Is there any end to what coconut oil can do? It has antiviral and antifungal properties.  It contains Medium-Chain Triglicerides, a component found ONLY in coconuts and human breast milk! Unlike other vegetable oils, it is immediately usable by the body because its fatty acids do not need to be broken down, so it provides instant energy.

It boosts a human body’s metabolism by 25%. When I rub it into my skin, it absorbs quickly without leaving a greasy residue.

The versatillity of this oil is amazing. You can eat it, apply it to your skin as a suntan lotion, skin conditioner, use as a hair conditioner, among many other things (just google extra virgin coconut oil and you’ll find volumes if information on it) And although it smells like coconut, it tastes exactly like movie butter if you pop popcorn kernels in it with salt! It also boosts the body’s metabolism by 25% so it helps you loose weight. Not to sound like an infermercial, but, I lost 10 pounds in one month without excersizing after eating 3 spoons of the stuff a day. If you have a sluggish thyroid, or obesity problems (which is indicative of a thyroid problem) you should definately do some research on Extra Virgin Coconut Oil. (Or, just apply it to a cramped muscle for immediate relief and you’ll be a believer!)

Four Paws Up

Do pets like it? Mine do. When I rub it on my face at night, I have to fight my cat to stop him from licking it off. Widget, my pomeranian, likes it and so do my two rabbits! I am not a veterinarian or a doctor, so my impression of coconut oil is based soley on my experiences, research studies that can be read on the internet, and other people’s testimonials.  From what I’ve gleaned from internet searches, the health benefits seem to be as long for pets as is for people.

Is coconut oil safe for animals? It is acording to http://www.coconutdiet.com/pet_nutrition.htm.  I also recall reading (I appologize for having lost the link) that coconut oil was once used in the feeding of livestock. Animals consuming the oil did not gain weight and the oil of choice was switched to soybean oil in order to suppress the livestock’s thyroids so as to increase their weight and market value. Anyway, coconut oil can be a completely natural solution to slew of health problems connected with metabolism, so it’s definately something to consider if your pet is obese, loosing its fur, has allergies, or has other symptoms of a struggling thyroid.

Some human foods are TOXIC to your pet. The following is a list of some common foods and ingredients you should never let your dog or cat eat.

 1) Chocolate–Chocolate contains Theobromine, and component that is toxic to dogs, cats, rabbits, birds, and other animals.

2) Xylitol –A sugar free sweetener commonly found in chewing gum. It is healthy for humans, but almost instantly drops the blood sugar of dogs and cats to lethal levels. Google Xylitol for more information. A very small amount can kill your pet and it is in numerous diet foods and chewing gum.

3) Tomatoes –Toxic to cats. According to The Feline Future web site, a cat came very near to death after eating just one cherry tomato.

4) Avacadoes –Toxic to many animals, including dogs, cats, and birds.

Sure! That is a tricky spot. First, pick up the foot and trim all the way around the pad. Set the foot down and trim tight to the toenail without exposing the nail. Comb all the hair downwards and trim at a 45* angle to bevel the foot. To do the butt area, use curved scissors and trim following the contours of the rump and the back of the leg. That is a very tight area, should be trimmed down next to nothing to create the illusion of angle (green area in picture). The flare starts just a little above the hock, should be nice and rounded out, then rounded back in to the heel. Hard to explain in words! The front of the leg is the hardest. The way I do it is to first set the tuck-up area. The tuck-up should fall right under or slightly behind the dog’s last rib. From there, the front of the leg will start. The line from tuck up to toe should be a nicely arced line. Some people prefer to see a ‘knee’, this is personal preference. A good guideline to set the leg is to stack the dog, and then draw a line down the top of the dogs neck to the toe, and that is where your leg should be (red line). Of course, this only works if the dog’s neck is in the right spot, ha! Hope that helps a little

Posted on Groomers.net by  enemytosleep
I’m a newer groomers, about 3 years now. I hope to specialize in bichons and poodles, and am currently coaching with a local bichon breeder. Unfortunately most of our bichon clients are in shorter clips, so I don’t get too much practice in the shop with full scissor trims. Here are some clips I’ve done recently:

And here is a bolognese in a pet trim, I left the ears long to make him look a little different.

———————

Response by lindsey
Looks pretty good so far. From what I see, you need to leave a little more hair around the ears. Still looks like you are scissoring under it a bit, as you can see the line where the ear begins. You want the hair on the cheek to be the same length as the outer edge of the ear, does that make sense? When you are scissoring a head, hold the dog’s nose and comb all the hair on the head up and out, all the way around. Then scissor round. Don’t dig into the cheeks. Also, when doing the underjaw, first cut the hair into a straight line, all the way across. Then you can gently round the ears into the face, without over exposing them. NEVER lift the ear to trim the cheek, and NEVER pick up the ear and trim the end. Always treat the ear as part of the head. The only time you want to move the ear is to pull it towards the nose to trim any strays behind the ear. Here is a picture of my dog to give you an idea (yes, he has a little more hair than most clients but it gives you the general idea!)
 

We're lazy Instead of clicking, we're watching bird videos.

Nova decided he would rather be destracted than play with the target stick. We tried a few more times over the past couple of days, but in spite of the food reward, it didn’t hold his interest long enough. 

I asked Melinda Johnson, (the owner of a bird training group called “Bird-Click” and author of a bird training book called “Clicker Training for Birds”) for advice and she suggested we move on to a more interesting trick to entertain his attention. So, we’re working on retrieval now. I changed the prop from a target stick to a shiny ball he likes, and these last 15 minutes were spent with him and the ball on my lap, and me C/T’ing (click/treating) every time he pecked the toy. It’s a lot like target training, but with a more interesting target that I can teach him to fetch later. He likes this arrangement…
“You’ll give me my favorite food whenever I play with my favorite ball? Woot!”

We also switched to carrots and cracker crumbs for his treats. I alternated them between clicks, so he never knew just what he’d get. He seemed to anticipate the treat all the more. He isn’t racing to drill his beak into the ball just yet, but he was really getting it towards the end. I stopped short because feeding too many treats to starlings are said to throw off their nutritional requirements as their diets are very specific. He went right into his cage without much fuss, tucked his head under his wing, and went to sleep. I guess this clicking business is hard work.

We tried a little target training today, once in the morning and once in the evening. I created a little target wand out of a pen and chopstick, put a little dot on the tip of the pen cap to encourage him to peck it, and clickedy click, he was slowely following the target around his cage by the second session. The standard command is probably “Target” but that is also the name of my pet pigeon who is watching from his cage, lol, so I’ve just been telling Nova to “Peckit! Peckit!” 

He isn’t extrmely fast yet, but his body language suggests he’s thinking about what he’s doing. When he started approaching the stick, he often looked at me expectantly as if to ask “Is that good enough? Do I get a click?” and when he didn’t hear the click, he moved on to pecking the pen.  He gave me the same puzzled look whenever he pecked the wrong part of the target. I’d shake my head and say “Nope” but he kept pecking until he got it right. We’ll just keep it up until he’s faster and more proficient outside his cage where there are more distractions and tempting things to pull on like my hair.

On another Nova-related subject, this is a video clip I took of him playing with a toy last month. It’s nothing fancy, but I thought I’d share for those who might enjoy watching him play.  

I didn’t think the clicking would click with him so quickly, but after only 4 click-n-treats, Nova is already looking at me expectantly following the sound!

Isn’t this a cute blog theme? I was scrolling through blog themes on fresheezy.com the other day when I saw one with a big blue bird sitting on a branch. So, I thought, why not use it and make a blog about my birds? I own a pigeon named Target and a European Starling named Nova. The starling reminds me of a border collie—restlessly in want of a job to do. I think this bird needs something to puzzle over and triumph in the end, so I’m going to try and clicker train him. You know, I planned to clicker train Target when I found him as a chick, but concept of clicker training is basically teaching your bird to teach you to give it what it wants and I couldn’t find anything Target wanted! Toys and food do not motivate him, but I started teaching him to open up his wing with praise alone. It WAS working, but I didn’t pursue it with him because it required me to look away from him and basically give him the cold shoulder the moment he stopped “performing” which I thought could make him feel unloved. Even so, it was fascinating to watch his little mind work, and I think Nova will be a little Einstein =) From the bird’s point of view, clicker training is a game that enables it to discover and participate in cause and effect. I’ll start by teaching him the click sound from a tea bottle top means “food is coming.” If he gets this concept, we’ll see if Nova will learn a trick or two. In the mean time…

Look how fast he’s growing!
 Nova is growing up. He has a full vest of feathers now, see?

And here are some photos of him playing—See what a busy mind he has?  One of the reasons I think Nova will like clicker training is he likes manipulating sound. This toy squeaks whenever it is pecked, and it’s his favorite toy.
And here, zooming out, you can see Leonid looking somewhat ominously at Nova as he plays with HIS toy, lol. Nova’s a little thief! Leonid let him keep it though =)