Other Blogs Worth Checking Out

Today's the last day of May, which means that it's the last day of the Blogathon that I've been participating in (and successfully completed, by posting every day this month)!

I will still post on my blog, but it will probably be more like once or twice a week instead of everyday.

If you're worried about going into withdrawals you are welcome (and encouraged) to visit old blog posts. But some of you have already read them all (several times and commented) thank you!

So I wanted to end this month with links to some blogs that I follow that write about similar topics.

Extraordinary Dogs and Extraordinary Horses are two blogs written by the same person. They are full of resources: research to back it up, grants in case you're interested in working with those animals, and charities if you're looking to sponsor someone else. The author of the blogs is a fabulous person that helped me get set up on linkedin and offered me practical advice for my blog.

Animal Friends is a great blog for cat and dog owners looking for more information about their pets. They've posted about such topics as wet food vs dry food, animal allergies, and understanding cat behavior. They also often post about animals that are up for adoption if you are looking for a new pet.

I stumbled across Coop and Cottage when I was doing research for my Respect for Chicken Day post. And I am so glad that I did! The author is a wonderful writer that shares her stories about her chickens, her children, and most recently some horses. You should definitely check her blog out!

If you want to know what it's like owning a service dog, Life With a Hearing Dog is a good blog to read. This is another blog that I discovered while looking for information for one of my posts (Hearing Ear Dog). I appreciate that she writes as herself and not her dog so you really get to know what it's like.

Assistance Dog for Autism is a fun blog by the mother of a young boy with Autism. She writes about her son and his dog's adventures. I think I also enjoy this one so much because they live in Ireland so I get to learn about what it's like there.

Dog Nerd 101 is written by a woman that trains her dogs so it's a good resource to learn about training behaviors beyond the normal "sit. stay. roll over." She also is a psychologist so she goes into some of that as well.

Do you have any cool animal blogs that you follow?

Memorial Day

What do Rifleman Khan, G.I. Joe, Simon, and Upstart have in common?

You might think they are all cartoon characters from the popular 80's t.v. series but, they were all very real heroes. Heroes that happened to be animals.

These animals have all been awarded the Dickin Medal for "conspicuous gallantry or devotion to duty while serving or associated with any branch of the Armed Forces or Civil Defense Units."

Photo from wikimedia

Rifleman Khan was a one of 27 dogs to receive the medal. He was a part of the Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) and paired with Corporal James Muldoon. One night in 1944 the two of them were on a boat together on their way to an important battle when they were spotted and fired upon. Rifleman Khan was able to swim to shore, but he discovered that Muldoon was not a swimmer. The dog went back while still under fire and brought his handler to shore, dragging him far enough out of the water to be safe.

G.I. Joe was one of 32 birds to receive the medal. This pigeon saved an entire town in Italy from being bombed. Calvi Vecchia's bombing was scheduled for October 18, 1943 but G.I. Joe brought the message to the Allied Troops that the town had already been taken by some British Troops just in time. His speed saved over 1,000 lives including both the villagers and the British Troops.

Simon was the only cat to receive the medal. He started as a sickly stray cat that was stowed away on the HMS Amethyst. He quickly earned his keep on the ship by keeping the rat population in check. After an attack by the Chinese that killed Lieutenant Commander Skinner and seriously injured Simon you'd think that he'd retire. Instead Simon raised the men's morale by continuing his job of catching rats.

Upstart was one of 3 horses to receives the medal. He was a police horse on duty when a building was bombed near him. With the glass and other building parts flying around, not to mention the noise, you'd think that the horse would spook. Not Upstart. He was recognized for his ability to remain calm at that time, allowing his rider to direct traffic and maintain order.

If you're interested in reading about the other Dickin Medal recipients, wikipedia has a great list. Keep in mind that the award has been given out 63 times, so if you prefer a shorter list BuzzFeed has chosen 15 they think are the coolest. I previously wrote a post about Roselle, another dog that received the Dickin Medal, after helping her owner get out of the Twin Towers and to safety on September 11th.

Lastly, in my research for this post I found a beautiful poem called "The Soldier's Kiss". It's about a war horse dying and how the soldier responds. Here's a stanza from it:

"Only a dying horse! he swiftly kneels,

Lifts the limp head and hears the shivering sigh

Kisses his friend, while down his cheek there steals

Sweet pity’s tear, "Goodbye old man, Goodbye"."

Please go here to read the whole poem.

Today is a day to remember all of our fallen heroes both human and animal.

Punk Rock

Yesterday when I got to the zoo, a man was dropping off a baby blue jay. The man had witnessed another bird picking up the little blue jay and throwing it out of the nest.

The little bird was in shock when we peeked into the box. He wasn't moving and we weren't sure if he was going to make it.

The man tried to make the box nice by
putting some leaves in the bottom.

So we left him in there in a dark room to give him some time to calm down with the plan that I would take him home to release him if he seemed ok.

A few hours later, I was getting ready to leave so I went to grab his box, but he wasn't in it! We started searching around on the floor for him, when someone discovered him perched on a picture.

I love that it's a picture of a tiger
 crouching, ready to pounce!

As we tried to catch him, we realized that he had no trouble flying. This was a good sign. He also cawed at us. Another good sign.

Once back in the box, I was sent home with the bird, some pellets and instructions to feed him and release him.

Unfortunately, the ride home must of shook him up a bit. (I do live in New Orleans, known for bad roads with many large, unavoidable potholes) He was again acting as though he was in shock.

Punk Rock with his food.

My husband was so excited to have the blue jay in the house. He named it "Punk Rock" and whistled his "signature bird call" to Punk in hopes that the bird would recognize him once released.

We left him in the box, with the pellets soaked in water, overnight to give him a chance to eat and calm down.

This morning we awoke to Punk Rock's calls. He was feeling better and ready to get out.

Punk Rock is getting ready to take off!

My husband took Punk Rock out of the box and walked a few steps with him before he took off. We were happy to see him fly away and call, but at the same time a little sad. Having that bird here for less than 24 hours was a great teaching experience for us. We aren't parents (yet) but allowed us to see how that might work. It was also a great lesson in compassion.

Punk Rock is released into the world.

If you are interested in learning more about blue jays, Cornell Ornithology is a fabulous resource with information, pictures, videos and audio recordings.

**Note** If you see a young bird on the ground, it's best to leave it there so the family can take care of it. Most birds do not have a sense of smell so you can also put it back in the nest if you can reach it. But it's not advisable to try and raise a wild animal on your own.

Respect for Chickens Day

I don't plan on writing about every wacky animal holiday, but May 4th is International Respect for Chickens Day and I have some interesting chicken stories that I've wanted to share.

Earlier last month I ran across an obituary for a chicken. His name was Mr. Fluffy Pants, which already tells you that he's not your average rooster. He spent his entire life at Green Chimneys where he helped to educate nursing home residents and school children alike. There was a line that struck me: "It just seems fitting to tell everyone about Fluffy Pants having died- or maybe, to tell everyone that he had lived." After reading that, I'm sad that I never got to meet him but I'm glad that he was able to touch so many people while he was still alive.

Otis was a rooster that I worked with.

On a happier note, I read an article about a woman that brings a chicken and Cornish hen specifically to facilities with older adults. Her reasoning is that many older people grew up with chickens. Carlita and Alex (the birds) have proved to be a huge hit. She calls their group "Fowl Play". I saw the same type of response when I drove the Zoomobile and would bring chickens to adult facilities. People loved to share stories of their experiences (both good and bad) with hens and roosters.

A few days ago, I stumbled across a blog called Coop & Cottage and I'm so glad that I did! Chicken Therapy is an absolutely lovely post about why chickens are great for the teenage years. Debbie explains that chickens are good for both for the parents "they cannot roll their eyes" and the actual teenager "they don't ask if your bed is made". (Memo to self, when I become a parent to a teenager, get chickens!) I really enjoyed her style of writing and found what she had to say, very interesting. I ended up reading all of her posts after Chicken Therapy and when I get some more free time I'm excited to go back and read the older posts.

If after reading all of this you have a newfound respect for chickens and are interested in learning more about owning them I have one more link for you. This blog, Restoring the Roost, is by another chicken lover. She has posts about things like Chicken First Aid, and how to make a Chicken Saddle (for hens when the rooster is too rough).

So now, I hope you will "give a cluck" about chickens because they are excellent therapy animals for people of all ages.

The Gentle Barn

If you haven't heard of The Gentle Barn before, you will know all about it after watching this TV special.

I find the story incredibly inspiring. Ellie Laks found a way to accomplish her dream of working with animals as healers while they are receiving healing themselves. And she was able to do it with no business background or even a well thought out plan (at least initially). Not only has she been able to accomplish this, but she's been extremely successful. The Gentle Barn will be celebrating it's 12th birthday this summer.

I want to do something similar and I've felt that my dream is out of reach because I don't have any business or entrepreneurial experience. Ellie Laks gives me the motivation to keep on believing in my dream, and more importantly, to actually jump in and get it started.

National Pet Day!

April 11th is National Pet Day which was created by Colleen Paige, Celebrity Pet Lifestyle Expert and Animal Welfare Advocate.

I am lucky enough that I own both a dog and a cat, but when I was little that wasn't the case. I'm one of 6 children and when we would ask for a pet, our parents' clever response was "we have enough animals in the house".

If I had done some research, I might have had some reasons for why having a pet is a good idea. (Beyond wanting one more friend to play with)

Here's a slideshow called 27 Ways Pets Can Improve Your Health. Maybe you will have better luck convincing those in your life that getting a pet is actually good for you!

P.S. What do you think about the above collection of animals as pets? Are there any that you wouldn't consider a good pet?

Birds of a Feather

This summer I will be doing an 8 week rotation somewhere in New Orleans. I put the VA hospital as my first choice because I want to make sure that I have experience practicing physical therapy in many different settings. If I do get placed at the VA hospital, I plan on telling the people I work with about Serenity Park.

Serenity Park was started by a psychologist's love of veterans and parrots. Dr. Lorin Lindner was working at a VA hospital in California and she found that the veterans had a hard time opening up to her. On a whim, she took them to a parrot sanctuary that she had opened 10 years earlier. The vet's reactions to the birds were incredible.“The next thing I knew, they were down on the ground cuddling the birds and talking baby talk to them,” Dr, Lindner related in an interview.

Using her knowledge of birds and psychology, she convinced the VA hospital to open a parrot sanctuary on the property. Her plan included using the birds in animal assisted therapy for the veterans' psychological needs and the care of the birds as a reintroduction to the skills necessary for reentering the workforce.

The relationship has "taken flight". As a result of their programming, several of the veterans move on to working with animals in some capacity from dog grooming, to veterinary clinics. "One veteran now works for Los Angeles Animal Services and another opened his own animal-based construction company that builds boarding facilities and aviaries", Dr. Lindner reports. The birds have also benefited; having a place with ample space, food choices, and socialization increases the birds' quality of life. Often people will get a parrot without doing research and usually the bird pays for this mistake. Serenity Park is a sanctuary for those birds when their owners no longer want them or can take care of them.

Boomer, a Catalina Macaw that lives at the Audubon Zoo. *
Picture taken by Amy Martin

Most parrots are monogamous and therefore take time to bond with a person. Before reading about Serenity Park, I didn't think that parrots could be therapy animals for that reason. Now I see that working with a parrot is a great way to teach about relationship building with a focus on patience. Building relationships takes time, and so does healing. At the end of both, the rewards are great.



*Boomer was relinquished by her previous owners, as were all of the parrots in the education collection at the zoo.  A fellow blogger, and former keeper, explains the issues with this process in her post.

You're Never Fully Dress Without a Smile

Sometimes the most healing thing is seeing a smile on a friendly face.

If that didn't do it for you, here's a whole page of smiling animals.

My favorites are the owl, elephant seal, and of course the sheep.

Hopefully this will help when you're having a bad day!