Category — miscellaneous

This one has some salty language in it, so if you don’ t like that kind of thing, you might want to skip it.  Consider yourself warned!

Texts from my dog

Want to pick the trainer’s brain for a while?  Are you ambulatory? Like spring weather?  Hate chronic brain disease? Then this is the gig for you!

No, seriously.  I know someone with MS. It’s a scary thing.  If your legs don’t do what you want them to do, the dog can’t be walked.  If your arms don’t do what you want them to do, the dog can’t be fed.  And if your brain refuses to form the words you need to communicate, you can’t even ask for help!  Talk about frustrating.

So, help us walk for a cure!  Join the team and get free animal training advice, a lovely walk in the park, and good karma!  Or if you can’t walk with us, be so kind as to donate $5 here.

From now until the walk, 100% of the proceeds from Puppy, Pipsqueak and Friendly Dog  socials will be donated to Team Fur and Feather Works – as if you needed another reason to attend a social!

These two seem to have invented a fun game …

*disclaimer: empty carbs aren’t good for parrots and neither is standing on the stove, so please don’t copy this video. Parrots upset your dog’s digestion, so please don’t ever leave your predator pets and your prey pets together unattended.*

How dogs drink

So this is how it works!  Click! here!

What’s in a name?

Ask your parrot!  Up until about a month ago, it was thought that only humans, dolphins, and some songbirds use certain calls which distinguish different individuals within a social group. Now, research shows that “all wild parrots use unique “contact calls” that not only distinguish each bird individually, but also communicate their gender, and the mate and larger group they belong to.”  In other words, parrots call each other by name, gender, familial ties, and “rank.”

Take this as proof that although your bird may not always respond to his name, he does understand the concept, which is more than we can say for your dog

Even more compellingly, it seems that “the parents give the chicks their own call” – meaning that this naming is not a random sound emitted by the chick and responded to by others, or a genetically wired action, but that the parents are actually choosing a “name” for the chicks.

Of course, this then raises the question: when your bird calls you by name from across the house, does he really understand that he’s calling you, or is your name just fun to yell because it makes you show up? Your guess is as good as mine.

Click here to read more, and see an extremely cute video of baby parrotlets.

Be alert; they’re out there.  I know for a fact we have many of these in our own community.  If you own one of these dogs, please call me for help – we can make your dog much safer with training.  Click here for more information.

Penguin tickling: the latest almost-fatal dose of CUTE going around the internet.

Don’t we all shriek a little when we’re tickled?

*Once again, the behavior nerd in me has to add: this penguin is not actually “ticklish.”  Can anyone guess what little Cookie is really doing?

If you give up, click here for the answer.

When a bird is socialized to live with humans, it happens.  It happens to our pet parrots, too, and can lead to behavior and health problems. However, it is fixable if you learn how to interact properly with your little feathered buddy.  Ask me if you need help avoiding this type of relationship with your pet bird.

Welcome to the Bigger, Faster, Better Fur and Feather Works website!  In fact, welcome to Fur and Feather Works in general!  I’m so excited to unveil this new site!

Obviously, one of the main bigger-better-faster features is the ability to blog.  This gives me a much-needed way to share information with you, and gives you a place in which to respond!  Every time I write a new Quicknote, I’ll put it on here so that everyone and their sister can access it – after all, that’s what they’re designed for!  I’m also hoping towrite about the more interesting facets of my job, because I know so many people have so many questions – let’s face it, animal behavior is fascinating, and it’s all around us!  I’ll try to publish a new post every few weeks, so keep checking back – things will be interesting around here for a while!

No, not Photoshopped - just really good timing!

Forthcoming:

A testimonials page – I get so many lovely compliments (thank you, you know who you are!) but have no where to put them.  Coming soon!

A photo gallery – I am in contact with some very talented photographers, and I’ll display their work here.  It’ll also give you a feel for what goes on in classes, privates, and events.  Clients’ pets’ photos should show up there too, eventually!

A links page – there’s so much great information out there on the internet (not to mention fun to be had) – but so much garbage, too.  I’ll try to do some sorting for you and post the results!

Stay tuned for more exciting things to come!  Ready…?

Joanna