It's pretty funny, because when we think that we are training our parrots, frequently they are training us! Finnegan, our Solomon Island's eclectus parrot, has a boing that hangs in front of the kitchen window and a floor-type play stand.
The kitchen window has a blind over it, and the play stand has a picture behind it.
I don't remember exactly how long we had had Finnegan when he started training us, but I think it must have been close to the beginning.
My husband and I would be having dinner in the kitchen, and all of a sudden Finnegan would start rattling the picture behind his play stand.
He had food, mind you, and usually we would have already given him some of what we were eating.
He probably had already finished his food and noticed that we were still at it.
He obviously wanted to join us, and of course, eat off our plates.
He must have thought about how he could attract our attention.
All of a sudden, he started rattling the picture behind him.
Well, that got our attention immediately! I got up immediately, went over to his perch and picked him up.
It worked!! So the next time when he tried it, my husband went over and picked him right up.
Wow! That was easy.
It sure didn't take him long to train us! Then last winter we got a boing for him.
A boing is a spiral rope perch with a heavy wire through it.
I thought it would be a good idea to hang it in front of the window so he could look outside.
He loved his boing.
So frequently we put him on it while we are eating.
He makes little noises and kind of leans out toward us to tell us that he wants to be picked up.
Well, that doesn't usually work during dinner.
I encouraged my husband to ignore him.
One day he leaned way over and tried to grab the blinds.
Finally he succeeded.
So there he was, hanging out there rattling the blinds.
Hey, it worked with the picture, didn't it? So what did my husband do? You guessed it! He went over there and picked him up.
My husband is even easier for the birds to train than I am.
Finnegan had now learned two things that annoyed us and got him the results he wanted.
Not to worry, there'd be more! Perhaps I should have titled this, "Parrots Training Parronts"!