Against All Training Rules...

Chiquito looking innocent in his hammock.

     Paul came in this morning after "transferring" Chiquito to the cage-within-the-cage and said:  "Chiquito was sitting on my foot and, against all training rules, I sort of booted him into the small cage."  We both burst out laughing.
    Obviously, rehab animals shouldn't be trained.  Or reprimanded.  So when Chiquito snapped Paul's bifocal frames in half on Christmas Eve, Paul uttered a single swear word and that was that.  (Paul, however, IS trainable, and he's headed into town now to get contact lenses.  It was the umpteenth time he forgot to remove his glasses, and the second time Chiquito broke expensive frames.)

---

     Just as we always "forgive" Chiquito for being a monkey, there are times he has to forgive us for being human.  I was watering the vines around the base of the monkey cage a few days ago when Chiquito grabbed Lolita through the chainlink and wouldn't let go.  She squealed, he held on, and my trigger finger reacted involuntarily.  I hit him with a jet of water.  He released his grip, I released mine, and I returned to watering the plants like nothing had happened...but I was chuckling inside. 
     Chiquito dropped to the ground on all fours.  He levitated, turned 180 degrees in midair, and landed on all fours facing the opposite direction.  He repeated this several times in quick succession. Since I knew he would hate being laughed at, I put down the hose and walked into the house.
    "Yes,"  Paul said, "That's his frustration dance." 
    Next time I feel like swearing, I might just try a frustration dance...