casey&casper
Sprinting down the street
My name is Casey. I am a wife and a mom to an adult daughter, teenage son, 2.5 year old Siberian Husky called Sarah, an 18 year old cranky Quaker Parrot named Peaches and four bettas. Two months ago we welcomed Casper, a 20 year old Umbrella Cockatoo, to our family.
I've long wanted a cockatoo but knew that my work/family schedule wouldn't be fair to such a bird so I resisted even the sweet baby cockatoo at the store where I purchased Peaches' food. It was so hard to walk away from that precious bird! He cuddled into my chest the entire time I shopped and I was in love. Alas.
I broke my back in a horse accident ten years ago and worked for 8 years after, but the treatments and such inevitably fail every patient after a time. After visiting every doctor in a 100-mile radius and trying every procedure known to medical science, I had to stop working. It was a very difficult transition from full time business analyst and mom to a stay at home wife and increasingly unneeded mother (teenagers don't need the kind of mothering that keeps one busy.)
We got Sarah as a ten-week old AKC puppy and I spent 18 months in intense training with her. She is an inside/outside dog and, according to my veterinarian practice, the best behaved Siberian Husky the practice has ever had as a patient. I still can't believe how many people insist Siberians can't be trained, can't be good house dogs, are dreadfully evil, etc. Sarah was my entry into the world of clicker/positive reinforcement training and I am a firm believer in it.
I am also a firm believer in accepting that a dog is a dog, a bird is a bird, etc. Each species or breed has its own innate and immutable traits, good or bad or indifferent, and if one cannot deal with those traits or learn to modify those traits via training, one has no business caring for that creature.
Two months ago my uncle (who really isn't, it's a long story) asked me to take his Umbrella Cockatoo. My uncle's scarlet macaw, his best friend for many years, passed away from cancer after multiple treatment attempts, and in a fit of sorrow he drove four hours away to look at a cockatoo offered for sale. He brought the 'too home without doing any research on the differences between macaws and 'toos and, after a bit less than a year, accepted that his lifestyle wasn't what the 'too needed. Knowing that I am home all day almost every day of the year, and knowing how I'd wanted a 'too for many years, he offered Casper to me.
While I have researched 'toos on and off for many years I hadn't done extensive research on diet, behavior, etc. until Casper arrived. I decided to join a forum or two to get insight and suggestions from people with 'too experience. So here we are!
My kids say I've brought Sarah and Casper into the fold as preemptive strikes against empty nest syndrome.
Who knows, maybe they're right.
Thanks in advance to those who own and moderate the forum. I look forward to learning lots.
Casey, Sarah, Casper & Peaches
I've long wanted a cockatoo but knew that my work/family schedule wouldn't be fair to such a bird so I resisted even the sweet baby cockatoo at the store where I purchased Peaches' food. It was so hard to walk away from that precious bird! He cuddled into my chest the entire time I shopped and I was in love. Alas.
I broke my back in a horse accident ten years ago and worked for 8 years after, but the treatments and such inevitably fail every patient after a time. After visiting every doctor in a 100-mile radius and trying every procedure known to medical science, I had to stop working. It was a very difficult transition from full time business analyst and mom to a stay at home wife and increasingly unneeded mother (teenagers don't need the kind of mothering that keeps one busy.)
We got Sarah as a ten-week old AKC puppy and I spent 18 months in intense training with her. She is an inside/outside dog and, according to my veterinarian practice, the best behaved Siberian Husky the practice has ever had as a patient. I still can't believe how many people insist Siberians can't be trained, can't be good house dogs, are dreadfully evil, etc. Sarah was my entry into the world of clicker/positive reinforcement training and I am a firm believer in it.
I am also a firm believer in accepting that a dog is a dog, a bird is a bird, etc. Each species or breed has its own innate and immutable traits, good or bad or indifferent, and if one cannot deal with those traits or learn to modify those traits via training, one has no business caring for that creature.
Two months ago my uncle (who really isn't, it's a long story) asked me to take his Umbrella Cockatoo. My uncle's scarlet macaw, his best friend for many years, passed away from cancer after multiple treatment attempts, and in a fit of sorrow he drove four hours away to look at a cockatoo offered for sale. He brought the 'too home without doing any research on the differences between macaws and 'toos and, after a bit less than a year, accepted that his lifestyle wasn't what the 'too needed. Knowing that I am home all day almost every day of the year, and knowing how I'd wanted a 'too for many years, he offered Casper to me.
While I have researched 'toos on and off for many years I hadn't done extensive research on diet, behavior, etc. until Casper arrived. I decided to join a forum or two to get insight and suggestions from people with 'too experience. So here we are!
My kids say I've brought Sarah and Casper into the fold as preemptive strikes against empty nest syndrome.
Who knows, maybe they're right.Thanks in advance to those who own and moderate the forum. I look forward to learning lots.
Casey, Sarah, Casper & Peaches
and 
Glad you joined. Looking forward to seeing pictures of your animals.
