So tired...
What a day of learning and making friends. Except our brains are now completely fried. I had my poster session this evening and had great discussions with lots of people doing research in non-human animal visual illusions and others who are either doing or have done research in dogs. Exciting stuff!
It's bedtime now. At this rate, I may never share any of the cool information I've learned the past couple days. Oops? I am taking notes though, so that must count for something!
Tuesday, August 11, 2015
Day 1 - First Day of the Behaviour2015 Conference!
What an incredible day of talks. The day started off with a plenary talk (one by an invited speaker that all the attendees go to) about social relationships between baboons. They'd found that the amount that a baboon engaged in social interactions with other baboons was correlated with infant survival rates. Makes a lot of common sense but very cool to see data - especially data from two different sites thousands of miles apart in Africa showing baboons living in surprisingly similar social structures.
After the plenary talk, it was morning tea and we got to put up our posters. Obviously mine is the best one because it has cute photos of Audrey and Baxter on it... (just kidding!) There were some very cool posters hung up yesterday. Ones about whales, chipmunks, chickens, and everything in between! The official "poster sessions" are Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, where we've been asked to be available to discuss our posters with people.
The actual day of talks is organized into "streams" or "disciplines" - sort of. Basically there were seven meeting rooms where talks ran concurrently, each with a different topic of focus. There was a Communication room, a Learning and Cognition room, etc. Each person giving a talk had 12 minutes to present research and 3 minutes for questions (at least that was the aim).
The night before, we chose a bunch of "must see" talks, and just filled in the rest of the time with other talks that were taking place before/after the same rooms. It ended up being that we just happened to be sitting in some pretty cool rooms! Although I'm not sure that it isn't just that ALL the talks are super interesting.
At lunch time, we had scheduled to meet Dr Kazuo Fujita from Kyoto University. He is one of the leading researchers in non-human visual illusions and has done extensive research with pigeons and chickens. We went to grab food with him and a bunch of his students who were at the conference as well (10 of us in total!). Turns out service in Cairns follows the easy, laid-back model..where we don't get our food before it's time to go back to the conference!!!
Actually, it was only an issue because we were in a bit of a rush and just didn't have the time to sit, relax, and enjoy the beautiful weather (and we were hungry of course). Tiffani had been scheduled to give her talk on a Diabetes Alert Dog project at 2:00pm but was told that day that she'd been bumped up to 1:45. So we ended up having 15 minutes less time for lunch.
It's Tuesday morning now and time to head off to the conference again. Hopefully the internet will be working tonight so I can actually have time to write about some of the cool stuff we've seen!
After the plenary talk, it was morning tea and we got to put up our posters. Obviously mine is the best one because it has cute photos of Audrey and Baxter on it... (just kidding!) There were some very cool posters hung up yesterday. Ones about whales, chipmunks, chickens, and everything in between! The official "poster sessions" are Tuesday and Wednesday evenings, where we've been asked to be available to discuss our posters with people.
The actual day of talks is organized into "streams" or "disciplines" - sort of. Basically there were seven meeting rooms where talks ran concurrently, each with a different topic of focus. There was a Communication room, a Learning and Cognition room, etc. Each person giving a talk had 12 minutes to present research and 3 minutes for questions (at least that was the aim).
The night before, we chose a bunch of "must see" talks, and just filled in the rest of the time with other talks that were taking place before/after the same rooms. It ended up being that we just happened to be sitting in some pretty cool rooms! Although I'm not sure that it isn't just that ALL the talks are super interesting.
At lunch time, we had scheduled to meet Dr Kazuo Fujita from Kyoto University. He is one of the leading researchers in non-human visual illusions and has done extensive research with pigeons and chickens. We went to grab food with him and a bunch of his students who were at the conference as well (10 of us in total!). Turns out service in Cairns follows the easy, laid-back model..where we don't get our food before it's time to go back to the conference!!!
Actually, it was only an issue because we were in a bit of a rush and just didn't have the time to sit, relax, and enjoy the beautiful weather (and we were hungry of course). Tiffani had been scheduled to give her talk on a Diabetes Alert Dog project at 2:00pm but was told that day that she'd been bumped up to 1:45. So we ended up having 15 minutes less time for lunch.
It's Tuesday morning now and time to head off to the conference again. Hopefully the internet will be working tonight so I can actually have time to write about some of the cool stuff we've seen!
Monday, August 10, 2015
Day 0 - Arriving in Cairns
We've made it!
Almost didn't. Flying is hard - it was a bit of an exciting morning...but when is travelling ever easy?
Anyway, Cairns is beautiful. We arrived in the early afternoon and went for a nice walk along the promenade and had lunch by the water. The weather is so nice - warm with a sea breeze. I could stay here forever!
We're off to the conference this morning, excited to learn things!
Almost didn't. Flying is hard - it was a bit of an exciting morning...but when is travelling ever easy?
Anyway, Cairns is beautiful. We arrived in the early afternoon and went for a nice walk along the promenade and had lunch by the water. The weather is so nice - warm with a sea breeze. I could stay here forever!
We're off to the conference this morning, excited to learn things!
Tuesday, August 4, 2015
Warm weather, here we come!
It's here (almost)! I've been waiting all year (read 5 months) for this conference in Cairns, and now it's really about to happen! We are leaving on Sunday morning for an entire week in Queensland where it is WARM and SUNNY. I'm hoping to be very active in terms of blogging next week but of course this will depend on internet access...and evening activities. I'm sure I'll be learning a lot at the conference so I'd like to write about it - and share some cool experiences too.
It's been a bit of an odd week. We've just started getting participants training their own dogs for our study. It's a good feeling that all of these dog owners are so keen to volunteer for our studies, even when we are asking for 12 week commitments! I don't know if I would do something that... I also just found out that a lot of school admin stuff was supposed to have happened shortly after I enroled - but somehow never did. Hopefully now everything is finally on track and I can be less confused about what is expected of me and just get on with my PhD!
On to more exciting news, our two new PhD students are coming in September! Both of them are named Sarah. Sarah B. Sarah B with blonde hair. Oh dear...we'll have to figure something better out.
This week is going to fly by with everything that needs to be done before we fly away to Cairns (it sounds like it's pronounced CANS of soup, but like how Americans pronounce "cans", not how Australians pronounce "cans"...). Pronunciations are hard. That reminds me of a new thing I learned recently. I've only just discovered that 'sultanas' are raisins - but only because in Australia, Kelloggs makes Sultana Bran instead of Raisin Bran :)
It's been a bit of an odd week. We've just started getting participants training their own dogs for our study. It's a good feeling that all of these dog owners are so keen to volunteer for our studies, even when we are asking for 12 week commitments! I don't know if I would do something that... I also just found out that a lot of school admin stuff was supposed to have happened shortly after I enroled - but somehow never did. Hopefully now everything is finally on track and I can be less confused about what is expected of me and just get on with my PhD!
On to more exciting news, our two new PhD students are coming in September! Both of them are named Sarah. Sarah B. Sarah B with blonde hair. Oh dear...we'll have to figure something better out.
This week is going to fly by with everything that needs to be done before we fly away to Cairns (it sounds like it's pronounced CANS of soup, but like how Americans pronounce "cans", not how Australians pronounce "cans"...). Pronunciations are hard. That reminds me of a new thing I learned recently. I've only just discovered that 'sultanas' are raisins - but only because in Australia, Kelloggs makes Sultana Bran instead of Raisin Bran :)
Monday, July 20, 2015
Horse riding!
In Australia, they say "horse riding", not "horseback riding". Somehow it makes a lot of sense but has sounded very weird for a long time.
Anyway, this past weekend I got to ride one of Pauleen's horses! His name is Aurum (I'm actually not sure how it's spelled - maybe Oram?) and he's a beautiful teenage Palomino. I originally went over to Pauleen's place on Sunday to meet her friend Cheryl, who wanted to see the discrimination training we've been doing with Pauleen's Lagottos. We spent a little time demonstrating the training and convinced Cheryl that she wants to be one of our study participants and train her super smart dog Gilbert. In the afternoon, we had some free time and decided that I should spend some time doing round pen work with Aurum to start building a relationship before I ever got on him. He's the absolute sweetest old man and apparently has been showed and used do a lot with his previous owner but hasn't been ridden hardly at all for the last three years (twice, actually, including yesterday). I got to feel like a fool round penning him and trying to figure out how to get him to turn away from the fence towards me to change direction, then getting him to yield his front and rear, and flexing his neck (which we called the half-tap position at Mustang Camp). He was super patient and was absolutely wonderful, even though I was giving all sorts of terrible mixed signals. (we ended up watching the Clinton Anderson DVD on round penning that evening so I'm more hopeful about next time!)
After a good session of ground work, Pauleen went and got the saddle and we did the same thing again, with his saddle on. Shortly after, she said "do you want to ride him today?" - um YES? We just did some walking and trotting around the round yard and I got to try and feel where his front feet were so I could go up on the outside leg - which was easy one way around but really hard the other way! We'll get there though. Pauleen says she's happy to teach me and I'm so excited to get real lessons and finally learn to ride!
I feel like the luckiest person ever. I've come to Australia, been given a puppy to play with, a horse to ride, and someone is paying me to be here! Of course real work is still happening...just mostly late at night when the world is quiet :)
Anyway, this past weekend I got to ride one of Pauleen's horses! His name is Aurum (I'm actually not sure how it's spelled - maybe Oram?) and he's a beautiful teenage Palomino. I originally went over to Pauleen's place on Sunday to meet her friend Cheryl, who wanted to see the discrimination training we've been doing with Pauleen's Lagottos. We spent a little time demonstrating the training and convinced Cheryl that she wants to be one of our study participants and train her super smart dog Gilbert. In the afternoon, we had some free time and decided that I should spend some time doing round pen work with Aurum to start building a relationship before I ever got on him. He's the absolute sweetest old man and apparently has been showed and used do a lot with his previous owner but hasn't been ridden hardly at all for the last three years (twice, actually, including yesterday). I got to feel like a fool round penning him and trying to figure out how to get him to turn away from the fence towards me to change direction, then getting him to yield his front and rear, and flexing his neck (which we called the half-tap position at Mustang Camp). He was super patient and was absolutely wonderful, even though I was giving all sorts of terrible mixed signals. (we ended up watching the Clinton Anderson DVD on round penning that evening so I'm more hopeful about next time!)
After a good session of ground work, Pauleen went and got the saddle and we did the same thing again, with his saddle on. Shortly after, she said "do you want to ride him today?" - um YES? We just did some walking and trotting around the round yard and I got to try and feel where his front feet were so I could go up on the outside leg - which was easy one way around but really hard the other way! We'll get there though. Pauleen says she's happy to teach me and I'm so excited to get real lessons and finally learn to ride!
I feel like the luckiest person ever. I've come to Australia, been given a puppy to play with, a horse to ride, and someone is paying me to be here! Of course real work is still happening...just mostly late at night when the world is quiet :)
Friday, July 3, 2015
Meet Miss Charlotte
So...I've been hiding a secret. There is a puppy cuter than Audrey.
Please enjoy:
Please enjoy:
 |
| Words cannot even. |
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| Charlotte with her mommy Molly |
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| Beating up a newly short-haired Miss Audrey |
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| Puppies playing is the best thing ever. |
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| Watch out Audrey! |
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| ATTACK!!! |
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| Audrey is so good with the puppy...I'm a proud mummy! |
Monday, June 29, 2015
Mid-winter haircuts
Today Audrey got her first major hair cut for her 7 month birthday. She's had two semi-haircuts so far, but this time I chopped everything off, including her beautiful golden mustache. Nick, one of our honours students, was not pleased -- but it's OK, it will grow back!
Here she is mid-haircut:
All finished! She is adorable in a jacket...
Next week, Pauleen is off to New York for a conference. She's actually been on leave from the university since last week, although with us coming over three days a week to train dogs, we haven't really let her be on a 'real' holiday. Later this week she and Ron are taking a day trip and I will help take care of the dogs for the day.
Here she is mid-haircut:
All finished! She is adorable in a jacket...
Next week, Pauleen is off to New York for a conference. She's actually been on leave from the university since last week, although with us coming over three days a week to train dogs, we haven't really let her be on a 'real' holiday. Later this week she and Ron are taking a day trip and I will help take care of the dogs for the day.
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