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OMEGA SHEPHERDS
Adventures on the Ranch

 

 

Sleepy Doo

 

 

-----You are probably wondering why in the world I would be writing about our tiny cockatiel out of all the possible things I COULD be writing about...... but Sleepy Doo is a special cockatiel and one of Gunther's best friends!
-----Almost 2 years ago my mom and I went into the pet store to buy some dog food and had no intention of buying a cockatiel. Though I had wanted one for a long time I never got real serious about it, but we went in there and Joni (the pet store manager) had a little cockatiel out that she had hand raised. She said that he had just been returned to the store because he almost died. Some people bought him but they worked all day so he was alone most of the time and refused to eat so they brought him back. Joni nursed him back to health and little Sleepy Doo just won both my and my moms hearts and we had to have him. He is much smaller than a normal cockatiel – probably about ½ the size but we didn't care. He has a heart and spirit and perk about him that is twice the size of a normal one. He was only about 8 weeks old but already wolf whistled and said a few other things which is VERY unusual at that age. Since we are home almost all the time it seemed like a perfect fit for a lonely little bird that loved people.
---- Little Sleepy Doo quickly brought so much happiness and joy to the place. He started learning the songs my mom whistled to him and sings them to us every morning. A few of the songs he whistles are – Old McDonald had a farm, Happy Birthday, Frosty the Snow Man, Jingle Bells and he has a very operatic voice for To dream the impossible dream (one of his favorite songs). He also says Sleepy Doo, How are you, I love you (in the sweetest little voice).
So you ask – why the name Sleepy Doo ?? Well, when we got him he was on pet store hours, meaning he liked to wake up about 10 AM and go to bed about 8 PM. If you tried to mess with him out of those hours he would “hiss” at you and let you know he was tired – hence the nick name sleep doo which just stuck with him. He is now on our hours and wakes up when we do. But he won't make any noise until he knows everyone upstairs is awake. Even if my mom gets up and is making noise Sleepy Doo won't sing until I get up too.
----- He was nervous about all dogs but with a little bit of training he learned to completely trust Gunther and now sits on top of Gunthers head and sings “How much is that doggie in the window!!” Gunther loves Sleepy Doo and despite a HUGE size difference he is extremely careful around him, and actually watches out for him. Once in awhile Sleepy Doo flys down to the floor right at Gunthers feet and Gunther just looks at us as if to say “Mom, what are we going to do with him!”. But he is very patient and has recently taken to protecting Sleepy Doo from my new Bengal Cat. Gunther does not bother Simba at all – but when Simba starts hanging around Sleepy Doos cage and sticking his feet in there Gunther gets between them and chases Simba off! HE has a certain line and if Simba crosses that and gets to close to Sleepy Doo then Gunther chases him off! It's amazing to watch – Simba doesn't think much of it at all! And Simba being half wild cat would not think a thing of catching poor little Sleepy Doo.... so it's a very good deal that Gunther has taken on the job of protecting him!
-----And Sleepy Doo loves men!! Which I think is strange because he has been raised by women but get a man in the room and Sleepy Doo is all kisses and sweet talk! This fall my moms sister and her husband and daughters were visiting. Well, Rich is not much of an animal person I must say he was an extremely good sport being drug out into the mountains, with all the animals we have! But silly Sleepy Doo took a serious liking to him and got him very well trained while he was out here. One morning Sleepy Doo refused to have anything to do with my mom or I and when Rich came into the room and didn't talk to Sleepy Doo, he went into a serious pout. Finally, Rich went and took him out and let him sit on his shoulder – and that started the whole routine for their entire visit. So I say Sleepy Doo is a very good human trainer!
-----We also have a parrot named Poncho. He is a Yellow Napped Amazon...... I like to say Poncho has the personality of a rock, with a beak! Actually I am being mean – but compared to Sleepy Doo Poncho is.... well Poncho. But he is learning to be a good bird. He had an extremely rough start to life and lived with a bunch of guys that smoked. When we got Poncho he wheezed and seemed to have trouble breathing -especially when he got nervous or excited. Now almost a year later that has pretty much completely healed. He used to try to bite us – but my mom is a very good bird trainer and now you can pick Poncho up and carry him around. He LOVES to ride on your shoulder. They are supposed to be one of the best talking birds of all..... Poncho is a very good talker but doesn't talk to often and doesn't say too many things compared to what they should be able to do. I think it is due to a rough start in life. But he says Poncho, Hello, Hey Baby, Whatcha doing, Come in, Bawk Bawk Bawk Wheres the chicken Meow Meow Meow. We don't know why he puts all that together – the people must have had a cat they called a chicken – but it's pretty funny to hear him say it! We've taught him to say “My names Poncho – what's YOUR name”. He laughs like a person and when he starts laughing it's very contagious and anyone around starts to laugh as well! He says a few other things too but I can't think of them now.

----Well, enjoy the pictures of Gunther and Sleepy Doo!
----Have a Wonderful Thanksgiving.

-----Till Next Time,
-----Leah and Everyone at Omega Shepherds

 

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