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Japanese Sharp Corporation releases a press statement on 27 August 2008 that did not grab any headlines. But one day, it may be on Page One of every newspaper on earth! Incorporated in its ionic air purifier, the Plasmacluster Ion Technology (more on this in a later post) has just been scientifically proven to be 99.9% effective in eliminating the bird flu virus known as H5N1.

With increasing regularity, the press reminds us that bird flu is the prime suspect to cause mankind’s next pandemic. Pandemic does not just sound terrifying. It is. That’s when a highly contagious and deadly virus goes global, in a very negative sense. The 1918 Spanish Flu that killed 50 million people worldwide is the worst pandemic in human history! World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on 5 October 2005 that the 1918 Spanish flu was caused by H1N1, a bird flu virus.

Red Alert! Time to PANIC?

Not quite, not yet anyway. Statistically, as recorded by WHO as at 10 Sep 2008, “only” 245 people have died from the ˕N1 virus. This is since 1996 when the virus first surfaced in China. So what’s the fuss? Scientists monitoring the virus fear that it may mutate into a form that transmits from human to human. As I write, there has been only one probable case of human-to-human transmission recorded in Thailand in September 2004. Don’t be surprised by the global pandemonium in the event that the dreaded virus mutation actually occurs.

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Dog obedience training requires the use of some principles which differentiate effective training from training without results. Most dog training and dog behavior schools use these rules. These are:

Principle One:The first rule in obedience training is to be consistent. You must be consistent in the use of words, the tone of your voice and your actions, that go with your command. At the beginning of training you as the dog owner or trainer must make the decision as to what guidelines you will use to teach the dog. Words do not make sense to a dog. He does not understand things the way we understand, and he does not understand the language we use.

So to make the training understandable, you should use the command in a very consistent manner such that the dog will learn to associate the word with the meaning you attach with it. If you are using the word ‘come’ make sure everyone is. The command ‘Come’ specifically means that the dog should approach the giver of the command and use it in that sense. If he does not come to you, do not force the dog to come to you and punish him for doing so. Your dog would attribute the command with the punishment.

What could you expect next?-If the command leads to punishment he will not follow it next time. Consistency also covers the use of the same command by all people. For example, if you are using the command ‘come’, other people in the household should not replace it with words like ‘here’ or ‘come here boy’.

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