Training Toby

Toby is HAWS official shelter cat.  We decided to keep him last spring when it became apparent that he had a chronic upper respiratory condition and felt that he would be difficult to place because of it.  Besides, we kind of liked having Toby around.  He's very friendly, entertaining and our staff and volunteers feel a great deal of affection for him.

From Toby's point of view being HAWS shelter cat is a good deal.  He gets to watch the adoptable rodents, get attention from dozens of people each day, has fun running around the building, and finds all sorts of ways to get himself into trouble.  Trouble usually means finding things to eat, which now that he's a whopping 17 pounds means that he's officially on a strict diet.  On the plus side all the staff has been instructed to play with him more frequently so that he gets more exercise.  The number of Toby designated laser pointers and fishing pole toys scattered around the building is amazing!

When HAWS officially decided to keep him I had it at the back of my mind that he would also make an excellent education cat.  With his outgoing personality he will be great at visiting schools and other facilities.  I knew, however, that there would be some skills that Toby would need in order for this to be as stress free as possible.

The skills I had in mind were to go in a crate on cue, come when called, and walk on a harness. And that meant I'd need to train him to do these things.  I'm a dog trainer, and haven't ever trained a cat, but I was up for the challenge.

Our training program started last month, and I ended up deciding against the harness training because I'm not sure it will be necessary.  He has such a great recall and his visits will all be inside.  

A few things I've learned about training cats.

1) Keep the sessions short.   Initially I had Toby's attention for about 30 seconds.  Now we can do sessions as long as 3 minutes, but past that and he'd just plain done.

2) Find what they love, and use that as a reinforcer.  Toby loves food and that's what I was originally going to use for all his behaviors.  But I discovered that while tuna worked great for teaching him to go into his crate on cue, he wasn't interested in coming for tuna when I called him to come.  For that he would much rather have play time.  So I carry around a laser pointer so that I can reinforce him when he comes when I call him.  (Other staff have started doing the same that he'll come no matter who calls him.)

3) They will surprise you.  I had really thought it would be hard to get Toby to go into a crate on cue, but I had him willingly going in after just 2 training sessions.  The hard part was getting him to come out of it once he's made himself comfortable.

Here's a video of today's training session.

 
First Section:  I called Toby to come to me, and his reward is getting the chase the laser light for a few seconds.

Second section:  Not only am I asking him to go in the crate, but I've conditioned him to not be concerned when the door closes, and we're just starting to work on my picking the crate up.  This will be important if he's going to enjoy going to schools because I'll be carrying him to and from the car.

Third Section:  I'm working on teaching him to weave through my legs.  I figure people will be amazed if Toby knows a few tricks, and it will be a great way to demonstrate that any animal can be trained!

Victims of the Backyard Chicken Movement

Increasingly we're becoming more educated about our impact on the environment, and more concerned about what our families are eating.  Urban farming is becoming more popular as people want to know where their food comes from, and ensure that the food they eat doesn't leave a carbon footprint. 

Part of the urban farming movement is getting backyard chickens, and some cities have passed ordinances allowing limited numbers of chickens to be raised in a person's backyard.  What could be better than knowing that the eggs you're eating came from the hens you're raising and not transported in a way that causes carbon emissions? 

Additionally many people like the idea that their backyard chickens live a pampered life and aren't subjected to the crowded, filthy and inhumane environment of chickens in a factory farm that produce the eggs we purchase in store. 

One of the problems with backyard chickens is that most municipalities that allow it have a prohibition against roosters since they are very noisy.  Roosters don't just crow at the crack of dawn, they start their crowing at the crack of dawn and continue throughout the day.  That type of noise is unwelcome in an urban or suburban environment.  The hatcherys that sell chicks can only give a 90% guarantee that the chicks they are selling will be hens, and not roosters.  This means that a person ordering several chicks runs a very real risk of one of them growing up to be a rooster, and will face a difficult decision as to what to do with him when that happens. 

Increasingly HAWS has become a solution for some suburban backyard chicken fanciers in Waukesha County.  A few weeks ago we had a woman surrender her rooster when it became old enough it was apparent it was a male.  Last week 5 roosters were abandoned in a box in Menomonee Falls.  A few days ago a man brought in another rooster that someone had dumped at his farm.

Unfortunately some people who want to do a good thing by humanely raising chickens and knowing where their eggs come from are behaving in an irresponsible manner as a consequence of their hobby.   If someone wants to get chickens they should do their research and know what they are getting themselves into beforehand.  If they don't want to risk getting a rooster then older chickens should be purchased.  And if they get chicks they should have a clear plan as to what will happen if one or more turns out to be a rooster, and be responsible enough not to give it to an animal shelter. 

Critter Club meets Camp

HAWS Kids 'N Critters Summer Camp ended last week after a 10 week run.  One of the things that made it especially wonderful was that we had three dedicated volunteers from our school year Critter Club helping out our camp staff.  While Camden, Melissa and Mia didn't come every day, these teens probably came about half the time -- which is incredible considering how kids generally look forward to the freedom that summer vacation can give them!

Our volunteers helped clean up after campers, ran games with the kids, got supplies and animals for the counselors, and helped with supervision.  They were enthusiastic and went above and beyond our expectations!

At the end of camp we gave them each thank you cards signed by each of the staff along with a gift card for $10 to Culvers.  I wanted them to know how much we truly appreciated their hard work, dedication and sacrifice of part of their summer, and hoped the cards made them feel appreciated.

I was truly touched at their reactions.  Mia became teary eyed, Melissa objected to the gift card because she kept saying that she was volunteering as a camp assistant because she enjoyed it, not because she expected to get anything, and Camden also said that he enjoyed coming and helping out at HAWS.  All three were very surprised and touched by their thank yous, and that made it worth it. 

My hope is that our gratitude made an impression on them and they understand how valued they are. 

Guest Blogger from "Science with the Animals"

Hi, my name is Madi Edens and I’ve been a part of different HAWS Education programs for about seven years and have recently started being a camp volunteer.  This week I’m in a fairly new camp called “Science with the Animals.” This camp is like a regular Kids ‘N Critters Camp but has more scientific activities. Some of these activities include looking at mites/parasites under microscopes, watching a surgery performed by HAWS veterinarians, learning about animal anatomy, and conducting our own experiments after  learning about the scientific method. We have to come up with a experiment ourselves and decide how we’re going to conduct it.

Khris gave us a PowerPoint on the first day of camp that showcased the scientific method. Following this PowerPoint were videos of different experiments researchers have done with dogs, birds and chimpanzees. One of the studies that interested me was one that focused on how dogs pay attention to us and the signals we give them. In this study, people would put dogs in a sit/stay a couple feet away from a chair and two cups. The person would then sit on the chair, give the dog a release word and point to one of the cups. They found that dogs almost always go to the cup that was pointed at. This is something that even chimps don’t do even though they are thought to think more like humans than any other animal. 

As I mentioned earlier this camp is newer as it was for the first time last summer and I’ll admit my group didn’t do so well with our experiment then. This year however, we knew what we were doing and conducted an interesting experiment. The experience we did was based off of the one in the video we saw. We decided to see whether cats or dogs respond better to pointing. Our hypothesis was that dogs would respond better. We tried to eliminate variables by using the same treats and cups for both the dogs and the cats, and making sure that we did say anything to the animal or move our hands around while pointing. 

What we found at the end of our research proved our hypothesis. There was a 100% success rate with the dogs and only a 62.5% success rate with the cats. We found it interesting that cats had such a lower success rate. While dogs were thought to be domesticated first, cats have still been around humans for a LONG time. I feel as that the independent nature of cats factors into why they didn’t respond as well to pointing as the dogs did. Since cats don’t rely on us as much as dogs they may not be as in tune to what we are doing or showing them.

Activities like this are one of the many reasons I love coming to camp. Not only do we get to come up with and perform our own experiment, we get to think about why we see the results we do and make conclusions based on these results. This was just one small activity in science camp but it made us think outside the box and figure out why the results ended up how they did. Who knows, maybe years down the road a camper will think back to their experiment and decide to look further into it?

Birthdays! (that is plural!)

HAWS recently celebrated our 50th birthday.  50 years ago a group of kind hearted Waukesha County Residents decided that something needed to be done for the stray and unwanted animals in the community, and created an animal shelter.

Eva Metrusias has been a Kids 'N Critters Camp attendee for the last several years.  This week is her second session attending our Camp Gone to the Dogs.  We know what a wonderful kid she is, and always enjoy seeing her at camp.

However today Eva gave proof that younger generations are just as kind hearted as those who started HAWS half a century ago.  She came to camp with her mother and brother carrying a lot of donations for HAWS.  When I asked her about how she was able to collect so much for us, Eva told me that her birthday was earlier this week and she asked for donations to HAWS in lieu of presents.

So Happy 12th Birthday Eva!  And thank you so much for sharing your birthday with HAWS!

Getting Caught Up

It's been a busy month in the education department at HAWS.  This is one of our busiest times of the year.  Scout troops call in droves to set up tours, school have us come out for multiple sessions of their High Interest Days, and additionally we still do the regularly scheduled programs and start planning for our summer camp.

Just before Easter HAWS hosted students from Waukesha South High School for a morning of learning about HAWS.  The Veterinary Science Initiative (VSI) program provides science based curriculum for high school teachers to use and ends with a shelter visit.  It's a great way to get humane education into the high schools while at the same time adhering to instruction standards. 

The students learned about what our staff do on intake -- check for parasites, and evaluate over all health.  They had an opportunity to observe surgery, learning about canine body language and get a feel for what a typical day in a shelter is like. 

After Easter we held our Spring Break Camp for 14 students from Whittier Elementary School.  The kids were able to learn about different aspects of animal welfare, and participate in a stolen dog CSI activity.  Luckily the dog was found safe and sound due to the sleuthing abilities of the students to match up fingerprints and hair samples. 

What's next?  Getting our Critter Club to put together activities for our annual Pet Walk on May 2 being held at Sussex Village Park.  Hope to see you there!

Elephants Leaving the Big Top

One of the concepts I try to educate students about is the difference between tame and domesticated animals.

A tame animal is one that is relatively tolerant of humans.  A wild animal can be tame if it has a lot of positive exposure to humans, although it is still a wild animal with all of it's instincts and behaviors intact.  Unfortunately there are many examples of tame animals turning on their handlers/owners -- from Roy Horn (Siegfried & Roy) being attacked by his tiger during a performance to the woman who was attacked by a friend's pet chimpanzee and had her face and hands ripped off.

A domesticated animal is different than a tame animal.  Domestication is a process whereby humans genetically change an organism to meet their needs.  When an animal is domesticated it loses many of it's natural behaviors and instincts, and tends to be able to be tamed much easier when socialized from a young age.

For years I have opposed traditional circuses that use tamed, wild animals to entertain audiences through trained performances.  A large part of my opposition is due to the fact it has been documented that many of these animals are trained using highly aversive and abusive methods.  These methods are unnecessary -- through my own education I know that it's possible to train any animal through the use of positive methods.

A bigger concern is that circus animals cannot have the proper environment and enrichment to thrive and engage in their natural behaviors.  When traveling from location to location animals are transported on a train.  In between performances on the road elephants are chained by shackles on their feet.  Wild cats are kept in barred cages much smaller than even the habitats that good zoos use to house their big cats -- which is smaller than what their habitat would in the wild.

 
Humans share the earth with many other species.  As the dominant species we have a responsibility to care for the earth and make choices that not only benefit us, but that treat animals in a humane manner.  Using animals solely for the purpose of entertainment when it doesn't benefit the individual animal nor the rest of their species is, in my opinion, immoral.    Additionally it sends the wrong message to children - that wild animals should be something to be entertained by, and not respected. 

Recently Ringling Bros. recently announced that they are eliminating their elephant acts, and will phase them out by the year 2018.    Although too long in coming, this is a bit of welcome news.  Now Ringling just needs to commit to eliminate all of their wild animal acts.