I finally started to REALLY work on my thesis - go, me!
This means I've 'read' like... what? *counts* More than a dozen books by now and will get another 11 by the end of the week. SoUnds horrible? Well, I DO have the time to read them, with my more than awesome schedule this semester (only ONE seminar every two weeks - LOL!?) AND it's really interesting
For those of you who don't know yet: I'm writing about service-dogs for handicapped persons And I've learned so much by now - about various things!
I've read about the ways of our ancient ancestors back in the ice age and the domestication of the wolf, about non-verbal communication, the healing effects of the mere PRESENCE of animals in general, about mirror neurons and how wild dogs (wolfs, dingos and jackals) EDUCATE their pups, I've learned about the amazing possibilities of monkeys helping challenged people, of birds, rabbits, horses, cats, alpakas
and other animals assisting in therapy - I've even SEEN a cockroach doing agility! Holy scarab, Batman! Don't believe me? Here, take a look: [link]
I've read chapters with magical titles such as "The unicorn and domestication" (a really interesting essay about the ancient Egyptians trying to domesticate the oryx, which is supposed to be the real ancestor of the legendary unicorn ) and learned about TALKING apes and dogs. Ever heard about Koko? If not, watch this: [link]
And visits Kokos homepage: [link]
Thus I learned about AnimalSign [link] and the Sean Senechal's Language Center, which is dedicated to learning more about interspecies communication. So far there is a signlanguage for dogs, horses and cats If you own a dog or are interested in this topic in general you might be interested in this book: [link]
Yes, my studies have been a trip to wonderland - and the best part of it: It's NOT a fantasy!

Two other souls who profited a lot from these studies are my cats. Our clickertraining-sessions became a lot better in quality - and more frequent. By now Mani has mastered 11 commands, Kiran 9 - he's actually learning to fetch They both enjoy this time we spend together A LOT (it's PLAY TIME for them, after all ^^) and ask for it at least once a day by now. Lazy Kiran, who once didn't want to move a muscle even BEGS me to play with the cat-rod with him now and jumps around like a young kitten! So cute ^^ Needless to say that our bond deepened a lot, too AND food isn't the highlight of the day for them any more (Of course they get their treats when we train, but it's obvious that they don't do it for the food any more but for the pure fun of it - sometimes they even IGNORE the food!)