Over the years I have always had a lot of different pets and most of were very well behaved and trained. but it wasn't until recently I started to get interested in training my animals beyond the basics. It all started with a cage; this cage was given to me by my aunt who recently lost a bird, she gave me the cage so that my Cockatiel Marvin could have a nice new place to live. Well as it turns out the cage spacing was just too big for Marvin, so I got a new bird! I did a lot of research and was destined to find a Meyers Parrot; as my cousin once had one and I liked him very much and the size and temperament seemed like a good fit. Well eventually I found a Meyers Parrot for sale at a local pet store, I went back about once a week to watch the birds progress as it was still too young to leave, and to just get the bird used to me and vice versa. Well when the time came and I was ready to purchase this new family member, the bird was sadly sold. but in its place was a pretty little Senegal Parrot, which is kind of like a cousin of the Meyers (both in the genus Poicephalus) so I started over with the constant visits and numerous questions. This time I purchased him before he could be sold to someone else. Life was great with my new little bird (who I named Moya after the ship from Farscape, because I thought originally he was a she) we were the best of friends, inseparable, I got him very used to being with me and letting me touch his wings and feet, and basically do whatever I wanted to him, with him knowing that he was safe the entire time. well let’s fast forward about a year or so... and then the switch came, the switch in his body know as puberty! This new onset of Hormones changed my bird forever and for the worse. Moya wanted nothing to do with me, or much of any one; although he seemed to like my wife now a lot more than me, which was the very opposite just a few months before. During this time there were many attacks, screaming, crying and somewhat serious thoughts of getting rid of little Moya. But I was never the kind of person who gives up on an animal, I was determined to get this bird back to the way he was... or at least manageable. so over hours, weeks, months and still going... I was able to turn the nasty little beak into a tolerable, manageable bird with the help of training.
But this isn't the story of Moya, this is the story of Marvin; remember Marvin from the beginning of the story? While all this was going on I was living in Oregon; and now South Dakota, but back at home in Massachusetts was my Marvin, who had become a bit of a living decoration in my parents’ house. Now I really wanted to take both Marvin and Moya with me when I moved but it just wasn't possible at the time. but it was nice when I would go home and get to see my bird still there in his cage, just as content as ever. but Let’s talk about Marvin’s life for a bit to get an idea of where he is coming from here. Back in 1997 my mom asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I answered "a cockatiel!" because both of my aunts had many birds and I always thought they were just the coolest things ever! So boy was I surprised when on Christmas morning there was a cage and a bird under the tree! I quickly named him Marvin after my favorite Looney Toons Character Marvin the Martian! Over the years I taught Marvin a few various whistles like the "cat call" and "charge" and also taught him bob his head when I bobbed mine and also to raise his wings when I would. this was done mostly by Capturing the already existing behavior (although I had no real idea that it was a real training method at the time). and for the most part that was that he just lived his live in his cage happily whistling along. Now there was a time when Marvin would actually come camping with me and my family down in Plymouth and he would stay in our camper and play in the grass; but for the majority of his life Marvin was a caged bird, and he seemed okay with that.
It wasn't until just recently that the option of bringing him out to South Dakota seemed real; I had asked my mother if she thought that he would be up for the trek half way across the county. she seemed doubtful because of his old age, and he never really seemed to like change (new toys, new areas in the house, etc...) but I was determined to have my bird back. So I did just that I drove home for a mini vacation and then I took him back to SD with me! and he did great on the 2 day car ride; he was singing and dancing almost the entire way!
Little does Marvin know that his life is about to change more, hopefully for the better. My goal with this 16 year old, seed fed, living house ornament; is to change him into a trained, healthy, fully fledged member of my family.
My goals for Marvin are as follows...
1) Improve his diet to more than just seeds
2) Get him to enjoy being outside of his cage
3) Basic clicker training
4) Flight recall training
Now I have already started to introduce him to different types of food pellets by mixing it with his seed, so far he seems curious but not thrilled. For tricks and flight training I will be using the clicker training method. with the help of experts such as BirdTricks.com, TrainedParrot.com, and my wife Angela who works as a zoo keeper and has clicker trained many different types of animals.
No comments:
Post a Comment