Cross-posted

On a clicker-training listserv I subscribe to, a fellow wrote:

Two days ago I finally completed the adoption process and brought a blind Great Dane home to meet the family. We have a parrot -- a white Umbrella Cockatoo . The first day the Dane didn't notice the Cockatoo at all. The Cockatoo sat up on his cage top and ate his food or sat with my wife on the couch.

Then all of the sudden this morning the dog realized that those noises coming from the birdcage were from some sort of animal. The dog went berserk. I had to physically restrain her from charging the cage and knocking it over, and it is a big big cage. I took her into the other room (somewhat forcefully, I am afraid) while I thought about the problem. I have been working all day on a slow approach to the cage while on a leash. She whimpers and whines and strains to charge the cage. She completely ignores all food treats. I tried the strategy of using the cage itself as a reward instead. Each time she relaxes the leash, I would let her take a step forward. I can now do a slow approach to the cage somewhat successfully, though I don't know how reliable it would be. The dog is super stressed out by this: maybe even more so than our bird, who watches from the cage.

Fortunately, I have a spare cage, so I can put the bird in the other cage at night while I work with the dog on this. Any advice or recommendations you can make to help solve this problem? Right now if I so much as tap the cage top, my blind dane goes nuts, even if the bird is in the other room. I am able to get her to lie down calmly after a few minutes beside the cage, but if I even tap the side of the cage, she loses it. Am I trying to do too much too fast? I have only had 24 hours of clicker training with her. She was trained by more traditional methods and is already 4 years old. She is a sweet dog, but does not respond reliably to any commands. Using the clicker, I have been able to get a pretty reliable sit and heel with just 24 hours of practice, so long as the environment is calm. But she is a handful of a dog when she gets stressed out.

I am completely new to clicker training so any feedback is welcome.

I replied:

What I read in a bird book or mag, I forget which, was click and reward for ignoring the bird.

I would put the 'too in his sleep cage and hang out near the regular cage with the dog. That way the dog can go berserk without freaking out the parrot. I would leave the dog off-lead (unless you are worried about her hurting herself) so she can freely offer you behaviors to ignore (extinguish) or treat.

You can stabilize the cage with other furniture or bungee cords so it won't turn over and get damaged, or you can just beat the dog to it and go ahead and lay the cage on its side. Or have a big person stand behind it and hold it in place (like a trainer holding a punching bag in a gym).

The instant the dog stops barking (even if it's just to take a breath) or turns away even a fraction from the cage (whatever you establish as your 1st behavior goal) click and treat. Of course as always, define your ultimate goal (lies quietly by cage ignoring bird, for ex.) and work backwards to establish your sub-goal sequence.

As you work up the sequence, you can tap (but obviously that's too advanced right now) or play a recording of the bird's voice from inside the cage.

In the meantime, and forgive me for stating the obvious, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence here, DON'T LET THAT DOG ANYWHERE NEAR THAT BIRD. The bird may have to live in the sleep cage for awhile.

And be patient. Your dog may go nuts for 20 minutes or more before she offers you anything you can click & treat.

Also, it is important for you to be calm no matter how nuts she gets, because your stress and hers amplify each other. Take a moment to chill out before you start each session, just like you do when you are working with your bird! If you have removed the bird from the situation, then really nothing bad can possibly happen, so repeat to yourself that this is all good, all necessary, and she will sooner or later offer you the behavior you want... this helps keep you cool. If you think to yourself how awful it is that she's banging around, this will never work, etc., etc., then your stress level goes up and so will hers. Make sense?

Finally, I would spend some time, if you haven't already, trying to get the dog's perspective. Being blind, for all that dog knows she's been brought into a home with a resident Pterodactyl. Depending on how training goes the first time, and on what your vet says, maybe a sedative wouldn't be a bad idea just to get her started. Right now she may be too wigged out to hear the clicker or accept a treat without a Benadryl or three!

Another option, if she's crate-trained, is to have additional sessions with her in her crate. Bring your 'too gradually closer, clicking and rewarding for gradually calmer behaviors, perhaps with your ultimate goal being "lying quietly in crate with bird in room yakking it up."

Wouldn't hurt to teach the bird to say "Down" and "Stay" either!

__,_._,___

From an English-language Abu Dabi newspaper:

"Jacky produces ... intricate [Swarovski crystal] creations from a desk in her Al Barsha (Abu Dabi) home, which she shares with her Scottish husband Pete and their many pets.

To call Jacky an animal lover would be an understatement. In her native Malta she kept anything up to 110 animals – including a Shetland pony, 15 cats, three dogs, a parrot, a rabbit, hamsters, guinea pigs, a giant catfish, a giant tortoise and 32 turtles. These days Smooch – her beloved African Grey parrot keeps Jacky company at work, as do her three dogs Kyo, Nemxa and Buddy...

...I’ve always loved animals. I never had children, never wanted any children, I’m just an animal person I have this rapport with them. I can have my parrot Smooch on my shoulder all day, we can sing and talk together and she’s learning all the time. African Greys need love and constant attention. You can talk to them and teach them colours and play with them like a two-year-old child."

Home again

I returned home this afternoon to find that the AGP had about plucked herself bald while I was gone. I didn't think she cared!

The A.G. Parront on vacation

My sister the vet had to visit a breeder to check her Schnauzer puppies before they go to their new homes, and I tagged along (a) because I love puppies, and (b) to watch her work. These little guys made me think of Henry the Dog!

Jungle Sprite

Joanna Burger, a biologist, wrote The Parrot Who Owns Me about her relationship with Tiko, a Red-lored Amazon. Of his arrival, she wrote:

..so far as Tiko was concerned, we had entered his world, not the other way round. ...Our suburban home had become, in a sense, the wild tropical forest of Tiko's ancestors, the pair of us pressed into service as the flock of his generational memory.

When the AGP came to live with us, I thought we were getting a pet bird. Not so. On Tiko's first night, Burger, sleepless, lay awake thinking that their "dark quiet house felt different, inhabited as it was by a strange new spirit, a jungle sprite." We felt the same way on the AGP's first night: She doesn't just live here, she inhabits here. Her presence filled the house that first day, even after she had quieted for the night.

We have always been dog people, owning up to three at once and fostering others for a rescue organization. We had a cat once, too, who lived with us for about 17 or 18 years. The AGP is altogether a different dynamic. For one thing, she is an independent sort. She may not want to come out of her cage, or step up (or down, for that matter) when we think she should. She has strong preferences for one toy over another. She will reject out of hand a perch we thought was awesome when we brought it home for her. Yet she is very bird-like in her connection to us, her flock. She verbalizes constantly if we are out of sight (we of course call back).

For another, although she was supposed to be "my" bird, she chose to bond with The Birdfather. That is probably because I made the mistake of leaving town for a week shortly after we brought her home, but I sometimes think she might have chosen him anyway for her own inscrutable reasons. She is at her absolute happiest sitting on the back corner of the couch a few inches from his right shoulder.

The Economy

Well, I went down to the bird fair today to restock on snacks and stuff for the AGP. It was noticeably less crowded, in terms of vendors, stock, and customers, than usual. It seemed small and listless. There were some beautiful birds for sale, including lots of "bonded pairs" and "proven breeders" compared to previous fairs. The vendor who makes the AGP's favorite snack food was not there.

I think the economy is hurting bird people.

The Birdfather is in bed today, and didn't get to go. I picked him up a cool t-shirt for his birthday this week. For the AGP, I brought back a bag of pumpkin seeds (her absolute favorite snack), a sack of mixed nuts (for very, very rare treats because of the fat content), a preening toy, a sack of dried bell pepper, and some Harrison's.

She knew I had food when I came in the door--she started saying "Mmm" right away!

Favorite room in the house

I've discovered a great blog to visit if you like to write: The One Minute Writer. Every day there's a new writing prompt, and a little timer that beeps when you are done.

Today's prompt asks about one's favorite room in the house. Mine, of course, is the Bird Room. The Bird Room is not what you might think. It was originally designed to be the dining room. Keep in mind that this is a postage-stamp sized house and already has a breakfast room. Just the two of us living here, we sure don't need both!

Besides, it has this great picture window that looks out on the front yard. It made the Birdfather feel like he was dining in a fishbowl, since we are so close to the street. So we made it a sitting room. As it happens, the front yard is also where the birdfeeders and the Bluebird house and the bird bath are. So I quickly discovered that this was an ideal place to read, sip coffee, and birdwatch. I've gotten some lifers here, including the Brown Creeper I saw when I returned home from an entire day of hiking around a local park looking for one. I was cold, tired, stiff, disappointed, and discouraged. I had no sooner sat down with a cup of coffee to warm my old bones, when I glanced out--and there it was, on one of our pine trees not 20 feet from the window!

I have an original, antique Morris chair in here, and this cool table with inlaid ivory that folds up for easy packing on your camel, should you own one of those, and a good reading lamp. In no time flat, it became my favorite room. I started referrring to the Morris chair as my birding chair.

Now, of course, it also houses the AGP, so it really is a bird room in the usual sense of the word. As I write this (and it's taken a lot longer than one minute), the AGP is on top of her cage, grinding her beak.

Only In America

This is Waldo, lead singer of Hatebeak. I kid thee not.

How does the band get him to perform? According to their official website, "He gets very hyper and talkative when we play music he likes and we usually record his outbursts following an extended listening period. We take the best parts and track them with the rest of the music."

You can buy this from Reptilian Records.

Q&A #1

Owen wrote:

Are agps very easy to train, like, do you know if you can train them to know where to go and where not to go, and things like that?

The AGP was more or less housebroken when we got her. She's not real reliable, but she will generally indicate when she needs to "go Poopie" by walking over to her T perch or leaning towards it... if we're paying attention, we'll give her a lift. (She squats a bit and waggles her tail before she goes, but by the time you see her doing that, it's too late to move her!) Otherwise, we put her on her perch every half hour or so and tell her to "go Poopie" and she does!

I have read of people teaching their birds to, for example, stay on their playstands and not climb down, but my understanding generally is that you can't teach a bird that certain areas of a house are off-limits. My experience with the AGP, who is as independent as a hog on ice, indicate that a Grey's going to go where s/he wants to. The key, therefore, is to make areas the bird can get to bird-safe: You can't count on teaching a parrot to leave certain plants or the electrical cords alone, or to stay out of the kitchen or bathroom.

Alex is probably the best example of a Grey's trainability, but then, he was an exceptional bird.

H.O.P.E.S.

Grey Parrots are not endangered, but they are "Near Threatened" partly because so many of them are captured for the pet trade, and partly because the trees they need for nesting are being taken for timber.

The AGP is not wild-caught: their importation is illegal in the U.S. The AGP was bred here. Nevertheless, as member of a Near Threatened species, the AGP has an interest in saving other wildlife. Which brings us to her favorite blog, Helping Our Planet's Endangered Species (H.O.P.E.S.). The cool thing about H.O.P.E.S. is that it is run by a remarkable 13-year-old girl named Owen. Her mother fronts for her, as she is a minor, but the blog is Owen's idea and she does the scut work.

She is set up to accept donations, sell art, and auction items donated by the rest of us in order to raise money for the World Wildlife Fund. Her first goal is to raise $4,000 for firebreaks for tigers. The money would go to plant larch to protect Siberian tigers from wildfires. Of course this does Greys no good at all, but maybe the AGP can get Owen interested in them for her next project...

She's a cool kid and it's a cool site.

GO THERE.

NOW.

The AGP helps pay the bills.

It's raining, it's pouring, the old man is snoring!

It started raining here last night and hasn't stopped yet. Before this, it hadn't rained in a month.

The humidity in the house is up to 62% and the AGP is loving it.

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream

The ice cream truck, besides that annoying, repetitious, tinkling racket that passes for music, periodically emits an uncannily parrot-like "Hello!"

Yesterday the AGP and I were out on the deck when it came up the block behind us. She came to rigid attention the first time she heard it 'speak,' and after the third time she started answering it.

Weird, listening to the truck driving around the neighborhood saying "hello" and the parrot answering back.

Black Crows

The AGP does not like crows. She particularly dislikes the large, noisy ones that arrive in groups. She figures, apparently, that they are not referred to as "a murder of crows" for no reason.

Does your parrot know its address??

I'm late tweaking to this story. But here it is: A Japanese parrot got lost, then found again after it told the vet its name and address (really).

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24753683/

Spoiled? Not me!

The AGP is adopted. She came to live with us just before her 10th birthday.

The cage she came with was nice. It was a King's Cage, and had a playtop with water and food dishes. At her first home, she spent a lot of her time during the day up there. Unfortunately, when we were moving her to our house, the cage came off the truck on the highway and the playtop got smashed to smithereens. Also, it was almost 10 years old and the paint was peeling.

So we bought a used, custom cage from a coworker of the Birdfather's for $150. It was bigger, and prettier. The Birdfather's friend had kept two Amazons in it, so it should have been more than sufficient, space-wise, for the AGP.

So don't ask me why, but barely six months later we bought this huge thing she's in now at a bird show for about half off retail. It's generally described as a 'double macaw', which is kind of silly, if you think about it, for an African Grey whose weight puts her at about the 2nd percentile. She has about 131 cubic feet of usable cage space (I did the math), and it's loaded with perches and toys. It takes up one whole wall of the bird room.

It took two men (the Birdfather recruited the bird's regular sitter from down the street) to put it together, and one woman (that would be me) to read the directions.

She even has a "pond". I bought a big piece of driftwood from the aquarium department at PetSmart and put it on the bottom of her cage, and put the biggest dog's water dish they had next to it. The dish is sort of a muted gold color, not unlike clay. I put river rock in the bottom of the dish and then put about an inch of water in it.

This whole arrangement cost nearly as much as her first cage. She initially expressed a great deal of curiosity in it, but has yet to take a bath in it--or even drink out of it. And the only time she's ever perched on the driftwood was when I once baited it with a huge fresh strawberry. Oh, well.

The AGP enjoys her new "tree"

Parrot Tree

We built the AGP a parrot tree over the weekend, and set it up in the window in the bird room. She wouldn't have anything to do with it until she needed to use it to get away from a misting.

Chillaxin' -- with raspberries

Right now we're just relaxing on the back deck, sharing a pint of fresh raspberries. The AGP says MMM!