Monthly Archives: July 2012
Liberty Mutual Volunteers Lend A Hand At Cancer Support Community
I just wrapped a contest for World Choir Games tickets where people wrote to me about what in Cincinnati makes their hearts ‘sing’. There are so many good things in our region and it was really fun hearing what people had to say. I may have to ask that question more often.
I wanted to share what Amanda Baker of the Cancer Support Community of Greater Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky shared in her submission…
Liberty Mutual celebrated their 100 Year Anniversary with “Serve With Liberty” – a 2-day global service project that took place on June 21 and 22. Cancer Support Community was grateful to be one of the local sites selected by the Fairfield Liberty Mutual office for volunteer projects at CSC’s Lynn Stern Center in Blue Ash. Congratulations on 100 years and thank you, Liberty Mutual!
Despite the heat, a group of 20 Liberty Mutual associates worked outside for nearly 5 hours on June 21 and made an AMAZING impact on the landscaping and grounds at The Lynn Stern Center. Flowers were planted, shrubs trimmed, beds weeded and cleaned out, windows washed, the hillside by the dumpster cleared and seeded, and more.
Then on June 22 another 15 member Liberty Mutual volunteer group came to clean the inside of our facility. They cleaned the office spaces as well as the participant areas, dusted every surface, organized our books and kitchen, washed all of the inside windows and cleaned the blinds.
We couldn’t be happier with all the help we received from the Liberty Mutual volunteers over the 2-day service project. The Lynn Stern Center looks wonderful and we hope their volunteers will come back next year to celebrate 101 years!
Now that’s a great reason to sing!
Sometimes A Hug Is All You Need
Ft Mitchell Community Supports Family Of Michelle Mockbee
This year’s annual Ft. Mitchell 4th of July parade will be a somber one, as the community reels from the loss of one of its own. In reaction to the recent death of Michelle Mockbee, Remke bigg’s has transformed its annual cook out into a fundraiser to benefit the family Michelle left behind when she was murdered at her workplace in late May.
Michelle leaves behind a husband and two young daughters. These funds will be used to help with care and education of the children.
“When something as tragic as this happens within our community, it’s important that we all rally to support those who have been affected,” Remke bigg’s community relations director Connie Flynn said. “Remke bigg’s understands the importance of spearheading this fundraiser and we look forward to celebrating the 4th of July and collecting for a great cause at the same time.”
Remke bigg’s will be holding their annual grill out at 2501 Dixie Highway in Ft. Mitchell. Festivities begin at 11:30AM. Remke bigg’s will be serving up the traditional hot dogs, chips and drinks.
Have A Jealous Or Stubborn Dog? Why I Can’t Help.
NOTE: I have a new pet behavior blog located at http://www.SoMuchPETential.com/blog. Thanks!
It happens SO often. When you ask pet owners about problems they are having with their pets, it boils down to their pet being dominant, jealous, dumb, stubborn, territorial, vicious, a pest, or just plain BAD.
Well, here’s the thing. When you tell me your dog is jealous, stubborn, or unmotivated I have absolutely no idea what it is 
that your dog is actually ‘doing’ that causes you to see him as jealous, stubborn or unmotivated. When you tell me your bird is dominant or vicious, a number of different pictures go through my head – none of which could describe how your bird is behaving.
Descriptor words like jealous or stubborn really serve no value when it comes to behavior modification. They are adjectives that are better known as constructs in the science world.
In a recent course I took from Susan Friedman, Ph.D., she described it this way: “A construct is a kind of label that goes beyond a description of observed behaviors into the realm of hypothetical explanations for why an animal does what it does. While a construct may give a summary for a pattern of behavior, it serves as no help when it comes to developing a plan for changing the behavior with the most positive and least intrusive strategies.”
Susan went on to teach us that “constructs are nothing more than concepts that can’t be tested; constructs provide us with excuses to blame or worse get rid of the animal; constructs increase the use of ineffective training strategies and strategies based on punishment; constructs give us a false understanding of the problem when we’ve only given it a name; constructs foster self-fulfilling prophecies because you get what you expect; and constructs end our search for actual causes we can do something about.”
Just the other day someone was complaining to me about problems she was having with her dog who became ‘jealous’ when she got a boyfriend. “Baxter is a good dog. He’ll grow out of it,” was her response when I asked more questions.
Hmm. How about, instead of labeling her dog’s behaviors with constructs, she asks herself the following questions instead: What does this label ‘look’ like in terms of actual, observable behavior? Under what conditions does the behavior occur? What is the immediate outcome the behavior produces for my dog?
The answers will help her determine clearly defined behavior-change targets, antecedent predictors that set the behavior in motion, and what consequences maintain or strengthen the behavior. For example, instead of saying, “My dog is jealous,”, she could say, “When I sit on the couch with my boyfriend (antecedent), Baxter paws and bumps me (behavior) until I give her attention (consequence).”
Now I can see clearly what the behavior is that my friend wants to modify with an alternative behavior she wants to see more of instead. Now she can create a plan to make changes in the environment to set Baxter up for success such as teaching Baxter a behavior that is put on cue, and that is given when she sits on the couch with company.
And in the end, everyone succeeds.
