cupboard gibbering to myself by now, no joke!)