Customer Reviews

Training African Grey Parrots

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I have found this book somewhat out dated in it's information. It has color pictures that are nice but some , not all of the training methods are out of date. For the most part the book talks about training wild caught / wild Greys, not hand weaned Greys that now can be bought almost at any pet store. If you are going to be a new African Grey owner, or you own an African Grey keep looking for another book. Wrong information can be harmful to your pet bird. For a good book with good pictures check out "African Grey Parrots" by Annette Wolter. So far out of the three books I read on African Greys this one was the most up to date.

The methods used to train Greys to speak in this book are somewhat outdated when compared to those used in Irene Pepperberg's lab (and now by others). The author encourages the use of food rewards to reinforce talking. While this works, what it will give you is a mimic, not an "independent thinker." Because this is a reprint of a 1979 text, there is a lot of more up-to-date information on the internet that discusses methods for helping Greys to express what they already know how to do. Look for "Irene Pepperberg" "Alex" and "Sally Blanchard."

This book is very unreliable and possibly offers some disastrous information for a first time Grey owner that does not know any better...the material is very outdated. With all the new information that is available today, this book suggest things that we know now to be harmful--such as clipping only one wing, keeping a bird out in winter, etc...in it's time (1979), this book might have been imformative, as not much was known about Greys then, but is no longer of any use. I was very disappointed. For a more up to date book, with excellent and up to date information, I suggest "Guide to a Well-Bahaved Parrot" by Mattie Sue Athan.

While this may have been a very good book in 1979, the, avian information gained over the last 20 years makes these older book obsolete, if not down right dangerous. These older books should remain out of print. I would recommend a more recent publication including periodicals such as "Bird Talk" magazine with up to the minute articles from today's (1999) experts. I've kept African Grey's for almost 10 years now.

Pease do not buy this book! My avian veterinarian advises that any book published prior to 1995 is so full of inaccuracies that you could actually damage your parrot following suggestions from the old book. DO NOT BUY THIS BOOK! Ask your avian veterinarian to reccommend helpful books to read about parrots!

This book contains information that is know to be wrong today. I would never recommend this book to a new parrot owner or anyone else. There are much more informative and accurate books and periodicals on the market. I was extremely disappointed as I thought it would teach me how to teach my parrot to do tricks, etc., but instead it teaches you about "taming" your wild-caught parrot.