It is very difficult for me to wrap my mind around the domestication of non-human animals. Imagine! 20,000 years ago, humans began to do that. And it changed the world.
In the present, are we not fascinated when we think on it that, even now, wild animals are most often not living in our homes. Non-human primates look like fun, but they were never meant to live a human sort of life. And all too often, he their lives do not have a happy ending. Zoos – particularly petting zoos – are the place to get up close and personal.
The most common pets are cats and dogs. If kittens are left to their mothers too long and without being handled by humans, they do not usually make good pets. Puppies are, after all, dogs. Unless they are mistreated, dogs usually make wonderful pets, depending on breed and intelligence.
It always strikes me as something marvelous that when I call my cat, she runs to me immediately. Please note: It has nothing to do with food: She eats only kibble which is available at all times.
Dogs are most easily trained, and a treat may be the best way to train a dog. To train cats is something else altogether.
Watch what a cat does on his or her own. If you enjoy the activity, let the cat know that with a bit of something to entice the cat until the event or trick is automatic when whatever the treat is on offer. This can be tricky. Cats are not the pushovers that dogs usually are. My cat turns up her nose at any so-called treat. She’s simply not interested. I’ve never met a dog who didn’t go bonkers over a bit of this ’n that, sometimes a revolting bit of this 'n that
Horses are most often quite large, even the more delicate Arabians. And, after all, even the smallest horse has teeth and hooves and it pays to know what is required. Slow and easy conversation along with petting - and starting on a youngster - usually gets the best results. If you want to give horses treats, be sure they will not get him or her “hot,” as with too much sweet feed. Carrots and apples need to be cut up: Yes, they do. Feeding treats will not really endear you to a horse because their walnut sized brains don’t function that way. Not to fret, their hearts are enormous, which is where “That horse has heart” comes from. Yes, ya gotta have heart.
What’s my point? I continue to marvel that having pets (as in petting) has been available to humans for so very long. What we take for granted has been developed over more than twenty thousand years. Is that not remarkable?
Clearly, I found it so and that’s why I have remarked on it.
For the past seven-and-a-half years, I’ve had one cat. It was my experience that, with some exceptions - most often males - cats prefer the companionship of other cats. Now this singleton is quite dog-like (it’s okay, she’s asleep and won’t be miffed with my mentioning “dog”). She has a routine and knows when I’ve quit working at the computer and will sit in another chair to knit or read. While I’m in motion, she runs from the cat tree into the office and onto a lamp table to my left. I must then let her groom my left arm for she has nothing else to groom except herself. My arm is much more satisfying, evidently.
I’ve had thousand of requests for another blog. Oh-all-right! I’ve had six. As I’ve said on Facebook, I’ve been attached to the computer and finishing edits on one book and just sent a second book to the publisher. When the pub date is only a couple of weeks hence, I’ll say so on Facebook and here and on Amazon’s Opera Forum, maybe walk about in a sandwich board, have the name of the first book tattooed on my forehead… all suggestions are welcome. I love to write, however frustrating it can be.
In the first book, I had one conversation in triplet and another, in duplicate. Those errors happened in one revision after another. Are both books now perfect? I would guess not. But there it is. I’ll have no chance of editing A Taste for Truth, that’s a done deal. The next book will have a galley and I will be able to make changes there.
So! I’ve wandered around between domesticated animals in a small way, then managed to sashay into planting seeds of interest for two books. The best advertising is always accomplished by word of mouth.
In the present, are we not fascinated when we think on it that, even now, wild animals are most often not living in our homes. Non-human primates look like fun, but they were never meant to live a human sort of life. And all too often, he their lives do not have a happy ending. Zoos – particularly petting zoos – are the place to get up close and personal.
The most common pets are cats and dogs. If kittens are left to their mothers too long and without being handled by humans, they do not usually make good pets. Puppies are, after all, dogs. Unless they are mistreated, dogs usually make wonderful pets, depending on breed and intelligence.
It always strikes me as something marvelous that when I call my cat, she runs to me immediately. Please note: It has nothing to do with food: She eats only kibble which is available at all times.
Dogs are most easily trained, and a treat may be the best way to train a dog. To train cats is something else altogether.
Watch what a cat does on his or her own. If you enjoy the activity, let the cat know that with a bit of something to entice the cat until the event or trick is automatic when whatever the treat is on offer. This can be tricky. Cats are not the pushovers that dogs usually are. My cat turns up her nose at any so-called treat. She’s simply not interested. I’ve never met a dog who didn’t go bonkers over a bit of this ’n that, sometimes a revolting bit of this 'n that
Horses are most often quite large, even the more delicate Arabians. And, after all, even the smallest horse has teeth and hooves and it pays to know what is required. Slow and easy conversation along with petting - and starting on a youngster - usually gets the best results. If you want to give horses treats, be sure they will not get him or her “hot,” as with too much sweet feed. Carrots and apples need to be cut up: Yes, they do. Feeding treats will not really endear you to a horse because their walnut sized brains don’t function that way. Not to fret, their hearts are enormous, which is where “That horse has heart” comes from. Yes, ya gotta have heart.
What’s my point? I continue to marvel that having pets (as in petting) has been available to humans for so very long. What we take for granted has been developed over more than twenty thousand years. Is that not remarkable?
Clearly, I found it so and that’s why I have remarked on it.
For the past seven-and-a-half years, I’ve had one cat. It was my experience that, with some exceptions - most often males - cats prefer the companionship of other cats. Now this singleton is quite dog-like (it’s okay, she’s asleep and won’t be miffed with my mentioning “dog”). She has a routine and knows when I’ve quit working at the computer and will sit in another chair to knit or read. While I’m in motion, she runs from the cat tree into the office and onto a lamp table to my left. I must then let her groom my left arm for she has nothing else to groom except herself. My arm is much more satisfying, evidently.
I’ve had thousand of requests for another blog. Oh-all-right! I’ve had six. As I’ve said on Facebook, I’ve been attached to the computer and finishing edits on one book and just sent a second book to the publisher. When the pub date is only a couple of weeks hence, I’ll say so on Facebook and here and on Amazon’s Opera Forum, maybe walk about in a sandwich board, have the name of the first book tattooed on my forehead… all suggestions are welcome. I love to write, however frustrating it can be.
In the first book, I had one conversation in triplet and another, in duplicate. Those errors happened in one revision after another. Are both books now perfect? I would guess not. But there it is. I’ll have no chance of editing A Taste for Truth, that’s a done deal. The next book will have a galley and I will be able to make changes there.
So! I’ve wandered around between domesticated animals in a small way, then managed to sashay into planting seeds of interest for two books. The best advertising is always accomplished by word of mouth.