Parrot Parenting. Carol Frischmann
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with the bird for a few minutes. If your bird retreats to the back of his cage, allow this, and don’t encourage him into a situation in which he feels unsafe. Instead, have the visitor back up and give a bit more space. When your parrot feels safe, he will approach because his curiosity—eventually—wins.
Birds are quick to pick up on a person’s energy. Never try to force a bird to come out of his cage or go to a person he doesn’t want to. This is not a good beginning to their relationship and an expectation that your bird should simply obey you is not productive.
Although these first few days are excellent for establishing your parrot’s manners and behavior, what is not appropriate or useful is for you to expect that “manners” will overcome fear. This doesn’t work for children, and it doesn’t work for parrots either. More about this will become clear in the chapter on training.
Of course, this is the time that the family will establish ground rules for handling the bird, for making sure the doors and windows are closed and opened according to a set of rules, and who has responsibility for feeding and making sure the bird has clean water at set times of the day.
Neutral Space
Often, introductions go well in a neutral space, particularly if your bird is older and has a history of being a bit protective of his cage. You can provide a neutral space outside the cage on a stand, such as a play gym. If your bird is without the protection of his cage, allow even more space between the family members to be introduced and the bird. Each bird, each situation is different. Try to consider things from the bird’s perspective. “Everything is new, and I’m not sure about any of this.” That’s probably what your bird will be experiencing for the first few weeks in your home.
A great thing for a family to do together, with your parrot perched on his play gym, is to watch some videos—either purchased or from the library—about your species of parrot and some basic handling and training techniques.
Parrots and Other Pets
Mixing birds with other animal companions is tricky. We know this, but we are encouraged to dream about perfect interspecies relationships because we’ve all seen the YouTube videos with the parrots playing with dogs, cats, skunks, horses, and pot-bellied pigs. As your mother would say, “Just because all the kids are doing it doesn’t mean it’s a good idea.” Although some birds do enjoy playing with other species, the videos never show the heartbreaking stories that happen more often than you would imagine. When a cat’s claw nicks your parrot’s air sack, your parrot has a “collapsed lung” and will require extensive veterinary care of a surgical nature. If your dog punctures your parrot’s skin accidentally, a week-long course of antibiotics is needed for your bird. Of course, if your dog closes his jaws just a little too hard, your avian friend can sustain even more serious, perhaps life-threatening, injuries. For every fictional bird hero, there’s a real-life story of heartbreak. Every individual—bird, dog, cat, or ferret—is different, but we can generalize about things that transcend individual animals’ personalities.
Your bird and your other pets will not necessarily get along. Introduce them carefully—if at all.
What’s Natural?
Birds are prey animals. Whether your pet dog or cat or ferret will act on the thought that your parrot smells like food, your parrot will probably see your mammal companions as the carnivores and predators they are. Your parrot depends on you to keep his territory and body safe from the creatures that, if he were in the wild, would eat him—a tricky business if you have other pets at home. Factors that affect the success of a parrot mixing with other species include the age at introduction, the species, and companion-enforced limits and supervision.
Cats and Dogs
Well-known parrot behaviorist Mattie Sue Athan has both cats and birds. Athan has explained that parrots, because they are social by nature, can have meaningful relationships with other pets. A typical playful relationship between parrots and dogs and cats is a game that parrots start. In this game, the bird calls the pet, sometimes by name, then hangs upside down or flaps to taunt the pet. When the pet comes very near, the parrot screams and lunges at the pet. This game is relatively safe when the parrot plays from inside the cage.
By the way, many parrot-people have stories of their dogs becoming indifferent to being called. By accident, usually, they discover that the parrot has been calling their dog, often by name, and then shouting, “Bad dog,” when the dog appears. The parrot finds this game incredibly amusing. Again, think of the joy of controlling such a fabulous toy—which is what the dog becomes from the parrot’s perspective.
With cats and dogs, larger parrots have the advantage because of their hard beaks, intimidating size, and domineering personalities. Small birds that flutter, like parakeets and cockatiels, however, become irresistible to both cats and dogs. Both dogs and cats will bump cages in order to evoke this response from the birds. This creates an impossible situation for the bird, which is constantly being frightened. The only solution is to ensure that the dog or cat cannot reach the area around the cage. This is more easily done with dogs than with cats.
Because of the range of dog breeds, it’s hard to generalize, but behaviorists Sally Blanchard and Athan mention two cautions. Larger parrots, such as cockatoos, macaws, and Amazons, may develop a screaming habit if they are housed with barking or noisy dogs. These habits, once established, are very difficult to eliminate. Their other caution is that once a dog (or cat) has traumatized a bird, the parrot may be unable to tolerate that species, even one of a different breed.
The goal is to keep your parrot as flexible and as well-adjusted as possible because, in the long life you have together, you have no idea what will happen next. Preventing trauma that could create life-long terror is relatively simple, although it takes knowledge and planning. Dealing with the long-term results of a terror of dogs or cats could be difficult for a family, as well as a constant source of horror for your parrot.
It is always best to keep cats and birds separated; any meeting between the two is a potential disaster.
Other Companion Pets
Reptiles represent minimal danger to birds, except that large snakes at liberty have been known to eat pet birds. Pond and aquarium fish and aquatic turtles are not a threat to birds, but their aquatic habitats are drowning hazards. Ferrets have been known to kill even large parrots, so small parrots like budgies and cockatiels are a bad choice for mustelid lovers.
Success Factors
Experts do not agree on a preferred species mix or whether animals must be caged or allowed to roam free. They do agree that training, thoughtful introductions, and limit setting are factors that promote mixed-species relationship successes.
Each species has a different way of indicating comfort and discomfort. Each species has a different tolerance for the other. Pet owners, in order to avoid heartbreak, must learn the body language of each of their pets; additionally, the pets must understand the body language of the others. What does “You’re too close to me” look like in the language of each animal? Training of some sort, whether from a professional, a good how-to book, or a friend who has had success, will reduce chances of interspecies injuries or death.
Well-planned introductions help establish the tone of pets’ relationships. Introducing young animals is best. Next best is a slow, supervised introduction, one-to-one at a time. Athans claims that cats raised with companion birds become trustworthy with that particular kind of bird. As a precaution, she suggests claw clipping in advance of meeting and underlines that any break in a bird’s skin by a cat requires antibiotics to prevent that bird’s death from a bacterial infection. Athans suggests that introducing a dog into a home with parrot should be done with the guidance of a dog behavior professional.
Sally Blanchard, in her Companion Parrot Handbook, emphasizes limit setting. “People who have happy, well-behaved dogs usually have well-behaved parrots.” Good behavior comes from the