alfina
03-26-2007, 10:49 AM
We are in California right now. Natasha has her spring break and we took her to San Diego Wild Life Park yesterday. We spent a whole day there and got to watch cheetah run. Karoo was her name and she was 7 years old. They didn't have any live animal that she was chasing, but a green spotted octopus stuffed toy that is her favorite attached to a mechanism pulling it in front of her.
Did you know that cheetahs reach 0 to 40mph in just 2 strides? Well, we were standing right next to the track she was running on and it was like a lightening went by.
Anyways, something else we learned at the park. Cheetahs are hand raised at the park and they are raised with dogs. When they have a cheetah cub, they find a companion puppy for it. Usually they adopt them from a shelter after doing temperament testing. Why do they raise them together? Cheetah is a very skittish and nervous animal. So, they pick a laid back, well balanced dog that would be a simular in size. They spend 22 hours a days together excluding 2 hours/day they are trained. So, they really bond. When a stressful situation arises, the cheetah looks at her dog companion and sees that it is calm and cool about it, it then also doesn't stress about it.
Here are some pictures:
The lure toy ( Sabrina has a favorite like this one but in orange):
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/octopus.jpg
Sven and Karoo ( both 7 years old) share some raw beef after Karoo's run
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/sven.jpg
Posing for pictures
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/couple.jpg
Here is a video of the run I took with my tiny point-and-shoot camera. It is not that great but you can hear the paws and the sounds, It was impossible to take pictures. Too fast. At the beginning you see Sven the dog and the cheetah limo at the end of the track. Then Karoo runs ( she is off leash) and at the end you hear training whistle for her recall. Yep, they train cheetahs to do recall.
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/P1010774.MOV
Forgot to mention that their male cheetah Johnny was just on Ellen tv show. He also has his own companion dog but he had to stay backstage. But he does cheetah runs as well. And Johnny's lure toy is a stretchable dachsie toy my dogs have at home!
Did you know that cheetahs reach 0 to 40mph in just 2 strides? Well, we were standing right next to the track she was running on and it was like a lightening went by.
Anyways, something else we learned at the park. Cheetahs are hand raised at the park and they are raised with dogs. When they have a cheetah cub, they find a companion puppy for it. Usually they adopt them from a shelter after doing temperament testing. Why do they raise them together? Cheetah is a very skittish and nervous animal. So, they pick a laid back, well balanced dog that would be a simular in size. They spend 22 hours a days together excluding 2 hours/day they are trained. So, they really bond. When a stressful situation arises, the cheetah looks at her dog companion and sees that it is calm and cool about it, it then also doesn't stress about it.
Here are some pictures:
The lure toy ( Sabrina has a favorite like this one but in orange):
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/octopus.jpg
Sven and Karoo ( both 7 years old) share some raw beef after Karoo's run
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/sven.jpg
Posing for pictures
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/couple.jpg
Here is a video of the run I took with my tiny point-and-shoot camera. It is not that great but you can hear the paws and the sounds, It was impossible to take pictures. Too fast. At the beginning you see Sven the dog and the cheetah limo at the end of the track. Then Karoo runs ( she is off leash) and at the end you hear training whistle for her recall. Yep, they train cheetahs to do recall.
http://home.earthlink.net/~olganielsen/images/cheetah/P1010774.MOV
Forgot to mention that their male cheetah Johnny was just on Ellen tv show. He also has his own companion dog but he had to stay backstage. But he does cheetah runs as well. And Johnny's lure toy is a stretchable dachsie toy my dogs have at home!