Hangin’ with the Animals

posted by Animal Lover2 on Sep 30

By: Dane Stanton

Is it not the dream of a parrot owner to each one of his or her peers that they have a talking parrot? I know that was my goal. I always wanted to have a parrot that would greet every new guest that entered my house. It took a lot of training but in the end I finally achieved this goal and was able to tell everyone about it. What are some of the best things about having a talking parrot?

The first great thing about having a talking parrot is that you can teach them to answer every question you ask them with either a yes or no. How many other types of pets are there that can actually tell you if they have done something bad? After a great deal of practice a parrot can have the ability to understand every question it has been taught. Pretty amazing when you think about it.

Another great thing about having a talking parrot is that you can have your own greeting butler if you like at your front door saying hello or good evening or even have a great day and don’t trip over as you walk out the door! Its amazing to see the looks on people faces when they hear something shout out, how are you without knowing that its actually the parrot sitting on its perch right in front of them saying it.

The last great thing about owning a talking parrot is that you can teach them to say anything you want it to say. You can teach it to be polite or you can teach it to be rude, polite is recommended of course. This means that you can teach them to ask any question, reply to any comment or just randomly say anything you want. This of course will take a lot of training but in the end it is definitely worth it. Think about when you are sitting at home all alone because no one loves you and all you want to do is have someone to talk to. I know this has happened to me on a few occasions that I do not wish to repeat! If or when this happens you can always just sit down and have a good old chat with your parrot and the best thing is, he or she will only say exactly what it has been taught to say, by you. This means no back chatting or unnecessary arguments. You can have a nice pleasant conversation with a polite, caring and most importantly funny parrot.

So there it is the three best things about having your own talking parrot. Remember teaching a parrot how to talk takes a lot of time and some serious hard work. It will not happen overnight but it will happen. So if you do decide that you want to have your own talking parrot be ready for a hard road ahead, but also a great end to your journey!

About the Author:

If you want to know more about everything parrots including free information, course reviews and much, much more, then please visit ParrotTrainingReview.com (Reccommended) or for more free articles all about parrots visit www.ParrotTrainingReview.com/ParrotTraining

Article Source: http://www.therealarticles.com

posted by Animal Lover on Sep 29

By: B.L. Hill

You have company over for dinner. The table is beautiful and the food smells and looks delicious. Unfortunately, your dog thinks so too and is sitting up and begging for morsels off everyone’s plate and, if not rewarded, attempting to take the food on his own or pawing at your guests. This can ruin the dinner party and is not particularly good for your dog either. How could this have been avoided?

Know that his is not the dogs fault and it started a very long time ago. Some horribly misguided individual who was trying to be a good pet owner did this while the pup was still very young and trained the dog for this very behavior. Want to know who taught your dog this trick? It was YOU.

No doubt you weren’t consciously training your pet for this unwanted behavior and you did it with the best of intentions but the behavior is here now and must be dealt with. Your dog learned this trick from all those times when little scraps of food were tossed down to a cute little puppy who staring up at you with those sad brown eyes. All of this could have been prevented by a simple act of will power then but now you have a problem to deal with.

So how can you stop your dog from begging?

Stop rewarding the behavior. This means not giving in and not paying attention to your dog when he begs. Make sure everyone in the household knows not to share their meals with the dog and follows this rule no matter what the circumstance. You may even have to confine your dog to its kennel or a separate room during meal or snack times if this is difficult. This is especially useful if you have people in the household who tend to feed the dog from the table despite the rules.

Don’t fool yourselves - you have created a monster and it will take several weeks of consistent work on your part to break your dog of this habit. Once you start, he will most likely begin to whine and howl loudly in complaint of the treatment. DO NOT GIVE IN. If you do, the battle is lost and will be that much harder next time. One weak moment of slipping the dog a treat just to be nice (and you are not really being nice at all) can ruin all the prior training so standing your ground and enforcing the rule of not giving meal time treats to the dog is a must.

One way to implement this change is to feed the dog at the same time the rest of the family, preferably in a separate room. This way the dog has its own meal and will not feel the need to beg food from others in the household. If this is not an option, give your pet something to distract it, perhaps a toy to play with to keep them occupied throughout mealtime.

Consistent and rigid training is the only effective way to correct it. Every member and guest of your household must enforce the rules or all your work will be of no avail. Guests can pose a problem, especially if they slip their dogs treats when they eat. Just explain the rules before you sit down to eat and, I hate to say it but… watch them. It is a habit for them and they may not even know they are doing it. In this circumstance, I like to keep my dogs away from the table just in case.

Once you stop your dog from begging, you will be blessed with a healthier pet, a happier household and pride in your well-mannered canine friend.

About the Author:

B.L Hill is a dog-lover and has owned dogs for over 20 years. For more articles, tips and tricks visit the Dog Training Tips website.

Article Source: http://www.therealarticles.com

posted by Animal Lover2 on Sep 22

By: Dane Stanton

Goldfish are known to be the most common and popular choice for pets. But why do people bring home Goldfish? They can’t run or let out a squeak leave alone express themselves and they definitely can’t play catch. All they will do is just swim and swim and swim and yet they manage to make that connection with us and we love them for it. If you ask a Goldfish lover what makes them great, the answer would be - they are great because they just are!

Are Goldfish really gold?

One of the probable reasons why people are attracted to Goldfish could be because of their golden hues. It gives them that exotic and different look. However, they aren’t really golden - more a combination (or absence) of the two or three types of pigment cells black, yellow and red - that give the Goldfish a variety of color effects. Goldfish can be golden, red, white, bronze and even blue and black. In fact, when Goldfish are born they are neither gold nor orange. They are a very tan or olive kind of shade and sometimes they can be pretty dark. It’s only when they grow that they begin to change their color.

Essentially a wild species, Goldfish probably acquired their color over the ages and thanks to genetic mutations and selective breeding we have Goldfish that can range from silver to gold, red to orange, with a single tail or a fantail and some with pop eyes and without dorsal fins! The color of goldfish depends on the environment it is bred in as well as the light it is exposed to. Goldfish is one species that has been bred, crossbred and changed quite a bit and this has been going on since more than hundreds of years. But when did it all begin?

The Birth of the Goldfish

It all began in Ancient China when the goldfish as we know it today was bred from the gibel carp which is found in slow moving waters in South China. The first evidence we have is in the year 265-415 when the Chun dynasty recorded the gold hue of this fish. From then on documents show that the goldfish were raised in ponds within Buddhist monasteries and mostly in the houses of royalty and other aristocrats.

It was during the reign on the Ming Dynasty that records show the Goldfish being raised in bowls as indoor pet. This in fact helped the Goldfish to evolve double tail and anal fins, red and white coloration and even dispense with their dorsal fins. Goldfish became linked to prosperity, fortune and good luck and even inspired art in China which was reflected in the goldfish motifs used in silks, ceramics and jade carvings.

Soon they began to become more commonly available and made their first trip out of their homeland to Japan in 1603. In 1611- 1691 goldfish were exported to Europe. It was in 1874 that Goldfish made an entry into United States of America. The 19th Century saw

the demand for aquariums and goldfish grow. The world’s first public aquarium opened in London in 1853.

Today’s modern Goldfish has its very own definition: “A small reddish golden Chinese carp kept for ornament” (Oxford Dictionary, American Edition, Oxford University Press). Its official biological name is Carassius auratus and but it’s commonly known as the golden carp or simply the goldfish.

About the Author:

If you want to know more about goldfish, than why not visit my site and pick up your own Comprehensive Guide to Goldfish! www.SecretsOfGoldfish.com (Recommended)

Article Source: http://www.therealarticles.com