Puppy Training

The picture above is of "Kari" Mistybrook Curvaceous. She is affectionately called Kari Bear!! She is sired by Ch. Macdega Notorious X Ch. Imagine Dangerous Curves. She is 6 months old now and growing up so nicely. We are so excited about this puppy!!! She has a beautiful head with a lean skull and wonderful planes. She is nicely angulated both front and rear. I can't wait to get her out in the ring. She is also such a sweet puppy and tries so hard to be good. Just a very well behaved sweet puppy. I am so grateful to Jan Williams for parting with her and allowing me to have her. She makes me smile every day.

Now the title of this post is Puppy training so I have to share my cute story with you. Every day we do bait training with the puppies. They all line up to get their cookie and have to be standing just right with all four feet on the floor and watching the cookie. For this exercise we use the word "watch". They are pretty good to remember that they have to stand still and watch until they get their cookie. My husband does this a lot with the puppies as he enjoys giving them cookies. Well, now when the puppies come in and he gets the cookies out the parrot, Chiku, says "Watch". She is really good about remembering to give them the command each and every time they get their cookie. Sometimes we forget the command but Chiku remembers it every time!!! Now if I could only get Chiku to leash break them!!! (you can meet Chiku in an earlier post below!!)

Funny Bird

We have an African Grey parrot at our house. Her name is Chiku, which means Chatter in an African language. She puts a unique perspective on things. She talks up a storm and makes up her own phrases from the words she knows. It is really almost scary to hear her talk. She can imitate me being on the phone. She beeps to dial the numbers, then says hello, or she rings just like the phone and then says hello. Then she'll say "uh huh, ok, yes, I see, ok, oh my gosh!, uh huh, alright, bye bye" then she'll beep to hang the phone up. I know exactly what I sound like on the phone now. I know this is funny for everyone that hears it, but it is a little disconcerting to me to hear her imitate my phone calls!! She knows how to say several of the dogs' names. She yells at "Brock" for barking. "Brock!!!, NO BARK!!!" she yells. She calls Draco. Today she learned Kari's name.



She loves the puppies and if you bring a puppy in where she is, she'll say "Look at the puppy, it's such a cute puppy", "Look at the cute, cute puppy, Chiku". If the puppies start to cry she will join in, she sounds more like a puppy crying than the puppies do. Sometimes I come running to see what is wrong with a puppy and it is just Chiku doing her puppy imatation. She also barks very well. Most of our dogs are bark softened, but not Chiku, she barks better than most of the dogs.



Now the funny part is she changes the things, we teach, her to her own liking. For instance we taught her to say Peek-a-boo. She changed it to Chika-boo. (she can say it properly but she prefers to always put her name in everything she can). My husband taught her to say "What's up doc?". Well Chiku's version is "What's up Brock?". She has been saying "Merry Christmas a lot for the Christmas season. She actually learned it last year, but picked it up again very fast this year. Richard, my husband has her saying "Merry Christmas, ho ho ho". Well, she has a new version after today. Now it is "Kari Christmas".



What a funny little bird. She certainly keeps things interesting around here. Everyone I talk to on the phone spends more time eaves dropping on what Chiku is talking about than what I am talking about. She entertains everyone. I have even had people from businesses I am talking to break out into laughter and ask me if I have a bird. She starts a lot of conversations about birds. If you want to be entertained just call sometime and she'll surely put on a show for you. Until then--- Kari Christmas to all and a very Happy Chiku year!!!!