Prestigious pets

[ShreddedOakAviary]

No animal based social structure is free of the concept of pet prestige. As humans we are all naturally flawed and need and want approval. We all get it in different ways... hoarders and faux rescues are just more like a bottomless pit of that.

 

[thekarens]

I can honestly say with 100% certainty that prestige has never had one thing to do with any of the pets I've had/have. Now if you start talking about electronics and bicycles that's a different story.

 

[GaryBV]

Hoarders do, at least, have their hearts in the right place in that they are trying to save the world, but instead, get overwhelmed and bogged down and it takes over everything. I feel such pity for those people, but they end up doing more harm, to themselves, and to their 'rescues'.

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

Traditional hoarders I agree, but parrot hoarders tend to be quite wrapped up in showing off their parrots (especially high dollar ones). In my experience anyway I am sure there are quite a few parrot hoarders with the same illness as the other types of hoarders.

 

[Birdman666]

I've only been around 4-5 Hawkheads, and every single one of them were "owner only" birds. So my experience with these guys is limited, and has been exclusively negative. I do know that the way they used to trap them when they exported them. They are so UBER-TERRITORIAL that they would just bring a hawkhead in a cage into another bird's territory, and the bird would come down in a rage. So, I never even considered working with these guys.

Rachel had one. She was the only one who could handle it. And her birds were generally well socialized. This one didn't take to strangers...

And she had a lap SCARLET - one of "those" birds.

 

[Birdman666]

Haven't I seen on this very forum Macaw owners adorn their posts with special "seals" attesting to their status as part of an elite group? Just sayin'

I don't know that many stuck up bird owners. (Let's face it, we are humbled by having to clean up all that bird poop! And if you have ever seen what comes out the back end of a macaw in the morning... )

Conures are really just shrunken macaws anyway...

I guess if you wanted to brag about my bird can bite harder than yours can, or something...

 

[Birdman666]

To me, the "status" part of parrot ownership, is the interactiveness of the bird itself. It doesn't matter if it's an itty bitty lovebird, or a Hy-Hy...

I knew a guy who trained a lovebird to sit inside his shirt pocket. Went everywhere with that thing... You or I tried to pick that bird up, we'd probably end up with a hole in our finger.

I can do things with my Greenwing no one else can...

same with all the other ones.

 

[Mike17]

How useless in everyday driving conditions is a Ferrari or a Lamborgini?! And really, is there any place this side of a closed track they can be safely driven at 200 mph?

Can anyone guess what the maintenance and fuel costs are on a private jet?

Actually, modern Ferraris and Lambos are quite tractable in traffic, not like the cantankerous beasts of old. 200mph is achievable (maybe) by any number of cars, including American muscle cars dating back to the 50s & 60s (despite having **** brakes). Private jets must cost a motza to run, but then mere CEOs are paid millions these days, and no doubt they can write off the cost of the Learjet against income tax.

Getting back to "prestigious" animals I was quite bamboozled when I started reading this thread. A "Friesian" is prestigious? I've seen hundreds in paddocks Holstein-Friesians, that is, the black and white dairy breed. Somehow I figured out that there's now a breed of horse named after a cow:32:

 

[Birdman666]

One of my jobs in college was working as a deck hand on a yacht...
(Uuumm... having seen how much maintenance and costs associated with one, that's one of the last things I would ever want!)

My boss had a Lamborgini, which at the time was the hottest "IT" car in the world.

He had to drive the Newport Freeway, which never got about 20 mph...

THE DAMN THING KEPT OVERHEATING! Showed up at the yacht harbor on the back of a tow truck.

I, on the other hand, had a volkswagon bus that had around 300,000 miles on it. It didn't go fast, but it got me to work, the beach, and school and back... and it had a bed in the back, if I needed a nap. And I didn't need racks for my surfboards.

Status isn't my thing... I'm a practical car guy.

The bird rides in it, and I need room to fit her playstand in the back. Give me a truck, an suv, or a van...

 

[Betrisher]

LOLOL! Mike17, the breed of horse is just as old as the breed of cow. It's never been plentiful and has recently enjoyed a bit of a comeback in dressage circles and is therefore desirable but difficult to obtain. Do a google: they're *gorgeous* creatures with an almost draught-horse body and a stunning classic head. Oh, and long, long, loo-oong hair, which is a magnet for any horsey chick.

I would take a Frisian any day over a gormless smelly motor car!

 

[Mike17]

One of my jobs in college was working as a deck hand on a yacht...
(Uuumm... having seen how much maintenance and costs associated with one, that's one of the last things I would ever want!)

My boss had a Lamborgini, which at the time was the hottest "IT" car in the world.

He had to drive the Newport Freeway, which never got about 20 mph...

THE DAMN THING KEPT OVERHEATING! Showed up at the yacht harbor on the back of a tow truck.

I, on the other hand, had a volkswagon bus that had around 300,000 miles on it. It didn't go fast, but it got me to work, the beach, and school and back... and it had a bed in the back, if I needed a nap. And I didn't need racks for my surfboards.

Status isn't my thing... I'm a practical car guy.

The bird rides in it, and I need room to fit her playstand in the back. Give me a truck, an suv, or a van...

I can well understand a Lambo (especially the older models- they're now owned by the VW group and several models are based on Audi models) overheating in slow traffic- their cooling systems are optimised for high speeds, not low, with massive V8 or V12 engines. I can relate to the SUV thing, we have a small one which is quite practical (although it starts looking tight for space once the cage count hits 7 or 8). I'd like to replace it with a medium station wagon, but the wife likes the ride height of the SUV- she's vertically challenged. My other car is a coupe, and a more impractical car is hard to imagine. Like a sedan but with only two doors. It's longer than the SUV, and the boot will take two small suitcases. We'd never own a sedan- no matter how cavernous the boot, they're useless for us bird people.

 

[ShreddedOakAviary]

A couple of things....
1. the breeder who told be she favored Hawkheads breeds 2 species of black cockatoos and hyacinth macaws, and if you check the Birdtalk magazine covering Hawkheads you'll see she is the source they reference. For whatever reason, hawkheads are her favorites.
2. Instead of thinking about people driving sports cars, think about people driving giant fancy (never been dirty) V10 diesel trucks around town as a better example.
3. For whoever said that bird owners are humble.... please introduce me to one, because I have yet to meet more than a few in real life. It's the very reason I loathe going to bird shows... The snobbery is suffocating. Bird clubs are the worst... And oh my gosh what the Gabriel Foundation hides in its closet for the sake of maintaining their reputation is disgusting.
Just my experience and opinion. If bird owners weren't snobby, then they wouldn't spend all their time at a bird show trying to impress me and get me to agree that someone else's birds care or bird is subpar to their own. The reason I cut association with another breeder wasn't because there was anything wrong with the breeder herself, but her unethical snobby friend was beyond awful. I admit there are some really nice people who own birds, but in my experience only about 1 in 5. I could just be jaded from years of irritation, so don't take me too seriously. lol.

 

[Mike17]

Animal shows would have to be one my least favourite things. Much of what I've seen is sheer idiocy, and standards are imposed on (dog) breeds which are bad for the animals (I refer to Cavalier King Charles Spaniels and German Shepherds as examples). I've not had a lot to do with them personally but my mother used to breed Burmese cats and was also a judge.

I agree completely about the enormous 4WDs that never get dirty, too. Most of the really silly ones never made it to these shores, thankfully (our fuel being about twice the price it is in US, with bigger distances to cover) apart from specialist niches like for5th wheelers and for towing big caravans (the Japanese dual-cab utes being limited to the 3000-3500kg range while monster F250s can tow 4500kg). I see quite a few of them where I live as it's "grey nomad territory" through winter. Aussies will know what I mean

 

[Mike17]

LOLOL! Mike17, the breed of horse is just as old as the breed of cow. It's never been plentiful and has recently enjoyed a bit of a comeback in dressage circles and is therefore desirable but difficult to obtain. Do a google: they're *gorgeous* creatures with an almost draught-horse body and a stunning classic head. Oh, and long, long, loo-oong hair, which is a magnet for any horsey chick.

I would take a Frisian any day over a gormless smelly motor car!

I read up on Friesians (the horse) and they are not only beautiful, but have a fascinating history.

Trish, as a car & bike nut I have to disagree, and the stuff that goes in one end of a horse and comes out the other is much less manageable that what goes in a car. Also, I'm allergic to horses!

My niece breeds warmbloods near Tuggerah- not far from you. These aren't a breed as such, more a classification of type, she does dressage.