Feathers, Fur and Fins

I get emails from NatGeo on their upcoming programs and frequently post about them here. They have some amazing programs about animals and NatGeo is one of my favorite channels to watch in my copious amounts of free time :) I recently got an email from them about a show that's on Monday, Lion Ranger. I will be very honest here and tell you that I have never heard of this show. But in watching the videos it looks really interesting. Having traveled in Africa and seen lions in the wild I have a real interest in them. Their habitat is rapidly diminishing and with tourists they are getting more and more used to humans and it's not a great mix. When I was traveling in Africa they had very little cell phone service. My phone did not work there at all. After I came back I learned that you could purchase an unlocked phone that would work down there. I didn't know that though. Hmm...how did I get off on that subject???

If you're hanging out relaxing Monday night after a fun filled weekend, catch this show. I think it's going to be really interesting.
Kingdom of the White Lion reserve, Johannesburg, South Africa: Kevin Richardson sitting with a lion. He has worked with captive bred lions, big cats and predators for over 12 years.  As a self-taught animal behaviorist, he’s built close relationships with some of the most dangerous predators on our planet. (Photo Credit: © Renegade Pictures)

Dog walks recently have been good, nothing really exciting to report on that front. One thing though that is driving me crazy is the traffic. Where we walk the dogs is across the major road in this area. It is 3 lanes in each direction and, as you can imagine, busy as hell during evening rush hour - which is when we walk. Drivers have a terrible habit of not looking for pedestrians and making left turns while people are in the crosswalk. They also speed on this road. A. Lot. Now I've been known to be a little heavy on the gas pedal, I mean sheesh, I drive a Mustang :) but this street can get bad, really bad. I frequently see police on this road with their radar guns out. I'm sure people who drive this road regularly want to find the best radar detector to avoid a ticket. But then I heard that Hawaii doesn't use radar, they use some other technology. I wonder if that would work? Hmmm... Anyway, that's all I have to say. It is raining like hell right now and I need to get the birds settled in for the night.

We are back to our nightly walks and Axl and Lola are almost back to their former selves. They still need a little work on the pulling when they want to see/smell something but other than that things are going pretty good. We started doing the long walk again and that really tires them out so that is good.

On Thursday night we had some adventure around here. Lola got over the lower fence into the neighbors section of the lower part. Unfortunately there is a hole in their part of the fence and Lola got out into the canal. Hubby went in after her and we searched for about 45 minutes, him going up and down in the canal and me driving around on the roads in case she got out of the canal somehow. I finally picked him up and we went back to the house to see if she made her way back and what do we find? Her laying in the backyard like nothing is wrong. That little bugger. Somehow she managed to get by Hubby in the canal and then climb a 10' concrete wall to get back up into the yard. Houdini!!! She is Houdini!!!!!

This weekend we are going to look for some patio chairs for the yard. We need to get ones that the dogs won't tear up. When they get to playing hard anything in their way gets ripped to shreds. We have gone through 4 or 5 doggie beds in the last year. So we need something that is tough enough to stand up to them but that is comfortable for us to spend some time out there. I would love a chaise lounge so that I could lie out there and work on my school work or read. Awesome!!!

Okay, time to get ready to go workout.

That's what I'll be doing for the next 10 days. A lady has to go to the mainland for some medical treatment and needs someone to watch her bird. Me, being the softy that I am, agreed to do it. I do not have room for another bird in this house. But it's only for 10 days and she was going to leave the bird alone all that time and that would not be good at all. So I'll be birdsitting. The bird is a sun conure and he looks something like this:


It will be interesting because I don't have one of these and have never really experienced them. We shall see how he fits in with the others and if he gets along with them.

I just found this ad on Craigslist:

We have a 5 year old cockatoo, new to our family. We are looking for a good home for her, someone experienced with large birds that has the time to take good care of her. She is really sweet and can say a couple of phrases.

I am asking for a small rehoming fee, much less than what we paid for her. At this point its more important that she have a good home.

The reason we are rehoming her is because she bit my son (it was his 13th birthday present). Not too bad, and we have all held her since and she hasn't done it again, but my son doesn't trust her and so she is not getting the attention she needs/deserves.

If it sounds like you would like to meet her let me know by replying to the email at top of page.
mahalo

They gave a cockatoo, one of the hardest birds to care for, to a 13 year old boy as a present. Animals are not presents!!! When you consider acquiring an animal it should be a carefully considered action. A pet should never, ever be given as a gift unless you are willing to take responsibility for that animal if it doesn't work out. Animals have feelings and emotions - maybe they are not like ours but they are there. This bird is 5 years old and in at least it's 2nd home on the way to it's 3rd. I can almost guarantee that this bird is going to develop issues if it doesn't end up in the right house this time. I am so sad for this bird and I wish I could help but I have been there and I know that big birds aren't for me. We, as humans, really need to stop looking at animals as things. They are creatures just like us and deserve some respect. Would you do this to a child???

Last night was the doggie seminar and I went. It was kind of interesting - I did learn some things. The topic was calming signals. Dogs use specific signals to indicate to others that they are not a threat - these are called calming signals. The trainer also covered some of the signs of stress and how to spot them in your dog. It was good. When I try to put the gentle leader on Lola she always turns her head to the side. Turns out that is an avoidance technique and I should work to get her to put the leader on herself. Also, we have to be careful not to misread their calming signals and assume they are ignoring us. Doing that and then getting angry or correcting them can cause them to lose their calming signals. It was very interesting and I did pick up some good tips. This trainer also has a class called Growler that is specifically for aggressive type dogs. I'm considering it for Mr. Axman. It might help him a lot.

We walked Axl and Lola again last night and it was better than Thursday night. I do believe that they will get back to where they were quicker than it took to get there. I'm also going to that seminar tonight and hopefully I will learn something. I really wish I could afford to take him somewhere and have a professional help me, but it's too expensive and we are broke right now. Too bad they didn't have Online Schools for dog training but then I'm not sure that would work. Your instructor really needs to see what you are doing in dog training. Anyway, I'm trying very hard to be patient. One thing that kind of ticks me off is my husband. He doesn't seem to get that they won't get better on their own. We have to train them and do things in order for them to get better. For example, there are 2 new dogs on our walk that bark at us as we go by. When dogs bark at him Axl gets a little nuts (moreso now). So before we get to the dogs I start feeding Axl treats. This puts him in a good frame of mind, so to speak, and when the dogs start barking I just keep feeding him treats. I can see it working. When I do that he doesn't whine and cry and go crazy at the end of the leash. Instead he looks at the dogs then looks at me for more treats. He doesn't get all excited, just a little bit tense, but then calms down almost immediately and we go on our merry way. Hubby doesn't seem to understand that we have to do that every single time we pass a barking dog. We can't do it once or twice, every single time. And quite frankly, I'm committed to doing it for the rest of their lives if I need to, but I don't think I will. I'm willing to do whatever it takes for however long it takes until Axl is comfortable and understands the world is a safe place for him.