neoow Posted August 25, 2014 Share Posted August 25, 2014 Hello all! Alfie amused me greatly today, so I thought I would share it with everyone and ask about similar stories. I've been trying to teach Alfie to respond to a question- what noise does a [insert animal here] make? He can make a quack quack quack sound, he can meow and he recently started learning to bark like the little dogs from over the road. So I'm thinking my first three should be duck, cat and then dog (once he's mastered his bark). This can then be a fun little game that we play... particularly as Alfie likes to learn new noises (rather than words). So if this works, I can try and teach him new sounds like chickens etc. So today he was practicing his quack noise (as well as saying 'good day' and some whistles). So I quacked back at him a few times. I then said: "Alfie- what noise does a DUCK make?" and waited a few moments. I then quacked a few times, to show him. I repeated myself, always giving him a few seconds to respond before quacking myself. (I must sound like a right nut haha!) I repeated myself a couple more times... before finally: "quack quack quack"!! I praised him highly for this. Then I asked again... QUACK QUACK QUACK!! Awesome! More praise... and then he did a dance for me haha. A victory dance, I'm sure. I tried again a few minutes later, but he wasn't interested anymore. That's fine, he's not a performing monkey. I quacked to myself instead and then went back to whistling to him, which he joined in with wholeheartedly. (He loves whistling) I'll keep at it. He'll only respond when he feels like it, I'm sure. But I was very pleased that I got the right response from him twice in a row. He looked very pleased with the praise he got for it too. I'm sure it will take him a while to learn the associations between the words and the sounds. But it gives me another way to interact with him and gives him something to think about. So- what questions do your parrots respond to? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brat Birds Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Quack Quack to you too! Too Cute. That sounds like such fun. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffNOK Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 I posted this video of Gracie before, but I will share it again because she begins the video with four animal sounds---dog, cat, chicken, and monkey. She also responds to the question, "Gracie whatcha doing?" She responds in various ways depending on what she is doing. She will say "Gracie on cage", "Gracie on perch", or "Gracie like toys" (if she is chewing or playing with a toy). She doesn't respond all the time but I would say 70% of the time she gives a correct response. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRSeedBurners Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Our Greycie will do a Kookaburra (my wife is Australian) and she also does a drunk chicken. The drunk chicken came about when Greycie was drawling out the tail end of the brock-brock-braaaAAAaaawwwwkkkkk. My wife said she sounds like a chicken that's had too much to drink. So we started asking Greycie to do her drunk chicken. Behind the kookaburra, the drunk chicken is the about the only other animal sound Greycie will do for us when we ask. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muse Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Megan does several bird calls. She will do (my poor imitation) of a grackle, a chicken, a rooster, a crow and a dove. She loves the dove the best and if someone else does it, will respond with "That's a dove!" LOL She will say to herself "How's a grackle go? *makes call* That's a grackle." And so on. She also does random red-tailed hawk calls that Peck taught her but they just come out of the blue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytness Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 Maalik and I practice this every day: What does the duck/doggy/kitty/cow/piggy say? He's pretty good at answering with the correct animal response. His favorite one to say is, 'quack quack quack'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted August 26, 2014 Author Share Posted August 26, 2014 Awesome stuff, thanks all! Great to hear how clever all your parrots are! Thanks for the video, Jeff! That's amazing! Alfie isn't a big talker, so I doubt he'll learn the questions along with the sounds. But I'll be super pleased if he learns to associate the sounds to the words and replies! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greytness Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 How cute, Jeff! Gracie's voice sounds so very close to yours. I'm hoping that Maalik doesn't end up having my voice, as that would be very disturbing to me! He needs to have a manly sounding set of pipes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted August 26, 2014 Share Posted August 26, 2014 neoow.. Always watch out for those " closet talkers!" They tend to be very smart. Busy learning... don't need to talk alot. Continue to expect language, and train. NEVER give up on your bird. Of course, I know you will love your bird if not verbal. EXPECT language and train. Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted August 27, 2014 Author Share Posted August 27, 2014 neoow.. Always watch out for those " closet talkers!" They tend to be very smart. Busy learning... don't need to talk alot. Continue to expect language, and train. NEVER give up on your bird. Of course, I know you will love your bird if not verbal. EXPECT language and train. Nancy Great advice, thank you. I never stop talking to him. Since I moved into my house, I have a great set up as I was able to have my PC downstairs, so we're together all the time when I'm home except for when I go to sleep. I'll quite often chat to him, ask him what/how he's doing etc. I know he picks up more than he lets on. He just chooses to voice sounds rather than words most of the time. Which is fine, as that's obviously what he prefers! He does have sessions where he mumbles to himself in different voices- I always think he might be practicing new words or phrases- or just trying to come up with his own! He's 11 years old now and still comes out with new things all the time.... like the dog bark, for instance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted August 27, 2014 Share Posted August 27, 2014 Eleven, is still a youngster! Think about how long they live? I personally think this is the time to really educate, watch them reason, associate words with meaning. Its amazing. Sophie at age 14, is the funnest time I have ever associated with. She gets it, but can now empathize, and has a personality! Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 (edited) I managed to get a video of Alfie's quack today. He kept quacking so I encouraged him and managed to get him to do it for the camera. Edited August 28, 2014 by neoow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted August 28, 2014 Author Share Posted August 28, 2014 Aaand another quick one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbersmom Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 LOL Tell Alfie that is an excellent quack he has there! Loud and clear as a bell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffNOK Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 (edited) How cute, Jeff! Gracie's voice sounds so very close to yours. I'm hoping that Maalik doesn't end up having my voice, as that would be very disturbing to me! He needs to have a manly sounding set of pipes. Poor Gracie is a sweet little lady, but sadly she has my voice as a model....so unfortunately she sounds less than feminine. Edited August 29, 2014 by JeffNOK Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffNOK Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 Awesome stuff, thanks all! Great to hear how clever all your parrots are! Thanks for the video, Jeff! That's amazing! Alfie isn't a big talker, so I doubt he'll learn the questions along with the sounds. But I'll be super pleased if he learns to associate the sounds to the words and replies! I tend to think that the capability resides in all greys. It may or may not come out, and it may come out unexpectedly. You might be surprised with Alfie. That fact that he is mimicking in context with understanding suggests that the sky is really the limit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 These videos are so funny. I love that they are so eager to please and eager to learn. Miss Gilbert is just getting to the stage where she isn't angry, scared or anxious any more. She isn't motivated to repeat things or give and take yet. She talks, whistles and makes noises all day "directing" me or the dogs. She learned in previous homes some really sweet things and some abrasive bossy language. She picks up household sounds and uses them to predict what is going to happen next. She is a funny funny girl even when she is growling at me to "shut up" or "get outta here". She sees me head toward the door to talk to someone outside and shouts "get outta here", the look on their faces as she laughs big at her joke is priceless. They probably think I have an abusive husband. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffNOK Posted August 29, 2014 Share Posted August 29, 2014 These videos are so funny. I love that they are so eager to please and eager to learn. Miss Gilbert is just getting to the stage where she isn't angry, scared or anxious any more. She isn't motivated to repeat things or give and take yet. She talks, whistles and makes noises all day "directing" me or the dogs. She learned in previous homes some really sweet things and some abrasive bossy language. She picks up household sounds and uses them to predict what is going to happen next. She is a funny funny girl even when she is growling at me to "shut up" or "get outta here". She sees me head toward the door to talk to someone outside and shouts "get outta here", the look on their faces as she laughs big at her joke is priceless. They probably think I have an abusive husband. I am the same as you. Even when Gracie is "rude" I get a laugh out of it. Sometimes I go to her, and she looks at me with irritation and says, "What do YOU want?". She also gets great pleasure out of saying, "Gracie bite Daddy. Ouchie! Gracie like bite." Her sweet words melt my heart, but her naughtiness make me roll with laughter. I wouldn't trade one for the other. Thankfully, Gracie never actually bites me at home (frequent bluffs but no contact), She does bite me when I take her visit my parents. I would laugh less if Gracie really bit Daddy regularly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted September 3, 2014 Author Share Posted September 3, 2014 I managed to get a video of Alfie answering the question "What noise does a duck make?" He answered twice in a row really quickly then as soon as I got my phone to try and capture it he went camera shy hehe. Took me several attempts to get this and he pauses for quite a long time before answering. He seems to have learnt it as he's regularly answering the question with quacks... and now he's even trying to ask himself the question. He starts by saying "what" pauses, then does the quack! Maybe he will want to learn the whole question, maybe he won't. Either way, we're having a blast together! [video=youtube;2PcCh7Ox-wY] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbersmom Posted September 3, 2014 Share Posted September 3, 2014 That was great! Alfie is an excellent "quacker" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted September 4, 2014 Share Posted September 4, 2014 Alfie Needs a toy called " see'nsay"... delivers all the animal sounds when you point and hit the button. ( use to have to pull the cord that Sophie loved!) Sophie always thought she was pulling the cord!)... Just a toy that Sophie loved so much! Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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