Amazing Spinner Dolphins

It gives me pleasure to present this story from Lisa Sellman, Top Dog at Aloha Pet Care & Dog Training. She writes "This is an article I wrote last week for my newsletter for my dog training clients"

After spending 10 days in Hawaii, most of which was immersed in the philosophy of Tellington TTouch, a dog training method I have been studying for the past 2 1/2 years, I was surprised to witness the most profound life lesson just hours before I boarded my plane back to Minnesota.

The dog training class that I assisted in finished on Friday and I relished the idea of having two days to do whatever my heart desired. Since it was prime whale watching season in Hawaii, I had made plans prior to leaving for the Big Island that Sunday afternoon would be spent in this endeavor. The ship that took us out had a Cetologist on board, this is a scientist who studies the
behavior of whales, dolphins and porpoises. I never caught his name but he was facinating. We must have seen over 50 whales that day along with many pods of dolphin. It was just another day for the scientist and the crew of the ship but it was unbelievable for all of the tourists on board.

The most amazing event occurred towards the end of our journey off the Kona coast. We all were handed binoculars as we boarded the ship. The Cetologist was so excited as he talked us through what was happening below the water by his estimation as we watched from a distance through our binoculars. I will never forget it. I will describe it to you as best as I can.

From our distance, we could see an area of about the size of a football field with several hundred spinner dolphins doing vertical jumps one after another. You could see that there was a space about 10 feet between the dolphin jumps. I estimate this because a spinner dolphin, much smaller than a bottlenose, is about 6 feet. One could see that the dolphins were in some ways taking turns leaping. I watched one dolphin jump out of the water over 10 times and then you
would not see that dolphin but another dolphin near that area, would then take it over. When you see a spinner dolphin leaping, it is exhilerating, but to see hundreds in a circular pattern all at the same time, was nothing short of magical.

The Cetologist explained that we were all extremely blessed to be witnessing what we were. We were witnessing a humpback whale giving birth. The spinner dolphins had formed a protective circle around the female humpback whale to give her a feeling of protection so she could focus on the delivery. It may take up to 3 hours for the delivery which we only watched for about 20 minutes and could only see the dolphins jumping from the far distance we were at. Then the ship
left the area and let other whale watching ships know to stay clear of the coordinates as not to disturb the delivery.

It was so fascinating to witness this event but even more amazing to me was the decision of the spinner dolphin to be nurse maids to a 50 foot long, 40 ton mammal. The spinner dolphins will often display this behavior when their own pods are sleeping to offer a look out or protection. Usually just a few of the dolphins would leap in that circumstance but to witness hundreds surrounding a whale offering the same protection, words can not express. For a Humpback whale the only real predator in the Hawaiian waters is humans. There is no whaling ships in Hawaii but still boats are in the waters. The dolphin decided to ease the sense of fear for that mother whale by making a sacred circle for her to deliver in peace knowing that any boat that came near would at least see the dolphin and give the mother whale space. This same event has been witnessed by lucky tourists just walking the streets of Kona looking out at the bay a few
years back.

The spinner dolphin's actions make themselves feel safe while sleeping and they decided to use the same actions to help their much larger cousins in the same way. It is complete brilliance on their part.

I see myself as a TTouch practitioner, a lot like being a spinner dolphin. When I work with a dog and their guardian, I can never fully know what trauma that dog has went through or the difficult dynamics that the family is going through. Having a compassionate heart and a constitution of service taught to me from my South Dakota farm upbringing, I want to help dogs and their families find that safe sacred circle where healing can begin. I want to give them guidance so their dogs can feel safe in new environments or around people or other animals.
I don't have the many years of education to be a veterinary behavioralist or a human psychiatrist, but I do have some things which this program has taught me. I have an intuitive mind that knows dogs need to feel secure, an open heart that wants to help, and two hands ready to make a connection with dogs to assist them to feel secure. Together with some unique bodywork, specialized equipment, a confidence course, and a clear picture in my mind for animals to remember their perfection, TTouch renews my soul every time I work with a dog.

What a blessing it is to be of service to others - a lesson made most clear to me by spinner dolphins sensitive enough to ask the question, how can I be of service?

Lisa Sellman, Top Dog
Aloha Pet Care & Dog Training
www.alohapetcare.us ~ website
(763) 503-4797 ~ home or (763) 228-6862 ~ cell
"Delivering the Aloha spirit to Minnesota dog owners one tail wag at a time."

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The Basics of What Chickens Need

Man has the dirtiest mouth of any animal. Getting bitten by a human is far more likely to lead to infection than any other kind of bite. Why? Because we eat more kinds of things than any other animal on earth. So, because there is a greater variety of food for organisms in our mouths, we have more kinds of organisms growing there than any other animal has.

Man has mastered all kinds of situations, and has grown to a very high degree of dietary versatility. Animals are not so "fortunate". They must have very precise types of food, at precise times. Some more than others, of course. Domesticated animals, living with man for the last several millennia, have adapted to man's diet to a far greater extent than wild animals.

Chickens are one of man's closest domesticated friends. They, like dogs, have grown to eat many of the foods of their keepers. But chickens cannot be assumed to just "make it" on any kind of stuff. They will probably "make it" on man's junk food, but they won't be as healthy as they could be, nor will they be much good as egg layers, unless they are fed the basics of what they need. And mold or salt in table scraps and old grains can quickly kill a chicken.

WHAT CHICKENS NEED (It's simple!)
1. Grains (whole, living grains are way better than cracked, and a mixture is way better than pure corn)
2. Greens (grass! weeds! fresh veggie parings from kitchen!)
3. Protein (in summer, they get enough bugs -- but in colder weather they need protein supplementation, including perhaps the following: yellow-jackets from restaurant traps, soybeans -- see below, worms, milk, meat --- but sea fish is the very best)


And WATER, WATER, WATER.

Chickens won't always search far for food or water. Sometimes they won't even go around a see-through fence to get it. And they need lots of water, especially when laying. We put the water dish right by the door of their coop, where they can get it every time they go by. They can die of salt toxicity in a few hours if not given water at all times. They will shun dirty water, so make a point to keep it fresh using the BAMN method (By Any Means Necessary).

If they're Fenceless Free Range, that's about it. But if you keep them penned up most or all of the time, even in a largish yard, you will also need to make sure they get . . .

4. Hard grit (do not confuse this with oyster shell or calcium --- these dissolve in the chicken's digestive system, grit does not --- grit is used in place of "teeth"); quartz-based sand with angular edges (not rounded, as often is found in riverbeds) can be collected wherever you find it.

5. Calcium (crushed oyster shell, other shells, ground or hammered bone) (There's lots of calcium in greens, if they get to forage all day.)

6. Vitamins A (and D if the weather is cloudy for long stretches)

7. Salt (best given separately, free choice; kelp is the very supreme choice for this, if you can get it --- it supplies all the minerals in the world --- see below)

About Protein

Producing a huge lump of protein in the form of an egg every day doesn't leave room for erratic protein consumption. A 5-ounce egg is to a five-pound chicken what a 9-pound egg is to a person weighing 150 pounds (so to speak). To produce this lump of pure protein is thus something like giving birth to a baby, every day! That protein needs to be replaced through the diet!

If you're confining your chickens at all, even in a largish yard, and feeding them only one pre-mixed type of feed, you need to blend in the correct proportion of grains and protein. See the protein section for mixing grains and protein. (Contact our Feed Experts if in question, but not until reading the Protein section.)

If your birds are Fenceless Free Range, you don't need to mix the protein into the feed. Rather, let them have a special protein dish in the morning or afternoon. An ideal one, that will keep them laying all Winter, is soybeans, mixed with a little bit of instant oats, a few nuts, and milk for variety. Or, some fresh fish you have left over. They really love canned ~~ unsalted! ~~ fish, but it's usually too expensive for the usual fare. Unless you have a good source. There are all sorts of ways to make your chickens happy as well as healthy. And happy chickens aim to please; they are not so prone to bad habits. For some real fun, see the "Traditional Recipes" section for how supplementary feeding was done in the Old Days.

Also, we're really interested in getting into worms for protein! Another great, unused protein resource is the plethora of yellow jackets that are caught in traps near restaurants around the world. The attractant in those traps(1) is not a poison, it is just an odor; (2) is not consumed by the yellow jackets, and (3) is highly volatile anyway, meaning that any trace that might be on them will disappear after removing the (dead) yellow jackets from the trap. Chickens will instinctively avoid the dead yellow jackets at first, but their curiosity and good sense will quickly win out, and they'll gobble them up whenever they see you bringing them. Many restaurants will happily give you their yellow jackets. Or, offer to put up a trap for them yourself, at a restaurant that you see has a problem with yellow jackets. (In which case, study the directions for placing the trap thoroughly, to avoid causing a highway of yellow jackets that patrons might cross!)

Here's what we currently give our chickens:

GRAINS

Scratch grain mix, from feed store, containing many kinds of grain ($5/50 lb)
Extra yellow corn (cracked) --- it gives them warmth in the winter, we're told
GRAINS MUST NEVER BE WET AND MOLDY -- CAN KILL!

GREENS

Grass forage
Garden clippings
Kitchen trimmings (thrown in the compost pile near their coop)

PROTEIN (MAINLY SOYBEANS)

Every morning (quantity for 12 chickens): 3/4ths cup of boiled soybeans ~~ (make a batch every week or so: SOAK 2 cups of dried soybeans in three or four times the volume of water overnight; bring to ROLLING BOIL in the same soaking water for 15 minutes; DRAIN; STORE in fridge) mixed with 1 cup of instant oats, some sunflower seeds, milk to moisten, warmed up.

Every other afternoon, same thing, with some fish flakes, bits of scrap fish, or some canned cheap fish.

OYSTER SHELL

Crushed, is kept in their coop, $5 for 50 lbs

MINERALS

Dried kelp fronds (the leafy parts, not the stalks, which are too hard to chop up and don't get eaten) are kept in their coop on a sturdy clip. They can free-choose it, letting them adjust their salt and mineral intake. There are nearly 100 minerals on Earth. Only sea water and sea life has them in the ratios that animals need. All blood of animals contains these minerals, in the same proportions as in sea water! Scientists have barely scratched the surface of understanding all the things that these minerals do in living bodies. For optimum health, it's best to get all of them.

Just gather a mess of kelp off any beach that is more than 50 miles from a city, sling it into a garbage bag and take it home. At home, set it out in the yard, and in a very short while, it will be dry and crisp. Take the flakey parts, and clip them about a foot off the ground where your chickens frequently go --- those document clips with a black "hinge" and two folding silver "arms" work best.

GRIT

Collect angular granite grit from trips to areas that have it. Tiny chicks need tiny grit, so get a variety of sizes. A little lasts a long time. The girls will pick and choose a few choice pieces now and then. Fun to watch them study and try out the different grains of grit.

Pet Friendly Businesses- To edit and/or update your information follow the link to that page: http://www.barleyslist.org/ and Select Add/ Edit your business.

If you're looking for pet supplies, pet stores, pet friendly hotels ordog friendly restaurants, specialty veterinarians, animal rescue, pet adoption, pet sitters and pet sitting, pet services, pet friendly services, dog parks and cat friendly bed and breakfast inns, etc- for all types of pets, birds, fish, dogs, cats, horses, reptiles, rabbits,sheep and goat, farm animals, small pets and pocket pets, etc- visit our site. It has all the free pet information and pet links you will ever need for your pet. And is totally free for anyone to use!

BarleysList.org is Where People Go For Pet Info