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Post by roxhum on Jan 24, 2014 14:19:11 GMT
I am pondering this morning on rescue or second hand pets. I have always loved the appreciation you can get from the dog rescued, or putting together past experiences based on behaviors.
My two birds are not what I would refer to as rescues. They are second hand though and observing them and living with them has been interesting. Sweetie shows all the signs and behaviors of a bird that has been a family pet. She knows about slamming doors and popcorn and how to ride on a shoulder that may take a sharp turn now and again. Where as Pearl was hand fed, tamed and handled but she is not experienced in the other factors of living in a busy household. Noises are unfamiliar and unsettling to her. She doesn't want to be on my shoulder and she is reluctant to come out of her cage to spend time with me. My guess is she lived with the person who bred and raised her and she got handled but was not part of a family as a beloved pet.
Those are my ponderings, I would love to hear/read yours. Dogs cats birds mice. I had a delightful rescue dog that hid whenever I got out the broom to sweep. Now what does that tell you?
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Post by luvsanimals2 on Jan 24, 2014 14:35:27 GMT
My cats, I saved them from my grandparents neighborhood as strays and they just want to be petted all the time. I rescued a pregnant cat a few months ago and a few of my family members kept some of the kittens and it's interesting to see how they want to be petted. My cats will just keep purring and wanting to be petted while the others do their own thing and come to you when they want to be petted. Though, being held is a whole different story.
My birds, I got 4 of the 6 from the store and Dakota and Teeki from a private party. They were scared of everything, and when I picked them up at their house, it seemed like the people had nothing to do with them except water and feed. I'v had them over a year now and they are kinda trusting of me and not that scared of me. Then there is Sonny, he was tamed when I first saw him, in the store. He came over to me and tried to nibble on my finger. He (after Tweets) is becoming more trusting of me.
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Post by kmic on Jan 24, 2014 18:13:29 GMT
I got my last addition (Sky) after her owner passed away. She was immediately ok with hands being in cage. She's extremelyyyyyy quiet and really does basically nothing all day. She's improving slowly though, finally started preening herself and sometimes calls the others. Till now she's eating from my hand, but is extremely afraid as soon as I start moving my hand towards the door to let her out and won't take notice when I just leave the door open for her while I'm in the room. So far she hasn't been introduced to the others (in quarantine - had her for less than 3 weeks)
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Post by lisamarie on Jan 24, 2014 18:26:28 GMT
None of my pets are rescues or second hand  But i keep telling my boyfriend that when we move out together (praying this summer) that we will adopt a dog from a kill shelter. There aren't many around here but NYC is not far which means the ASPCA isn't either  My oldest dog, my baby, is 12. We got him from a normal puppy store. Which most of those puppies come from puppy mills out west. So we definitely are giving him a great life. He's the PERFECT dog. And i mean perfect. I baby sit a 2 year old boy and obviously babies don't know how to play nice. Little kids pull his ears, his tail, and he licks them and wags his tail. He never growls, he's always so happy and we can trust him with ANY little kid. (It's always the kids who get punished for treating him bad) Middle dog is 7 and we got him from a breeder. Believe it or not he's the one w beavioral problems. Not "problems". Its actually just the breed. Shih Tzus are known to become protective towards ONE person. So Meeko is attached to my mom and won't let anyone near her at night. Youngest is an English Cocker. She's 6. We got her from a family who's dogs just happened to breed. But they were so desperate to get rid of the puppies because they were being evicted so they lied about her age. We got her at 4 weeks old instead of the standard 8. Since she was separated from her mom too soon, she is scared of pretty much everything. Otherwise she's VERY well behaved! |
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Post by santinoandmondo on Jan 25, 2014 4:17:46 GMT
Our two female budgies are second-hand. They were skittish after having resided in a room away from the two cats in their prior life. Now they are accustomed to more noises as they live in a room right next to the kitchen in our house - without cats. We have lots of noise every day with two middle schoolers. The budgies love to sing when the water from the kitchen faucet is running or if the radio is on. They don't mind the vacuum cleaner, or hands in their cage moving things around. What is odd is that one doesn't play with toys at all and the other loves to forage and gnaw on cuttle bones or bird toys, etc. Neither like bells or mirrors but love their showers from a spray bottle. They like to fly around in one room when they get let out and call to each other. We have had them for just over 9 months now and they will step onto our fingers or hop down to the floor to look for seeds . We had two rescue dogs years ago. One dog was about 8 months old when we got him, and was given up because the new baby was allergic to him. He was the BEST dog. So smart and affectionate. Our other dog was older when we got him, 2 1/2 years old, and we were his 3rd family. His prior family moved to a home where dogs were not allowed! He was a great dog too. Had to teach both how to climb stairs because they both must have lived in single level homes . They lived to 12 and 13 years old. Both hated lightening and thunderstorms! They shared a giant dog bed in their youth but as they got older, they needed separate beds like two grumpy old men. |
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Post by roxhum on Jan 25, 2014 15:58:57 GMT
I love everyone's stories. All so you are such great pet custodians. I particularly loved gearing about santinoandmondos budgies. They sound very happy living with you.
I have four dogs. Shame on me three are purebreds, two cardigan corgis and one miniature poodle. But then there is Toby the terrible , who at 9 years old is more terrific than terrible. However he has had extensive training and behavior modification. He was born with a cleft palate and because of that most likely was the runt. He has corgi in him, he is definitely a herder and brilliant and thinks and acts like an obsessive border collie. I think he may have been abused by other dogs, maybe even rejected by his mother. He doesn't know how to appropriately meet and greet new dogs. To overcome his timedness he comes across as a bully and wants to aggressively herd and intimidate. He will even try that crap with what I believe he perceives as overly dominate humans. he will sucker punch them by nipping at there heels as they walk away, or nip at them to herd them. He is not allowed to do those things so I need to watch and be aware when he is thinking about a misbehavior and stop him. I say don't even think about it. He is exceptionally well trained and behavior modification exercises were used to break the cycle of approaching new dogs aggressively. He is very interesting and fabulous with children. He is one of a kind. There will never be another Toby. He is the one that loves the birds and I know he just wants to mouth them like he mouths his cat, but of course I can't let him. Since he is OCD he has to be crated when the birds have free time.
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