Housing and Environmental Enrichment

Enrichment? Isn’t that what they do to flour?

Parrot Blogger: Rebecca K. O'Connor | Aug 13, 2007

So why does it matter that Tao won't play with toys? Sometimes we just don't know what we don't know. That goes for animals too. You can give a parrot all the toys in the world, but if he doesn't know the joy of finding buried treasure, ripping up paper, or peeling pine into tiny chips then the...

Training to Play (Part II)

Parrot Blogger: Rebecca K. O'Connor | Aug 09, 2007

Nothing happens instantly when you are training animals. Or at least, things rarely happen instantly. Usually what you get is the overnight success phenomenon. The truth is that people who are "suddenly" successful have been slaving away—a hopeful rockstar singing in dive bars, an aspiring writer...

Training to Play

Parrot Blogger: Rebecca K. O'Connor | May 14, 2007

In my home the most important thing a parrot can learn is how to use their “indoor voice”. I work all day in my home office, talk to clients on the phone, transcribe interviews and try to focus on figuring out the perfect word to use. This kind of work requires not silence—but definitely a lack of...

ENRICHMENT

Parrot Blogger: David Woolcock | Jan 27, 2007

Duchy College students and some of the enrichment items they made this week.

For the pet parrot, enrichment can come in many forms; treats, toys, a new fresh branch, telling the family dog to sit, the sound of the radio and of course that extra special time spent positively interacting with its...