Need a home remedy?–Comical pets can fix what bothers ya!

By Nellie Curtiss ….

Everybody needs some comedy sometime. And my home has its share! 

I used to house a cockatiel named Pretty Bird whose personality was LOUD.  He was my alarm clock when the sun rose over the Sangres.  All day, he’d watch neighborhood birds flirt outside the window; sometimes he tickled his beak in the brass bell, or he’d sit where he could slip his head into a cardboard roll and listen for feedback—a little like SETI listening for the stars feedback.  One day, he jumped from his gym atop his cage to my hat.  The hat hung upside down and looked like a giant cup. 

As I turned back around, my feathered friend was hidden in the cup of the hat.  When I looked again, he poked his head up and eyed me.  “Good morning pretty bird,” he said. Then he ducked out of sight.  Again, he lifted his head above the rim; and “Come here right now,” chimed out.  He did this again and again.  It was a hide-and-seek or a “laugh about.”

Sometimes we don’t know how smart our dogs are. Lena, my brown cocker spaniel, loved Pretty Bird the cockatiel very much and engaged him nose to nose until a peck on her nose moved her paws backwards.  Lena, short for Thumbelina, could find any loose paper when she was left alone. She was an automatic shredder!  The only drawback was that I collected the shreds with a “reach-for-it tool.”  Not even the Colorado Bureau of Investigation could reconstruct a whole document after her shredding game.

Lena sported wide eyes and a stumpy wag to let me know she wanted outside.  Once the door closed, she jumped on the porch bench, and hopped around the whole deck.  I was puzzled for a long time and wondered what prompted the “puppy” mode. Lena snatched moths in-flight. (That’s one way to supplement her dog food.)  As I watched her reactions, I suspected that she lived for springtime and those nightly snacks.

Back then, Schroeder was the newest addition to the family, and was a rescued from the Colorado Cocker Spaniel Rescue.  He still is bubbly and loving puppy at thirteen years old.  He came to our house knowing the commands of “sit,” “no,” “come,” and he’s learned “shake,” “leave it,” “bring me your toy,” and “stay.”  He certainly knows how to express his feelings like when he dives into my lap and flips around like a baby.

Way back when, Schroeder and Lena each got their own “chew-bone.”  While one gnawed, the other stood on standby; and when the one left the bone, the standby stole the deal.  One afternoon, they stood eye to eye; their tails were wagging and one bone stood between them.  While Schroeder engaged Lena’s eyes, he slyly covered the bone with his right paw and sneakily dragged the bone until it was next to him. He scooped the bone up in his mouth and it was his, not hers. 

I laughed out loud at his cleverness! Yes, sometimes our pets are comedians and just the prescription to relieve stress.

— Nelda Curtiss is a retired college educator and long-time local columnist. Reach her at columnsbynellie.com or email her at columnsbynellie@gmail.com