ARTICLE SUBMITTED FOR PUBLICATION ON CARERS- HEALINGSPUR
My Daughter Syliva and her Pets
and the story of Little Man
Sylvia has two lovely dogs, a cute Jack Russell named Dodge who unfortunately is epileptic and in spite of his sad condition which is carefully monitored and cared for is a sweet, cute, lovable, brave little dog, then there is Chetz an amazingly affectionate lovable, good natured Staffordshire bull terrier cross who gets on with everyone and lives in a mixed family with Dodge, and two Love birds, Chester and Lester. It was not until this pair of love birds produced chicks that it was realised that Chester is female, Sylvia has always been fond of birds and used to have an aviary until she moved house, so now she only has the two lovebirds who eventually produced a special chick who came to be named Little Man.
From the day he was born Little Man had a surprising personality with an adventurous, and confident spirit, Sylvia hand reared him as he was very tiny and kept falling out of his nest, she had reared several birds and it was unusual not to see her with a chick in her hand, when he was a little older but not yet with his full plumage, his favourite place was in the middle of a cosy toilet roll where he chose to sleep. He was also full of curiosity and one day while exploring a corner of the room found himself inside Chetz the staffies mouth, in horror Sylvia set about rescuing him. In tears for what she thought was the little birds demise. Chetz with a very sorry look in his eye released the bird to her, and to her astonishment Little Man had no injury at all, the shock alone was enough to kill the tiny fragile chick but he survived unscathed by the experience. Staffies mouths are not the best place to put your hand into, or for a small bird to flutter about in, Chetz however is a gentle dog who has ever since been friends with Little Man allowing him the honour of sitting on his head and generally making a nuisance of himself, both Chetz and Dodge are very fond of Little Man now and are very amusing to watch as they play together.
This was not the last of Little Mans adventures as his lack of fear and curiosity led him to perch onto a hot cup of coffee and fall in, again in spite of all odds he was ok, it seemed it had also not deterred him from then deciding to take a swim in a bowl of hot washing up water whilst Sylvia was doing some dishes, and again he escaped unhurt. It is no wonder at the end of the day that this now plumaged Little Man is glad to sleep happy and cosy inside a kitchen towel holder.
