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Animal Talk helping people with their pets. Celebrity interviews, fun, skits, news, pet products, training tip, environmental issues, Animal Talk, it’s America’s Pet Show! Jamie Flanagan and animal behaviorist, Brian Donovan are here to help you with your pets. We get help from Vets on medical issues. Throw in celebrity interviews, animal profiles, trivia questions, product give-a-ways, comedy skits, and most important of all, great listener interaction you then have a pet phenomenon not to be missed.
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Facing Fears and Furry Friends: Alligators & Cats - Episode 204
Rewind back to Sunday 5-13-2006 (Saturday show)
In the episode you will hear
Jamie
Donna
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Animal Talk, it’s America’s Pet Show!
Jamie Flanagan
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Thanks for listening and as always... Have an exotic week and kiss your wild thing for me.
Send your pet photos in now and we will add your fur kids to the #PetParade. jamie@animaltalkradio.com
Should I put a bell on my cat?
Ever wondered what it's like to face your biggest fears head-on, like alligators and gigantic bugs? This week, we kick things off with some light-hearted banter about our recent experiences—Donna's busy week with report cards and my sun-soaked trip to Florida—and how contrasting climates bring out contrasting critters. Prepare to laugh as we share our amusing yet terrifying stories about alligators and the eerie nocturnal exhibit at the Henry Doorly Zoo. Together, we discover how our reactions to fear can be influenced by the presence of others, making our tales even more relatable and entertaining.
Our excitement peaks as we dive into the Pet Parade feature on our website, allowing listeners to showcase their beloved pets. We tackle a listener's question on integrating a stray cat into their home and provide practical tips to keep your new feline friend indoors without dreaded bath-time battles. Remembering Cesar Millan’s guest appearance on our show, we delight in his respectful portrayal on South Park—a nostalgic nod that pet lovers and fans alike will appreciate.
Finally, we shift focus to our quirky cats and their unique behaviors. I recount a funny yet sad story about Ratio, my cat who's terrified of his jingly bell collar, and offer advice on using bells for multiple cats. We’re amazed by Pika, another cat who fetches objects on command and responds to specific gestures, sharing tips on training pets to follow pointing gestures. We wrap up our entertaining episode with amusing anecdotes about our pets, encouraging listeners to check out some cool pet gear and to spread the love for their furry friends. Join us for a fun and heartwarming episode that's sure to brighten your day!
Hey, there's the music. That means it's time for Animal Talk. Some of the best doggone pet people on the planet helping you with your pet, one pooch at a time. It's America's pet show, animal Talk. Thanks for being with us. Be sure to like, subscribe, leave a comment, do all those podcast things In all the podcast places. We truly appreciate you coming around.
Speaker 1:Animaltalkradiocom is the website and, of course, wearingfunnycom if you're looking for some gear, some pet parent gear, some funny T-shirts, they're all there. They're available for you. Appreciate our sponsor, wearingfunnycom. Great place. Go check them out. And for your pet health and information, you're in the right spot we're going to out. And for your pet health and information, you're in the right spot. We're gonna help you out. We have years and years of animal calls and emails and interviews and we're sharing them all you with you on these animal talk rewires. Now, animal talk, it is for entertainment purposes only. So make sure you check with your local veterinarian, your local trainer, if you have any issues coming up, and we're here to help. Our professionals always got great ideas too. So here we go Having a little bit of fun. It's Animal Talk. Donna, how have you been this week?
Speaker 2:Oh fine yeah, Busy yeah.
Speaker 1:I had report cards due, so I don't know my brain is dried.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, you know, I'm still on florida living, so it's a little hard to come home and then have this weather, oh yeah, when I'm sitting in, you know. I get off the plane and I'm in 90, you know 95 or something degree weather going to the beach. And then I come home and it's 50 what did?
Speaker 1:what did the comedian say last night? Uh yeah, I'll take the crummy weather in the Midwest over the hurricanes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well see, yeah, why do you live in?
Speaker 1:the Midwest. It's so gloomy and gray.
Speaker 2:But our bugs are also normal size.
Speaker 1:But we don't have a hurricane.
Speaker 2:And that's the other thing. Our bugs are normal size. Because I saw some of the biggest bugs I have ever seen in my life while I was down there, you bugs I have ever seen in my life.
Speaker 1:While I was down there, you're like you need to pay for rent, dude.
Speaker 2:I'm not kidding, they were huge and ugly and I don't like bugs. That and you know I'm paranoid driving from the airport to the hotel that I was staying in and I'm driving through pretty much swampland and I'm paranoid that an alligator is going to come out at any moment and like be you, be, I don't know.
Speaker 1:Somehow in my way, See, the alligators scare me too. I'm terrified of an alligator. I'm fascinated because there's this in Florida down the one highway they call Alligator Alley and it's like a highway, like any four-lane median highway, and there's swamps in the middle and on the sides. Yeah, that's kind of where I was driving, but there's this little offshoot from the alligator that they call that alligator alley. There's this little offshoot and seriously it's like a dirt road you know, and it goes for several miles.
Speaker 2:I would not be able to be in the car by myself.
Speaker 1:It runs parallel with the highway, but you're just driving through and there's, I mean, and every two feet there's another gator.
Speaker 2:I would be sitting in somebody's lap at that moment because I would be so freaked out.
Speaker 1:Our assistant producers, Joanne and Rich, who help us with equine questions. We were down there together and we were in the convertible, so we had the top down on the convertible. I would have asked to be put in the trunk at that point, oh my God, it was so cool, I mean, and they scare me too.
Speaker 1:You can see I'm cringing and doubling over there, but it's just Couldn't do it, I couldn't do it. Well, it's like, you see, they're small ones, right. It's like you see this, they're small ones, right, you know. It's like two feet long, you know, with the head to nose. I mean tail to nose.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but they could still take off a foot.
Speaker 1:Right. But you go out there and you look and you're like oh, look at the little baby gay, isn't he cute, you know. And then you drive up a little bit and there's one that's a little bigger and you're like okay, and not seen him.
Speaker 2:Well, when I was at the Henry Doorly Zoo, they have this. I'm just an accident waiting to happen really yeah, they have this basement thing for creatures of the night.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh. And you're walking. Are they showing the Phantom of the Opera down there?
Speaker 2:No, I was expecting like bats and you know some of the nocturnal critters. And all of a sudden I'm in the middle of a swamp and there's alligators everywhere and I can't turn around and go back. I have to keep moving forward and I am terrified. I've got no one to hang on to because I'm there by myself and I was so terrified.
Speaker 1:I was clinging on to it. Ma'am, are you alright? I will be.
Speaker 2:See, the thing too is with me, as long as somebody else is panicking.
Speaker 1:I don't have to.
Speaker 2:And there were two little girls behind me that were screaming every few seconds. So, I was like, okay, as long as they're making all the noise and I stay ahead of them, I'm okay so I was able. They look like the wimps well, no, they, they're the ones that are drawing attention to themselves they become dinner right oh I'm safe I thought you were just talking.
Speaker 2:The embarrassment factor of people seeing you well, no, because it's all dark, you couldn't see anything I did I did stop at one point and try to take a picture, because one of the things that that I try to do is is I try to conquer my fears and so I try to to deal with situations like that right and and traveling by myself really helps me deal with situations like that that I'm actually scared of.
Speaker 2:So that was I. I made myself stop and take a picture of the alligators that were down there, and just so that you know I'm shaking the whole time and the picture didn't come out. But you know I tried but it is. It's like. Did it help you get over your?
Speaker 1:fear. No, okay, excellent, no.
Speaker 2:Like I said, if I would have been in that car, I either would have been in somebody's lap or asked to be in the trunk.
Speaker 1:So that I didn't have to deal with it. It's the large insects that freak me out, yeah.
Speaker 2:I'm not big on that either.
Speaker 1:We're going to help you with your pet and we want to know what is your animal phobia. That's what we want to know today. What is your animal phobia? Me, it's the big bugs. It's the big, scary, nasty bugs, and they're frightening to me. So what scares you the most and what do you do about it? How do you conquer that fear? You know me, it's like I can't call you know, go kill the bug for me. Kirby's not going to do it.
Speaker 1:You know, if it's a spider, he might bat it around and then eat it.
Speaker 2:Oh, Alonia Soda, she's the bug killer in the house.
Speaker 1:Yeah, but the big bugs freak me out a little bit.
Speaker 2:Oh then there's some big, big, big bugs in Florida, not as bad as Texas, I mean, when I was in Texas, Don't mess with Texas. No, everything's big in Texas. Seriously, when you go to a restaurant, you get food that'll feed six people just on your plate. Don't mess with texas. They're, they're. Everything is big down there, and the bugs are no exception when I is it.
Speaker 1:Is it technically messing with texas? Saying don't mess with texas?
Speaker 2:probably, okay, probably but they they had. Um, I walked into my hotel room and I checked my hotel room out to make sure there were no bugs, because if there's bugs, I'm not sleeping there right right, and so I checked everything out and it was fine, and then I left to do the seminar and I came back later that night because we were we were gone all all day doing the seminar and then went out to dinner and then came back to the room.
Speaker 2:Somebody moved in somebody moved into the toilet, oh and so I would not donna doesn't get to go for a weekend I, I would go. They had a public restroom in the lobby that I was using because I couldn't flush that toilet enough. I was not going to use it. There was just not going to happen.
Speaker 1:You are just chock full of phobias.
Speaker 2:Yes, I am 800?
Speaker 1:I really am.
Speaker 2:But see, you guys think I'm all strong and brave and everything, and I'm really not. That's an excellent facade you have going there. All right we were ranting and raving about our field, phobias.
Speaker 1:We were ranting. Donna's afraid of gators. Mm-hmm, crocs too, or just?
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, yeah, Because actually my coworker Blair, she knows somebody who was eaten by a crocodile in Africa.
Speaker 1:So, by proxy, are you somewhat frightened of Elton John as well? Of course rock. Well, no, that I have other issues with elm jones. Okay, no, it's not because of the song. It's the hair it's gone, it's back. It's the glasses he's a muppet, he's not real.
Speaker 1:No, I'm with you on that one no gators crocs he's got like a bazillion god children. He's like every celebrity's godfather and because he can buy them like everything yeah, and he does, and that's that, and that's what he said. He said when he, when he passes away, he's, he, he's worth, like you know, several, several of billions of dollars he's gonna divide it up among all his god kids. But he's seriously, he's got like 20 or something ridiculous like that anyway, we digressed into elton john.
Speaker 2:Here I just I was.
Speaker 1:I was fascinated by that on the tv the other day. But bugs phobias, I'm scared of Elton John and big bugs, because they look like Elton John when they wear glasses. No, I don't know, but I'm afraid of big bugs. Donna's afraid of gators and pretty much everything else except dogs and cats Things with fur you're okay with.
Speaker 2:And birds. I'm okay with birds.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, for the most part. I'm not a big fan of macaws. My friend jenny birds.
Speaker 2:Any bird feathers freak her out it's, it's the ones that could take a finger off. Those are the ones I'm scared of yeah but other than that, you know, I don't have a problem finches yeah, forget about it well, no most I eat finches for breakfast most wildlife, I don't have a problem with it's just the ones that could eat me Right right, right.
Speaker 1:And if bears weren't mean, you would probably love to just go up and hug them and cuddle them.
Speaker 2:Black bears. I don't like grizzlies.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's right.
Speaker 2:You said they look stupid, they do and I know that's so mean, but they just look stupid.
Speaker 1:Alright, I have to take a moment and apologize To all the grizzly bears listening. You guys don't really look stupid. Okay, they do, they do.
Speaker 2:They do. I can't help it. They just look like there's no.
Speaker 1:You've got to walk to your car by yourself tonight because the grizzly's coming after me. All right, visit our website, animaltalkradiocom. You can always send us emails from the website. You can check out the Pet Parade, which is a parade of your pets. You send us a photo of your pet to jamie at animaltalkradiocom. We'll get the picture of your pet into the Pet Parade and you show off your critter and it's kind of like yay for my, you know our pets are up there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my sister's cat is up there, and my nephew sent me an email because he was all excited that his cat was up there and he's like oh, it's my kitty. He was all happy. He's like how did they get that picture? How did he get that picture? I'm like Jamie snuck into your house and took a picture of your cat. And he kind of sat there and he looked at me for a minute. Or your aunt gave it to him yeah and he's like no, I really don't think that happened.
Speaker 1:Good, you know I have a question. We get back to you 24, 48 hours and we like to get to a few on the weekend as well. So we have one right here and Donna is laughing hysterically at Brad's cartoons.
Speaker 2:That's good and that's very apropos.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because they probably. Yeah, all right, and I have an email right here, dear Animal Talk.
Speaker 2:A chain letter. I touched it. I touched it, ah no.
Speaker 1:No All right.
Speaker 1:Hey, I bought a stray cat into my house. I just love him. However, he doesn't want to stay in the house. I'm guessing he's about a year old. He never leaves, he just likes being outside. We're moving to a new place, but it's only a few hundred yards away. What can we do to keep him in the house so he doesn't leave us by getting confused and going to the wrong house our old one? Also, should we have him declawed, seeing as he likes to be outside so much? He's very good with our three-year-old. He's never even scratched the kid and even with the kid abusing him the way he does, the child just loves the cat. I listen every week, but I'll try to listen and please help.
Speaker 2:Well, basically the best way to keep a cat in would be to set up the door so that it's an unappealing place to be. Easiest way to do that. Cats really hate to have things stuck to their feet. So if you took a double-sided sticky tape on newspaper, put that in front of the door and then when the kitty, when the kitty goes to the, to the door, he's going to step on it and then he's going to go running, because then the paper chases them. They don't like it. You could use water.
Speaker 2:I I hate to use water, because some people really do need to bathe the cat right from time to time, and if you make water an unpleasant thing, then bath time becomes unpleasant as well right so it's best if if you try to do something that just keeps them away from the door in general, and that I find that the double-sided sticky tape with the newspaper seems to work the best, because they really don't like that.
Speaker 1:And it's really actually quite comical if you set up the video camera and watch them.
Speaker 2:Or if you have lint rollers, peel off a couple of the lint rollers and place them. Yeah, I did that with my youngest one to keep her away from the garbage. So I emptied out the trash can that I have in the living room and I emptied that out and I put those on the bottom and she normally would dive into it.
Speaker 2:So, she dove into it, ended up getting stuck to the bottom and then tried to run away and they were following her. So she hasn't gone back to that trash can since she's not liking it.
Speaker 1:No longer a playground.
Speaker 2:Nope, nope. So tape works wonders? It really does, and it's just you know, as they're learning.
Speaker 1:Amusing for you, absolutely. And we'll talk radiocom Also on our website links to our podcast. You can hear previous renditions and editions of the show. There's a cool links page. We had Cesar Millan the dog whisperer from the National Geographic channel on a couple weeks back and you can just check the cool links page and see what week he was on and you can download the Cesar Millan interview. He's so cool, it was so funny we had him on. And then the very next week he was on South Park. Yes, I'm like how trendy are we?
Speaker 2:Yeah, we started it, wow. Well, you know, and that was my thing, the whole South Park thing.
Speaker 1:I said that the guys did that just for me because I'm a fan that was so funny it was, and they were very respectful too, which I really did appreciate. I don't think it was him.
Speaker 2:No, it was making fun of one of the characters, but they were very respectful.
Speaker 1:No, I don't think it was actually Caesar from the Voice?
Speaker 2:No, no, he was promoting it on his site.
Speaker 1:They had him down. It was so good. All right, your calls are next. Hey, it's Jamie. I'm going to hop on in here and remind you about our sponsor, wearingfunnycom WearingFunnycom for all your pet parent t-shirt needs. Head on over to WearingFunnycom and check out the vast array of amazing, hilarious t-shirts thoughtful, cuddly and cute for you and your kitties and your puppies. And, hey, we take requests. If you have a critter that we don't have represented, let us know. We'll get you connected with just the perfect shirt for you and your critters, showing your love for being the best pet parent you can possibly be WearingFunnycom. Back to the show, talking about Cesar Millan being on with us a couple weeks back and you can get the previous copies of the show.
Speaker 1:I'm our podcaster. You can go to our site, animaltalkradiocom, and get the links from there and find out exactly what was on which particular week. Last week we had Brie Larson from the new movie Hoot yeah what was that?
Speaker 1:movie. How was that movie? My students that went to see it said it was really good. It was very family friendly, a very decent movie with a nice little eco message in it. You know I mean it's not gone with the wind or anything, but it was a good movie. So it was a good family movie. It's at animaltalkradiocom and we will help you with your pet. We have one right here, dear Animal Talk.
Speaker 2:What's your email this morning, Mulder?
Speaker 1:I don't know why. Alright, now I missed it. Where'd it go? Come back to me.
Speaker 1:Okay, a month ago I adopted a cat. The same day she got spayed after 24 hours I let her out of the carrying case and she ran under the couch. After two weeks my boyfriend flipped over the couches looking for her. He tried to pet her. She hissed at him and ran. She ran next to the radiator. He tried to touch her again. She peed and pooped all over the floor. I came home, tried to clean it up and she hissed and finally ran back onto the couch and only comes out at night to eat or use the litter box. I don't know what to do. Is this normal? Will she ever come back out? Help me, allie.
Speaker 2:Not necessarily. I mean, you've got the classic fraidy cat. This is something that we don't know, what type of life if she was exposed to people? Yeah, well, it's only eight months right and with the feral cat which it sounds like we have here dealing with a feral cat.
Speaker 2:You have to work with them, very small. What I would recommend is giving the cat a room, right, um, don't let them have whole run of the house. Give them one room, and I've worked with feral cats and this is the best way to do it. Give them one room where their food, their water feel safe. You can enter the room and just sit away from them. Don't keep coming at them.
Speaker 2:The more you come at them and try to force yourself on them the more they're going to retreat from you and they go into that fight or flight mode and if they can't get away, somebody's going to get hurt. What?
Speaker 1:if you were to withhold food for 24 hours or something and go in there with a can make a suit out of cat food? Yep, would it come to you, would it?
Speaker 2:come to you, then there's a good chance that they will um through food. Most things are possible.
Speaker 2:Some people have used cat food shirt yeah, that may not work out so well in the long run, um, but the idea is the same if you, if you put them in a room where they feel safe and secure. It's a quiet room. It's not a room that has a lot of noise. It's not next to the laundry room, it's nothing like that. And this kitty has a nice bed set up for them a cat bed, anything like that. It can look out the window, but it has access to food, water and litter box. Take away that food, like you said, for 24 hours, and then come in with a really nice, very odiferous can of cat food.
Speaker 1:You'll be king.
Speaker 2:Start off with just offering her small amounts and giving it to her very slowly and gradually. Let the cat come to you. The more you try to approach the cat and keep forcing yourself on this cat, the more you're going to stress this cat out. When you have a cat that's feral and has not learned to trust humans, you have to work very, very, very slowly with them, and this is going to take a long time.
Speaker 2:She may decide that you're okay but, nobody else is, so there is that possibility as well. I've worked with enough feral cats to have seen that happen. They'll bond, they'll finally go. Okay, I trust you, but anybody else comes in this room, I'm out of here.
Speaker 1:Right, right right.
Speaker 2:So give this kitty a place that they feel safe and comfortable in. The reason we're going under the couch is because that's where we feel safe and comfortable. We can back ourselves up to the wall and we can see in every direction. We know where the enemy is coming from If you give them a room where they start to feel comfortable first in that room and then gradually start introducing them. Once they learn to trust you, then gradually bring them out and about into the house.
Speaker 1:Okay, it's a slow process.
Speaker 2:It's a very slow process.
Speaker 1:I got really lucky with Kirby. He's a very you know. Most people you run into that'll have cats. Oh, my cat is so unique and it's so different. He's like a dog and he's like so friendly. I find that a lot of people have cats like that because cats are actually more social than a lot of people give them credit for Right right you have many scaredy cats, but I think the number of social cats probably actually outweigh the scaredy cats?
Speaker 2:Yeah, they have to be. I mean, if this kitten was brought into the rescue group or the Humane Society, wherever they got this kitty from, she said she adopted it. But if this kitty was four months or older when it first got brought into the system, into the rescue or the shelter. We have had four months of no human contact.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:We have had four months of our mother, also a feral cat, teaching us to run from humans. So this is a very strange thing for this cat. You know, we're big monsters, we're big predators coming at them, so they're going to stress out over it. This is just something that they're going to do, so you have to take it slow and always let the cat approach you.
Speaker 1:Don't force yourself on the cat. There you go, and that's the one thing. It works with women too. Yeah, you're forcing yourself on them. They don't. They run away from you, they push, they go, go away. You have to be aloof, figuring that out slow. And we wanted to know what your animal phobia was. Donna's afraid of gators. Me, the big, big bugs freak me out.
Speaker 2:So okay, what's your phobia? Praying mantis bug you.
Speaker 1:Yeah, a little bit actually walking stick they're very benign. No, those the walking sticks, they're like I can flick. Those praying mantis, though, are menacing, because I think they've been put into too many movies. I was waiting for it to blow up. You know, have some nuclear accident in my backyard and the thing be 20 feet tall and oh, they're good bugs well okay, if well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, see, that is the downside there. You know, the female in that bug isn't very nice to the male of that bug. But they're cool bugs. They're just neat to look at. They're very gentle too.
Speaker 1:Uh-huh.
Speaker 2:And I just had to ask because they're you know I mean a gator. There's nothing gentle about a gator. So I had to ask there, like lightning bugs do they bother you, the, the little lady, lady up bugs, lightning bugs. Um no, no, it's like I said big bugs, big bugs. It's like the, the big hairy spiders, cockroaches and centipedes, okay, scorpions yeah, yeah that's the only thing I'm kind of worried about going to phoenix is being around. You know, in a desert situation, there's, there's, going to be, there's going to be yeah.
Speaker 2:So I need to get a nice thick pair of hiking boots to protect me.
Speaker 1:The Chuck Taylors just won't be enough protection for you.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, a little thin.
Speaker 1:Kirby just came down. He joined my cat. His Kirby just came down, jumped on my lap. He's joining the show and he's got his little bell. We've got a person with an email question we're going to get to in just a minute that has a question about the cat and the bell and belling your cat. When I buy them at the store, I've just always been in the habit of buying the same collar. He'll go through it every two years. He'll break it because it's got the break-free collar.
Speaker 1:It has an elastic that'll break free if it gets caught on something and eventually it just wears out and breaks. But we have an email question about a cat and a bell and it's actually kind of funny.
Speaker 2:We're going to get that email question.
Speaker 1:Right after this and your calls, we're going to try this again, dear Animal Talk.
Speaker 2:Have you checked your email this morning, Mulder?
Speaker 1:There you go. I like that one. I have this stupid cat story. Cats are usually fairly smart. I have a cat named Ratio, got him a new collar and put it on him. It's red, reflective flashes and it has a loud jingly bell on it. The cat hates his bell on his collar. He always has. The louder they are, the worse it is. He runs around like a maniac trying to get away from the jingling. He acts as if it's another cat chasing him. It's kind of hilarious and kind of sad. Um, he's, he's afraid of his own collar. He hides, thinking it's another cat, but then he moves, it jingles and he runs away and tries to hide someplace else. Um, is there any way to train him to enjoy the bell on his collar? Please help.
Speaker 2:Probably not With this type. This is why we usually recommend the double-sided sticky tape and things like that, because it annoys the cat.
Speaker 1:Right.
Speaker 2:Some cats don't mind to have things like that, but some cats are more susceptible to not liking noises and sounds and different things like that. And you know if it's not been there since kittenhood and then all of a sudden it's there, it's a new thing.
Speaker 1:I tried that once with one of my, that's Kirby's little jingly bell there, that's my cat's little jingly bell.
Speaker 2:He didn't look too happy that you were messing with him.
Speaker 1:I was shaking his head to make it jingle no I wasn't. I wasn't, I wasn't make it jingle. No, I moved the microphone down. I was moving around, it was not.
Speaker 2:Yeah, he would see he's look at those ears. He's not happy with you right now, almost because his head is against the table all right I'm just abusing him, no, but really I mean there's, there's, really I can't see for a house cat any good reason, and don't take offense to that, but really what's the sense of the bell?
Speaker 1:I don't know, it just comes on the collar.
Speaker 2:Right, I never bothered with the bells because you know well, I probably should put a bell on my youngest one, because then everybody would know when she's about to attack. Yeah, so if you have multiple cats, that works out just fine, but if this cat is having that harsh of a reaction to it, just get rid of it yeah Just get rid of it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, just get rid of it, okay. What about your kitty?
Speaker 2:okay, the um smart cat pika prize cat box right, right right right, she adores this toy uh-huh and all of the little balls that come inside of it. She will find a way to get them out. Well, I've taught her how to put the balls back in okay, so that she can keep playing well now she. That is so cute she loads it up with anything she can find, puts it it in there, you batch it up.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I gave her a straw to play with and she will put the straw in the Pika Cat thing.
Speaker 1:the box Pika Prize.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you I always have a hard time with that, but she'll put it in there and then she'll take it out. Well, her newest thing that we started working on this week she fetches. Oh, fetches, oh no yes, she will bring me all of those balls when she gets them out. Um, that's the way I get her out of her crazy thing. But yeah, she'll and and she responds. I'm trying to teach her to respond to an actual command to it.
Speaker 2:So when I tell her but she, she will fetch she actually she is so willing to learn things I want to see and like I can direct her if I point at something, she'll jump up to wherever I've pointed so I want to see if I can get her to do if you, when you mean you point, does your finger have to be near the object?
Speaker 2:yeah, like right now I have to like. If I wanted her in the chair, I would point at the chair, but I'd have to be myself nearby the chair because again I go back to the phobias.
Speaker 1:Uh, they were talking about earlier, you're kind of afraid of crocodiles, I'm afraid of bugs, larger bugs, and, and kirby eats spiders and if there's a spider up on the wall I'll point at it. Go, go, Kirby, get the spider. And he'll look at my hand. I'm like no, follow the finger. Dogs will get that sometimes no, not always.
Speaker 2:I'm still working on that with my beagle, because I'll throw the ball and she won't see me throw the ball, so I'll start pointing.
Speaker 1:She looks at your hand.
Speaker 2:Yeah, she looks at my hand and so we're working on it. So then I'll actually keep my finger out and I'll keep pointing as we're walking over there, and then I'll actually point to the ball, so that she learns to follow. This is the direction. So she's starting to get that idea down now.
Speaker 2:I'll point and she'll look and then she'll start running over there and eventually she'll come across the ball. But that's the same thing. If you want him to get the spider, have him focus on your finger and then lead him to where you want him to go, because the spider is going to be the payoff.
Speaker 1:That's the reward for him.
Speaker 2:It's like ooh, something to chase, Exactly so he's going to have that payoff, so you don't even really have to reward him. You're rewarding.
Speaker 1:rewarding him just by showing him where it is and leading him to it, and then he'll be like yay so yeah, so what your little kitty you're pointing and to teach her how to fetch of like, go fetch that and and you're teaching oh, she brought me a lint roller uh-huh yeah, tape yesterday wow yeah, it was crumpled up and it was one of the um, one of the ones that she apparently had tucked away somewhere that I didn't know about and she brought that to me to throw last night and I'm like no, this goes into the garbage.
Speaker 1:This is garbage. Honey, you can have the ball.
Speaker 2:So we were throwing the ball for her and so she's learning and I want to try to teach her as many things as possible. So if you see a little blue kitty with orange, she's a blue tortie. If you see it on Petstar, that would be my baby.
Speaker 1:So, I'm working on it, I'm working on it. At least a stupid pet trick, absolutely, if not Petstar itself. Yes.
Speaker 2:I would like to have her. I want to teach her to walk a tightrope.
Speaker 1:I love seeing the trained cats.
Speaker 2:When little domestic cats can do tricks, I think it's the most amazing thing, because cats are a little more challenging to train, but Quinn is very outgoing, so I'm going to take it to my advantage and see how many things I can train her to do.
Speaker 1:Excellent.
Speaker 2:Oh no, yes, I always like to have a little fun along the way, I'm not that much of a diva or that music would have been changed by now.
Speaker 1:It's time for the Bad Animal J of the week. Who's bad? The bad animal joke of the week. This is a participatory one. Oh, okay, all right. Bad animal joke of the week. If you'd like to submit a bad animal joke, you send it to jamie atTalkRadiocom. Jamie at AnimalTalkRadiocom. The bad animal joke of the week Donna. Ask me if I'm a tiger, jamie, are you a tiger? Yep, okay. Ask me if I'm a kitten. Are you a kitten? No, I just told you I'm a tiger. That's the bad animal joke of the week.
Speaker 2:Oh, boy, that's pretty bad. You can lead people.
Speaker 1:Christina, age 10 in Pennsylvania, sent your bad animal joke in and we'll subject everybody else to it. Who's bad? That's right. Bad, bad, bad, bad animal jokes. I love the bad animal jokes. I do that. I'll play them for my kids.
Speaker 2:Do you really?
Speaker 1:Yeah, Because I get the show. I have access to the online thing and you could have access to the online show on our podcast.
Speaker 2:Oh, so you actually play portions of the show for them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'll play it for my kids.
Speaker 2:I'll fire journalism.
Speaker 1:So yeah and uh, so I'll fire up the bad animal joke for him one because I did it for one young lady because she was having a really bad day and I had just happened to have the thing open and so I played it for her and she laughed. I'm like I should do this for everybody, so I subject so you only subject them to the bad animal joke.
Speaker 2:You don't actually share the good stuff.
Speaker 1:No, that is the good stuff. I like it a lot.
Speaker 2:I'm just teasing. I know.
Speaker 1:So what I can't take my whole 90-minute block and play my show for them?
Speaker 2:Brilliant.
Speaker 1:I should.
Speaker 2:Teaching would be easy then wouldn't it yeah. This is how you do it. There you go Sit back and listen, go leave the room, read a book, make a couple phone calls Sorry no see You've been in my room. No, that's what most teachers do. I wish I could All right.
Speaker 1:Well, you know, sadly we. But, join us again next week. Can I have more fun? Always do so, join us. We appreciate you being with us, and John Beck at the GCN thanks for all the coordinating you do for us throughout the week and on the weekends. We appreciate that and always visit our website, animaltalkradiocom, to send your emails if something comes up during the week and we get back to you and try to answer those on the weekend as well. Donna, you have a fantastic week and everybody have an exotic week.
Speaker 2:And kiss you out. Thing for me.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being with us for another episode of Animal Talk. Make sure you do all those podcast things. In the podcast places Like subscribe, leave a comment. We hope you had a little fun along the way. Make sure you head on over to wearingfunnycom. You can grab yourself some gear to show off what a proud pet parent you are. Are you a cool cat mom? Are you a happy doggy daddy? We got all the gear just for you.
Speaker 1:Hats, shirts, all kinds of swag Wearingfunnycom. Go check it out and show yourself a little animal pride with animal Talk. Once again, like subscribe. Leave a comment. Thank you so much for being here. Have an exotic week and kiss your wild thing for us. Bye-bye, boys. Have fun storming the castle. Think it'll work. It would take a while. Bye-bye.