Customer Reviews

My Parrot, My Friend: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Behavior (Behavior Modification Techniques and Their Role in Contemporary Aviculture)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This book gave me a crash course in parrots and helped me successfully re-tame a Citron Cockatoo named Sunshine. Using the steps in the book I accomplished what has been described by friends as "a miracle" and helped a dangerous biter become a sweet and affectionate friend. This book will help you communicate with the bird in your life and enable you to persuade the bird to let its natural guard down enough to experience the joy of human companionship. Wonderful book!

Another great book on companion parrot behavior, the second from Bonnie Doane. This book will greatly help any parrot owner deal with any behavioral problems that may occur in your long-term relationship with your parrot. Unhappy parrots and angry owners can lead to an unneccesary termination of your shared life together. You could have used some behavioral modification, solved the problem and avoided separation.

I believe this book is an excellent source for the beginner who has a new parrot and is learning how to interact, adjust and bond with their new friend. Parrots are not human, but very intelligent individuals with a mind of their own. It takes a lot of study, time, and energy to learn why they react to different situations and conditions. The more you know the happier your life will be together.

Before I found my perfect feathered friend I read every book available. This book is a definite must for your bird-related library. Knowledge is the key to understanding and the key to a long-life of companionship with your new parrot. There are behavioral case studies included with this book which are very helpful and informative. This author's books are wonderful. Be sure to check out her other books: "The Parrot in Health and Illness" and "The Pleasures of Their Company."

This book is somewhat uneven. The parts relating parrot
behavior as a pet to parrot behavior in the wild are good.
The parts about modifying the behavior of a problem parrot
are good, but focus on dealing with extreme cases in an
institutional setting. Contains good advice on how to
avoid turning your bird into a problem in the first place.
"Guide to a Well Behaved Parrot" is cheaper, better written,
and better produced. If you can only get one, get that one,
but this one is worth having if you can afford both.
Pet peeve: low quality black and white illos that look like
photocopied color pictures - some with captions describing
the colors you can't see.

The authors write with keen sensitivity and insight into parrot behavior. While the material may seem clinical to some, the content is excellent. I would suggest reading the entire book as a complete work rather than trying to use it as a quick-fix to "solve" a specific behavior problem with your parrot. All in all I found it to be very helpful and have re-read it several times, gleening new info each time around.

Thinking about buying a pet bird? MY PARROT, MY FRIEND by B.M. Doane will not answer all your questions, but it will give you a broad overview of what to expect from various types of parrots. As the owner of ten parrots, I found little of specific interest about my own birds, I must rely on specialty books for that. However, if you know nothing, you will not know which specialty book to buy. For example, are you thinking about a small bird or a large bird? The author discusses generalized personality traits forgenuses of Psittadaceae( parrot family). Did you know that "budgies" (a.k.a. parakeets) and love birds were types of parrots?

Coloration, characteristics such as an affectionate nature, and length of life differ across parrot genuses. According to Doane, while most Cockatoos like to be handled, most Cockatiels are not interested in human affection. The specially bred colors such as Lutino Cockatiels may not live as long as birds with the natural coloration. Budgies are most susceptible to cancer (all of them are predisposed to it apparently) and thus most budgies have relatively short life spans. The author provides very general information about how birds grow and develop and how you can work with your bird and encourage him to talk. Plenty of black and white photos.

Whenever I am asked for advice from novice bird owners, I recommend this book. It's full of information which explains psittacine behaviours that are alien to our human brains.

The Case Studies aptly illustrate the problems that transpire when the parrot/human communications are misinterpreted.

Before giving up on a beloved pet, you owe it to your parrot and yourself to give this book a try.

This is the Bible for people who share their life with a bird. It really gets into flock behaviors and their relevance to the relationship between human and avian.

My Parrot, My Friend is easily read and understood. The book addresses problems that all bird owners have had to deal with, along with easily followed directions for helping the bird to correct these problems.

Bonnie and Thomas have done their research, tested their methods and show a true understanding of why birds do what they do.

Gave me, as a prospective bird owner, insight into what sort of challenge I might be taking on; and how I could succeed at it.
From a practical point of view, valuable as it could prevent a miserable pet-owning experience in favor of a happy one.
From a general-learning point of view, valuable as it has animal-behavior insights that are just intriguing in their own right.
From a public-information point of view, valuable as it could help prevent many of the pathetic cases of abandoned/abused/returned pets.

This book did not provide as much advice or information about parrot bevavior as other less expensive books have. It contains mostly stories, and although they are sometimes interesting, they do not address specific behavorial problems and what to do about them.

I had had this book for about a year now. Actually, I had forgot I'd even owned it until the pet shop owner, where I purchased one of my birds, suggested it. I dug it out remembered why it was hidden: the author is great at storytelling but not great with supplying options to failed suggestions. I don't recommend it as your only source, rather as part of a library on raising healthy birds.