07/04/2010 ~ He Speaks!

What a great gift I got this morning from Peabody!

Went out to see if he was awake and lifted a corner of his blanket. There he sat, face pressed to the bars of the cage, to see me. I dropped the blanket and giggled a bit at the silly boy ... then heard, as clear as could be, "Peek-a-boo?"

He was asking me to play with him! We did 'peek-a-boo' a few times (each time being rewarded with a pine nut) before he started to lose interest, so off came his blankie for the day.

He didn't speak (English) for the rest of the day, or the day after ... but it's all good. He's still coming right up to me to get a treat out of my hands and is responding well to the clicker, "come" and "step up" and is happy to spend lots of time riding around on my shoulder.

07/03/2010 ~ Baby steps

Judy used a clicker to train Peabody. I use a clicker with my dogs. But I don't know (yet) her techniques, nor does she know mine.

So I've decided to start at the beginning.

Spent time today "loading the clicker" with Peabody ... simply clicking and treating. (His most favorite thing so far is pignoli (pine nuts) so I am saving them for training treats). I've probably gone to his cage a dozen times today and opened the door and when he walked to the door, clicked and treated. He has no problem coming to the door for me.

So I stepped it up a notch ....

I'd ask him to "come" and when he did, click/treat. No problem.

I can totally screw this up by taking it too fast so I'm stopping here for a few days. Just "come"/click/treat. Hard to be patient but......

He's doing great!

Susan

07/02/2010 ~ The Wedding

My cousin's son got married in the afternoon and the party went on and on all evening .... I didn't get to spend nearly the time with Peabody as I would have liked. We left early and still didn't get home until 11 pm, several hours after P's "bedtime".

What was funny was that people were asking Kate about her plans, now that she has graduated from High School. She said that she was going to college and inevitably they'd ask where. When she replied "New Hampshire" they all looked at me and something like "Oh my, what are you going to do now mom?"

Without missing a beat Kate told them "Oh she's going to be fine. She's already got herself another child to replace me."

07-01-2010 ~ The Great Photo Shoot

It wasn't the best day but please, no one panic ... Peabody is just fine! However, last night at The Chance (Poughkeepsie, NY) my silly daughter left her almost brand new Nikon dSLR camera (along with a Nikon telephoto lens, camera case, battery charger, 2 UV filters, ....) unattended and it was stolen.

Yes, I'm sick. But not nearly as sick as she is so I'm bound and determined to not be mad at her for it.

The camera was a combination 18th birthday and High School graduation gift, and pretty much took every last (available) cent we had to get it for her.

Something like this pretty much happens to each of us at least once in our lives ... and it was Kate's turn I guess.

As she is going to college at the end of August for PHOTOGRAPHY we will somehow have to find a way to replace this equipment.

The last series of photos she took with the camera were all of Peabody, and can be seen at this link:

Peabody Photos

Best,
Susan

06/30/2010 ~ Our First Day

Peabody did GREAT last night! I tucked him away around 8:30 pm and he was quiet until I got him up around 10 am ! (As long as he was quiet I left him covered and fixed the dogs' breakfasts, fed the rest of the critters, inside and out, and me as well!).

His "one big fault" according to Judy is that he is possessive of his cage(s) and toys. She spent some time showing me how to distract him in order to get his food/water dishes to refill, change out toys, change the paper in the bottom of his cage, etc. Or to get him OUT of the cage and away in order to do those chores.

But for some reason, Peabody isn't acting that way with me. I can't reach in and grab him, he will 'bite' if I tried to do that ... but he is letting me deal with the paper, the dishes, reach in and hand him a treat (nut), take one of his toys and play with him with it.

Why is he letting me do the things that he didn't want Judy to do? My guess is that he's still "out of his element" and not sure of himself. He knew Judy and wasn't afraid to tell her what was OK and what wasn't. He's still not sure of me and so is being on better behaviour. (Does this sound familiar to those of you who are parents of small children? They ALWAYS behave better for the babysitter than they do for you!).

Whatever the reason, I'm taking advantage of it. I'm reaching in on and off all day long (never for such a long session that he'll get stressed) and offering him his favorite treat .... a pine nut. And a session that lasts several minutes with him interacting with me ends with a jackpot of maybe a half dozen pine nuts.

He did come out of the cage today for maybe 20 minutes and let me hold and pet him. When I saw that he was beginning to worry (maybe about the dogs?) I put him back. I won't be forcing him beyond his comfort level.

He let Kate take a bunch of photos of him, cage door open, this afternoon. She's really enjoying him.

It's been a good day!

06/29/2010 ~ Peabody Comes Home

Sometimes the things that happen to good folks just aren't that good. Such was the case with Peabody, my new (to me) Blue Crowned Conure, and his mom and dad. Judy and Rich raised him from a 10 week old baby, but when Peabody was 10 years old, they were forced to make the difficult decision to re-home him.

Rich's health isn't so good right now, and Peabody is ... well .... loud and demanding, as Conures typically are. While Rich was looking for a quiet corner to rest, Peabody was looking for attention from him and Judy and screaching if they didn't have the time or energy to give it to him.

So they looked for a home that did, and that home ended up being with me.

Judy and Rich will always be a part of Peabody's life ... they've raised him for 10 years and (if you have any clue how smart a parrot is you will understand) he will never forget them. And that's just as it should be.

Peabody knew something was going on as they helped me load his belongings in my small car. A big daytime cage, a small "nighty-nite" cage, blankie, bags of toys, food, shower perch ..... my little car was jammed to the roof. He rode 'home' (to my home, not his home.... yet!) in his small cage, on the front passenger seat, watching out the side window and muttering "uh oh" every few minutes. I was close to crying for him, but instead kept telling him in a happy voice how I was going to be sure his new life would be wonderful, how he was going to live on "Old McDonald's Farm". (If his mom or dad asked him where the chickens lived, he'd respond with a rendition of Old McDonald's Farm.)

Peabody is settling in well given the few days he's been here. While he still eyes my two dogs warily ... he's taking treats from my hand, stepping up on my hand, riding around on my shoulder all quite happily. He's had a shower (one of his favorite things!) and when I offered him a grape, he licked it, thought a minute and spit it right back out at me. I guess he's not afraid to tell me off!

While he's not "talking" yet, he certainly has a lot to say in other ways. I think another day or two, as he gets more familiar and comfy with his new surroundings, he'll start talking. But the bottom line is even if he never says another word to me (in English, not Conure lol!) it'll be OK as long as he's happy. And I promise Peabody, Judy & Rich that he will be.