Pajarita wrote:I agree with you in principle although not in the language - I don't like to use the word 'domination' when it comes to dogs (I also don't agree with Cesar Milan methods) but I do agree that been leader (it's actually a parental role more than a leading one -even in wild canines social groupings) is a good thing when it comes to dogs. They do much better when you set behavior parameters because they want to please the parent (the human and what used to be called 'alpha') and knowing what pleases us makes them feel secure in their relationship with us. Parrots also crave security and the sense of belonging, it's only that discipline and the desire to please us doesn't really work with them because their social groupings are not 'leader' based but a more democratic 'flock' based so, yes, guidance and, most of all, outsmarting them so they think that they came up with the 'idea' is the way to go.
Dominance is actually a very misleading word - despite what it's actual dictionary definition is. I use it often thinking of the original latin meaning (dominus) implying the leadership position with animals, not the... shall we say, exertion of control. My friend once put it this way: "Don't control the dog, but instead, be it's leader". Too much dominance can break the dog and no one wants a poor soulless puppy who has no own will. You can put a muzzle on a dog, but this only prevents it from biting and doesn't actually -STOP- it from biting. To stop it from biting, you have to be a leader to it and instruct it.
I must confess that for the most part I don't agree with Milan's methods either; but some however, are very humane and functional. For example, if a dog is of a herding breed, it's unquestionably healthy to take it to a ranch / farm once in a while and let it's natural instincts take over. I won't go into the methods I disagree with (albeit from your mindset Pajarita, I almost dare to hazard a guess we think of the same things XD)
The issue with any animal expert is that they do partially work in the show business in one way or another, and thusly some methods are more designed for a submissive animal. With animal experts, one has to carefully pick and mix some of their methods and ignore others. A good way to determine weather some method / tactic is good for an animal is by answering the following question:
"Are you doing this to make your own life easy, or are you doing this to make the animal's life easy?"
naturally logic will of course get one far here: some cockatoo owners wear headphones to protect their ears from the morning vocalizations.
Birds need guidance and a flockmate they will learn from. In this case it's us! We ignore his "I INSIST A TREAT" squawk, but reward him when he tries to imitate laughter or sounds etc. Though it takes a bit of practice too with the unwanted vocalizations because there are moments when he might be telling us something (eg. water bowl is empty)
LOOK HOW MUCH I'VE LEARNED IN HALF A YEAR!
I owe it all to my lovely Simo. And you board guys