Creature Thoughts (May 2010)

Keeping in touch with the animals…

…and the people who love them

Miss Pree, during one of her finer moments….

Just Because You Can Talk To Them….

(…doesn’t guarantee they’ll listen)

I’m just like everyone else, when it comes to my own animals. Although I would like to say they’re perfect furry friends, who never misbehave, who never give me headaches or worries, I’d be fibbing if I did so. When I’ve confided in friends about some of the issues I experience with my pets, they often ask me, “Why don’t you just talk to them?”

My response is usually, “Do you talk to your kids?”

Just because we can talk to our animals, that doesn’t guarantee they’re going to listen. Just because we can ask them “will you please behave”, it doesn’t mean the answer will be “yes”.

Most animals, like most kids, will do the right thing 1. if given the chance, and 2. if the motivation is right. There are a lot of different ways to provide motivation. Some parents might say a smack on the hiney is good motivation — and it might occasionally work, but in my mind it’s not necessarily the best option. There are many great variations on positive reinforcement training, which can be augmented with animal communication and other tools. Clicker training is a popular favorite, of course, and one I often use. The Saluki rescue group I work with frequently, STOLA, promotes affection training in their book, Only Angels, which is a method of communication which uses treats and praise. It works very well with sighthounds and other breeds that tend to be smart and sensitive (and cats, also).

There are times, however, when even the most high-priced positive motivation does not quite outweigh the self-reward an animal receives for being naughty. Once the dog has discovered how good the scraps stolen from your dinner plate taste, for example, that can be a tough bad habit to break. In the situation my own family is currently facing, we have a kitty who has lived in our house longer than we have, and we’ve brought in what she sees as a group of delicious little fluttering morsels–our birds. So far, nothing we’ve found will deter her, and her response when I try to tell her that these birds are family is…well, let’s just say I would rather not publish it in a G-rated newsletter.

We’re still working on the communication and motivation aspects of the situation, but at times like this, there really is only one other option a pet owner can fall back on to keep the peace: Maintenance. “Maintenance” means controlling the situation to reduce the temptation and keep the pets from getting hurt (or worse). In our case, it’s secure caging, an exercise pen set up around the birds, and making sure Missie is confined to a safe area of the house whenever she is unsupervised.

The maintenance aspect of pet care can be frustrating. When you want the dog to have free fun of the house and be a member of the family, but she wee-wee’s on the carpet every time she gets out of your sight, it can be hard to have to resort to an x-pen, crate, or waist-leash for what may be a long period of time. However, if it keeps everyone safe, and reduces the stress of having to continually soak up puddles (or chase the cat away from the birds), it’s worth it. When restrictions have to be imposed that you’d rather you didn’t need, it helps to remember that these are often temporary measures to be used while you’re continuing your training and communication efforts.

When you talk till your blue in the face, and they just won’t listen, just get the situation under physical control, and try to convince yourself that: “This, too, shall pass”.

Free Help For Our Animal Friends at NELR

Northeast Llama Rescue and Barnyard Sanctuary and New York Wildlife Rescue (an IRS 501(c)(3) charity) accept Paypal donations through their website at http://www.redmaplefarm.net. In addition, we have a totally painless (and free) way for anyone to support the care of the animals we rescue. If you sign up to shop online through iGive.com, at no cost to you, every purchase you make through the iGive gateway will earn a donation for the animals.
To sign up to shop through iGive for NYWRC:

http://www.igive.com/NYWildlifeRescueCenter

And even if you don’t sign up (but why would anyone not sign up since it’s free and painless?), you can still earn money with each internet search you do simply by logging in to the iGive search engine rather than Google or whichever other search engine you normally use:

http://www.isearchigive.com/NYWildlifeRescueCenter