For The Love of Pets!

Hi Friends!

Do you look forward to your dog tackling you with love every time you walk in the door? How about the calming purr of your cat as it rests on your chest?  Pet owners know that their pets are special.  Sometimes it's the little things that shape relationships in life, and the relationship with a pet is no different.  As any pet owner knows, pets don't have the same type of hang-ups or grudges that humans have. They're perfectly willing to walk with you through life, comfort you in your troubles and cheer you on when life is grand.

The perfect human would have the attitude of a dog -- loving, loyal, happy, protective, faithful and honest. I wish I could be more like all the dogs I know.  At least the dogs I know, their attitude is admirable.  From a dog's perspective, every day is the best day of their life.

Having pets throughout my entire life I know the happiness I have felt through my companionship with my animals?  Yet, still it begs the question, why do pets make us so happy?  Why is it that even though we know all the work and responsibility involved, even though we know we will have to bear the eventual heartbreak of watching our pets grow old, even though we know we will someday lose them altogether-why, then, do we still regard the prospect of sharing our homes with birds, cats or dogs (or horses, or goats, or what have you) with such unalloyed joy?

From my view, I see that humans are pack animals, and it is the way God created us to be social, to form families and to build communities.  It's been essential to our survival as a species-to make others happy.  Some of us experience this need to a greater extent than others, but the desire to please others is as hard-wired into us as using tools or walking on two legs.

And, despite all the seeming effort involved, the truth is that it's so easy to make an animal happy-so much easier than it seems to be to make other people happy. When my birds have their favorite food, their favorite toys, and their favorite lap to cuddle in, they're so deeply happy they practically radiate it.  Their happiness isn't complicated the way human happiness is, with worries about future troubles or what they might have to offer in exchange for the happiness they've been given. There is not a concern that showing happiness too openly might make the happiness go away, the way, for example, you might not want to appear too enthusiastic in the earliest stages of a romantic relationship.

Let's take a hypothetical example.  Let's say a young man has an interest in a very special lady.  On one hand, he wants her to know of his feelings.  After all, it has been a few years.  The romantic ideal of shouting from every rooftop that this particular person is so beautiful and wonderful seems right.  Yet, on the other hand, it may not be a good idea.  His concern is that it may jeopardize the friendship or otherwise, it simply is not the right time.  Why does it have to be so complicated?  Is not life best lived with simplicity?

Do animals go through all of these "mental gymnastics?"  I think not.  If an animal likes you chances are you clearly know.  If there is a purer, less complicated joy than that of making an animal happy, I have yet to experience it. And there's something deeply fulfilling about knowing that, even in a complicated and often unkind world, you've managed to create a pocket of perfect security and bliss for at least one small creature.

As I write this, Dudley is playing with his many toys and spiraling down the ladders on his enormous parrot play gym.  At this exact moment, Sing-Sing is cozy underneath a blanket spread over and curled up in my lap, cooing away.  Dudley and Sing-Sing are unaware that I've been agonizing over planning the day and weeks ahead to ensure that all pet care jobs are handled with great care or worrying about how to grow a business, pay bills, life's obligations and responsibilities and oh, so much more.  

All they know right now is the tasty, delicious pasta with a little smidgen of pizza along with some alfalfa sprouts I just gave them for just a few of their favorite treats (Pasta and Pizza, which seriously must be made with the parrot equivalent of cat nip, my birds go so nuts for them!  Incidentally, they go crazy for nuts too), and Sing-Sing's favorite perching spot on the parrot play gym just got freed up now that Dudley just left to have some more pizza and pasta.  Dudley hails from Central and South America, so he is Latin and Sing-Sing is from Australia and New Zealand....so, I am still trying to teach Dudley to say "Hola, Buenos dias" and Sing-Sing to say "G'day Mate."  I might as well just give up as I think they both have more Italian in them judging by how much they love pizza and pasta....so, I'll just teach them to say "mangiare."

Some days, it's good to be a bird.....

May your day be filled with creature comforts and love shared with your pets!

Warmly,

Paul

Paul F. Flotron

Creature Comforts Great & Small, LLC

"Giving your creatures the comfort they deserve"

http://www.creaturecomfortsgreatnsmall.com/

314-200-8561

Cell:  314-775-7107

PaulFFlotron@yahoo.com

Today Is World Wildlife Day!

Dear Friends!

Today is World Wildlife Day.  I am a very passionate man.  I am passionate about animals and dedicating my entire life to creating awareness ensuring that each animal is afforded the best life possible.  For my entire life, I have had a deep appreciation and empathy for the underdog.  Being a voice for the voiceless is my lifelong commitment.  In tribute to World Wildlife Day, here are videos to briefly outline what setting aside this day means:

Message from the CITES Secretary-General for World Wildlife Day

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsRRpfP-hKc

Kuki Gallmann, CMS Ambassador, on World Wildlife Day 2014

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jSJm_VBqx8

In honor of World Wildlife Day, I would like to discuss how we as humans can make a difference in the lives of animals.  Every single day, I am faced with a serious responsibility, a privilege and a moral dilemma.  As many of you know, I have two beautiful birds as my animal companions.  Dudley is a Yellow-Nape Amazon Parrot I adopted and rescued over 21 years ago and today is around 33 years old.  Sing-Sing is an Umbrella Cockatoo I welcomed into my home when I lived in Southern California in 2006.  At the time, Sing-Sing was only 10-months and now 8 years old.

To make a distinction, I use the word “companion” when I refer to a “pet” parrot because that is what they are and that is how they must be viewed.  Parrots are inherently flock animals and since we have removed them from their native habitat, it is very important that we do our best to replicate what they have lost by living in our homes.  I have become a part of Dudley and Sing-Sing's flock and it is my job to learn how that impacts Dudley and Sing-Sing.  As their flock leader, I also need to remember that parrots are still wild animals. They have been tamed, but they are genetically still wild and function from that point of view.

I have a heightened awareness over the responsibility for wild animals since I have two wild but tamed animals living in my own home.  So, what how should we as humans treat, manage and be responsible for wildlife and wildlife conservation?

What should we protect when managing and conserving wildlife?  There's no single answer. Competing values, and different prioritizations of values create ethical dilemmas and disagreements.

Wild animals have always been a critical resource for human beings. Historically, food, fur, and leather were key to human survival — more recently, wildlife has assumed high economic and cultural significance. Wild animals provide entertainment in circuses, zoos, and wildlife parks, they form a central attraction in international tourism, and they are key members of ecosystems on which humans rely for vital services. Equally, wild animals can be seen as threatening to human beings; for instance, they can be sources of new human diseases (zoonotics), and they can damage or consume human crops. What matters here, whether as resource or threat, is how useful — or otherwise — wildlife is to human beings. Environmental ethicists often call this instrumental value.

In modern debates about wildlife, however, other values have become increasingly important. One focus is on animal welfare — the wellbeing of individual wild animals (e.g., in terms of animals' flourishing, or suffering). There are also concerns about protecting species or populations of wild animals, about protecting the ecosystems of which wild animals form a part, and about protecting wild nature itself. The wellbeing of individual animals matters less where species, ecosystems, or wild nature is emphasized — indeed, painful predation may be understood as promoting ecosystem health, or as applying the right kind of selective pressure on a species as a whole.

In response to pressures on wild animals and their habitats, a nature and wildlife protection movement has grown over the last two centuries.  Often this protection has taken the form of active wildlife management, where some species are controlled as part of a policy to promote the success of other species.  This raises key questions about the responsibilities we have to wild animals. What should we try to protect? How should we balance different, potentially conflicting, values such as nature protection and individual animal welfare?

The management and use of wild animals generates ethical disagreements and dilemmas in which human needs, preferences, and interests, concern for individual animal welfare, and the value of biodiversity, ecosystems, and wild nature are part of the discussion. The way in which these different values are prioritized will determine policy.

In 2008, I established a group at a church called Noah's Ark Animal Lovers Group.  In a perfect world, which this is not, every single human could be a "Noah" -- yet, I realize that this is an imperfect, complicated world in which we live.

Blessings to you and your families for your love and care for animals.

Warmly,

Paul

Paul F. Flotron

Creature Comforts Great & Small, LLC

"Giving your creatures the comfort they deserve"

http://www.creaturecomfortsgreatnsmall.com/

314-200-8561

Cell:  314-775-7107

PaulFFlotron@yahoo.com

Understanding Your Pet

Hi Friends!

I am considered to be a very expressive person.  I've been told by all who know me that when I'm feeling something, I don't hide it or have a lot of trouble doing expressing my thoughts or feelings, either in words or body language.  I define open expressiveness as willing to look the person in the eyes, or tell the person over the phone, "I miss you" or "I really like you" or "I'm thinking of you."  Overall, I consider myself an extrovert; I like people, I like conversing, I like community.  I suppose that is the reason why I love parrots, dogs and well, love all animals so much.

I am very relationship-oriented.  Since I consider relationships a top priority, I am committed to developing great relationships with my clients and their pets.  The main ingredients I believe are important in a sucessful relationship are: Communication, Trust, Understanding, and Honesty.  Understanding people and they way they operate is the only way to conduct a genuine relationship.  It is beneficial and healthy to get ‘inside the mind’ of the person you are in relationship with or in some type of interaction.  I believe this to also be the case with animals.

As is the case with developing a bond and strengthening a relationship with my birds Dudley and Sing-Sing.  Communication, Trust, Understanding and Honesty has to take place between me, Dudley and Sing-Sing, just as it must occur with any other.  However, an understanding has to be developed and learned.

After all, birds are not born with an understanding of how to fit into a human family.  Many things that are natural behaviors in parrots in the wild, and even essential to their survival, are not considered appropriate behavior in our eyes. Often misbehavior is the result of misunderstandings between the owner and the bird, or of unrealistic expectations the owner has about how the bird should behave. Dogs are very expressive animals. They communicate when they’re feeling happy, sad, nervous, fearful and angry, and they use their faces and bodies to convey much of this information. Dog body language is an elaborate and sophisticated system of nonverbal communication that, fortunately, we can learn to recognize and interpret. Once you learn how to “read” a dog’s postures and signals, you’ll better understand his feelings and motivations and be better able to predict what he’s likely to do. These skills will enable you to interact with dogs with greater enjoyment and safety.

It helps to first learn about the various components that make up dog body language. Dogs use facial expressions, ear set, tail carriage and overall demeanor to signal their intentions and feelings to others. Breaking their body language down into components is helpful at first for building your observation and interpretation skills. Your goal, however, is to be able to observe the entire dog and the situation or context he’s in, in order to accurately determine what he’s trying to say. It’s not possible to understand your dog’s feelings and intentions by looking at just one aspect of his body language.  

One of the most common mistakes an owner can make with their dog is to misread what the dog is saying into something completely different. We humans do it all of the time. The dog's body language says one thing, and we interpret it into something completely different, basing our assumption on what we ourselves are feeling. In reality dogs see and read the world much differently than we humans. If we humans better understood our dogs, we could prevent many dog bites and other behavioral issues.

For example, let’s take a simple act of a hug. To humans, a hug means love and affection. When a human receives a welcomed hug from a loved one it makes us feel good inside.

But just what does a hug mean to a dog? Humans are always hugging their dogs and when we do, we are giving the dog affection and sharing our love. However, what most humans do not realize is to a dog, a hug is not affection at all. To a dog, a hug symbolizes a social status ranking as dominance and an invasion of space—lower members of the pack give space to the higher members to show respect. The position of the body is also meaningful to a dog. The one on top represents a higher status ranking. Therefore, when you bend down and wrap your arms around a dog you are not only on top, but you are in their space.

Keeping this logic in mind, it makes total sense to not run up and hug a strange dog. Many children are bitten every day by hugging dogs, and if you look at it from the dog’s perspective, who would blame them? A stranger runs over, asserting dominance on a dog they have just met and the dog's reaction is to communicate to this being that they do not wish to be dominated. Unlike horses and deer who are "flight animals," a dog is a "fight animal" and will communicate his displeasure with a growl and/or a snap or bite.

That being said, it is not bad to hug a dog that is familiar with you if the dog is calm and in a submissive state of mind, so long as you are hugging them at a time when you are relaxed and happy. As a matter of fact, the emotional sensation humans receive from hugging can be felt by the dog, and that energy radiating from the humans can be very calming to the dog. Not because the hug has the same meaning to the dog, but because he is enjoying the calm he feels coming from you.

Space

I often hear people say that when they correct their dog for a bad behavior, the dog sulks, leaves the room or turns his head because the dog is "upset." The humans interpret this behavior as the dog's feelings being hurt. They feel bad and believe they need to "make up" with the dog.

What is the dog really saying? If you correct your dog and he turns his head or leaves the room, he is giving in to you and accepting you as his leader. Giving space and turning away from direct eye contact are submissive behaviors. When humans try and "make up" with a dog after the dog has given in to you, it sends mixed signals to the dog.

Dogs communicate in many ways with each other, using verbal cues, body language and facial expressions.  They also try to communicate with humans using these methods. Humans, of course, communicate with dogs with commands and phrases. Dogs can learn hundreds of human sounds but they can't string them together.  Thus, the need for short commands such as "Sit!" and "Come!" Many of our communication tools are lost on dogs, such as sarcasm (to indicate frustration) or closed body language (to indicate you're uncomfortable) or a look of surprise.  So, to enhance our communication with our canines, we must learn to get back to the basics and speak "dog."

I realize everyone is extremely busy and lead fast-paced lives.  However, I encourage you to take time out of your hectic schedule to learn more about your dog or pet and what he is trying to communicate.  Understanding and effective communications are key in any relationship.

Warmly,

Paul

Paul F. Flotron

Creature Comforts Great & Small, LLC

"Giving your creatures the comfort they deserve"

http://www.creaturecomfortsgreatnsmall.com/

314-200-8561

Cell:  314-775-7107

PaulFFlotron@yahoo.com