Parrot Parenting. Carol Frischmann
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Both Athans and Blanchard agree that close supervision of interspecies friendships is essential. Just like small children, pets cannot be depended on to behave in the manner they know you expect. Unfortunately, the price for the parrot can be very high. My suggestion is not to allow interspecies interaction.
The best approach is to keep a neutral zone between your parrot and dog or other pet. This is a space where neither the second pet nor the parrot is allowed. A space about three feet wide is enough to keep the parrot from pitching out food to the other pet. In addition, the space gives the owner enough room to come and go without having the dog slip through to the cage or the other way around. There is nothing a mischievous parrot enjoys more than taunting another pet by calling it or tempting it with food. Of course, the parrot, like a small child, will have no idea of the potential consequences of a too-close encounter. As a pet parent, one of your jobs is to protect all of your pets.
Training, thoughtful introductions, and setting boundaries are factors that promote mixed-species relationship success.
Meeting the Parrot Before He Comes Home
An alternative to having the entire family meet the parrot after he has come home is to have the family, one or two at a time, meet the parrot in his former home. This has the advantage of letting the parrot feel as secure as possible and having the newcomers learn some handling basics from the breeder or shop owners. Similarly, if your bird is coming from a rescue, this is an opportunity for the entire family to take the course that is required by most rescues as a prerequisite for adopting a bird. In addition, this allows the family to become familiar with the bird, and vice versa, prior to the decision to finalize the adoption.
Handling Basics
Handling basics can be learned by watching and through practice. You must be committed to keeping your bird’s comfort in mind and as the priority. With this commitment, anyone can learn to competently handle a well-mannered parrot. A key to good handling is to learn the body language of the parrot. In the same way that people judge whether or not to approach a dog or cat based on their body language, parrots “tell” you whether they wish to be approached or not. The difference is that a parrot’s feather and body movements may not be as familiar to you as the posture of anxious dogs or arched-backed cats. Nevertheless, once you’ve learned what to look for, parrots give signals that are every bit as clear.
In addition, never force a family member to handle a bird in a situation that feels uncomfortable for that person. The anxiety of a bird handler can cause negative behaviors, including threats and biting by your normally well-mannered parrot. Parrots can feel stress in their handler. A confident handler calms a sensitive bird. A stressed handler stresses a normally confident bird.
The most important skill to learn is having your bird step onto your hand so that you can move him to a perch and then off your hand and onto a perch. Similarly, you need to be able to return your bird to his cage when it’s time for him to go in.
If you did your homework during your visits to the breeder, you and members of your family have observed the process of asking your bird to step onto and off your hand. Again, this is another point on which you and your family should agree. The “commands” or “requests” that you make of your bird should always use the same recognizable word, so that your bird understands what you are asking of him. In addition, you want to create a situation in which your bird sees an advantage in complying with your requests. For example, as you are becoming familiar with one another, try rewarding your bird with one of his favorite treats for returning to his cage willingly. In fact, for the first few times you invite your bird off your hand and onto a perch in his new cage, offer the new treat as a lure to make stepping onto that perch a very attractive and potentially rewarding decision.
If you have a family member who is nervous about handling the bird, try placing your parrot on a stand where the person can read, talk to, or sing or dance with the parrot, away from the cage. This neutral area keeps both the parrot and the nervous person on the same footing: neutral ground. This is not the parrot’s cage, so he doesn’t have to defend it or oppose going back when he’s having a good time out of the cage. And the person doesn’t have to enforce anything. She is simply there to interact with the parrot in a neutral spot, to establish whatever connection is possible between the two.
Parrots, like all learners, must have the power to operate positively on their environment to live behaviorally healthy lives. We facilitate this power when we interact with them in such a way that they choose to do what is required of them. This makes for lasting companionship in our homes.
For more information on handling and socialization, see Chapter 5: Behavior, Training, and Life with a Parrot.
Do not force your parrot on anyone who is nervous or frightened of handling him.
A Summary of Parrot Qualities
The Quieter Species
The species listed here tend to be quieter and less prone to screaming than most others. However, every parrot is noisy sometimes, and each bird is an individual.
•budgerigars (parakeets)
•cockatiels
•eclectus
•pionus parrot
•Quaker parakeets
The Best Talkers
The ability and desire of a bird to talk is not only related to his species, but also to that individual bird’s personality. The only way to be sure you acquire a bird who talks is to find an older bird who already talks. Still, you won’t know the extent of the vocabulary the bird can acquire nor the conditions under which your bird will use it. Bird species that can produce individuals who learn to talk very well include:
•African greys, Amazons, and budgerigars.
Parrots Who Are Best for First-time Owners
The American Veterinary Medical Association suggests that both budgerigars (parakeets) and cockatiels make excellent first-time birds. Both these species come in a variety of colors, can sometimes talk, and have a life expectancy of between five and twenty years (as opposed to the longer life spans of larger birds). In addition, these species tend to be relatively easy for beginners to manage. Because these are smaller birds, their cages and furnishings also tend to be less expensive.
If you believe you will not be happy with either of these types of bird, but you are still convinced a bird is for you, try a Quaker parakeet, one of the small African parrots (including Senegals, Meyer’s, and Jardine’s), a pionus parrot, or possibly a green-cheeked or maroon-bellied conure, members of the quieter side of the conure family, the Pyrrhura.
If the parrot of your dreams is not one of these, I’d recommend fostering a bird for a few months prior to purchasing or adopting another species. Some people are extraordinary animal handlers from the beginning, but most people find that parrots are a larger commitment than they first imagined and that their exotic animal handling skills develop more slowly than they wish.
•Best bets: budgerigar or cockatiel
•Alternatives: Quaker parakeet; Senegal, Meyer’s, or Jardine’s parrot; pionus parrot; lineolated parakeet; lovebird; or a green-cheeked or maroon-bellied conure
Parrots Who Are Best for Experienced Owners
•Amazons
•cockatoos (all except cockatiel)
•lories and lorikeets
•macaws
Parrots Who Are Good at Learning Tricks
•caiques
•cockatoos
•conures
•macaws
•Quaker