Today I took Truman to the bird store for the first time. I wanted him to get used to traveling in his carrier and the store in a stress free environment so that by the time I need to take him there to get his nails cut, he won't be phobic of it and the positive experiences will at least balance the negative ones. I bought a 25lb bag of Roudybush Pellets for about $55 vs 10 small bags at $14 each ($140 for same amount). Now I gotta figure out how to fit all of that in my freezer!
There was a couple there with a Senegal and African Grey so I asked how they get along and they suggested similar kinds of issues as I had with Kili and Truman. Except with persistent taming I've been able to rule these problems out while their Senegal continues abusing the Grey. Just as they were leaving I sent my brother after them to give them my parrot card and it turned out they had seen my 20 parrot tricks video but didn't recognize me at the store. Perhaps they'll check out my training blog articles and see how I reduced tension between Kili and Truman.
Finally there was a lady trying to handle some African Greys who was completely clueless. She kept sticking her hand in at it and it was nipping. Now this was a very tame African Grey baby so this lady must have been really abrupt in order to piss it off. I'd seen her petting other Greys at the store wrong. Clearly she didn't know what she was doing as she was running her hands down their backs like a dog (scary to think she actually owns one, I assume she does because she was buying supplies). Every time the Grey would nip at her she would start scolding it and telling it not to do that. I had Truman out on one hand so I just reached to the African Grey baby and put a finger under its toe and started lifting and it stepped right onto my hand without a single nip or complaint. So you know what the woman says!? "It must be a female." I hadn't the slightest idea where she got that from as these parrots are not sexually dimorphic until she continued and said, "it must be a female so it only like men." I was just shocked at what an awful owner she is. She just blames the bird for everything. She didn't have the guts to fess up that she just doesn't know how to handle them so she just blames the bird no matter what. No wonder so many birds get blamed and then rehomed. I didn't even bother trying to teach her because she has the wrong attitude. If she were interested in what SHE could do to make the parrot more comfortable, I could tell her all about my sites and the article/video I have for picking up a tame parrot, but I can't help everyone, especially if they refuse to take responsibility and help themselves.
I must say Truman did quite well at the store and did not fly off once. I was worried about him flying off because he's not recall trained well enough and there's a lot to bump into. But he stayed on me and was really friendly toward everyone. I was much relieved I brought a walnut shell with me because that kept him busy and less likely hood of flying away for the hell of it. So it was a productive outing where Truman got to experience being elsewhere, I bought a lot of parrot food, and I got to observe mistakes other parrot owners make.