Bird therapy & first time nail clipping !

[Viatrixa]

No matter how much research I do, and how much I learn, little Simo manages to surprise me, and a lot at that. He recently learned to "laugh", and I also strongly suspect he also associates it with satisfaction or amusement. While not quite the same as with humans, I do believe parrots can express joy and satisfaction.

I've already said it before on these forums but Simo -HATES- it when I nap for longer than an hour or two. Him being a male, he's a mommy's boy like that. And he purposefully wakes me up after he's decided I've had enough sleep. So now, every time it happens and I sit up, half asleep on my bed, I hear "HAHAHAH".

"You're enjoying this aren't you?"

"HAHAHAHA"

"Seriously?"

"HAHAHAHA"

"You little blankety blank!" (note: in our household, we use cursewords mostly in a positive manner)

"HAHAHAHA"

Maybe it's because I'm still so fresh with parrot ownership, but I was kind of stunned. I bet people have way more stories like these, ones that have become almost routine. But even so, I found it extremely funny. I'm not sure if I should deem this as negative behaviour but to be frank, I don't mind him waking me up after an hour or two - it's enough rest for me and a perfect excuse to get out of bed. I have some mental issues - one of them being depression. As a side effect I feel tired a lot, and if let, I could easily sleep for hours and hours on end. Him waking me up feels extremely therapeutic and add the effect that it's also quite funny, I genuinely feel he's a HUGE therapeutic factor in my life.

This entire month has been really bad for me for several reasons (my depression is at it's worst during spring and summer) and he gives me reason to get up, to go on. I came close to self harming in the beginning of the month. Twice; and both times, I kid you not, he made this very odd certain noise. Not the kind that signals something is wrong, but just a soft peep. I have no idea what he wanted in actuality (me and my husband have learned quite a bit what his different vocalizations mean), but it was enough to stop that horrible desire and pay attention to him.

I'm not trying to romanticize this or make it seem as if it's magic, but a part of me is convinced that he can sense when we, my husband and I, his flockmates, feel upset. I did read (I keep repeating that a lot, so I apologize, but I really do spend an awful lot of time researching and reading about parrots) and once article did state that birds can... how to express this... "see" certain feelings in humans. It was explained in an actual scientific manner, not in a mumbojumbo way. I forgot exactly how it was explained - maybe someone here can shed some more light on that?

I also found the story of a man who suffered from anxiety I believe? And he had what he calls a therapy bird with him, a cockatoo that senses when he's about to have an episode like that, and keeps him grounded. In a way reminds him "I'm here! It's okay! You're not alone!" There are a variety of therapy animals out there. Dogs, cats, horses, and even some pigs. Sometimes the animal itself will sense these things, and other times just the presence of a gentle mannered animal is enough to defuse a bad mental bomb. It's been said that birds have the technical capacity to be therapy animals but as they are individuals, it fully depends on the bird itself. A therapy dog will sense it's owner's distress; at times it's been trained for it. And at times, the dog has the natural inclination for it. Therapy dogs will usually react with physical actions when they sense an episode is about to emerge. Seems a birds method of doing is are vocalizations and body language.

Therapy birds are somewhat rare, but they really do seem exist and the people who own them claim to get incredible help and support from them. They just work a bit different from dogs & cats - with them it's more about the contact, and birds are more about.... how to express. Saying "HEY! It's okay ! I'm here, PEEP!"

So, just bear with me here but... would it be an absolutely idiotic idea to try and experimentally train him a little on that front? He has an extremely "down to earth" behavior and he has a sweet nature (albeit humorous). There ARE therapy birds out there. Just not very many but I've heard nothing but positive things about them.

Does anyone have any ideas / thoughts pertaining to this? I have very realistic expectations only - it may not work out, but it also may. The way I see it, there'd be no harm in it since he's EXTREMELY quick to learn and he seems amazingly brave in new social situations. He doesn't show fear when new people are in the house: he will exhibit curious behavior. He's a bit fidgety if new people get close to him, but not overly so. He'll hop back and forth on his perches but he stops after a while and relaxes. I suppose I've managed to do SOMETHING right with him because he's way more curious than scaredy. And remember - he was a parent reared guy. He's improved miles and leaps in a short amount of time. He isn't even a year old! Oftentimes he enjoys simple interaction and even attention. He loves touching his target stick and doesn't even always care for the treat. He seems to have fun doing the stick touching (but he wont say no to a treat, of course.)

This is a very, very serious subject for me, so I'd love to hear peoples experiences and advice if anyone has any to give. He isn't going to be a miracle cure of course, but it's been proven that animals can have amazing therapeutic qualities - even if they do nothing and just happily play with you. So just a distant hazy dream of sorts, do you people think it would be an idiotic or a stupid idea to try and train him to be a bit of a personal therapy bird?

I'd love to hear opinions and experiences! This is a very important subject for me so I'd love... uh, well hear experiences and opinions as I already stated earlier.

[Wolf]

My dear lady ( at the risk of sounding like a male chauvinistic pig ), I do not know how to train a bird for this purpose, but as long as you and your Simo enjoy your time together then by all means train away. I have a problem with severe depression as well and it is and always has been my animal friends that have helped me to hold it together. There is mounting evidence for birds in the role of therapy animals, but due to their nature it seems to be highly individualistic in nature in that while your bird may help you when it sees that you are getting too depressed it would probably not do the same for someone else that it is not bonded with.

I do not pretend to know exactly how they know, only that they do. It could be partially from the fact that they are experts in body language as it is such a part of their daily lives that they use it for communication and for survival as well. It could also be partially due to their eyesight as they see into the ultraviolet spectrum which is invisible to us and they see so many more colors than we do that next to them we are virtually color blind. We really don't know what all that they do see, I know that some animals see into the infrared spectrum and because of that they can see the changes in heat from blood flow to various parts of out bodies which would tell them a lot of things about us including our stress levels and possibly areas of disease in our bodies. These are not mumbo jumbo, but valid scientific facts that some animals do, indeed, possess these abilities that we do not.

I have several birds of different species and all of them are very much aware of how I am feeling mentally, emotionally and physically and they seem to be aware of these things almost as quickly as I am, but none of them are as in tune with me the way that Kookooloo, my CAG is. She is absolutely amazing and she appears to be aware of my mood swings and pain levels, possibly quicker than I am aware of them.

One more thing that I would like to toss out for you, if I may. Please do not think that stories like the one that you have just shared are so common place that we don't want to hear them, because we do. Yes I am very sure that these things are common enough and because we live with them we just tend to accept them and forget to speak of them as much as we probably should. Maybe, because they are not written down or discussed very often, some of us may feel a little concerned that some folks might think that we are a bit off or wonder what we might be smoking or such, but we should share these wonderful slices of live with our bird friends with each other much more often than we seem to do.

[Viatrixa]

Sometimes I feel shy about sharing our stories because I feel they are something experienced bird owners have already witnessed I sort of feel like a fresh mother at a sandbox with the rest of the parents who go "yes we know!" at odd new things Simo does.

Therapy animal training depends on the purpose of the animal of course: anxiety, depression, panic, deaf, etc. so the course is tailored thusly. Depending on the country, this usually consists of a specialized supervisor evaluating the animal's aptness at... well, the chosen form of therapy. There are courses for it too (horses, dogs etc.) but one can also train the animal themselves for a certain purpose, in which case you only take the "exam". Upon passing the animal is granted official therapy animal status which means that normal animal restrictions don't apply to it. They will also be registered as such and naturally the owner will be given proof in the form of a certificate / official papers and such.

Many people who suffer from severe depression and anxiety in particular have an animal with such a status, one which they have trained themselves. The actual training and methods can vary and be personalized; the most important thing is simply passing the evaluation. This, at least here, is how it works. I once saw the BIGGEST (with a capital B) Saint Bernhard with such a status and the special harness. His owner had bad social anxiety and he had trained the giant pup to be a special therapy animal. Basically, the size and species isn't really limited.

Most of the time when the word therapy animal comes up, people imagine a well behaved pup or a cat at an eldery people's residence, or the children's section in a hospital. These are of course more common than a "single" person animal, but they do exist too. Very, very technically anything can be a therapy animal so long as it's intelligent enough to provide assistance and support for it's owner. My corn snake for example, being dumb, would not be a good candidate. (snakes are actually really quite dumb!)

Since Simo seems to have a natural knack for providing me with distractions / love / assistance when I'm at my lowest, I'm almost tempted to try this. Train him gently and see if he could get actual special therapy animal status. The idea is extremely tempting! I was merely curious to see if there is anyone here who actually owns a therapy parrot / bird.

(he also went ahead and decided that easter is a good time to moult so now we have actual little decorations with his feathers!!)

[Wolf]

I really do not know how many people here have carried the process through, but I do know that I have seen where several members have talked about getting their bird registered as therapy animals, I believe that most of them were college kids and they often forget about posting here while they are busy at school, but usually come back when they are on breaks.

I really would not be concerned with whether anyone or even if everyone might have experienced a similar thing with their birds that you experience with your Simo. There are some things in life, that no matter how many times you see or even hear about that just never get old. Also no other bird is going to do the same thing in quite the same way that Simo does them. Consider things such as their first word that you can identify, their first flight in your home, the first time that you are absolutely positive that your bird came to you because he wanted to be with you. How about the first time that your bird shows you that not only does he know how you feel, but that he is very much concerned if you are feeling ill, or down or how happy he is when you are feeling better... and the list grows and grows and keeps getting better and longer all of the time. This does not even begin to mention the little things that they do to make you laugh or the tricks that they play on you just to get your reaction. None of these things ever get old to most of us. We may counter with a story of our own, but that is not because we have seen it before and are bored with it. It is because we like to share these things too with others who we feel will understand and that might enjoy hearing about our experiences as well.

Stop to consider how many times we ask for pictures of peoples birds and consider how remarkably similar two different Grey parrots look, or two different Cockatiels look and still we ask to see them over and over again. We love the stories just as much and in a world dominated by cats and dogs, the majority of people that we meet just seem to come across with the old " but it is just a bird" type thing. Show how much they don't know about these creatures.

OK, my soapbox is getting a bit worn, your turn.

[Viatrixa]

I honestly think the therapy bird training is simply a question of perseverance and determination. Birds like to learn; they're smart creatures and I think enjoy the process themselves. We didn't know much about his personality when we got him, especially because he wasn't hand reared.

He has taken us by surprise by how adaptive he is, and how quickly he has bonded to us. Me a little more because he's a mommy's boy but he's good with the husband too, and strangers as well.

We're not at the point yet where I can for example grab him or ask him to perch on my finger etc. but even this I believe is a question of time and patience. We believe he is a slightly unusual parrot because he's very brave and curious in general. I ordered Michael's book; naturally you're not supposed to follow it to a word. For example, he suggests that training would be a good idea to do in the morning, but Simo is more receptive to training in the evening. Birds are individuals, and if someone says that a certain type of a bird behaves this and that way, it may not hold true to YOUR own bird.

One of his absolute favorite things is when me and the husband are tried to have a conversation in the afternoon, and wouldn't you know it, the little poop ALWAYS interrupts our conversation. Or rather, I think he wants to be a "part" of it. This has given us a LOT of laughs (and as a result when we laugh he himself ends up doing "HAHAHA".) So I'm 100% certain that he associates laughter with mirth and positivity. He's still very young, not even a year old but getting close to it, so he hasn't learned actual words yet. But it certainly sounds like he's trying

I was thinking of attempting to keep a type of a training diary for him, and write down notes and experiences, recommendations other people have to offer too to see how it will go. So, I think I'll attempt to try and train him to be a therapy bird as there's nothing to loose!

These forums are a very positive medium and give me inspiration to try

[Wolf]

As long as both you and your bird are enjoying it then the training can only serve to deepen the bond between you. There is no limit to how your relationship can develop as long as you are patient, loving and remember that you need to listen to your bird as well. All relationships are give and take and two way streets which many people forget when the other party is an animal, but failing to take this into account with a bird will destroy a great relationship just as quickly as it would with any human. Humans are not generally accustomed to thinking in terms of their animal being a fully self aware creature that actually thinks and plans and that has just as many emotions as we do or that those emotions often run deeper and stronger in them than it does in humans.