Paw Nation

Rounding up our favorite animal stories, photos, and videos on the web each week!

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  Schnauzer Sing-along

  See some super-sweet singing-Schnauzer shorts. Okay, so they're howling. You know what we meant. [via Urlesque]

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  Dog Fetches Prosthetics

  Here's the fascinating true story of a dog who had to make a tough sacrifice and was later rewarded with a pair of nifty new legs. [via People Pets]

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  Bolt Outruns Cheetah

  Usain Bolt actually just adopted this cheetah cub. It will be raised at a refuge in Nairobi until it is old enough to lose a footrace to Bolt. [via Yahoo News]

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  Ferrets Mesmerize You

  Video too cute... Can't look away... Ferrets inside head... Must adopt ferrets... Help them enslave humanity... [via BuzzFeed]

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  Cow, Please Stop

  This cow is a little too thirsty. Who knew that farm animals were this bizarre? Someone set up this cow with a shrink. [via BuzzFeed]

It's just another love story. Girl meets boy, girl loves boy, girl leaves boy, girl loves boy again. Except in the case of this particular story, the girl happens to be a penguin.

13 years ago, an African penguin arrived at the Allwetterzoo Münster, reports ABC News. While normally penguins will be aggressive toward their keepers, this one, Peter Vollbracht told Spiegel Online, ignored the 80 other penguins and "would just sit on my boot or arm and ask to be petted." Sandy, as he named her, apparently did not believe in playing hard to get: "When I would get to work in the morning, she would be there waiting for me and call out to me. And when we did our daily penguin march for exercise, she would always jump to the front of the line to be next to me." For ten years the couple had their special relationship, and Sandy became somewhat of a celebrity in Germany.

Then Vollbracht got sick and missed six weeks of work, reports ABC News. But "out of sight, out of mind" apparently applies to primarily monogamous penguins. When Vollbracht returned, Sandy had set her sights on Tom, a younger penguin. Sandy and Tom settled down, had a couple of chicks, and then, sadly, Tom died. The newly available Sandy looked around for a new mate and found... Vollbracht. While her keeper points out that she needs a penguin partner to lead a normal life, it seems that some things are just meant to be.

Store-bought dog bones can be expensive, but there are tons of dog-bone recipes out there, so why not give one a shot? We've tried our hands at making several dog-bone recipes, and our dogs can't get enough of them. There are tons of recipes online. Check out Best Dog Bone Recipes for unique ideas like a bacon-cheese bone, an apple-spice bone, and a chicken bone. Want even more recipes? We like Liz Palika's "The Ultimate Dog Treat Cookbook: Homemade Goodies for Man's Best Friend"

An animal control officer in Stoughton, Mass. found a woman's lost dog -- only to give it away as a gift.

As reported by the Brockton Enterprise, an animal control officer, Kristin Bousquet, was fired after an internal investigation and hearing revealed that she had found a lost dog belonging to Janet Torren, and inexplicably gave it away to a police officer and his girlfriend to keep as a pet, all the while telling Torren that she had not found the dog, a four year-old Yorkshire Terrier named Shai, who went missing on September 18.

"Shai is like my child," says Torren, 59. "How could [Bousquet] think that I didn't love my pet enough to go all out to try to get her back?" Speaking with Paw Nation, Torren recounted the story of the efforts she made to find Shai -- and just in the nick of time. When Torren finally was reunited with Shai on October 1, the dog was en route to the airport with her new owners, who were moving to Florida.

Parrots are the most colorful of house pets, literally and figuratively. A lively, happy parrot can add plenty of fun to your home. The problem is, your home is far, far away from your parrot's natural environment. Patient and persistent training is crucial to ensure that both you and your pet are comfortable cohabiting with one another.

Parrots are renowned for their amusing antics, like talking, but are equally infamous for exhibiting "bad" behaviors such as squawking, biting, and errant pooping. When you train your parrot, you must remember that a parrot isn't a toy; you can't just teach it the "fun" stuff and hope that the other behaviors will fix themselves. Parrots are also not dogs; they do not respond to punishment as a training method. In fact, parrots are even more attention-hungry than most dogs, so if you punish a parrot, it will likely see that interaction between you two as a desirable outcome and repeat whatever "bad" behavior you are trying to correct.

Before you begin, take the time to create a safe training environment for your parrot. Aim to do all of the bird's training in the same room -- one that is clean, closed off (no open windows!) and quiet. If possible, train daily, and at the same time every day, and not in the same room as your parrot's cage. Make sure to always have treats like cut-up fruits and vegetables on hand during a training session to reward the bird when it successfully learns or carries out a new command. Lastly, always approach and interact with your parrot in a calm and confident manner. Parrots can sense tension and anxiety and will react to it with biting and squawking, so even if your parrot upsets you or snaps at your during a training session, do not act out on the parrot.

So, what are the most common steps to training a parrot? Read on to get started training your parrot into becoming a well-adjusted pet!