Dreidyl

I love my job as a pet sitter. I can't think of another occupation which can deliver the amount of satisfaction and joy that pet sitting does for me. I get paid for playing with dogs, cats and other little critters. Though I'll never get rich, I love getting up for work every single day. There are a lot of other advantages, but this story isn't about those. This is about one particular service call.
I received a request to do a consultation with a new client. This service would require two overnights in the client's home. I called the woman to set up a consultation, what I refer to as meet and greet between owner, fur-kids and sitter. She told me she had a Malamute dog, a cat, a Cockatiel, Love bird and a Beta fish.
I arrived for the consultation, and found the owner to be another "animal person" like myself. I met Tia the kitty, and was brought upstairs to meet Kona the dog, who was in hiding from me. True to the owners' description, he was extremely timid, not even wanting to make eye contact with me, or come anywhere near me. That is not the first thing I noticed though. The first thing I noticed was his size and that he looked just like a wolf! So I casually said "My, he sure looks like a beautiful big wolf." The owner admitted "Yes, he has wolf in him." Hmmmmm, I believe that is called a wolf-hybrid, I thought to myself. His timidity really concerned me. A timid dog is one who might do almost anything, including fear bite. I realized this might not be such a fun gig after all.
The client showed me where the dog and cat food were kept, the leash, the poop bags, and the litter box. Then we turned our attention to the bird cages. I was to change their seeds and water every day. This would entail putting my hand into the cage to remove the holders. This didn't faze me as I had two wonderful parakeets for many years. My birds were friendly and affectionate toward me. The cuter of the clients' two birds was Dreidyl, a female Love Bird. I asked "Why do you only have one, I thought they were usually in pairs?" She replied, "If you have two they don't pay attention to, and bond with humans." Okay, that made sense to me. This little bird, only about five inches tall, had the most adorable face I'd ever seen on any bird. She had beautiful bright green feathers and a peach colored face. Her eyes were large and rimmed in white giving them a very sweet babyish look. She was much quieter than the Cockatiel that was talking and chirping away. The owner advised me to use a flat stick to distract Dreidyl while I remove her seed cup with the other hand. "This used to be a twelve inch ruler at one time" she said while holding up a two and a half inch nub. She then proceeded to rub Dreidyls' proud little breast with one finger. Dreidyl seemed to love it, leaning her tiny head onto her mistress's hand. "Don't you try this" the owner warned me. "Only I can do this, no one else in the family can." I kept wondering about the nub of a ruler. Why was it so small? She finished the tour by introducing me to Spike the fish, and how to feed him. Everything was set for the service to begin the following weekend. I left there with no small amount of concern regarding the wolf-hybrid and his strong fear of strangers. I wondered if this would be the first time I'd get bitten by a dog!
I arrived there on a Friday evening and was greeted by Tia the friendly kitty. I caught a blur of Kona as he darted up to safety in the master bedroom. Uh oh I thought, now it begins! I called up the stairs and asked, "Hey Kona, want to go outside and do poopies?" Nothing, even using the word his human "Mama" used. I didn't want to corner him, so I proceeded up three stairs and asked again. No, he wasn't coming. I retreated to fill his food dish with kibble and shake it loudly enticing him to eat. Not a stir or a sound. Okay, give him some time I thought. I fed the Kitty, changed all the water bowls and took care of Spike the fish.
I decided to take care of the birds while I was waiting for Kona. Burt, the Cockatiel respectfully kept his distance on his perch, while I changed his seeds and water. Next I went over to Dreidyl's cage. She jumped down to the floor of the cage and began patrolling back and forth in front of it. I took the owners' advice and inserted the nub of wood at one end of the cage while I quietly opened the seed cup door at the other end. I had a little trouble removing it and took my eyes off Dreidyl. That was my first mistake. Quick as lightening, she hooked her beak onto one of my fingers and began trying to tear off a chunk. I withdrew my hand reflexively and out she hopped. Oh my Lord, the owner said be careful not to let her get out, the cat will eat her! So I quickly grabbed her remembering to hold her gently. As I put her back into her cage, she had a different finger in her beak and was twisting her head to remove another chunk of flesh.
By now sweat was running down my face and neck. I started over, this time getting the seed cup out without mishap. I got it back in while she administered another quick violent bite. Not finding any band aids in the bathroom, I wrapped paper towels around my bleeding fingers. I didn't want to stain the carpet or the bird with my blood. It was time to do the same thing with the water cup. As luck would have it, and due to my great fear of this little bird, I dropped the wood nub onto the bottom of her cage! I thought; "And there is stays, I'm not going in for that!" I started to envision this little bird shredding the ruler, possibly getting slivers in her throat and dying, or having a bowel obstruction and dying. The owner would ask where the nub was. So I went in once more, received another bite, but retrieved the ruler nub. I changed the water without incident. I was getting good at keeping one eye on the bird, and the other on what I was doing. By now, I had four crescent shaped bites that were bleeding quite a bit; all wrapped in paper towels. As I sat on the sofa taking a break, I wondered what kind of exotic diseases bird bites could administer.
My mood was now less than happy. I found Kona's leash and went upstairs telling not asking him, that he was going out for a walk and will do poopies. My patience by this time had worn thin. I bravely attached his leash to his collar, and held on as he flew out the bedroom, down the stairs dragging me behind him. My paper towel bandages were flapping in the breeze. He went out, pooped, peed and came in and ate his food. I realized then that he just needed a firmer hand, albeit a bloody one. I sat on the sofa and used my cell phone to a close up picture of one of my bites, then sent it to my husband. Next I took a picture of Dreidyl still patrolling her cage with one eye on me. I named that picture "The Hate Bird." My husband texted me back to tell me he couldn't remember ever laughing so hard. I was not yet able to see the humorous side of this encounter with a "Love Bird." I needed to see if I was going to wake up with swollen, black fingers the size of Kielbasa sausages first.