Customer Reviews

Parrot Training: A Guide to Taming and Gentling Your Avian Companion (Pets)

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i'm a new parrot owner and i wanted to get as much fun and interaction with my parrot. i read this book several times to let the ideas sink in and then started training my conure to do certain tricks using the advice from this book. they have all worked so far which is pretty good given that i've owned my conure for about 2 months now.

i've taught my conure to wait patiently on his perch if he wants to be taken out of the cage. in this way, he doesn't ruin his tail feathers. i have also taught him how to do the "eagle", where he spreads his wings when i say the word "eagle". he also has learned to fetch crumpled paper towels. i throw the paper ball a few feet away. he runs to get it and comes back to return it. my wife and i really crack up about that trick.

anyway, my point is that i highly recommend this book.

I'm going to give this book 5 stars, because I really like it--BUT-- like everything else I've read, I think it really glosses over a problem that I have, and no doubt others have. My bird is just not warm. I mean he doesn't need any humans for anything, so training him is going to take me YEARS. He trys to bite my hands any time he sees them, even if I'm 2 feet away. This book just gives lip service to this problem (and advises not to buy from a pet store- not always an option). I just wish some of these experts would listen to their own advice (she admits over and over how individual each bird's personality is), and cover some of the worst personality problems.
Having said that, I have no other complaints. It's a good read, reinforcing many of the little things you eventually find out as a bird "owner". I especially recommend this book for those who think they want a parrot. Please read this front to back first. It actually gets a lot of the impending headaches (and heartaches) out in the open. So when problems (other than mine) do come up, you will be well-armed. I learned how to towel a bird after 25 years, and the first time, my cockatiel turned into a little nursling. I would never have thought it would work, but it went great, and now I can at least grooom his feathers and nails when needed.
So if your on your fist avian adventure, get this now. If your an old salt, you could find something useful, but I know you will like all the anecdotes, at the very least.

This book is amazing, it talks about parrot behaviour, how to treat your bird, second hand pet parrot problems and how to fix them, gives you amazing training techniques to teach basics (like up command, potty training), how to train your bird to talk,(mimicry, cognitive speach and how to teach them to talk in contexte) It tell you how to train your pet bird to do tricks such as playing dead, shaking hand, noghting yes and no, kissing, and much more. I have a budgie and this book really is for parrots and parakeets of any size.

I have not read the book yet so, my rating of the contents page is average so far. I wanted everyone to know that this book is a reprint of the book by the same author titled "The Pleasures of Their Company: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Training [Hardcover]. Don't make the same mistake I made and order both. Some sellers will not allow a return or exchange and they don't return your emails. Buyers beware.

This book was very helpful in getting me started in training a baby bird. I didn't know that in the first week I had him he was cleverly taking control of the situation, walking all over me and pulling tough- guy tricks. I agree with the author that a well trained bird is really a beautiful thing for everyone involved. I'd recommend this book to anyone with a baby bird or one that is just new to them The book covers both in detail. Cute illustrations and fun tricks at the end. The birdie roll- over is coming along nicely.

I have had my African Grey for about a three weeks and have been reading everything I could get my hands on before I brought her home. I really loved this book, but wanted to let folks know that this book is a reprint of the book by the same author titled "The Pleasures of Their Company: An Owner's Guide to Parrot Training [Hardcover]. Don't make the same mistake I made and order both.

This book is a very general parrot ownership book. More than HALF of this book is dedicated, not to training, but to generic parrot ownership. Finally, on page 109, you get to the Step Up chapter. PAGE ONE-OH-NINE! In fact, I would say that only 4 chapters out of 12 are actually devoted to training. NONE of this book is as devoted to training, or as in depth, as I would like and never once talks about the recall trick I want to learn.

I do have some very serious issues with this book:
The entire chapter on hand feeding is horrible. Hand feeding is a technique that should be taught in person by a trained professional and never attempted by a novice. It can lead to life long emotional problems, malnutrition, burns, and bacterial infections. Most times it ends in tragedy with a dead baby. How this woman could dare put an entire chapter in a book supposedly about TRAINING! makes me angry.

On top of that, whether to clip the wings is a highly contested subject. There's no consensus. So why she keeps insisting, very rudely, that you have to clip is beyond me. She should tell the pros and cons and WHAT THE HECK DOES IT HAVE TO DO IN A BOOK ABOUT TRAINING.

Sure, if you've never owned a parrot, never read a book about parrots, and are ready to give this woman and her cute little drawings a chance... well... don't. There are better books out there.

This was one of the first books I read about parrots, and it continues to be a valuable resource for me. It's full of little snipets like (paraphrased) "A relationship with a parrot is a Zen thing -- what it is today is not what it was yesterday nor what it will be tomorrow."

When I do parrot behavior consultations this is one of the books I always recommend. It's easy to read and understand and has great illustrations.

From the introduction given to this book, you get the impression that the author will spend at least some time addressing the peculiarities of the great budgerigar. I was greatly disappointed. Aside from a passing reference that budgies are hardier than some parrot species and that they can indeed learn to talk (both painfully obvious to any budgie owner), there is nothing at all. It is pretty obvious that she has never owned one. The author makes the assumption that, because budgies are parrots, they must be the same as every other kind of parrot that she has owned. And that they are not! This book is filled with misinformation that is thoroughly and completely refuted in other books written specifically for these little birds. For the budgie owner there is no reason at all to buy this book.
For owners of other times of parrots, I would consider looking elsewhere. The book is filled to the brim with preachy, top-of-the-soapbox lectures that are uninteresting, redundant, and obnoxious. If you actually made it through the first few chapters, which outlined in detail what a bad person you are for wanting to own a parrot in the first place, to the chapter where training is actually addressed, you might be disappointed to learn that it consists of only getting your bird to come to your hand from the t-stand, from inside and from on top of the cage (my budgie could do that after about a day!). Want to know the secret of getting your bird to talk? Just repeat the same word to it twice a day for ten minutes.
All of the essential information could be put on a simple print out of a few pages, and I would be greatly surprised if you couldn't find it after a few minutes searching on the internet.

This book was a godsend for me. I was blessed with a beautiful 19 year old parrot that was given to me. Fortunately I found this book. It addressed all of our problems. I'd recommend this book to anyone looking for advice.