Up and Down

Today was one of those days. I started with a bang at work, seeing some rechecks on behavior consults. My patients are gradually improving and their caregivers are learning some new ways of dealing with their birds. Yeah! I am so happy to see birds responding well to some intervention strategies. As I have previously promoted, positive reinforcement is the ONLY way to work with animals, children and each other. It is so much more fun and the benefits are compounded with each positive interaction that occurs. I cannot think of one single time I would NOT want to use positive reinforcement! We can change circumstances, environment and interactions to set our birds up for success. We can substitute desired behaviors for undesirable ones. We develop our bond of trust and respect with each other. Positive reinforcement is always a win/win situation,

So my day was going great until my last appointment. Again, one of my favorite clients and patients was in to see me. I knew it was going to be bad when I walked into the exam room and my client was crying. Her dog was in bad shape. Max had a hard life; he had a myriad of health problems that his mom faithfully treated. However, his body was failing more and more. Max was extremely shy and still would not look at me, even after all the years I had taken care of him. In the past year, he had finally gotten so that he would let me lightly stroke his head as he passed by; his mom called that "doing a drive-by".

Max had lost weight and had a suspicious swelling in his abdomen-was it cancer? I don't know, but I do know that, even if it wasn't cancer, it was something bad. We discussed our options and finally came to the conclusion that it would be best for Max to euthanize him ;>(

It is always hard to do, but it IS the final way I can help my patients. After 33 years, it doesn't get any easier, though. I will miss seeing Max and trying to sneak a pet as he did his "drive-by".

Updates

I am still reeling from the Tweeeze experience yesterday! My face is broken out in red bumps and I can barely keep from scratching. The itching is intense and relentless. I just hope it clears up before this weekend. I feel like a teenager with a big zit on her nose the day before the prom!

My buddy, Wiley the cockatoo, was in for a recheck today and is feeling much better. His skin is healing and the infection is resolving. Best of all, Wiley is talking again ;>) When I heard his sweet little voice saying "Cookie, cookie, cookie", my spirits lifted and I grinned from ear to ear. His mom says Wiley says "cookie" to call his dad and (we both think) he uses it to call me. When I walked into the exam room, Wiley's beautiful orange crest went up, and he came running across the table, stepped onto my arm and laid his head against my chest.

Such a demonstration of trust touched me deeply, because I know I am not worthy of that trust. I have unintentionally hurt Wiley in the past; it is just that some things we do are uncomfortable, even painful, especially these last few weeks since he has been so sick. Most cockatoos desire our contact so much that they tolerate more obnoxious behavior from us than other parrots.

I hate inflicting pain on my patients, even when I know that it is in their best interests. Animals simply cannot understand why I hurt them, so I try to use every opportunity to associate something positive (food treats, petting, praise,etc.)in my interactions with my patients. I begin an exam with petting and treats, continue this during the exam, and be sure to finish with a long, relaxing session of positive reinforcement before they leave. It doesn't always help, but it never hurts to try to do this with my patients.

Sunday Bath

I just put the two big birds to bed and am sitting here, drying off. Miss Shelby, our Bare-eyed cockatoo decided she was ready for a bath right before bedtime and we both got soaked ;>)

I have learned to always give my birds a choice; this empowers them to control their environment (something we all strive to do) and is a fantastic trust-building tool for all concerned. When I open the bird's cage, I ask them to step up and if they don't want to do so (extraordinarily rare occurence for my guys), they don't have to. If the house was burning down and I HAD to get them out, I would get them out and it would not affect our relationship of trust since we have such a strong foundation.

Well, bathing has never been on my birds' list of favorite things to do, so I have had to get creative to make bathing a positive experience and something they would choose to do. I have noticed that for about the last year, Shelby likes to drink water out of my cup. Of course, I let her; this has led to her occasioanlly dunking her head in the cup and getting her crest wet. Shelby responds well to drama, so I praise her enthusiastucally to reinforce this behavior. Her head dunking has become more frequent and more pronounced, now accompanied by wing flapping and bowing to the water. Shelby has progressed to the point where she will dunk her head into any container of water I am carrying.

Tonight I wanted to see how far she would go, so I got a medium sized mixing bowl, filled it with lukewarm water and went to get my Shelby-girl. I was holding the bowl against my chest and Shelby was on my shoulder. She was a but hesitant at first, then, with some encouragement from me, she began dunking. This time, Shelbs went all out! She was flinging water all over herself and me and the kithcen, then running up to my shoulder and flapping her wings over my head. I am laughing like a fool and she is saying "Peek-a-boo" and "Hi baby" while dunking, flipping and flapping. You haven't lived until you've taken a bath with a Bare-eyed!

We both had a great time and it was good, clean fun ;>)

Birdie Springtime

It finally feels like spring today. Although still a bit chilly this morning, the sun is shining brightly, the grass is greening, the birds are singing and the crocus and daffodils are blooming. Warm weather is almost here. Typically, spring in Indiana goes like this: one week we are in the 30's with the occasional sleet or snow shower and the next week, we are in the 80's, trying to get the AC to work after a long winter;>)

The inside birds are becoming a bit flighty with all the nesting behavior going on outside. We don't breed our birds, nor do we intend to-there are more than enough unwanted, abused and neglected cockatoos in the world! When hormones rise as daylight hours increase, undesirable behaviors (screaming, biting and destructiveness) escalate. What I call undesirable behavior is often a very natural behavior for the birds. Screaming to call to a mate, chewing wood to make a nest cavity in a tree are understandably wonderful attributes in a wild parrot. Most parrots do not bite in the wild-they can fly away from something thye dislike or fear and they pay much closer attention to body language than we do. Parrots signal others with body posture, eye and feather shape and position, etc. We teach our parrots to bite when we do not observe their body language that says "I don't want to, go away, don't touch me ", etc.

This is where positive reinforcement comes into play. When we teach our parrots a desirable behavior (waving their foot, for example), we can achieve two major goals:

#1 We learn to observe our bird more closely while teaching, so we can reward the desired behavior. Behavior that is rewarded is repeated. We learn our bird's body language.

#2 We teach an acceptable behavior that we can ask of our parrots when they are exhibiting undesirable behavior. In other words, if Merlin, my cockatoo, is engaged in repetitive screaming, I will ask him to wave. This refocuses his attention to getting a treat and he stops screaming.

Too good to be true? Nope, positive reinforcment REALLY works. Check out my DVD at:


Companion Parrot Media

A Difficult Decision

My last client has a dilemma with one of his dogs. He is a policeman in one of our neighboring small towns and has two dogs that he uses in his work. One is young and a bit hyperactive and that is the problem dog. She recently bit his youngest daughter in the face and snarls at him when he scolds her or shakes his finger at her.

Of course, we can never take a chance when a child is involved, but this dog really would be an excellent working dog if she would respond reliably to commands. I told the officer that I was aware that many police dogs are still trained with punishment, i.e. the use of choke/pinch/shock collars, swatting, yelling, etc. Punishment DOES work, but there is so much negative fall-out, that it is not worth the effort. Positive reinforcement works so much better, is faster overall and is a whole lot more fun!

This book "Don't Shoot the Dog" by Karen Pryor,literally changed my life. Check it out at this website:

www.clickertraining.com