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Post by cnyguy on Jul 11, 2022 19:31:37 GMT -5
Ever since I first brought Ralph home, he has had a fear of people running. There are a lot of running races around central New York, especially at this time of year, and the local TV stations always show videos of the runners. Ralph hates seeing them and will usually do the Quaker parrot alarm call when those videos are shown. I've always taken the usual approach, to reassure him and calm him, but it never quite worked. For some reason recently, when the TV news ran highlights of a road race, I tried a new approach. I told Ralph that the people were running because they knew he and Scooter were here, and they're all afraid of parrots. They wanted to get away as fast as possible so they wouldn't get bit by a parrot. I said that Ralph didn't have to be afraid of the runners since they were more afraid of him. It seems to work. Now when sees runners on TV I say "Oh. there's those silly people who are afraid of parrots." No more alarm calls. It's said that parrots understand much of what we say to them. In this case, it seems to be true.
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Post by Caseysmom on Jul 13, 2022 18:27:57 GMT -5
That’s impressive! He has learned to listen to you and understand things!
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Post by heatherg on Oct 21, 2022 7:01:55 GMT -5
Huh. Well, I think Willow is afraid of running humans. We were watching YouTube music videos yesterday. I thought Willow didn’t appreciate 80s new wave music as he was growling and wing flipping, but then I noticed what the song was: Flock of Seagulls: “I ran so far away.”
So I think Willow has a similar issue as Ralph. He is much too young to have previously heard 80s new wave music.
Goofy bird. While watching YouTube, Willow generally enjoys Pluto the talking Quaker Parakeet.
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Post by cnyguy on Oct 21, 2022 19:43:33 GMT -5
Well, you can try explaining like I did that those silly humans were running away because they're scared of parrots. No guarantee that it will work for Willow. I'm surprised that it cured Ralph of his fear and dislike of running people, but it worked. Now when there are running people on TV I just tell him about the silly people running away because they don't understand parrots and are afraid of them. It works every time now.
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Post by heatherg on Oct 21, 2022 23:50:02 GMT -5
Or, I could simply not watch “flock of seagulls” with Willow.
We don’t watch much TV—some old cartoons from mtv and adult swim mostly. And I don’t think Willow understands how cartoons work.
But if I watch movies with him I will reassure him. Lucy did not like scary movies so I would probably just choose not to view them with Willow.
He seems more of a Sesame Street and Muppets kind of bird.
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Post by cnyguy on Oct 22, 2022 20:02:20 GMT -5
I always watch the local news on television and there are lots of running races around central New York, and video clips of them are often shown on the news. Of course Ralph doesn't approve and would express his disapproval with Quaker alarm calls. Now that he understands that the people running on television are doing it because they're scared of parrots, we can watch the news without any alarm calls.  Nothing else on TV seems to bother him, except if someone on TV is wearing bright orange clothing. More than once he's given an alarm call to the local news anchorwoman when she's wearing an orange blouse. Syracuse University sports fans sometimes get an alarm call too; the school color (and the teams' nickname) is orange. I like to watch horse races on TV and the sight of running horses doesn't upset Ralph at all. I watch hockey too, and he isn't bothered by skating. He usually ignores most other things on television except for a local commercial for Italian sausage. He likes that one. No words are spoken in the commercial, there's only the sound of the sausage sizzling in a pan, which is all that's shown in the advertisement except for the brand name and their slogan. My guess is that he likes the sizzling sound.  |
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