Pets

Teddy is getting the “down” command pretty good and he wants to shake hands all the time.  He is shaking hands for a tummy rub instead of food.  The trick with him is to find him doing the trick and then say the word and also make the hand motion. 

He spent so much time with no human interaction that he still flinches when I pet him too fast.  He’s okay if I start slow and keep my hand on him as I pet.  If I move my hand from one area to another without touching on the way, he jumps and looks frightened.  I think he will probably always do that since I have had him for 2 years now. 

The hand motions are because he didn’t know words meant anything.  I’m trying to get him to connect the word and the action with the hand signal.  He is a slow learner.  Patience is a virtue.

Speaking of patience - I had an African Grey parrot years ago.  I had been wanting a parrot for a long time and had heard that the African Grey was the best talker.  Things had been pretty depressing for my family in 1984 so I decided to find a parrot.  I have always turned to animals for comfort.  Animals live in the moment which is what people need to do sometimes.

So I called the local pet shop and they said they did have an African Grey.  I rushed over and found this small bird in a tiny square cage down under the counter.  His wings had been clipped so badly that there were scabs on them, no long feathers on his wings at all, just fluff and scabs.  He was a Timneh, not a Congo parrot.  The most common one you see is the Congo which is bigger and has a bright red tail.  The Timneh is smaller and has a purple tail.  In Africa they fly in groups like crows do here.

They only wanted $250 (cheap at that time) for the bird but the cage and accessories brought the bill up to over $400.  I bought him.

We had just moved so there was an empty closet in one of the bedrooms.  According to the “book” I was to take him into an enclosed area and make friends with him.  HAH  I came out bloody every time.   I felt like a lion tamer without a whip or chair.

I finally went back to the “book” and got some more hints.  I got a large dowel rod and cut off a six inch piece for a small perch that I could hold between my hands.  He managed to sit on that a few times. 

I had 30 days to decide if I wanted to keep him so as the end of that time came near I was panicking about taming him.  One Friday night after work I put a footstool by the front of his cage to sit on and took his food dish in my hand and held it in front of him.  He was as far from me as he could get on the top perch.  After a while I put a peanut on top of it, his favorite snack.  With short breaks I sat there for 5 hours before he took the peanut.  What a breakthrough. 

It seemed it was hands that frightened him.  So, brave person that I am, I put the next peanut in my mouth and held it at the door of his cage.  He took it, very gently, almost immediately.

I’ll tell some more about Smokey, the parrot, another time.

Later….