nonTT

#1

January 13th, 2009, 12:12 PM

Original story is here.



How far is too far when it comes to pet care?

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#2

January 13th, 2009, 01:33 PM

No sympathy for the woman. She should learn to care for and train her parrot properly.
Sympathy for the husband, however
Poor guy.

LOL - off topic for a moment, I was browsing that link and found this image!
(Maybe the husband should have found an alternative use for the parrot!)

http://http://www.telegraph.co.uk/ne...k.html?image=1

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#3

January 13th, 2009, 01:38 PM

Agreed. I don't know anything about training birds, though. Is there an alpha-bird? A... flock-leader, comparable to the dogs' pack-leader?

And yes, that parrot would make a beautiful cod piece for the husband!

While we're on the subject of animal-human relations, anyone remember that woman who married a dolphin two years ago?
Man bites dog? No, woman weds dolphin - Weird news- msnbc.com

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#4

January 13th, 2009, 02:09 PM

This woman should have done some serious research on parrot behavior before she put this poor bird into the current situation. This behavior is not at all uncommon among companion parrots. You just have to work with them instead of drugging the poor thing into submission.

Parrots definitely develop Alpha-lesser status among their flock. When you bring a parrot into your home, you need to work to convince the bird that you are the Alpha. Not through punishment...a bird will punish you right back guaranteed by taking a chunk out of whatever part of your body is close by. A lot of people assume this is a fast, relatively easy process like gaining the respect of a dog. They couldn't be more incorrect.

Parrots are extremely intelligent, sentient beings. They have the capacity to empathize with other beings...and naturally the ability to manipulate you as well. They are still wild animals, many parrots being only first or second generation captives. They do not have the same "dependence" factor as dogs do, nor do they have the innate drive to satisfy and obey their owner. You must convince the bird that you are, in fact, worthy of their close bond. Sounds silly,but it's true. It's a long process, one in which you must be prepared to suffer setbacks and tantrums and take bites along the way without becoming overwhelmed or hateful toward the bird.

My Umbrella Cockatoo, Angelo, stays in his cage for the most part when my boyfriend is around. He is very fond of my guy...but he is very closely bonded to me and becomes very upset and loud when I hug him or spend "too much" time with him. I have to let Angelo know that I still love him and will not abandon him(the worst thing for a bird), but also that I am very firm in not allowing him to become aggressive toward my boyfriend. He accepts his presence, and does not do more than scream at times when he gets needy...but I also make sure he is aware of what is acceptable and what I will not tolerate.

While you are almost guaranteed to be bitten by a companion parrot at some point, it is not necessary to allow someone to suffer repeated injury. Angelo has bitten me 3 times in 4 years...never severely enough to break a bone. He is an extremely well-adjusted bird, many owners are bitten far more frequently by their Cockatoos than I have been. My boyfriend was nipped once by him, but not since. Birds test your resolve. Biting is frequently their testing method of choice. Once they realize they won't get far that way, their behavior significantly improves.

The reality of this woman's situation is, she needs to take the bird off of the meds and learn that her parrot is a wild animal. One that is capable of the closest, most rewarding bond you can ever form with a creature. BUT, you must exercise discipline and kindness over the entire span of their lives if you want to avoid problems like she is experiencing. With the bird on meds, she is at best dealing with an empty shell of a potentially wonderful creature.

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#5

January 13th, 2009, 02:32 PM

That's what annoys me about new pet owners. They don't ask questions and they don't bother trying to know as much as they can about an animal before getting one. They think it's just a toy they have to feed. (The same can be said of young parents)

That being said, is it feasible to re-train a bird that's already developed these issues?

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#6

January 13th, 2009, 07:16 PM

I feel sorry for the bird if anything D:

Murdoch is a little bit like that with me. He's silent when other people are in the room, but when I'm just in he 'talks' xP Also, when someone else is in the room he wont come out of his cage.

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#7

January 13th, 2009, 09:30 PM

It is absolutely possible to work through these kinds of issues with a "problem" bird. It is difficult and it takes awhile, but it can certainly be done.

***My cockatoo that mentioned before is a bit of a special case. He was purchased as a baby right out of the nest from a pet store years ago by a middle aged couple who wanted a "sweet baby bird". They only had him for a short time before they realized he wasn't *just* a sweet feather ball. Apparently, they ended up locking him in his cage and putting it in a closed room of their house for 3 years, only going in to feed him. Never letting him experience anything besides solitary confinement. For a flock animal, this is a living hell.

When they got tired of neglecting him, they returned him to the pet store in a tiny cage. That's where I met him. He was always balled up in a corner of his cage, which wasn't even wide enough to spread his wings. He had gone through so much emotional stress, he had pulled all of the feathers off of his belly. They do that to feel the endorphin rush and make themselves temporarily feel better in order to cope with severe emotional stress. I have seen lots of cockatoos in pet stores, but something about him really struck me.

So, over the next several months, I visited him about 3 times a week. I learned that he had badly bitten every employee in the store at least once, and no one could handle him. I just tried to relate to him in a way that he would understand, so he knew I was at least not going to hurt him like his owners had before. From the second visit, he would come running over to me as soon as he saw me and I was able to pet him and handle him. I was only bitten once in the process, he was just testing me to see if I would go away too. Didn't work. We bonded really well, and finally I was able to bring him home. He has been here for 4 years, he has gone out in public with me to meetings with tons of other parrot owners and their birds, and he actually enjoys meeting new people. He still has fear issues, but instead of reacting aggressively, he just shuts down until he feels better.

Angelo was once deemed unmanageable, and he is now one of the most well adjusted Umbrella Cockatoos a lot of bird owners have met. It is possible to improve a bird's behavior, and all it takes is considerable patience, intuition, and resolve. Not Prozac.

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#8

January 13th, 2009, 10:09 PM

Not to sound like Borat or anything, but this is something that greatly bothered me when I moved to the States 8 years ago. I grew up in a country where pets were thought of as, uhhh, "pets"! They were animals, humans were the masters, and that's how it went down from there. When I came here and saw people refer to their pets as "babies", dress them up like humans or even share their friggin' ice cream cones with them, I was REALLY weirded out. A pet is a pet, it has NO place in your bed, in your purse, or eating from your plate. It is the animal and you are the master, and that's how much that relationship needs to go. Even to this day, when I hear people say "Oh no, Fifi is a member of the family, we can't leave her with the neighbors!" I get pissed off. Really? A member of your family? A dog? Okay .. so, when did your wife get screwed by the neighbor's pooch then? .. Maybe it's just a culture difference, but it's still SO friggin' weird to me.

Ra,

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#9

January 14th, 2009, 01:13 AM

So I'll bet something like this makes you feel all warm and fuzzy inside, right?

#10

January 14th, 2009, 01:35 AM

I absolutely agree, and I can attest to the impressive transformation that Aubrey has achieved with Angelo. He is one amazing bird! His squawks can be annoying as hell at times (they're literally as loud as a jet engine), and I haven't trusted him enough to pet him again since he nipped my finger (he could easily have taken it off if he'd wanted to), but he is smart, inventive, playful, emotional, affectionate, extravagantly expressive, beautiful, and at times downright joyful - in an irresistibly obnoxious way. (I'm not sure if all this is typical of the species or just another example of pet/owner resemblance.)

Angelo pwns the cockatoo in this video in every way, but just try to imagine a bird on Prozac doing anything like it. Or a human, for that matter....

#11

January 14th, 2009, 07:20 PM

Besides being insanely adorable, and in more cases ridiculous, I want that dog. X3

__________________
Name: Heather
Age: 20
Sex: Female

Quotes:
"God is not dead. To say, "It is dead" is to acknowledge such thing ever existed."
"Damn right I'm good in bed. I can sleep for days."

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