Clicker Training & Stroller Rides

       I want to start this post by wishing my Gram a Happy 75th Birthday today!!!! She is the coolest grandmother a granddaughter could ask for, and if you've ever had the pleasure of meeting my Gram, you know that she doesn't act her age! ;) I wish more than anything that she could be here in Utah to experience this journey with me (because it would be a hell of a lot more fun!!!). I love you Grammy, I hope you had a wonderful day!


        As many of you probably already know, I am a dog person. For one reason or another, I am drawn to dogs, I understand them better, I usually know what dogs do/don't like, etc. When it comes to cats, I'm pretty much clueless! I'm trying to learn as much as I can... But I guess part of the learning process is accepting that, no matter what, we'll never fully understand cats! Many of the staff members at Cat World have told me that even with all of their years of experience, they're constantly being surprised and challenged each and every day! Cats have a mind of their own; and that mind typically does not care what a human wants. I'm taking a lot from this experience in cats, and hopefully one day, the right cat will come into my life :).

This is Hamlet. I took this picture of him while we were on our "walk". I say 'walk', but what I really mean is, Hamlet rolling around in the bushes while he's attached to a leash. He's a funny cat.

This is Miri (looking extremely evil). Miri craves a lot of human attention, so she just sits in her cattery and meows constantly. I take her on at least one "walk" every day.

And this is Princess Blue. She is a purebred Korat cat. She has a lot of personality, and a loud mouth! Out of all of the cats that I walk, she's probably the best. She only lays down about 50% of the time...

       This morning, in addition to walking several cats, we had a presentation on TNR (Trap - Neuter - Return). For those of you that aren't familiar with TNR, it's a program that mainly focuses on feral or "community" cats, and it's been in existence for almost 20 years, but has only become popular within the last few years. Best Friends has been doing its' best to implement TNR programs in cities all over the country, and so far, they've made phenomenal progress. As many of you already know, thousands of animals are being killed in shelters every single day. Most of the time, it's for no reason at all. Through the implementation of TNR programs, reproduction rates are significantly decreased, which in turn, leads to less cats in shelters. If more rescues/shelters/sanctuaries took on the TNR mission, they would realize that it's a lot more effective (and not to mention cheaper) than euthanasia. In today's world, there is absolutely no reason for euthanizing innocent animals. The amount of ignorance and the lack of regard for the lives of animals is beyond disturbing... Something needs to change! And to bring about change, we need to increase awareness! So spread the word, everyone :)

       After lunch, I shadowed one of the vets at Best Friends, Dr. Frank. He specializes in animal behavior, but mainly, cat behavior. He has been using clicker training with some of the cats! Clicker training is typically used with dogs, but it can and does work for some cats. It was so interesting to watch these cats! One of the lobby cats, Sunny, has learned how to knock plastic bowling pins off of the counter with his paw. Once he knocks all of them off, he hears a click, and receives a treat. Dr. Frank repeats this procedure several times, and Sunny seems to really enjoy it! Another cat, Mozart, knows how to 'target' Dr. Frank's hand with his paw, once he does so, he hears a click, and receives a treat. Mozart can also spin around, and he knows that he will receive treats for doing so! And the last cat, Raed, has been deemed 'the smartest cat ever'. Raed knows tons of tricks, he knows how to target, and he also enjoys doing puzzles to find treats.

Overall, I found Dr. Frank's work to be extremely fascinating. It's remarkable how much cats are capable of! One of the main reasons to train cats is to keep them stimulated in order to avoid boredom and destructive behavior (basically, the same reason as dogs). An animal that has been stimulated, whether physically or mentally, will be more tired and usually, more well-behaved. I admire Dr. Frank's patience with the cats... I don't know if I could handle it!

       And to finish my day, I took a few cats for stroller rides. Yes, I said stroller rides. Some cats prefer to walk on leashes, but others find it too overwhelming, so they take these cats on stroller rides. The strollers are enclosed with a mesh fabric, so the cats can still see outside, but I guess they feel more safe. And they thoroughly enjoy these stroller rides. As a large-breed dog lover... Let me just say that this was a humbling experience. Never in my life did I think I would be pushing cats around in strollers. It felt vaguely degrading. Lol. Like I said before, I'm learning a lot about cats... :)

Third Week: Cats

       Two blog posts in one day, phew! Today was the first day of my week in cats. I am going to be stationed at Cat Headquarters. When I got there this morning, I watched a safety video and got a tour of the building. After my tour, I started working with Dale and Barbara. I spent most of my morning cleaning the catteries (AKA where the cats live). There are 31 cats at Cat HQ, and majority of these cats are there because of behavioral problems. Behavioral problems can mean anything from shyness, to self-mutilating behavior. After I got done cleaning the catteries, I took Miri for a walk. Yes, they use harnesses to take cats for walks, and they also take cats on stroller rides! As you can see, Miri and I didn't get too far...

Here's an example of some shy kitties. This is Kudos and Nacho. I zoomed in for this picture; they're near the very top of their cattery on a ledge!

This is Nala. Just chillin' out in her basket!

       After lunch, Dale and Barbara told me that there was going to be a placement ceremony for Fatima. Fatima crossed over (Best Friends' refers to an animal's passing as 'crossing over') in the beginning of May. Today, they had her placement ceremony at Angels' Overlook. A few other caregivers from cats also showed up. It was a short, but beautiful ceremony. The amount of love and thought that goes into burying the animals is unbelievable. Although I never knew Fatima, I was so moved by this ceremony, and by the kind words that the caregivers said in her honor. Simply being in Angels' Overlook, I could sense the love and serenity that those animals had. What a wonderful experience that I am very fortunate to have been a part of.

       After the placement ceremony, I spent the rest of my afternoon walking cats, playing with cats, and socializing with cats. It was an easy afternoon, to say the least! Hopefully I will make some more cat friends by the end of this week. We will see!

Antelope Canyon & Horseshoe Bend

        Yesterday was adventure #2! Margie and I took a roadtrip to Page, AZ, where Antelope Canyon and Horseshoe Bend are located. And luckily, they're only a 15 minute drive from each other! We left Kanab around 1:00PM, and decided to do a tour of Antelope Canyon first. When we got to the place that we leave to take the tour, they asked us if we had reservations. Not realizing that reservations were necessary, we said no, but fortunately for us, two people didn't show up for the tour, so Margie and I got to take their place! Pretty lucky :)


       There is an Upper Antelope Canyon, and a Lower Antelope Canyon... We took a tour of Upper Antelope Canyon, so to get there, about 10-12 people pile into these seats in the bed of an old, rickety pick-up truck, and a tour guide takes you to the canyon. So once you think you're at the canyon, you're actually not! The truck has to drive through about 2-3 miles of sand. It was an extremely bumpy ride, but still really fun! So from now on, I'll let the pictures do the talking!!!

This is when we first entered the canyon.

If you look at the right-hand side of the picture, that's what they call "The Spine of Antelope Canyon".

Sand Falls

As you can tell, there's some very dark parts of the canyon... And some parts let plenty of light in!

Awkward canyon selfie...

And this is once we made it to the other side! This slot canyon is only about 400m long, so it wasn't a bad walk at all!

       The tour guide was really goofy. He gave us a lot of tips on how/where to take pictures, some neat information on the canyon itself, the flash floods that occur, how powerful the winds are, and so on. It was a really cool experience, I'm glad we got a chance to see Upper Antelope Canyon!

       After Antelope Canyon, Margie and I made our way over to Horseshoe Bend. I will tell you right now that Horseshoe Bend is by far the coolest thing I've ever seen. I don't think anything can top this!!! 

This is on our walk down to Horseshoe Bend. It's about a 3/4 mile trek through the sand. Not easy, but SO worth it!

And here she is...

When I walked up to the ledge, looked down, and saw this... It took my breath away! It is the most stunning, magnificent thing I have ever, and probably will ever, see in my life!!! I couldn't get enough!

WOOHOOOOOOO!

Just trying to take it all in...

More selfies... Sorry......

You can't really tell in this picture... But I am at a much higher vantage point! I climbed up this huge rock (for lack of a better term), and I truly felt like I was on top of the world! It was epic!

Letting my feet dangle over the edge :) What an adrenaline rush!

And one last picture...

       Yesterday was just TOO EPIC! I'm still in awe of the things that I saw. I honestly could've sat and stared at Horseshoe Bend all day... It was unbelievable. I highly, highly recommend that everybody get out to Page, AZ to see this amazing attraction. You will not regret it! It was such a great day, and I am so glad and so lucky that I got to see something so extraordinary. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that nothing can beat this... So put it on your bucket list :)

Week Two: Complete!

       Two weeks down, three more to go! Like I've already said a million times, I thoroughly enjoyed my time in pigs and I'm kinda sad that I have to move on to cats!! Hopefully I'll have just as much fun in cats (although I doubt it...). The weather wasn't too great today, unfortunately, but I still had fun. I spent a lot of time just hanging with the piggies, and taking pictures of course :)

This is Nick & Holly! (Nick has the tusks). Nick & Holly are brother and sister, and they are different from the rest of the potbellied pigs. They are half Hampshire Hog, half wild boar. You can't really tell by these pictures, but Nick & Holly are much bigger/denser than the other pigs. They weigh between 700-800 pounds! For as big as they are, they are ridiculously fast... They can run up to 30MPH!! Since Nick & Holly are so much bigger and agile than the rest of the pigs, they are kept totally separate within a 5 acre enclosure. So they have plenty of room to run free! Some of the caregivers were telling me that they used to ride around the enclosure on ATVs and Nick & Holly would chase them! Sounds like so much fun!!! These guys are so cool... Going to miss the exhilarating/scary feeling of going into their pen!

And this, yet again, is another picture of my girl, Mazie! Taking a nap in the hay :). She's definitely getting more publicity than the rest of the piglets, lol!

       On a different note, I forgot to mention yesterday that the interns got a tour of the brand new vet clinic at Best Friends that opened in March! I was beyond blown away. Everything is state-of-the-art... All of their operating rooms, the isolation ward for sick animals, the testing lab, the ultrasound and x-ray machines, the computers, everything! it seems like they managed to think of every single thing they could ever possibly need, and it's all in one clinic. The vet tech who was giving the tour, Sam, said everyone is over the moon about the clinic and it's a drastic improvement from the previous one. The craziest part about it all, is that this clinic was built strictly from donations! In my opinion, this clinic would be any vet or vet tech's dream! It's absolutely amazing, and I'm so glad we got a chance to go on this tour.

       I just want to throw it out there that every single pig at Best Friends right now is up for adoption! I'm sure all of you will fall in love with pigs just like I did! It is important to know that Best Friends requires pigs to be adopted in pairs; simply because they like have to a friend, and they tend to behave much better if they are not alone! Here's a link if you'd like to read up on any of the pigs :)

http://bestfriends.org/Adopt-a-Pet/Sanctuary-Animals/Search/Pig/

      So I'll finish up this blog with my favorite picture of the week! From the top left corner to the right, there's Mazie, Maggie, Elliott, Doogie, and Gene! This is how I spent most of my week... Sitting in the dirt, petting pigs. And I had way more fun than I probably should have! I'm going to miss them so much!!!

Piggy Personalities

       Today was yet another fun day in Piggy Paradise! It's awesome because they've given me so much responsibility there, that I basically just do my own thing all day... I love it! I've really started to learn everyone's names now, and for the most part, it's so easy to tell who is who just by their personalities! It is absolutely amazing how distinct and unique all of their personalities are... Some are very sweet and affectionate, some are anti-social, some love to be brushed, while others won't let you near them. As similar as they are to dogs, they are much more independent. As many of you know, when you call a dog's name, they acknowledge you or they run over to you, etc. (except for my butthead dog), but pigs feel no inclination to please people! They do their own thing, and they do it on their name. As intelligent as they are, they don't feel the need to showcase it. I am totally fascinated by all that I've learned about pigs... I've really grown to love them! Although I'm a vegetarian now, I will tell you that after working so closely with pigs, I am definitely NEVER going to eat ham or bacon ever again!!! Not after seeing these adorable faces all week...

This is baby Gene, one of the piglets! He is so soft and loving... If you pet him a few times, he just flops over so you can rub his belly and his armpits! Too cute :)

This is Gene and his best bud, Elliot, taking a nap together! Gene and Elliot have been adopted as a pair!!! YAY!

This is Dozer. He and I have a love-hate relationship. Out of all of the pigs, his personality is the most distinguishable. He gets super jealous and territorial if anyone is petting/brushing another pig over him. He just comes up, bites the other pig in the butt, and moves in so he can get all the love. He's such a jerk but it's pretty entertaining to watch! He even nips his own piglets and kicks them out!! And today, Dozer was being naughty and he nipped me a couple times. I know he looks cute in the picture above, but he looks pretty mean in this one...

He is such a piece of work...

And this last picture is of the shy, little piglet, Mazie. This is as close as I could get to take her picture before she wanted to run off! Hopefully she'll warm up to humans sooner rather than later!

       This week went by pretty fast! I'm sad that tomorrow is my last day in pigs :(... I'm going to miss these little piggies so much! I found out that I am in cats next week, so we will see how that goes! I'm going to go out tonight with one of the other interns and a couple other people from Best Friends... I'm looking forward to getting out of the house and having some fun :).

Mazie & Millie

       Today, I don't have too much to blog about! The events of today were practically the same as yesterday: morning feedings, socializing the piglets, tour of Jeffrey's, lunch, afternoon feedings, mucking the pig pens, walking Tobias, and going home early since I completed all of my tasks in the afternoon! (The staff was at a meeting all afternoon, so they left me alone with the pigs. But I wasn't complaining!)

       The tour of Jeffrey's House, one of the Dogtown builidings, was a really cool tour. It was lead by Carissa, who is a trainer at Dogtown. Carissa specializes in dogs with severe fear-aggression, and she's also worked with feral dogs. At Best Friends, they use a color-coded collar system to classify the dogs. Green collar means anyone can handle the dog, purple collar means the handler must be 18+, and red collar means staff only. Majority of the dogs that are kept at Jeffrey's are 'red collar dogs', and basically all of the dogs at Jeffrey's have some form of fear-aggression; whether it's guarding their food, or meeting new people... These dogs are extremely unpredictable and capable of doing serious harm. So for the tour, Carissa took us around the perimeter of the fenced-in runs and talked to us about each dog. I won't go into detail because the stories of some of the dogs are pretty horrific and infuriating. But overall, Carissa said that all of the dogs at Jeffrey's have made tremendous progress and have come so far! A lot of the dogs will live out their lives at Best Friends, but some of the dogs are able to be adopted (to the right home, and the right person).

       Socializing the piglets is always a fun time! I worked with Mazie and Millie again today. And I managed to capture some pictures of the cutie pies! Not sure why, but Mazie is my favorite! :) They're still super shy and afraid of me, but hopefully by the end of the week, we'll be able to see some progress!

This is Millicent AKA Millie :)

And this is my girl, Mazie! I just think she has the sweetest eyes :)

       Out of the two of them, Millie is definitely more outgoing than Mazie. Millie can tolerate being touched and pet, but Mazie still jumps each time you touch her! The process of socializing pigs is super similar to that of dogs. Shelters and rescues both care about socialization for one reason: the more social and friendly an animal is, the more likely she is to get adopted! So, the task of socialization is very important, and I will do whatever I can to make these little angels more adoptable! As the days go on, the hope is that Mazie and Millie will start to recognize my voice and my presence, and in turn, they'll get more comfortable with me! I will let you know how it goes :)

Second Week: Pigs

       As many of you have probably predicted... I love pigs!!! :) They are so similar to dogs, it's unreal. At Piggy Paradise right now, they have 25 pigs -- almost all of the pigs are potbelly pigs, except for a few that are mixed with other breeds --  that they split up into different 'communities'. There's a senior community, a special needs community, and a regular community. A pig's average life span is about 20 years, so the pigs in the senior community are suffering from things like arthritis, deafness, blindness, and even dementia. Pigs in the special needs community may have neurological problems, physical limitations, and weight issues. And the pigs in the regular community are in fairly good health. The senior community is kept totally separate from the special needs and regular communities. The special needs pigs and the regular pigs are all kept within the same enclosure, but there are gates to keep them separated if need be.


       We started off our morning by preparing all of the piggy food. The pigs eat a diet of hay pellets, frozen veggies, and heads of lettuce. After we divvied up their food, we walked around to each community to feed the pigs... And they went nuts for their morning meal! Pigs can be very impatient and pushy when you're trying to place a handful of food into their troughs. We walked into the special needs community, and it was my job to give RB his pan of food. He is a BIG boy!

       This is another pig that's a part of the special needs community, Buckaro. He suffers from mechanical blindness. Since he's overweight, his skin and "chub" cover his eyes, which limits his sight. But I think it makes him even cuter!

        After the morning feeding was done, my supervisor (and the primary caregiver of the pigs), Adria, told me to take Tobias for a walk. Tobias is kept in his own cage, away from all of the other pigs, because he does not play nicely with others! But he loves people! Also, Tobias has a broken jaw right now, and he is in a great deal of pain :(. Poor guy... But he still enjoys eating treats! Pigs' favorite treats are fig newtons. Tobias is a pretty cool piggy... not only can he 'sit' on command, but he can also 'shake'!!! It's so adorable. I'll stop blabbing and just show you a picture of him already...

      How can you not smile when you see that face?! When I was walking him, I didn't have him on a leash, so I used something called a "carrot stick". A carrot stick is basically just a long rod that I use to "steer" Tobias if he's not going the direction that I want him to. I didn't use it too often though... He was a pretty good walker! Every so often he would look up at me and beg for a fig newton! (Hence, the adorable little face that you see in the picture above!)

       In addition to feeding, I brushed a bunch of the pigs! You wouldn't think that pigs like to be brushed, but they really enjoy it. I basically used a scrubber brush, like a brush you would use to scrub the kitchen floor. And once you start brushing, the pigs just flop on their sides. Kinda like this...

This is Oliver! He's one of the few white pigs they have at the sanctuary.

       The two pictures above are of a 9 month old piglet named Gene! He has three other siblings at the sanctuary right now: Mazie, Millie, and Doogie! Not all of the piglets are as friendly as Gene, so I spent a lot of time in the afternoon socializing with the pigs. In order to socialize a pig, you have to try to get the pig to take fig newtons right out of your hand and from your lap while you're sitting down. I did this exercise with Mazie and Millie -- since they don't really like to be touched. So once they got close enough to take the fig newton from me, I would rub their backs and their sides. The goal is to get them used to human touch, and to show them that humans aren't bad! Here's another picture of Gene, falling asleep with a friend! (Whom I can't remember his name!)

       We also got to meet some of the goats! They do piggy-goat play dates, which is pretty hysterical, might I add. Where the goats are kept, one of the caregivers has set up an agility course! A few of the goats really enjoy doing agility, it's so awesome!

This is Steve the Goat. He's quite the character!

 And this is Billy the Goat! 

       Hopefully I'll get to know more piggies and goats by the end of this week! I really enjoyed my first day at pigs, they are such cool animals!! As the 4th most intelligent species, I'm intrigued by all that they're capable of. As the week goes on, I'm sure I'll witness many instances of their intelligence. I'm already so impressed by Tobias! Anyway, I'm sure this week is going to be tons of fun. Looking forward to it :).