Good Bird

GOOD BIRD by Barbara Heidenreich Binding: Paperback Published: 2004 Illustrations: Black/white photos A professional in animal behavior has created an easy-to-read step-by-step guide that uses positive reinforcement for teaching your parrot acceptable behavior. This book will help you deal with screaming, biting, feather-picking, bonding, and other difficult parrot behaviors. Chapters include Preparing the Companion Parrot Owner, Screaming, Biting, Bonding to One Person, Cage Bound Bird, and Feather Picking. Training is a form of teaching. The companion parrot learns when the trainer positively reinforces (or rewards) each small step the subject takes towards the desired behavior. Using the principles described in training, it becomes easy to teach birds what is the desired response. The beauty of training using positive reinforcement is that it works! In this book the author prepares the trainer in the first chapter. She then describes some typical problem behavior scenarios experienced by companion parrot owners. She then provides an explanation as to why the behavior may be occurring and offers a step-by-step explanation of how to address the problem behavior using training techniques based on positive reinforcement. Barbara Heidenreich has been a professional in the field of animal behavior since 1990. After receiving her Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology she began her career teaching birds to present natural behaviors in zoos. In her fourteen years of working for various zoos, companies, and as an independent consultant, Barbara has been involved in the production of over fifteen different free flight bird presentations. Currently the President Elect of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators she is now a private animal training consultant working with zoological parks, nature centers, and the companion parrot community. Barbara hopes everyone can experience that truly rewarding relationship that can happen when animals are trained using positive reinforcement.