Cosmo Talks - Betty Jean Craige articles

[danmcq]

I thought others might enjoy reading Betty Jeans insight on her Grey Cosmo. She has a wonderful book out and is always sharing new stories and thoughts about Cosmo.

 

http://onlineathens.com/authors/betty-jean-craige

[katana600]

Thanks Dan, I was successfully engrossed with reading her columns and watching videos of Cosmo for a couple of hours. Somehow I clicked on http://www.cosmotalks.com/ and that is where I found the videos. My favorite was watching Cosmo opening the drawers to the vanity as a step to get onto the edge of the tub, then opening a higher drawer to continue working her way to the countertop. She seemed to know when that last drawer was open in the "zone" where it may automatically close and she worked until she made it just the way she wanted it. Thanks for posting this, she is in my neck of the woods too, probably only an hour and a half by car.

[danmcq]

One thing I thought I would share by copy/paste is a question that she answers very well. We always get the question about what people can do to MAKE their grey become a cuddle muffin. We all know it can not be forced or coerced. But I believe Billy Jean put it in a way I know I could have not said better... :

 

Craige: Cosmo does what she wants

 

By Betty Jean Craigepublished Saturday, September 29, 2012

 

 

“Cosmo wanna go up! Cosmo don’t bite, OK? Cosmo don’t poop on floor, OK? Cosmo go up! Please? Cosmo wanna be a good bird.”

Cosmo is, in her words, “back in cage.” She wants out. She’ll promise anything to get me to open her cage door.

I open the door, and she pops out. Cosmo is a “good bird,” from my perspective, while she perches on top of her cage. She is “good” for about two minutes. Then she climbs off the cage and heads for the telephone cord (the third one I’ve installed in the last six weeks).

 

I grab her. She bites me, not hard but deliberately.

 

Then she looks up and says, “That hurt? Cosmo bad bird. Go back in cage.”

 

I’m not sure that Cosmo ever wants to be a good bird. Cosmo is an African grey parrot.

And she’s not bothered a bit when I scold her, when I tell her she’s a “bad bird.”

To Cosmo, being a good bird means trying to please me. It means being subordinate to me, obeying my wishes, following my rules. It means not being independent. It means not following her natural inclinations. Why should she want to be a good bird?

 

Subordination to a human is unnatural for Cosmo, or for any animal with the wild still in her.

 

Here’s a big difference between wild animals and domesticated animals — between birds and dogs, for instance. Parrots are still wild animals, though tamable as individuals. Dogs are domesticated animals, produced by artificial selection. Subordination to humans is natural for dogs, or rather for most dogs.

 

If I say, “Good dog!” to Mary, an American Eskimo dog whose talent I’ve yet to discover, she wags her tail. She delights in my approval. If I say, “Bad dog!” she hides under the bed. She’s ashamed.

We tend to call individuals “good” or “bad” according to how obedient they are to our rules. We say they’re “good” if they do what we ask of them, “bad” if they don’t. We expect them to try to be good.

But some don’t care. Can you imagine telling a squirrel “Bad squirrel” and motivating him to get off our bird feeder? Or telling a hawk “Bad hawk” and shaming her into releasing the cute little chipmunk she was planning to take to her nestlings for dinner? Or telling a bear “Bad grizzly!” and embarrassing him into releasing you and your gun?

 

Unless we’re shouting at the top of our lungs, we’re unlikely to influence these wild animals by a reprimand. They are doing what comes naturally to them. Why would they limit their freedom to please us humans?

 

Why would Cosmo?

 

I doubt that pleasing a foreign power comes naturally to anybody — other than our dearly beloved dogs.

 

I’ve mentioned before how often Cosmo says “No” to my requests, suggestions and invitations. In fact, she’ll ask “Betty Jean wanna kiss?” and when I’m just about to put my lips to her beak, she’ll say, “No,” back away and laugh. She decides when to kiss, not I, though she sometimes chooses to grant my request for a kiss. After all, I’m her significant other, her friend, her caregiver. We’re bonded.

Nonetheless, Cosmo is often a “good bird” not because I ask her, but because she wants to. And I do almost all she asks of me because I want to.

Cosmo must see an advantage for herself in our togetherness. That is probably the only reason she sometimes, if rarely, obeys.

Cosmo has very admirably made a fine life for herself confined in my house with my dogs and me. She has figured out how to have fun in an environment that her wild grandparents in Africa could not have imagined and would not have survived.

 

As her human, I control her time in the cage, but I don’t control her spirit.

[Luvparrots]

Great book. I really enjoy Cosmo.

[JeffNOK]

Cosmo is a hoot!

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Sophie is very much like Cosmo. I will read what Betty Jean Craige has to say.They both sound awesome! Nancy

[Mistyparrot]

One thing I thought I would share by copy/paste is a question that she answers very well. We always get the question about what people can do to MAKE their grey become a cuddle muffin. We all know it can not be forced or coerced. But I believe Billy Jean put it in a way I know I could have not said better............

 

Thanks for posting Dan. It seems to describe almost exactly my relationship with Misty:D

 

Steve n Misty