Einstein is the famous talking African grey parrot. He has shown his skills to the public in Animal Planet’s Pet Star. And his trainer updates his performances through youtube.com. Go check it out here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnTT7u5U4Yo. What did you observe? Yes! Einstein is so amusing! And the trainer makes it look so easy! But it takes more than just bird food to make Einstein this famous and well trained. It took a lot of time and effort to make her pet bird this good. So to guide you in training your own parrot to talk like Einstein, here are the best tips that you can find around the web.
- Be friendly and be cautious. Do not expect the new bird to be friendly in your first meeting, especially when you got it for sale. Let it take time to settle into its new environment. When it is ready to mingle with you, be friendly. It can easily learn trust by the way you show kindness and patience. And as it starts to gain its senses, keep its cage in an area safe from words you don’t want the bird to imitate. It might say words you don’t want to hear from it.
- Start young and start soft. You do not want to stretch those vocal chords at an old age. You’ll just get frustrated. So as early as 4-6 months old, give it a try. Even a ‘Good Morning’ or ‘Good day’ will do. Be gentle as you approach it. Take it out of its cage slowly. Talk to it softly. This kind of animal is not from the wild areas of the Amazon, so you don’t need to be harsh. Again, just be gentle.
- Give it time and repeat it again. Set a training session for your parrot. It is better to have two sessions of ten to fifteen minutes a day. Be consistent with your schedule and give constant attention. Keep in mind that you have to repeat the words several times. Reiterate the same words until it can imitate comfortably. Refrain from giving several instructions at once, you’ll end up wasting your time.
- Be creative and be wise. There are other ways to get your pet’s attention. You may try to use electronic aids such as CDs and cassettes. They have a variety of sounds and words that it can imitate. You may also use videos showing other parrots doing their own mimicking skills. Seeing images or pictures of other parrots will encourage your pet to do similar things as well.
- Show it some love and appreciation. Every time your pet does a great job, do not hesitate to give a reward such as sunflower seeds, which parrots mostly like. This will help inspire it to continue emulating sounds while enjoying itself in the process. However, take note of that 15-minute rule, because a time longer than that can cause boredom. Do not forget to pay attention to its health and feelings. Give it some bird food and water every time the session ends, and make it feel that what it does is greatly appreciated.
With these in mind, you are on your way to creating the next famous talking parrot. When they are big enough and well trained, you can keep those cages out of the way. You may then place them in an area where you can communicate with it frequently. With this, you can keep up the training seamlessly and effortlessly. Continue to talk to it every day, as often as possible.