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E-book - 20 Pages - 31 Gray-scale & 1 Color Pencil Illustrations by Sally Blanchard

Excerpt - Trust-Building: Developing A Buddy Bond

Games played with companion parrots should be trust-building and should never involve any form of teasing or aggression. The parrot has to be comfortable with the game. I introduced the “hopping” game to Spike very gradually, one step at a time and it took me a few weeks to get Spike comfortable with me holding him around the middle. Once that happened, it was pretty easy to gently bounce him up and down to “wind him up.” If I had tried to force him to accept being handled in certain ways, it likely that he would not be the “ham” performer that he became. When I had only had Spike for a short time, we were visiting southern California and there was a terrible fire within about five miles of the home I where we were staying. My hosts and I sat up most of the night fearing that the fire could change directions and come towards the house. While we sat at the table waiting, I decided to teach Spike to roll over and play dead when I “shot” him with my finger. By this time, I had won his trust and he was comfortable with me doing just about anything with him. I started by touching his side and then I started putting a little pressure on him. Then I would take my other hand and roll him over. It took less than an hour for him to associate me pointing at him and saying “pow” with rolling to his back. Each step of the way, I told him what a wonderful bird he was. In just a couple of hours, he had the trick down perfectly. In the next hour, I decided to change his cue. I would Sally Blanchard’s Tongue-in-Beak Clayworks 6 SALLY BLANCHARD’S PARROTS MADE E-Z direct my breathe at him and ask him if I had too much garlic on my pizza and he rolls over on his back. He has always been a bird that thrives on verbal praise and once he learns something it is not difficult to get him to perform for praise. We don’t travel as much and since I don’t have the gallery anymore, he doesn’t get to show off to an audience nearly as much as he used to.

Playing with our parrots instead of just petting and stroking them can actually create a “good buddy” bond. This is far preferable to parrots forming a sexual bond with their caretakers. Sexual bonds with people can create both problem behaviors and serious health problems from hormonal overload. So many people just simply accept the concept that playing games with dogs and cats is a positive part of life with them. In that regard too many people think that the only way to interact with a companion parrot is to cuddle with them or to let them ................

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Published by the Companion Parrot Online Magazine
Loveland, Colorado USA
http://www.companionparrotonline.com
Copyright© 2012 Sally Blanchard
Illustrations and Photographs Copyright© 2012 Sally Blanchard
Design and Layout by Sally Blanchard
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED