SIX MORE DAYS UNTIL NIMBUS'S BIRTHDAY!
To keep Nimbus engaged and create a stronger bond with him, I've started teaching him a new trick.
He's learning to kiss on command through a reward system of Cheerios. The first night (Jan 30) we began training, Nimbus picked up it surprisingly fast. He could clearly see that there was a Cheerio in my hand, but he also noticed that he couldn't have that Cheerio until he completed a specific action. Earlier, he'd been sitting quite still on the couch arm, so I walked up and started pecking him on the lips. When Chris handed me Cheerios, I left my face close to Nimbus's and said "Kiss" repeatedly. It didn't take long before Nimbus put 2 and 2 together to win his favorite treat.
Since then, we've practiced it each night. Here's a video of our progression from this morning. We've also started working on "Up."
He doesn't yet understand performing a kiss without an type of reward before him. However, with the repetition of the word "Kiss," I'm hoping he'll store this word in his memory and learn its meaning. Just like he knows what "Nimbus" means.
* * * *
In other news, I'm excited to travel to the western side of Kentucky next week. I've never spent time in Kentucky before, only passed through on other excursions, and am looking forward to checking out the town of Paducah. It seems like a great little spot in the Central time zone. I have a job interview there at a newspaper for their open reporter position. Hopefully, the weather will behave, and I can make it out there safely. It'll be a nice mini vacation as I get to stay the night. However, I hate being away from Nimbus. It'll be his second to last night before his final check-up at the vet. We're counting down the days.
Also, (this may interest some of you), Chris and I are reading up on different animals every day. While I despised homework, I do miss walking into a classroom and learning something new. Whether Chris enjoys it or not, he gets to listen to me read about three different animals a day in alphabetical order. For me, the knowledge is key if I ever change career paths to work with wild animals like the big cats or canines in the future. I also enjoy reading up on mammals, birds, reptiles and so forth to appease my love of nature. If you'd like to keep up with us, here are Wikipedia links to the animals we read about: Aardwolf, African Buffalo, Akita, African Black Crake (bird), Alaskan Malamute, and Albatross. We clearly read more than usual. It's been a relatively slow day.
As always, thank you for reading!!! Nimbus is doing brilliantly well in his recovery, and we're hoping future posts have happy, funny stories instead of medical setbacks and updates.
Follow us on Twitter @ChillWithNimbus
No comments:
Post a Comment