Annual Checkup - Success!!

charmedbyekkie

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May 24, 2018
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Cairo the Ekkie!
Itā€™s been a year since Cairo was terribly ill, so I wanted to bring him for his annual checkup to make sure weā€™re still doing well and Iā€™m not missing anything. When the clinic heard it was for an annual, they asked if I could come during office hours (theyā€™re open 12noon-5pm, 8pm-11pm, so we normally take the after-office hours slots). And Iā€™m so glad they suggested that (and luckily I managed to take off work for it).

We went in and got his tests done. Cairo handled it well - didnā€™t panic if I was there, holding him. My partner and I were very chill about the visit (a conscious effort on our part to prevent him from having negative associations), so much so that Cairo started preening while waiting in between sessions.

Then after we got green lights from his tests, we spent the next hour talking to the vet about his training and overall development as he goes through puberty. Beyond helpful! I LOVE that our vet cares so much about her patientsā€™ (the animalsā€™) wellbeing more than human feelings. No sugar coating from her, which I absolutely respect. And she sees their wellbeing as comprehensive - not just medical testing, but also behavioural and environmental.


She gave us advice on how to start from scratch again with Cairo and perspective on why he acts differently with my partner. We hammered out a game plan and worked out the what-ifs. She was pleased that we were proactive and trying to solve it early on with a variety of approaches (with various degrees of success). She was able to pinpoint where they other approaches might be addressing the wrong thing or be coming from a different mindset. And my partner was reassured to hear her advice and get his own questions answered directly.

She basically said that we need to start from the beginning again. Iā€™ll show Cairo the rules of how target training works again - target once, then stop training for a while. Repeat that for a few days, then my partner will do it - target once, then stop training. Itā€™s to help address that sometimes Cairo just lashes out at the poor guy when he tries to let Cairo out of his cage.

She advised that I not be anywhere in the same room as them when they train together (I cannot always be police officer and me being there impacts their relationship), so Iā€™ll be watching from a camera in another room. She wants them to establish their own relationship rules, but guided by the rules Iā€™ll have established with redoing target training.

What I thought most interesting is that she also recommended we have different training areas and different target sticks. She said we canā€™t expect Cairo to have the same type of relationship with both of us (theirs is a bromance, mine is a confusing one :p ), so this step is to help remove me from impacting Cairoā€™s perception of his relationship with my partner.

Her advice is to follow the fact that they do understand the reward system and that they do try to gamify it themselves. Show treat, hide treat, issue request, then reward. So if Cairo goes to bite instead of playing by the rules of the ā€˜gameā€™, just show treat again, hide treat, issue request, then reward. He then has to make the decision if itā€™s worth biting and not getting a treat or if he wants the treat enough to follow the rules. So my partner gets the ā€˜specialā€™ treats, and I give Cairo the second-tier treats. (Weā€™re still deciding on this - maybe my partner gives almonds, and I give dried butternut squash.)

She also insisted that we enforced cage time and stationary perch training, no more free rein (or reign) of the house because heā€™s getting so territorial of everything. Just like we have our separate work tables and chairs, he also has his set areas. Itā€™s a work in progress, but Cairo used to be perch-trained, so when he settles into it, heā€™s more than happy to preen and chatter away.


We havenā€™t had time yet to settle on whose training area is where and what target stick is whose, but just working on the rules of the reward and the stationary perch training has done so much for Cairo.


She said we were good catching it early. She was pointing out that a lot of his actions are mixed thinking my partner is a bully-able food source and thinking Iā€™m someone of interest (so itā€™s not all hormonal - a lot is behavioural/trainable), but she did point out that Cairo hasnā€™t yet finalised seeing me as a partner (that heā€™s still young and a bit confused about what his hormones/instincts are telling him).


Woohoo!
 
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Tami2

Well-known member
Aug 18, 2017
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Levi - 6 yr old CAG

DOH-4/2/2016
Glad he is in good health!

A total reset, how long have you had Cairo? She sounds awesome!

I'll be following his progress and may even do the same with Levi. He is getting too big for his breeches and definitely needs boundary reinforcement.

Good Luck!
 
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charmedbyekkie

charmedbyekkie

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May 24, 2018
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Cairo the Ekkie!
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Glad he is in good health!

A total reset, how long have you had Cairo? She sounds awesome!

I'll be following his progress and may even do the same with Levi. He is getting too big for his breeches and definitely needs boundary reinforcement.

Good Luck!

We've had him since Aug 2018, so just over a year now. He's turning 2yo this month, so we're bracing ourselves and trying to figure out how he'll develop as a mature ekkie. And it sounds like he's also trying to figure out who he'll be as an adult :p

While I'm strict when it comes to trick training, I do realise I'm extremely inclined to spoil him and bend over backwards for him. Our vet teased me that I need to be more tiger mum hahaha
 

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