Month: March 2011

Legendary White Sox ace Mark Buehrle, in town for spring training, brings a message for visiting baseball fans and Arizona citizens: adopt a shelter pet. The Buehrles are extremely active in companion-animal welfare issues. Together they founded Sox for Strays.

Beverly Hills, CA (PRWEB) March 14, 2011

Release Link: http://www.prweb.com/releases/2011/3/prweb5156604.htm

Legendary White Sox ace Mark Buehrle, in town for spring training, brings a message for visiting baseball fans and Arizona citizens: adopt a shelter pet. Buehrle and his wife Jamie have partnered with Adopt-a-Pet.com, North America’s largest non-profit pet adoption web service, and starring in a public service billboard campaign bearing the message “When it comes to saving pets, we’re all on the same team”.

Says Mark Buehrle, “Our dogs are a huge part of our family, and you can find any kind of dog you want at a shelter on Adopt-a-Pet.com. We adopted a purebred Viszla, and it’s obvious how grateful he is. He just knows that we saved him.”

“Spring training is the perfect time to spread the word about pet adoption. We hope that everyone, no matter what team they root for, can get behind the message of getting pets out of shelters and into loving homes,” adds Jamie Buehrle.

“We know there are people visiting Phoenix from all over the country to see their favorite teams in spring training,” says Adopt-a-Pet.com executive director Abbie Moore, “We want those people to go home and adopt a pet from their local shelter or rescue group, and then spread the word to their families and friends, too. The truth is that, no matter where you live, there are pets in your area who need a home right now.”

The Buehrles are extremely active in companion-animal welfare issues. Together they founded Sox for Strays, a monthly pre-game adoption event that brings pets from Chicago-area shelters and rescue organizations to U.S. Cellular Field. They are also supporters of Hope Animal Rescues, an Illinois-based rescue group, where a building they donated is named in their honor.

Anyone interested in seeing available pets in their local shelters can go to Adopt-a-Pet.com and see photos and information about pets in shelters.

This post is brought to Adopt-a-Pet.com by Dr. Rolan Tripp. Dr. Tripp received his doctorate from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and also holds a bachelor’s degree in music and a minor in philosophy. A regular guest on the Animal Planet Network, Dr. Tripp appears on both “Petsburgh, USA” and “Good Dog U.” Cat clawing of objects is a normal behavior that serves a variety of feline needs. The term “sharpening claws” is misleading because the objective is to remove an old claw sheath the way a snake sheds its outgrown skin. The back paw sheaths are removed by chewing. Another natural reason for cats to scratch is to leave a visual and olfactory territorial marker. In the wild, claw-roughened bark is visible from a distance. A feline intruder might then explore the visible marks, and while sniffing, discover the pheromone scent left from the sweat glands in the pads.

The process of clawing is also used to condition and stretch leg and back muscles. For housebound cats experiencing boredom or exercise frustration, clawing is an activity that works off excess energy. There is probably an individual variation in genetic tendency to claw objects because some cats just seem to enjoy the activity regardless of physiological function.

Diagnosis, Prognosis, and Treatment Overview

The first step in controlling destructive feline clawing is to realize that physical punishment such as spanking, shaking, and scolding is unlikely to correct the problem, but very likely to damage the cat’s bond with the owner. Further, the cat simply learns to scratch out of sight.

The preferred alternative is a detailed behavioral evaluation to diagnose the underlying motivation. A behavioral diary should document the actual frequency, duration, intensity, triggers, and targets. This diary can be used both for diagnosis and to monitor progress later. The prognosis is related to the number of motivations, total duration, frequency, intensity, environment, and genetic predisposition.

A behavior treatment plan should address each component motivation. Finally, it is important to understand that the goal is not to stop clawing altogether, but to redirect it to an acceptable substrate. For simplicity, the motivations below will be divided into claw maintenance, stress response, and genetic predisposition.

Claw Maintenance

The first step should be to provide for the cat’s physiological needs. One option is to trim the cat’s nails, then apply a plastic claw cap. An alternative is temporary confinement and claw substrate preference testing. This has the added advantage of immediately limiting the options for destruction.

If available, confine with a familiar cat known to be an appropriate clawer to facilitate observational learning, and decrease emotional isolation. The duration of the confinement is limited to that necessary to identify the problem cat’s claw target preferences. Many pet stores will give refunds for unused products, so the goal is to provide many claw target options, and return for credit the options not used. The most common substrates are carpet, rope, bark, cardboard, or fireplace log. Of the types of carpet, most cats prefer longitudinal instead of lateral weave orientation to facilitate claw sheath removal.

The scratching post height should be sufficient for the cat to stretch, so at least one tall “cat tree” is indicated during testing. Include the currently owned most-used scratching post since cats like to return to a familiar object. Owners often ironically discard an unsightly heavily used scratching post which is the most attractive to the cat. Include both flat on the floor, as well as vertical options such as floor posts or hanging from a door handle. The cat can be gently placed on the post so it is necessary for the cat to use its claws for support, and this introduces the substrate for future use.

Once the preferred object and substrate is determined, the next goal is to determine house locations, then encourage use of these acceptable claw targets. Good locations include near where the cat commonly rests (close for stretching), eats, eliminates, and near any exit door. The most important location is immediately adjacent to a previously used inappropriate target. If used, the new post can be moved 3-6 inches per day. If attractive to the cat, a toy can be placed at the top of the post and catnip can be rubbed into the surface. Verbal praise is indicated, as well as food treats after use if observed by the owner.

The final step is to make the inappropriate targets unattractive. If observed in the act, an air-horn or water spray can be effective if the cat does not associate it with the owner. Anonymity can be facilitated by remote controlled booby traps such as power control of an alarm clock, hair dryer, or tape recording. Other options include a motion detector, double-sided tape, and upside down mouse trap or carpet runner.

Stress Related Clawing

If the cat frequently exhibits anxious body postures, and if the destructive clawing intensity and frequency is beyond that required for normal claw maintenance then a diagnosis of “Stress Related Clawing” may be considered.

One possibility is social stress such as seeing a cat outdoors, a new house cat, or an existing cat that exhibits antagonistic behaviors. There may be intercat social issues about status, indoor territory, or new objects. A second possibility is environmental stress such as construction, redecoration, and human family conflicts or schedule changes. Many young healthy indoor cats probably experience exercise frustration and/or boredom stress. Rhythmic activity is a known stress reliever.

Solutions for these stress influencers are blocking outdoor views, environmental enrichment, increased play, or controlled outdoor excursions. Many types of feline stress are helped by a feline pheromone diffuser. Intercat social stress is more complex requiring assistance from an animal behavior consultant and possible pharmacologic intervention.

Genetic Predisposition

In the author’s opinion, there are three indications of genetic predisposition: 1) if the behavior is observed in close relatives; 2) if observed from early in life; or 3) if all other motivations have been excluded. A genetic predisposition worsens the prognosis. The treatment strategy becomes: focus on other motivations that can be influenced, increase the number of acceptable options, and provide high rewards for appropriate clawing.

Even those governments who outlaw surgical declawing typically include a clause, “except when necessary for a therapeutic purpose.” As a final alternative to euthanasia, some cats adapt to indoor confinement in a 3x4x4 foot “Kitty Kondo” pen as long as they have sufficient supervised play, exercise, and affection time outside the pen from the people in the house – and a place to claw.

About the Author

Dr. Tripp received his doctorate from UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine and also holds a bachelor’s degree in music and a minor in philosophy. A regular guest on the Animal Planet Network, Dr. Tripp appears on both “Petsburgh, USA” and “Good Dog U.” He is a Veterinary Behavior Consultant for Antech Laboratory’s “Dr. Consult Line” and an Affiliate Professor of Applied Animal Behavior at both Colorado State University College of Veterinary Medicine and University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine. Dr. Tripp is the founder of the national behavior consulting practice, www.AnimalBehavior.Net. He is now the Chief Veterinary Pet Behaviorist of The Hannah Society (www.hannahsociety.com) which helps match people and pets, then keeps them together. Contact info: Rolan.Tripp@HannahSociety.com.

References
Beaver, Bonnie. (2003) Feline Behavior: A Guide for Veterinarians 2nd Ed., Saunders.
Horwitz D, Mills D, and Heath S. (2002) Manual of Canine and Feline Behavioural Medicine, BSAVA. Horwitz D, Neilson J. (2007) Blackwell’s Five-Minute Veterinary Consult; Canine & Feline Behavior, Blackwell. Houpt, Katherine. (2005) Domestic Animal Behavior, Blackwell.
Landsberg G, Hunthausen W, and Ackerman L, (1997) Handbook of behavior Problems of the Dog and Cat, 2nd Ed., Saunders.

Adopt-a-Pet.com’s spokesperson Dr. Pia Salk will be on the Martha Stewart TV show LIVE this coming Monday March 14th! Tune in to see some adorable dogs for adoption! Pia will be talking about how to choose the right dog for your family, and the most common reasons that dogs are relinquished to shelters. Want to watch? Use The Martha Stewart Show local listings finder here: http://www.marthastewart.com/television-listings. You can also check out Pia’s blog article to see what Pia has about the upcoming show on the MarthaStewart.com Daily Wag blog here: http://dailywag.marthastewart.com/2011/03/meow-musings-and-next-mondays-show.html

This post comes from Barbara Heidenreich, whose experience includes consulting on animal training in zoos and other animal related facilities. Barbara has also written several books on training parrots and has an excellent website (www.goodbirdinc.com) with content on how to live a healthy life with your pet parrot. You can read many FAQ on tips for living with your parrot here, this post will cover how to train your parrot to step up.

It has been reiterated for years in the companion parrot literature…your parrot must obey the step up command! Obey and command. For me these words carry strong implications. I visualize a parrot with no desire to step up onto the hand being forced to comply. This usually involves maneuvers such as a hand pushing into a bird’s chest, quickly scooping a bird onto the hand, or peeling toes off of a perch. For a positive reinforcement trainer such as myself this is very unpleasant to picture. Why one might ask? Certainly the mentioned strategies can create the desired resulting behavior of a bird on the hand. However the process of training through force involves strategies that rely on aversive experiences. Pushing a hand into a bird’s chest, scooping or peeling toes are uncomfortable experiences for a parrot, no matter how minimal the aversive is.

Fallout from Force
There can be serious repercussions with lasting effects from using aversives to gain cooperation. One of the most common results is a parrot that learns to bite in response to the presence of a hand. The important word in that sentence is “learns”. Parrots are not hatched with an inherent aggressive response to hands. This behavior is learned through repeated exposure to unpleasant interactions involving hands. Often as a last resort, a parrot bites in an effort to deter the persistent pushy hand. Should the bite produce the desired results; the bird can learn in that one encounter that biting works! And it will be likely to use it next time a hand invades its space.

This is not to say one should ignore a bite to dissuade the aggressive behavior. A more trust building approach is to heed the parrot’s body language prior to biting. Typically a parrot will present other body language that indicates discomfort well before a bite is landed. By carefully observing body language and making adjustments so that the bird appears as comfortable as possible, a sensitive avian caregiver is more likely to gain cooperation without aggressive behavior.

The same can be said for fear responses. Many likely have met a parrot who will step onto an arm, or shoulder, but will do everything in its power to avoid a hand. Again it would be an odd adaptation for a parrot to come into this world with an innate fear of hands. More realistic is the explanation that the bird’s experience with hands taught it to display fear responses.

Fallout that has occurred from forcing parrots to step up

• How many birds now bite due to forced step up behavior?
• How many birds are given up due to biting problems?
• How many birds are afraid of hands and flee to the back of their cages?
• How many birds are relegated to cages with little attention or enrichment because they learned to bite or are afraid?
• How many birds suffer fates worse than this because they responded to force with understandable aggressive behavior and/or fear responses?

Positive Reinforcement Offers Hopes
Unfortunately it can be challenging to retrain a parrot to step up onto a hand for positive reinforcement after it has learned aggressive behavior (and/or fear responses) towards hands. But the good news is it can be done. This is particularly important to note as so many birds are often given up, left with little or no attention, or suffer fates worse than that due to being labeled a biter or no fun, through no fault of their own. It is always a sad moment for me to encounter a parrot that has learned aggressive behavior. It is sad mainly because it never had to be if the people in its life had been given the opportunity to learn about positive reinforcement.

Having worked in free flighted educational bird programs for years it was quite a shock when I first discovered the thousands of parrots that had fear responses or showed aggressive behavior towards hands in the companion parrot community. This observation lead me to conclude that the difference is information. The community training flighted parrots for shows has been raised on a positive reinforcement approach to training. Flighted parrots can easily choose to leave should a trainer resort to negative reinforcement to force a bird to step up onto the hand. Therefore negative reinforcement and its drawbacks are usually not a part of the training strategy.

The companion parrot community, on the other hand, has traditionally been fed advice that heavily promotes the use of negative reinforcement. This in turn has lead to a plethora of troubled birds. This means an important opportunity lays waiting for companion parrot caregivers. With positive reinforcement training finally making its way to many avian caregivers, parrots and their owners now have hope. No longer do parrots have to obey, instead they can learn stepping up results in desired consequences. They can learn to look forward to stepping up!

Positive Reinforcement Vs Negative Reinforcement
Change can be difficult. And those accustomed to using negative reinforcement to create behavior often present solid evidence as to why there is no need to consider other strategies. These arguments include the statement that negative reinforcement works! This is true. Negative reinforcement does work. However effectiveness is not always the measure one needs to consider as a conscientious caregiver. The reason is that the process of learning through negative reinforcement is not a pleasant one. Negative reinforcement is also sometimes called escape or harassment training. The animal complies to avoid the aversive experience. Not exactly a trust building process. In addition negative reinforcement training strategies create a bare minimum required response. Animals only do what is necessary to avoid the aversive experience.

There is also the misconception that negative reinforcement will create faster more reliable responses. While results can be immediate, it should be noted that quick, efficient, reliable, repeatable responses can also be attained with positive reinforcement.

Some argue that in an emergency the bird must step up quickly. In a true emergency, such as the house is on fire, it is understood that one may do whatever is required to ensure his or her parrot is safe. However sometimes the lines get fuzzy on what constitutes an emergency. Being late for work is not an emergency enough for this trainer to abandon her positive reinforcement training strategies. In the long run I will get more reliable performance of the behavior if I take the time to commit to using positive reinforcement even when it is slightly inconvenient to me. In my experience there is no real justification for the use of negative reinforcement for the behavior of step up in most cases.

Tips on Training Step Up with Positive Reinforcement
A key component of training with positive reinforcement is giving the bird choice. Rather than forcing oneself on the parrot, the goal is to teach the parrot choosing to come to the caregiver results in desired consequences. These consequences can be food treats, head scratches, toys, attention, etc. Identify what the bird likes and use this to reinforce approximations towards the desired goal behavior of stepping up onto the hand.

An easy way to teach a parrot to move in a desired direction is to train the bird to orient its beak towards a target. The target can be any chosen object. The target can then be gradually positioned closer and closer to the hand identified for the step up behavior. The identified hand should remain stationary and in a position that facilitates an easy step onto the hand for the bird. The goal is not to move the hand towards the bird, but for the bird to voluntarily move to the hand by following the target.

A bird that has had an unpleasant history with hands may show signs of apprehension or aggressive behavior as it ventures closer to the hand. Reinforce generously the frightened bird that dares to move in closer. If the parrot shows aggressive behavior, gently remove the hand as well as any positive reinforcers being made available to the bird for just a few seconds. This not only demonstrates to the bird that its body language was understood and acknowledged, but it also removes the opportunity to gain positive reinforcers. When this strategy is paired with reinforcement of the desired behavior, the bird can quickly learn to increase calm behavior and decrease aggressive behavior without the use of training strategies that rely on aversives.

Eventually the parrot can learn to voluntarily step up onto the hand to earn positive reinforcers. While the bird is learning to step up, the targeting behavior can be used to help direct the parrot where to go if needed for basic husbandry duties. This helps avoid caregivers resorting back to negative reinforcement training strategies to move birds during the re-training process.

Conclusion
A positive reinforcement approach embraces giving animals choices to participate. Caregivers can try to make it easy for parrots to choose to present the desired behavior, such as step up, followed by ample rewards. The result is a companion parrot that eagerly anticipates interacting with its caregivers. One of the joys of sharing ones life with a companion parrot is the relationship that can be forged between the caregiver and the bird. Positive reinforcement fosters trust and that incredibly rewarding relationship. If there is one thing you change in your handling strategy, make it this. Move over step up command….. here comes the step up request.

Jennifer’s cat extends the paw of compassion

Welcome to the first guest post from our new partner, the amazing Way of Cats blog. If you think you knew a lot about cats, wait till you check out the incredible wealth of knowledge blog creator Pamela Merritt (aka WereBear) shares with cat lovers of the world! One example is in her article on what she calls the Paw of Compassion. Have you ever had a cat connect to you in this way? It is a magical feeling when an empathetic cat or kitten reaches out and lets you know they are there, and in tune with you! The Way of Cats blog says, “When we have a good cat relationship, our cats will extend the Paw of Compassion. Sometimes this is literal, as when they lay their paw on our arm or leg. Sometimes it’s a head rubbed across our cheek or forehead, sometimes it’s curling up near us. But our cats do seem moved to comfort us when they know we are down. How do they know?

Cats have many skills which help them sense our moods.

Matching brain structures. A cat’s limbic system is considered very similar to our own human ones. This is the part of the brain which connects emotion with our thought processes.

This is why science is working on an electronic simulation of a cat’s brain. While small, it is powerful, and a good model to understand human brains.

A cat can recognize a face faster and more efficiently than a supercomputer. That’s one reason a feline brain is the model for a biologically-inspired computer project. Cat brain: A step toward the electronic equivalent

Compatible emotional range. Cats and humans have neurological, hormonal, and genetic makeups which are far more alike than they are different. There are many explanations to delineate the gradations between us, as in this thoughtful essay, but it is necessarily a difference of degree, not of kind.

Grief has also been observed in many wild species following the death of a mate, parent, offspring or pack-mate. Feline grief at the death of a long-term human or feline companion can include severe mental disturbance. Grief varies according to the individuals and some cats show little grief while others can be deeply traumatized. This variability leads some scientists to insist that observation of grief in cats is anthropomorphism on the part of the owner. Such scientists forget, or ignore, that fact that humans are equally variable in how they express grief.

I continue to think all mammals who live in a social structure tend to react in similar, and mutually understandable, ways.

Shared social environment. Our cats are used to, at the very least, evaluating our behavior and seeing how it impacts their needs. There might be an element of selfishness in our cat’s strong interest in our moods; but no more than it would be for our own children, partners, or friends who rely on our mutual assistance for physical or emotional needs.

Cats have many uses, as I write about in But Cats Don’t Do Anything!

Cats require strong interaction with our day to day routine to be happiest. Nicely enough, this results in our being happy too, since we have a little someone or someones who notice our moods and try to be of service. They can clown or cuddle, depending on their personality and our needs.

Anyone with a close cat relationship has a story about how their cats gather around when they are sick or sad. Under such circumstances, it’s undeniable that our cats are concerned. We can argue if this is because they are worried about us, or worried about how this might impact tonight’s dinner time.

We can, after all, be cynical and ask the same thing of our human companions.”

There’s more ways to get our cat to be affectionate in The Way of Cats than the article you are reading now. See all of the Way of Cat’s CAT AFFECTION posts.

Adopt-a-Pet.com’s partnership PEOPLEPets.com is raising awareness of animals adoption! Each month, PEOPLEPets.com highlights a pet from AdoptaPet.com who is looking for a home. This month, it’s Ruthie, loving pit bull pup!  Two-year-old Ruthie was found as a stray roaming the streets by staffers at Austin Dog Rescue. She had nerve damage in her back — possibly from a car accident — but surprisingly, was otherwise happy. “She can still walk, run and play,” Joyce Martin, executive director of Austin Dog Rescue, tells PEOPLEPets.com. “She adores her daily walks, is perfect on leash and extremely well behaved.”

Because of her nerve damage, Ruthie does have some problems controlling her bladder and requires doggie diapers. But she “promises it’s not that big of a deal and will love you even more for it,” Martin says. The 45-lb. pooch has “nice greeting manners,” loves dogs, kids and cats, and is hoping to have four-legged friends in her new home. “She is a very gentle, low energy girl,” Martin says. Ruthie is vaccinated, spayed and microchipped.

Austin Dog Rescue began in Texas in 2007. The all-volunteer operation relies on foster families to care for homeless dogs rescued from smaller shelters throughout the central Texas area. The organization depends heavily on donations to continue its rescue operations, so visit its website to learn how you can help.

Read more about Ruthie and how to adopt her here.

Animal lovers know that that there are many duties to tend to when it comes to caring for our pets. Yet thanks to the constant companionship and unconditional love that pets provide us, it’s no wonder that we pet owners are happy to do what it takes to care for our faithful friends. Petsitting.com can really help make that job easier.

One of the main purposes of Petsitting.com is to help pet owners find reliable local pet service providers. They work exclusively with insured and bonded companies so that you can rest easy knowing your pet service provider is covered in all areas. The process is pretty simple: you just complete a short form on Petsitting.com, and they contact you 24-48 hours later with information for a reputable, professional pet care provider in your area. The site covers the United States and Canada and did we mention it’s free?!

Petsitting.com matches pet owners with an all types of pet service providers: pet sitting, dog walking, pet boarding, doggie daycare, pet grooming, pet waste removal and dog training. You’re never required to engage in any of the pet service providers, but you’ll know where to turn when you are ready. Best of all Petsitting.com is a dedicated supporter of pet adoption. They understand that animals are loving beings who deserve to be protected and cared for, and that pet adoption saves lives. Pet adoption not only changes the life of an animal, it will also change your life in indescribable ways too! And now you know about Petsitting.com – they can help you find the pet-related services you need so that you can provide the best care for your rescued furry family member.

The aiAnimals Puppy Puzzler is an enjoyable puzzle game app for the iPhone that helps promote pet adoption! The puzzle lets you challenge the computer in a fun matching game with three different levels of difficulty – easy, medium, and hard. When you win points you can unlock cute pictures of puppies! Best of all, 50% of aiAnimals Puppy Puzzler revenue is generously being donated to Adopt-a-Pet.com to help homeless pets! Download this fun app today – but watch out, the game is so fun it can be addictive! (Just ask our executive director, Abbie Moore, who can’t put the game down!)