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©copyright 2001-2008 Ken Globus
All Rights Reserved
Reprinting or distribution of any
material from this web site is prohibited without
the written permission of the author
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By Ken Globus
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Here's another
popular myth perpetuated by conventional bird experts that no
one seems to challenge: "If you don't get a
hand-fed baby, you'll never have a truly loving pet." Well,
in the interest of truth, and older birds that are shunned,
I have to go on record as saying older birds can make
absolutely wonderful pets.
Many birds with tremendous potential are being avoided,
ignored and even neglected because people are either afraid of them, or don't
know how to deal with their behavior issues.
With the right techniques, older birds, even abused
birds, can become loving pets.
 A
veterinarian referred a family to me. Here's what I found
out. Their double yellow head, named Nigel, was at
least 25 plus years old. The couple had inherited Nigel from
the wife's mother, who had died. She had lived with Nigel
more than 25 years without ever once having been able to
touch him. Every time she tried, he tried to bite her.
During the year the couple had Nigel, try as they might,
they couldn't even get close to him. Nigel snapped, bit,
attacked, squawked and totally terrified them. When the
sister bird-sat she had to wrap her hands with towels in
order to change Nigel's food cups; that's how aggressively
he would go after her. On one occasion, he gave poor
Sis a gash so serious she had to go to the ER and get stitches.
I started Nigel's session with the usual
preliminary handling where I determine how
frightened and/or aggressive a bird is. At first Nigel
was extremely wild, attacking, screaming and thrashing
around. But within 20 or so minutes Nigel not only stopped
biting, but began to allow me to touch his head.
 Suddenly, as if a dark veil had
been lifted, you could see the expression on Nigel's face
change from terror/hate into one of trust & absolute love.
It was so apparent that the people, seeing that Nigel was
suddenly very affectionate toward me, in an utterly
unselfish act offered, "Take him. He'll be happier with
you."
Of
course, I refused - acquiring birds is not my goal - and
urged them not to give up so soon. I assured them that
if we continued working we would get them to be able to get
close to Nigel. In another 35 or 45 minutes, Nigel
started looking at the husband with the same loving eyes he
had cast upon me. The change was dramatic. The couple
was practically moved to tears.
In a matter of minutes
we completely turned around their relationship.
Nigel became a happy bird - after he had lived in fear for more than 25
years. It's important to understand that Nigel is not the only example of this,
just one that's on the more dramatic end of the scale.
I have worked with many older
birds - even older, abused or neglected birds -- and found them to be very
responsive to this taming approach. It usually takes a few days after a
session of good follow-through to get the bird well on its way to being a happy
companion.
Nigel proved one
very important thing: even
when a bird is no spring chicken, trust can be built in a very
short time
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