Customer Reviews

Feathered Phonics Adventure Parrot DVD Volume 1: Speak and Read via Television

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

This is a WONDERFUL DVD!! It is very interactive, and shows other birds talking, which has been proven to be the best way for parrots to learn. It uses the written and spoken word, which is very interesting. My macaw is 11 yrs. old and a great talker. She said "hi", but after a day of watching the DVD, said "hello" for the first time. This REALLY works if the bird has the desire to talk. Hope there will be more volumes!!

My bird loves this so much he took a tantrum when I turned it off while he was watching it. All I have to say to him is DVD and he gets so excited.

It makes him happy what more can I say.

I, (like many who negatively reviewed this DVD) had hoped this would have a bit more talking training, but there's only 8 sections, all very dull (one scared my birds... the Perch With a View had a raccoon in 1 scene which are natural predators of birds... how stupid can you get? Not a way to teach training... unless its how to "run & hide & not come out for any reason!!!" What a way to foster a trusting bond in their new foster home! And these folks are supposed to KNOW about bird behavior?) But beyond "I love you" & "Hello" which are the ONLY phrases taught on this entire DVD, my birds coulda cared less about seeing babies being fed in the nursery, or the big Macaws sitting there doing nuthin... which is largely what is on this DVD... in fact I do believe other than the brief & overly repetitive "step-up" chapter, that about covers whats on this disappointing DVD. I won't order anymore, cuz I do not like when a manufacturer over appraises their new DVD release to look like something spectacular... it was anything but. Save your money & order something from GoodBird Inc... cuz I swear I found better material downloading a few youtube vids of other birds talking & looped'em together in Mover Maker to make one long (and PRODUCTIVE EDUCATIONAL AND FUN) video for my birds. I mean DVD's can hold a ton of space... where's a few more phrases? They weren't even done according to how behaviorists say to teach birds. The "Flashcards" were nothing but the words on a box that popped up annoyingly every time the phrase was repeated. I'm glad I didn't order the others. I usually do not have to give bad reviews, & can almost always find SOMETHING good about any DVD, however small to mention... but this was crap from beginning to end! Nuthin that you or your bird is missing here. My birds already know how to eat & preen each other, & they are already saying full sentences, so any talking training DVD NEEDS to qualify the content w/a level like "for very beginning birds" or "if your bird cannot even say hello yet" but I made an audio recording of several phrases & funny cute things that my birds picked up a LOT quicker than this. My birds already know about 50 phrases, so this was a waste of time. They shoulda been HONEST & said "the only phrases on here for talking (2 out of the 8 sections) have anything involved w/talking on them, & include only 2 easy phrases "Hello" & "I Love You" & have lots of potentially scary things to smaller birds, so is really only appropriate for really young large parrots like harlequin macaws, or else your birds may be bored or scared... or both! Order with caution!" Just say it like it is Pet Media: We just took a few minutes worth of crappy video in our bird shop & thought we could make a ton of money duping pet owners & make it look actually educational when we're really having no clue what we're doing! We didn't even stop to think that huge harlequin macaws or footage of raccoons would scare your poor birdies, & we don't really care either... we are only in it for the money. Well Pet Media, I wan't my dang money back! (But I have to give a Kudos to the used book store on Amazon I purchased this from, at least the shipping was fast & only took 3 days, so I can at least mention that!) Next time have another 20 or so sections, at least 10-15 diff phrases, a range of birds & commands they can learn, some music (did you forget birdies LOVE music? It seems to help them learn too when words & phrases are put to a beat). Also since its possible for birds to actually learn the context & meaning of words, try actually having some relevant scenes for them to associate with the words like at least the "step-up" section had scenes of a bird actually stepping up. Also the lame "taming your bird" & "advanced taming" sections coulda given some tips & talked the owner thru how to accomplish this perfectly calm sweet bird being handled & petted, so that we could even get our young scared untame birds into that scenario when they won't even come to us, or bite the moment they see your hand or finger... so some tips on how to get my bird on his back laying still & calm woulda friggin helped ya know! The other sections of "preening" & feeding time" were nothing but video of birds preening ea other & being fed... I mean seriously? If we are supposed to play this for our birds while they're away, don't ya think you shoulda looped all the "for birds to watch" sections to together, cuz I had to manually choose ea section which lasted only a few brief mins... so the last I checked my birds did NOT know how to use a remote AND what the heck are the supposed to do for the other 7.5 hrs of the day once those sections are over? And "A Perch w/A View" had nuthin more than VERY boring video of plants... and more plants... some running water w/a raccoon (which scared my birds), a cockatiel sitting on a stick looking quite pissed off, & that's it! Tell me how that is supposed to do ANYTHING to help my birds? After that 5 mins are up, what then? After they've seen a angry cockatiel & a scary raccoon whose a bird's natural predator in the wild, how is this educational? Where does the "Adventure" part come in... cuz 5 minutes of "Hello" & seeing baby birds being fed & vomitting really seemed soooooo adventurous! WTH, did I miss something?... maybe some hidden 1 hr section w/actual content on it? DO NOT BUY THIS VIDEO CUZ IT BEYOND STINKS!!! INSTEAD SAVE YOUR MONEY, DOWNLOAD YOUTUBE VIDEO DOWNLOADER SOFTWARE (FREE) & SEARCH "TALKING BIRDS" & "BIRD TRAINING" VIDS ON YOUTUBE, DOWNLOAD ABOUT 10 OF THEM (make sure you screen them 1st to know that there is nothing on there you don't want your birds learning), SAVE THEM ON YOUR COMPUTER, OPEN WINDOWS MOVIE MAKER, UPLOAD EACH VID INTO A PROJECT FILE, SAVE PROJECT FILE, BURD DVD OF PROJECT & LET THE REAL FUN BEGIN. PLAY IT ONCE OR TWICE A DAY, MAKE IT AS LONG AS YOU WANT & TOTALLY CUSTOMIZED TO YOUR BIRD'S NEEDS, & BE AMAZED IN A FEW DAYS WHEN THEY ARE LETTING YOU HANDLE THEM, PET THEM, & THEY ARE BEGINNING TO SAY ALL SORTS OF FUNNY THINGS!... REMAKE NEW YOUTUBE MOVIE PROJECTS FOR YOUR BIRDS AS NEEDED. WE HAVE LIKE 10 OF THEM & THEY HAVE HELPED A LOT MORE THAN THIS "UNVENTURE PARROT" DVD!!!! (*Then thank me later for this money saving tip that actually works... oh & here's another tip, find GoodBird Inc.'s channel cuz they have tons of funny & educational vids... done by a REAL bird behavior expert named Barbara whom I was referred to! And she's super nice & will return your email questions & actually puts out GOOD & worthwhile bird training vids w/real tips on everthing from when to do training sessions, to finding a good diet, troubleshooting behavior problems, & teaching them to talk! *And NO I don't even know anyone at GoodBird Inc personally & was not put up to endorsing them at all! I just believe in being HONEST & when a DVD is this bad & I feel like I was ripped off, then I thinks its my responsibility as a good honest person to let people know not to make the same mistake & what else is better out there! I've ordered GoodBird Inc's stuff too & just began corresponding w/Barbara, & was really impressed by her wisdom, insight, tips, & all the free stuff she puts out on youtube... this Adventure Parrot DVD isn't even worthy of a free app in iTunes!!!! Whoever made this needs to either get some more education on bird training & behavior, OR just get real honest w/themselves about what kind of "services/products" they are selling & whether or not its more about them making as much money as possible for as little time & effort as possible, vs making a quality product. I'm just livid I spent money on this junk & a friggin Petco employee could have taught me more than this... a friggin illegal bird smuggler could have had better insight into taming birds! Geesh (& yes that was a joke... I do NOT endorse illegal activity or the illegal bird trade. Either buy a handfed well reared baby, OR consider adopting a 2nd chance bird from a shelter like we did! And save money by making your own recordings for your birds from youtube vids (which my birds LOVE, like the famous African Grey Einstein who doesn't swear & knows tons of phrases) & also you can make your own audio recording of your voice repeating the words & phrases you want your birds to learn too, either on your smartphone's voice recorder feature, or even on your computer, or a blank tape & can make it as long as you want for them to have something REALLY educational to learn while you're at work!!! Unless your bird knows how to use a remote, the most they'll see is one 5 min boring section of this DVD then have nuthing else to do for the rest of the day!

My birds usually LOVE watching tv, especially of other birds doing & saying funny things (even the nature scenes looked like they were done on an old outdated camera phone) & they both thought this was awful... as evident by both of them literally getting up & walking away from the tv to go back & play on their parrot park, after the 1st 30 seconds! Then when I picked the "Perch with a View" section they ran & hid!!! (now I worry that they'll be traumatized any time I try to get them to watch anything REALLY genuinely educational again, for fear of giant raccoons attacking them, which also did NOT help when it came to the "taming your parrot" sections cuz they already don't like to be held, let alone after fearing a wild raccoon is gonna come get them if they come out of hiding! Way to make a hit guys!!! I'll send you the bill from the bird behaviorist I'll no doubt be hiring to help my poor babies now! Birds are smart & everything to them is interactive... including tv, which means anyone who owns birds knows to make sure its something that will help foster trust & learning in positive ways, carefully thinking through each scene & going thru all footage to ask "is this something a bird would enjoy? Would it scare them? Will it help them to really honestly learn? Is it role-modeling positive behavior? Is it teaching good things? Is it helpful for the owners? Does it genuinely make a bird's dull day alone a bit brighter? Is it WORTH THE MONEY WE WILL BE CHARGING? Is the footage good quality using good equipment that looks professional or does it look like something the lady writing this review could shoot in her backyard with her 4 plants on her porch using her camera phone?" Those are the hard questions a good video maker asks themselves when entering a business venture like this. So don't lie to yourselves (& your paying viewers) by marketing this as something its NOT, then wondering why you get bad reviews. My guess is the makers just don't really care about the reviews or feedback, but only care about the bit of money they think they can make before word gets around cyberspace that their material sucks! (Which I cannot condone & think is shady as hell & thus why I'm trying to drive this point home to the makers in this lengthy review! Cuz moral ambiguity may be for Donald Trump, but most would agree that it doesn't fly w/pet owners, OR more specifically bird owners, who know how smart their birds are & what they want their birds to know. We already spent enough money on our birds, the supplies & care, the vet, etc... birds are one of the most expensive pets one can own, so after sinking all that money into our beloved feathered friends, we want to give them the quality live & learning that will ensure a long lifetime as a member of the family! I used to think that bird people are just nuts! I didn't understand how a bird owner feels about their "babies." But now I get it, & I'm proud to be one of those crazy bird people who thinks my bird are the bests friend one could ever have! So I hope more bird owners stand up when they see this kind of junk & corrupt mindless idiots trying to make a buck off our love for our pets! When a bird owner (whose already sank a ton into their bird) spends even more money on buying them an educational DVD, that means they truly care about their bird at any cost, & should NOT be taken advantage of! We buy this stuff for a reason & this reason which most of us have, is clearly NOT MET by this DVD at all (as evident by the other negative reviews). Don't take advantage of a bird owner's desire to help foster learning in their beloved friend, cuz that's just cruel... can you say CLASS ACTION?!!! Thats what happens to business owners who take advantage of paying customers & dupe them out of money, & this DVD was NOT made with ANY education whatsoever in mind for birds... its clearly just an attempt to make a quick buck at our expense & that to me is the worst of all evils!!!! The makers of this crap should be ashamed of themselves for thinking this low quality footage could pass as an educational video or anything else they tried to sell it as! When you sell a product under false guises then you have only manipulated your buyers & that is immoral & I hope God punishes you for trying to pass this junk off as anything you could even sell! If I coulda rated this Negative 100 stars I would have!

I cannot state enough was a VERY foolish & stupid move to put a raccoon or any other predatory animal on a video birds would be watching & trying to learn from in a safe environment, & is something only a truly naive bird owners would make, not thinking something like that through, nor even trying to come up with a few more interesting scenes like a flock of wild birds playing in a tree (which is what I'd hoped that section would have to mimicked watching out the window, which proved to be more interesting & fun for them). So its officially been Bird Test & Birdie Rated at "0 stars!" (so if my own birds both hated it, you KNOW its a waste of money... they've learned more from that car insurance commercial of the dude who bought the falcon!... at least they learned to make falcon calls from that & watched the whole thing! Lol. So Sorry Pet Media, but this is a serious flop of epic proportions! Better luck next time... or maybe you should just consider getting out of the video making biz all together (and don't even think about doing a book or any other source of media! Go back to college or go work at a zoo!) Oh & my birds both say "Stupid Looser" (which they don't say unless they are either really upset or disappointed, or really just didn't like something! Oh & they learned this long before I got them, so I did not teach them this... but at least they reserve their potty-mouths for actual real dismal situations!) I would apologize for my harsh words, but words cannot even begin to describe how horrible this DVD is!!!!!!! ...literally! It seems even the makers of the vid were "at a loss for words!" Hahahahaha, I made a funny =)

Anyhow I hope this helps future shoppers to avoid purchasing this DVD, cuz if there was even ONE good thing about it, I'd have said it, cuz I try to see the good in everything... but this was 8 short sections of nothingness & pure torture for both me & my birds! Unless your birds need to learn how to preen themselves or each other or have a deep desire to see babies (and not even cute hatchling babies) get syringe-fed & vomit, there is no reason whatsoever to get this piece of crap!!!!! Or you'll be the next to leave a bad review!

This was a very basic instructional DVD.
From the description I had expected to hear parrots repeating words and phrases to each other, much like how one of my parrots taught the other while we'd be out of the house. My parrots are way beyond 'hello' and 'goodbye' type of language skills. Having a human repeating 'hello' over and over doesn't get the birds involved anyway.