I just read an article (nothing overly scientific) on Yahoo News entitled “Do Animals Smile?”– Now, anyone who knows me, knows that I absolutely believe that animals have emotions and feelings and yes, they smile.
Tell me that's not a smile...
I didn’t really need an empirical study to feel this, but it’s a little reaffirming to see it somewhere that’s not myself:
According to Professor Nicholas Dodman, head of animal behavior at the Cummings School of Veterinary Medicine at Tufts School of Medicine and a regular on Animal Planet’sDogs 101 and Cats 101, until recently, scientists have generally underestimated the emotional range of animals.
No really?
I’ve been a pet owner for 23 years– I have believed for all 23 of those years, that every animal I’ve had in my life has had a personality, a smile and emotional range.
… today it is widely understood by scientists that mammals do experience primary emotions such as fear, sadness, anger, and happiness and even some secondary emotions like jealously and embarrassment—and they communicate them. Dodman says that dogs even have a sense of humor and laugh with a kind of huffing sound.
I have several stories that can attest to this– most recently with Luka:
Angelic... Not
The first time I really saw a dog be embarrassed, was a few months ago– Luka likes to sit on Mom’s ottoman (as seen above). He really shouldn’t be up there, he knows he really shouldn’t be up there and Mom tells him he really shouldn’t be up there, but it kind of just happens anyway. On this particular day, Luka was messing around on the ottoman, playing with a toy and not paying attention to what he was doing. I tried warning him that he was particularly close to falling off from where he was, but since he’s a dog and he wasn’t even a year old yet… He didn’t listen. Annnnd as I and everyone else in the room suspected, he fell off. And not very flatteringly.
Needless to say, he was shocked and we all started laughing. He became intensely embarrassed, he howled at us as we giggled over his gracelessness and kidney punched my Dad as he stood by and had a good laugh over his fall from his pedestal. I’ve never seen a dog have such a reaction to people laughing at them before, but he genuinely seemed annoyed that we even dared.
The second was also a Luka experience and just happened this Monday. My Dad had intended to take both Luka and Mystic for a walk. Something Luka desperately loves and is even willing to leave toys for. We’ve been watching a lot of Cesar Millan recently and Cesar says when you’re preparing for a walk, your dog should be calm submissive. Well. Luka was neither calm, nor was he submissive. Mom warned him and gave him commands to calm down and he just wouldn’t. So she sent Dad off with Mystic in tow and Luka– I kid you not– pouted. Like this:
For over an hour.
This just goes to prove that Luka is a perfect example of how animals, dogs in particular, really do have a wider emotional range than some people give them credit for. I knew that the minute I met any of my pets they did and I can see it every day, when Faith smiles when I wake her from a bad dream, or Luka laughs when he gets something he steals from someone or Mystic leans into one of us with all the love someone who realizes she has a family now can have. I was validated even before the Yahoo article, as pointless or invalid as it might seem without pages of research to back it up.
I did my research in real life, that’s all that matters.
I just thought I’d share that, since I’ve been doing such a fabulous job updating.
A conversation I had on Facebook made me realize I’ve neglected updating in about a million years. Whiiiich of course I remembered, AFTER I had already given them a link to the site. That’s never embarrassing. We haven’t had any recent adventures here at Chez Lotta Pets, but then again, Mom of Lotta Pets hasn’t had a day off in a while. Well. That’s not true, I went to Disney for a week, but despite it being a vacation, still didn’t get to adventure with the pets. Which may have been a good thing, because as much as I adore all of them. I have days I need to not think about medication, chopping cucumbers or if there’s enough chewsticks in the house to keep Uno satisfied.
Summer camp started for my work two weeks ago, so I’ve been a little busy with that, getting into my schedule and trying to not to burn to a crisp every time we go to the pool, which is twice a week and several times for field trips over the next few weeks. Although it doesn’t require me to get up at 5am every morning now, I do have 8 hour days at the park, pool and whatever adventures the kids have planned for them, and I must admit it’s definitely exhausted me and put a bit of a damper on me doing anything of the things I normally do. I get off work in the afternoon tomorrow and I have Sunday off, so I’m hoping to be slightly more productive. Creatively, housework-idly and of course pet care-idly.
Too Hotz for Husky Puppies! Need Freezer!
I’ve also been battling a sinus infection since Tuesday, it was ugly for a day, now I’m just trying to stop hacking near anyone I like.
Ah needz a Kleenex
It’s been warm around here, to the point of being yucky. and so has the room with all the animals. I have two fans going and most of the lights are off, but I don’t know if it’s helping. The Pigs have been flattened out like little piggy rugs to keep from sweltering, both Evie and Uno seem to have gone into summer hibernation and my tanks have warmed up enough I was greeted to an algae bloom in Winston’s tank. Turned off the heaters until I feel like they aren’t going to boil and I don’t have oddly colored algae crawling all over the glass.
Is Gud!
I think the only ones that have been staying reasonably cool are the rabbits. The weathermen have been crying rain for the entire week and although it’s rained, sort of, it hasn’t been the thunderstorm special I was expecting. Plus with the heat, I was afraid they’d get overheated and I wouldn’t be home to prevent them from getting sick, so they’ve had to stay in their indoor hutch. I think it’s time to just get the outdoor hutch and figure out how to stabilize it from The Tank AKA Mystic doesn’t knock it over in her haste to see them. I want them to enjoy the outdoors without risking them getting hurt or overheated. Any of the hutches I’ve looked at have nesting boxes that a few frozen bottles of water won’t cool down.
Regardless of all this chatter, I should get to sleep. Still have to get up for work even if I have the afternoon off. Maybe I’ll end up being more consistent.
…..
Who am I kidding?
Until then,
Jaina
P.S. I’m not sure when I’ll get the actual button, but I recently decided to participate in a little blog program in conjunction with a company called Ears of Experience. It’s a Travel Agency that I assume works fairly independently sending people to Disney, which, as you know, is one of the greatest places in the world in my opinion. If you decide to go on a trip, you can get their information from me, just let them know I referred you and it looks like we both benefit. The TA I set this up with is an independent contractor and her little business is called Wonders Dreams and Wishes. I have her card if you need it, just let me know!
Actually, it’s been here for about a week, but I haven’t had the time or the energy really to work on it. However, after the millionth time of tripping over the box and seeing their sad little faces I finally just gritted my teeth and told myself to do it.
*cough* while dragging my poor Dad downstairs to help me *cough*
I could have done it, I swear! But power tools and I don’t necessarily mix (should have seen me two weeks ago, sanding my fish tank stand!) and Dad knows that and he knows that I obsess over my animals. So he was the dutiful father and helped me get it all screwed together and commiserated with me when a few pieces didn’t look like they even belonged in the box. And of course the inevitable “shipping damage”, as in a whole hinge breaking off in the box. Sweet.
Either way, the majority of it is complete:
Yay!
Tomorrow, after work I’ll probably wander into the abyss that is Menards so I can get some new hinges and get the roof attached and hopefully get Baxter and Watson moved into their new place. Just in time for spring and needing to buy them the OUTDOOR hutch I want for them.
Yay!
I wish they’d consider getting a paper route.
I hope to have better pictures soon, also hopefully of the two checking their new digs out. I will say this, it’s good this isn’t a smell-o-blog, because this hutch is stinky. I don’t know if it’s whatever they treat the wood with to keep it from rotting or being bug-eaten or if it’s supposed to emulate pine. Whatever it is, IZ NOT PRITTEE!!
I got busy, life kept going, I didn’t update, so shoot me.
I’m here now.
So here we go:
Watson:
Is doing WONDERFULLY! Less than a week after the surgery, the vet said she would be healed enough for me to start letting she and Baxter hang out. I was a little surprised by that, but after looking at the surgery site, her fur was already growing back in and it was little more than a scab. That was exciting news and to be perfectly honest, I feel like she’s mellowed out quite a lot. I still wouldn’t stick my hand in her cage and poke her, but she doesn’t freak out as easily and she is actually quite snuggly now.
Baxter & Watson Meeting:
I didn’t actually get any shots of them getting together, since I was too busy chaperoning, but I did get some cute pictures of Baxter anyway.
Yes... I'm on the couch.
Still on the couch...
And now I bathe.
As for their date– It went pretty well. Baxter’s still a little forward with Watson, but at least now we can be sure there will be no baby-making. I think they like each other a lot, so I can only hope to get the money together quickly so they can live together. I think it will go well.
Valentine’s Day:
Let me make it clear– I hate Valentine’s Day. I think it’s overrated, over-advertised and I’ve had relationships that didn’t go as I had hoped start on it, so I’m always happy to see it gone. The only enjoyable part for me, is half-priced candy afterwords. However, my Mom seems to have caught the ‘crafty-plague’ and the last few holidays, we’ve done more in the way of crafty or baking to acknowledge them. Apparently this included Valentine’s Day. So she bought all these supplies and things and I showed up. The weekend before, we sat down and made about a billion (felt like a billion) little chocolate cherries and brownies and then glitterfied some plastic heart containers for those really nasty conversation hearts– What? They taste like chalk!– For her coworkers and the little ones I work with. The house is still covered in glitter from that incident. Although the glitter didn’t stick as well as we had hoped, they turned out pretty well.
I think everything turned out all right– Her coworkers enjoyed them and so did the kids– and I guess a few couples need to go into therapy because of the fights that ensued after tasting the chocolates.
Dad got to be involved, even though he hadn’t intended to, when we discovered one of our canister’s lids had inconveniently become stuck and wouldn’t come loose– especially when it was needed at the time:
We'll try anything around here...
Now it was a quest...
Ta da! THAT took ten minutes longer than it should have.
Ah, the spoils of battle.
It was a valiant victory. Against powdered sugar.
Of course, while we were working hard, there were some people that were hardly working.
Sorry about the quality, at the beginning. I was using my new camera and I still have a ways to go at being proficient, so it took me a while to get it into focus. :0/
He was howling for a variety of reasons (not just us winding him up) but the fact that not only had he been banished from the kitchen- but that his plan of rolling ALL of his new tennis balls under the gate and into the kitchen had failed in making him unbanished. So not only was he still banished, he had also lost of all his tennis balls. Which, let’s be fair, is a travesty.
When he finally DID become unbanished:
He found a really fun game to play! All by himself! He was so proud. He does this, will just start doing something completely odd and out of the blue and act like he’s done it forever.
I don’t get him sometimes, I’m just glad he’s happy.
Well, I think that’s all I have in me for an update. Not a whole lot has happened on the home front and I’m days away from finishing my undergraduate, so I don’t think I’ll be able to focus on anything that’s not school related until Wednesday afternoon. That makes me overjoyed– not.
The last few months, I’ve been pondering bonding Baxter and Watson, seeing as they both seemed to like one another, I figured it would be a good experience for them and for me. And then you might recall this post: One of these things is not like the other…
Where I discovered that Watson may not be the droid I’m looking– er, male I thought he was. Since this put a bit of a damper on my plans, obvvvvviously, I’ve been unsure what I want to do, so it’s been put on the back burner until now. They shouldn’t have to live alone and I don’t want to keep saying I’ll do it, only to not– So, I made an appointment.
I originally made the appointment for Baxter, thinking it would be easier and less stressful for him to be neutered than Watson spayed. Well, I took them to the vet, to have him take a look and confirm that everyone is actually who they say they are. Despite the vet having an issue understanding what it is that I wanted, he did confirm that Watson is female (surprise!) and Baxter male. He also recommended that Watson be the one given the surgery because it would not only prevent pregnancy, but also be a preventative measure against uterine cancer.
iz gud
I’m all for prevention, but that doesn’t make it any less nervewracking. After Phoebe’s passing over a year ago that was so sudden, as well as the loss of Paisley, it just would be too much to go through it again with Watson. She’s already a skittish bunny, I just don’t want her to be afraid and I don’t want her to have any complications.
Too much drama.
All I know is that I will be a nervous wreck tomorrow, until someone calls me to tell me she’s ok and ready to come home. Of course I have a stupidly busy schedule tomorrow, so I’m having to ask my family to take care of her until I can do it myself. ARGH!
I guess, until I find out more, keep your paws crossed that there won’t be any complications and she’s on her way to being healed soon so she can live in a nice hutch.
Well, we had another Christmas come and go today. It was also Luka’s very fist Christmas extravaganza and let me tell you– He handled it like he knew what it was all along.
We started the celebration yesterday, by making Snickerdoodles and Banana Bread, both of which turned out quite nicely. Surprisingly enough, Luka actually acted like a little gentleman and didn’t need to be kicked out but once– simply because he has a tendency to lay down right behind you. Good for knowing where he is, bad for not tripping on your face.
Can you... Just. Dwop whatever dat is pwease?
He was very interested in what we were doing and was also pleased with the scents that were being emitted by our oven.
All of these were our presents, but there were probably twice as many dog presents earlier.
Yeah, Faith is going in for the kill...
Faith waits for no one apparently and went immediately for the smelliest present she could find.
And then try to open them before anyone else can have some.
But Luka learned quickly...
And learned effectively...
And voila-- Happy Puppy...
Verrrrry Happy.
Faith-- Meet Faith...
You can’t really tell in the photo, but the toy does look like Faith, in a tug toy kind of way.
HALP! SHE HAZ DE PWESENTS!
So he got a monkey.
Sharing???
Nahhhh.
It was a good Christmas– The puppies were happy, the other assorted animals were happy and all of the presents I gave seemed to go over well. I love Christmas and I’m always sad to see it go– but, there’s always next year to look forward to and more shopping to stress over :0) I can listen to Christmas music for little while longer and then it’s off to whatever holiday comes next… Easter? President’s Day? Who knows.
Anyway, all of us here at the Doggy Bloggy wish you the best of the rest of this beautiful holiday and the happiest of New Years (I actually have plans! Wha-whut-whut?!). Also, whatever weather occurs, we hope it isn’t overwhelming, as winter weather often is!
Merry Christmas one and all. Faith, the gang and I hope everyone has a pleasant and spirited holiday and that 2011 starts out wonderfully.
I’ll post photos later about our own celebration and what and alllll the toys the fuzzy faces got. Because, frankly– They got way more than the rest of us.
So– Remember how I adopted two rabbits, back in May? From PetCo– The supposed experts? And remember how they were both boys? Baxter staying Baxter (a boy), Duke becoming Watson (also a boy). And how Duke, now Watson, had come in with his sister, but didn’t get a home right away because no one wants almost full-grown rabbits and especially not full-grown rabbits that are boys?
Remember the part where they were both BOYS?!
Well, since living under that assumption for the past several months– I thought it would be nice to see if Baxter and Watson could live with one another. They’ve lived side by side with one another, simply divided by thick chicken wire and thus far it has been successful. Male rabbits can be just as aggressive as anything else can, and I’ve had experience with female bunnies not even giving each other the chance to say hi before trying to maul each other (I have the scar to prove it). But I’ve seen how they try to talk to one another and it hasn’t been malicious.
I’ve also felt a little guilty that they have a limited amount of space because of the divider and lately I’ve been dreaming of getting them big, two bunny hutches. One for outdoors and one for our basement where they stay for the winter. The outdoor hutch will have to wait until I can gather the funds for that one, but the smaller, indoor hutch, I could probably get in the next few months. It’s a double-decker, and has lots of hopping room for the both of them.
Because bunnies can get bent out of shape when introduced to one another, it is very important to do it slowly and carefully so no one gets hurt. We’ve been reading up on strategies other people have used to help their rabbits bond. Some of them seemed a little harsh and scary for rabbits. I’ve been trying to do it as slowly as possible. I try bringing them up together when I take them outside and for the last couple of days I’ve tried letting them hop around our living room for a while. Last night, they didn’t even look at each other. Baxter found a place under the piano to chill at and Watson decided to keep close to me.
Tonight? Whoa. Not the same.
Baxter went to his usual spot, Watson was trying to get onto my lap again and then all of a sudden they spotted each other and I held my breath, waiting for something to happen. However– I did not expect what happened.
Baxter pulled a Romeo.
It did not go well.
Watson was traumatized, obviously. I can’t unsee what I saw. And it got the cogs turning that something was amiss.
After some searching and finding of photos. We have decided that Watson.
Is a girl.
I don’t even know what to think right now– Other than…
Fabulous.
It’s hard to sex rabbits, but after putting poor Watson through as microscopic of an examination as I could do, not being a veterinarian I’m 97% sure he’s a she.
This puts a crimp in my plans to put them together, obviously– Since I don’t want any mini Waxters or Baxsons, that will have to wait until I can take someone in to have the bits necessary to do so, you know, removed. It’s sounding like Baxter, who I am sure is a boy (Don’t ask me how I’m sure) will need to be neutered if I want them to live together.
It might not be a bad thing, if we can get it taken care of and everyone makes it through surgery ok. Which is a whole can of worms on it’s own, since the last two times I’ve taken rabbits to the small animal expert around here, they’ve either been diagnosed with a terminal illness or died (paranoia?). I am very much in love with Baxter and Watson, I don’t think I could deal with another loss like that. So I have to make a decision of what to do. But as I was saying, it might not be so bad if we get through that stressful bit– If Watson really is a girl and Baxter is neutered, then perhaps they can be bonded and Watson will be a Bunwife and Baxter a Husbun.
Who knows, I have limited experience in this, but it could be a good thing.
Anyway, I have to figure that out. But first:
SURPRISE!
That’s how I feel too. Despite that, here are some really horrible quality cell phone photos of my new baby bo–girl?
Iz hiding in ur shirtz!
Booooo!
Eyyyyyyye seez you.
Iz too coot for you!
I’ll try to keep you all updated on what happens– I don’t know what to do just yet, but hopefully whatever I decide will be the right decision!
The Doggy Bloggy 