Pet Project

September 11, 2007September 11, 2007

Alex The Grey Parrot Dies

Alex, an African Grey parrot, who was the subject of 30 years of groundbreaking research on cognition and communication has died last Friday at the age of 31. He had appeared healthy and necropsy showed no obvious cause of death.

Dr. Irene Pepperberg bought Alex at a pet store 30 years ago and began training and studying his understanding of language and concepts like “same” and “different”. He had a vocabulary of about 100 words, could understand quantities up to 6, could identify 50 different objects, 7 colors, and 5 shapes. In 2005 he displayed understanding of the concept of “none”. Alex also coined his own word “banerry” for apple. He knew the words “grape”, “bannana”, and “cherry”, and combined “banana” and “cherry” to form “banerry”. According to The Alex Foundation, he was fond of cardboard boxes, keychains, and corks.

Here’s an amazing, informative video of Alex, his training, and the research from the PBS show Scientific American Frontiers.

September 11, 2007

Hunter The Service Dog: Lost & Found

Hunter is a Belgian Tervuren, but more importantly he is a service dog. He alerts his person, Shirley Chong, when her blood sugar is dangerously low. Last week in Iowa City, Hunter ran off while Shirley was in the hospital having surgery.

After days with no sign of Hunter, he was found by pet detective, Cathy Orde, and her dog, Zoe, who were brought in from Wyoming by concerned people around the world. Hunter had been frightened by people, but he liked Zoe the dog and he was finally captured and reunited with Shirley. Don’t miss the video.

Cathy Orde, and her dog, Zoe, are members of Pet Hunters International. The organization’s mission is to develop professional Missing Animal Response Services. We will achieve our mission by training and empowering professional pet detectives (Missing Animal Response Technicians) with certified search dogs who will conduct CSI-like investigative searches that bring lost dogs, cats, and other companion animals back home.

September 7, 2007

Sleeping Man With Dog

a homeless man on queen street west, downtown toronto.
(photo courtesy of Sam Javanrouh, you can see more of his work at his photoblog, Daily Dose of Imagery)

I’ve come back to this remarkable photo repeatedly for months now. I don’t want to analyze it to death, but I do find the image moving. Trust, comfort, love, compassion, solace. What do you see?

September 4, 2007September 7, 2007

Four Kittens & An Empty Coke Box

Spaztacular! Four sproinging, fritzing kittens having a blast with an empty Coca-Cola box. (thanks Memaw)

(direct link)

August 31, 2007June 5, 2013

We Like: IKEA Kid’s Tent

I love being able to repurpose something and save money. And the IKEA kid’s tent, Korall Anemon makes a great collapsible dog tent. We took Saffron camping for the first time this year. She loves it, but does show some stress about how we’re living outside. For instance, we really have to work to get her to go potty, I think because she’s not as clear about where it’s okay to do that if we’re living outside. She is also alert and on watch most of the time when we’re hanging around the campsite and has a hard time relaxing.

So, I wanted to try a collapsible crate or tent to see if having a sheltered space to lounge would help Saffron chill out, but they aren’t cheap. And who knows if it will work. Then I see this dog tent disguised as a kid’s tent at IKEA. Problem solved for $14.99.

By the way, this isn’t for Saffron to spend the night in. She sleeps with us in our tent where we can make sure she’s safe & sound and where she can keep us warm.