A couple of weeks ago, I caught you up on the nursing home hens, and told you about how Chronicle, a New England human interest television show, was doing a piece about the project. The producer also spent some time in my backyard.
The half-hour show, which they’re calling Creature Comfort, will showcase unusual therapy animals. It airs on WCVB channel 5, Boston, at 7:30 pm EST on November 13, 2014. It live-streams here. By next week I’ll have a link up on my In the News page.
Veteran’s Day has come and gone, but not the respect and appreciation that we have for the people who have been in our military. The holiday began to honor the many, many souls who fought in World War I. Here is a photo from that era: Daisey [sic] Parsons, nine years old, trick riding for troops and others in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
IT Guy has upgraded software and reconfigured things. He explained what he did while we were eating lunch. I’m afraid that my mind wandered. But, I did manage to focus again when he said something about improved streaming. Anyway, whatever IT Guy did, it was quite brilliant.
Caper is also brilliant, but he tries to hide it so that he can get his brother, Pip, in trouble.
In the above photo, you can see the cam. The shelf above it is to keep the goats from standing on, and breaking, the camera. Despite the fact that these cameras are designed for outdoor security and remain intact through all weather and major storms, they are no match for goats.
The cams are made to withstand graffiti, but they are not guaranteed for use with goats. I invite the manufacturer to do product testing here.
There is jostling in the stall. Stuff (of the unmentionable kind) gets on the protective plastic lens.
Here are the goats rubbing against the Goat Maid’s rubber boots. Wearing boots that they can rub against is one of her jobs.
Much to the goats’ chagrin, she often fails at this, and so the goats have to resort to rubbing other things. LIke the cams.
So, enjoy the improved live-streaming, and I apologize in advance if you see it through a haze of goat dirt. IT Guy can’t solve every problem.
The late, great, and much missed Empress of the Backyard, Candy, was an imperious rabbit. She turned up her twitchy nose at regular rabbit pellets. She insisted on being fed Exact Rainbow feed. It was hard to find, and more expensive, but she was the monarch, and we did what we were told.
Phoebe is more of a figurehead rather than a ruler. During the day she takes breaks from the melee in the chicken yard and happily hangs out in her cozy bed under the nesting boxes.
Phoebe doesn’t insist on special treatment. She eats regular rabbit pellets, and isn’t fussy about the brand. At least, that’s what I thought. But, the other day I came across the Exact Rainbow feed. I thought I’d treat her to it.
Phoebe ate it all … except for the red bits. This is what the bowl looked like after a day.
I can just imagine her, fussy nose wiggling. whiskers vibrating, carefully picking her way through the pellets and rejecting each and every red pellet. She might not be an Empress, but she is a Princess.
I took a second look at the feed’s label. All of the ingredients looked good until the end of the list where I read artificial color. I’m sure it’s there for the humans, not the rabbits. All too often pet food is designed for what the marketers think the owners will find appealing, and not what’s good for the critters. The Princess has politely asked not to be fed this again. Basic rabbit pellets will be reinstated on the Royal’s menu.
I’m more than halfway through the KPA Dog Trainer Professional course. Training takes observation, persistence, consistency, empathy and creativity.
Lily is a very good trainer.
She observed that Steve leaves his slippers by the back door when he goes out in the morning to care for the chickens and goats.
Lily takes a slipper.
She is patient and has very good timing (two more traits that need mention.) When Steve comes back inside, there is only one slipper to put on. Lily has trained him to come into the kitchen and say Where’s my slipper? Only then does she bring the slipper back.
She has positioned him right next to the treat jar. As I said, Lily is a very good trainer.
She hands over the slipper and Steve gives her a treat.
Good boy!
Lily thought up this trick all by herself. I never taught her to fetch slippers. Lily came up with this genius idea and carefully trained Steve to do each step. She managed to do it all with positive reinforcement so that Steve enjoys the trick as much as she does. I’m taking training lessons from Lily.
