June | 2008 | Bryan's Angels

Kermit’s Baby-Like Mimicry
Tuesday, June 17th, 2008

On my previous post, I shared about Kermit uttered the word “Peek-a-Boo”. Till now Kermit has been trying very hard to learn new words, and he has been constantly mumbling.

Yesterday when I was giving Kermit some nice head rub and massage, he mimics some funny sound. Below is the sound clip that I captured:

Kermit’s Baby-Like Mimicry

He does sound like a human baby uttering some noise. At one part of the sound clip, my mum thought it was a human baby giggling away! Well done Kermit!

Tags: Bird, Companion Parrot, Kermit, Mimicry, Parrot, Parrot Talking, Pet Bird, Poicephalus, Senegal Parrot, Talking Bird

Posted in Talking Kermit | Comments Off

Are Punishments Accepted in Parrot Training
Sunday, June 15th, 2008

Most of us including myself, regard our parrots as our kids. Like any other kids, they sometimes get nasty and cranky at times and many resorted to punishments to stop the unwanted or negative behaviors immediately.

Are these punishments accepted in parrot training? Are they really that effective?

I’ve identified some common punishments adopted by majority of parrot owners (including myself in the past) whenever their parrots misbehaved:

Jail the parrot into a cage with no toys and isolate him whenever he/she misbehave.
Squirt water on his/her face.
Whenever the parrot misbehave (like biting your finger) while perching on your hand, giving him/her a strong firm shake also known as earthquake to stop the negative behavior.
Yelling back at the parrot.
Throwing things at the parrot.

Some owners might see effectiveness in the beginning but in actual fact it’s not going to help in the long run. Why is it so? Punishment is a form of negative reinforcement, and taking note that negative reinforcement is never recommended in parrot training.

No one likes to be punished, including ourselves we never like to be punished by others. Not only it may affect us physically, but the damage done emotionally can be difficult to remedy then after. Emotional damage are usually permanent, especially parrots are highly intelligent animals they can clear remember the negative punishment conducted on them, thus affecting the parrot and owner’s bond and relationship.

Below are some possible consequences of using punishment in the long run are:

Negative behavior can be accidentally reinforced.
Biting problems and aggressiveness.
Damage the bonding and the relationship between the parrot and the owner.
The parrot can become more fearful and less confident.

I hated myself in punishing Kermit and Kiki in the past, the negative behaviors did stop immediately, but I also felt that they were afraid of me and avoiding me after the punishment. It’s not a fantastic experience, and they totally ignore and avoiding me for the whole day, and I had to end up rebuilding the trust all over again the next day. From then I’ve stopped all negative punishment and tried using other positive method instead. Why putting the bond and the relationship at risk?

Many will asked if punishments are not accepted, what other method can be used to stop the negative behavior?

Simply ignore it or using distraction. These are two best methods to help reshaping and eliminating the negative behavior, but of course it requires sometime and consistency in executing these methods whenever a negative behavior arises.

So when to use them and at which situation? Well it’s definitely important to know which to use and at which situation. I’m not expecting you to ignore your parrot and endure the pain when he tries to bite or is biting you, that could be the silliest way that I doubt anyone will do. For example if the scenario is when your parrot tried to bite you when perching on your hand, try using the distraction method. Distract the your parrot with his/her favorite little toy (e.g. Little Bell, Balls, Chewable Wooden Toys). I will recommend a bell toys cause the sound catch his attention. Offer the toy to him or her whenever he/she tries to bite or even chewing at furnitures that he/she not suppose to. That’s one way you can stop the behavior positively. As for unwanted vocalization like screaming, ignoring it (not giving any eye contact) will be advisable. By doing so you will not accidentally reinforce the screaming problem.

These are some ways to help managing negative behavior positively in some situation. Always access the problem and try identify the possible cause of the problem before executing these methods.

Personally I’ve one great book to recommend for reading. I ever mentioned this book on my earlier post, but I guess it will be great to recommend the book again:

The Parrot Problem Solver by Barbara Heidenreich

Tags: Barbara Heidenreich, Good Bird Inc, Positive Reinforcement

Posted in Behavior Problems & Trainings, Recommended Books | Comments (0)

First Glimpse at Kermit’s Retrieval Trick
Saturday, June 7th, 2008

Finally got to showcase Kermit, my Senegal Parrot’s first prop trick, the Kermit’s Retrieval Trick. Compared to Kiki, Kermit took a longer time to understand and master the trick, but he didn’t disappoint me in the end.

Posted in Kermit's Tricks, Youtube | Comments Off

To Wing Clipped or Not To?
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008

Many people who have never own a parrot or have very little knowledge on parrots will misunderstand the concept of Wing Clipping. Some even mistook as deliberately clipping the wings with cloth pegs or any foreign object so that the parrot will not be able to fly!

This might sound funny, how could someone come out with such crazy senseless explanation? But it’s true, that crazy senseless explanation actually came from a friend of mine. He had great misunderstanding about the concept of wing clipping and rating it as an immoral act.

Misunderstandings happen because of ignorants or little knowledge in parrots. So overall, we can’t blame people for labelling wing clipping as an unmoral ethic.

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Posted in Knowledge Sharing | Comments Off

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