Oh my god, the parrot just BARKED at the dog!!

[Mara Steele]

Apparently, the parrot Roberto has learned to bark from the dog, Snowy, and now uses it to scare the dog away!!

Fucking amazing! It was SO loud, and nearly dead-on accurate.

[Beetwasher]

1. That's Great!

My 'keets do the phone ring and it gets me sometimes!

[Mara Steele]

4. Hey, that's pretty neat!!

Yeah, I'm housesitting for these guys, and it's the first time I'd heard the parrot mimic anything, though I'd been told he could.

Usually he just chatters unintelligibly! And SCREAMS when I play old blues music. He can't stand the stuff, I guess!

:D

[Wickerman]

2. rotfl

that really makes me want a parrot. talk me out of it.

[Beetwasher]

5. It's Like Having A Child

So view it as such...It's not a decision to make lightly...Sadly, some people view birds as "throw away" types of pets, but they need just as much attention as any dog or cat (if not more)...

[Wickerman]

12. Yeah, I started doing some reading again

it had been awhile. I forgot about the willing part. Makes sense. We have two troubled pets that we got from rescue orgs - would have to consider that impact too - on both the bird and each of the animals.

[Jackpine Radical]

56. Blow your mind--read T.S. Barber's book "The Human Nature

of Birds." Absolutely incredible stories.

Barber is a psychologist best known for his theoretical analyses of hypnosis.

[madrchsod]

6. got about a thousand dollars?

my son has one that cost him about a thousand. great birds..

[soothsayer]

7. They can live to be 75 or 100 and you have to will them to someone

as a consequence.

Plus for some reason they love to pick up swear words.

[Wickerman]

15. well, i am screwed

my kids do the same thing.

where is the damn wash my mouth out with soap smilie?

[YellowRubberDuckie]

33. Parrots can live for more than a century.

So you're investing in a lifelong friend.
Duckie

[hunter]

54. Parrots are smart, and they can be very destructive.

Our parrot likes to chew holes in the drywall when she is unsupervised. Very big holes if she has time. She can also immitate any electronic noise. She laughs when she fools us. We had to get an old fashioned phone with a real bell because she can't immitate that. But the microwave oven, our pagers, our cell phones, and various other machines that beep and warble are pretty much rendered useless at home because we learn to ignore these sounds. Oh, she also does our "Fire Alarm" sound, and the fire alarm battery warning sound, and she can just plain screech like you wouldn't believe.

She also likes to torture other pets, just for fun. (She's looking at me now and laughing. I think she knows what I'm writing about.) She will kill wild mice that get into her cage, and toss their little corpses out onto the floor.

Once we came home from work and she'd escaped from her cage (she's very good at that) and opened the pantry, where she ripped open all the boxes and bags of food.

She is full of personality and affectionate with most people, but occasionally she'll decide she can't stand someone, usually a first time visitor, and she will growl at them like a dog, and threaten them with her very strong beak.

Vet bills can be expensive if you can find a vet that treats birds. Parrots hide their illnesses, so occasionally by the time you notice they are sick, they are really, really sick.

Honestly, dogs and cats are much better pets than parrots, but parrots can be interesting, in good and very bad ways.

[Wickerman]

55. thanks for the details.

I have read similar and understand they take a lot of time. Maybe not the best choice for my family at the moment.

[rocktivity]

3. Get in on video and send it to that TV show, LOL!

:headbang:
rocknation

[Mara Steele]

9. Oh god, I really should.

I don't have a camera, though, and it is one of those spontaneous things. I'd have to be constantly on alert, and I'm just the housesitter actually.

Ha, that was so cool!

:D

[jukes]

8. smart parrot,

incredibly funny!


hi, mara! :hi: :hug:

[Mara Steele]

11. Hi jukes!!

Good to see you today. You in the mood to telephone?

:hi:

:hug:

[jukes]

22. i'm heading out,

tomorrow?

[Mara Steele]

24. Sounds good!

No pressure, just hanging out here.

Whenever it works best.

Take care!

[ScreamingMeemie]

10. My aunt's African Grey copies the microwave, and it gets me all the

time. They are such funny things.
:hi:

[Mara Steele]

14. Oh wow, that's so funny!

Wish I could teach this one to say "Fuck Bush!"

:hi:

[demnan]

13. LOL!

I bet it would meow and hiss at the cat too!

[Mara Steele]

17. haven't heard that yet,

but I wouldn't be surprised now, to hear it!

(There is a kitty here.)

[redqueen]

16. My sister's birds laugh when she does

and do this 'rassafrasserrabber' thing when she talks on the phone... sounds like a muted conversation. Birds rock except for the far-too-loud screaming. Luckily her neighbors are very cool. :)

[Beetwasher]

19. *sniff* Reminds Me of My Old Budgie

BlueSky, who died a couple of years ago (he died young)...He would mimic my laugh too whenever I laughed...He was so awesome, I miss him...

[redqueen]

32. They're like children to my sis

She couldn't even stay in her apt. when she lost one years ago... had to come crash at my place. She was wrecked.

[richmwill]

18. Wow, that's amazing

But if the dog starts talking like the parrot- take my advice and run for the hills! :)

[Magrittes Pipe]

20. Yup. They'll do that.

Parrots have TWISTED senses of humor. I have never met a psittacine that didn't have a dark streak, a nearly Kafkian sense of schadenfreude. They seem to enjoy the humiliation of others more than ANYTHING.

Of course, they have the emotional maturity of a 3-year-old, so they cannot take what they dish out. For instance, if YOU were to humiliate the PARROT... you would be bitten. Hard.

[Mara Steele]

21. Roberto and I have JUST made friends

And this is the third time I have taken care of this "zoo".

For the first time, yesterday, he let me pet him!

:hi:

[Magrittes Pipe]

23. That's awesome!

Parrots do not trust easily -- in the wild, they would be prey animals; and they are not, in the strict sense, truly domesticated (most medium-sized to large companion parrots being only one or two generations removed from the wild). His allowing you to pet him means you have EARNED his trust.

Way to go, Mara! :bounce:

[Mara Steele]

26. Aw, shucks, thanks!

He's a real sweetie, 42 years old, too. He's been hopping upstairs to visit me at the computer for the first time, too (he lives in the basement/family room, it's a split level home).

:bounce:

[Endangered Specie]

25. Well, then i hope the Parrot doesnt start yelling "Oh! God! Yes!" then...

might wanna keep it down ;) :hi:

[Mara Steele]

28. Ha ha ha ha!!!

I WISH that was something I had to worry about!!!

:evilgrin:

:hi:

[GingerSnaps]

27. I love when that happens

Did he sound just like your Dog?

Are you still laughing?

[Mara Steele]

29. I'm still grinning, yep

It is so amazing, yes, he sounded just like Snowy the puppy!

Actually the animals aren't mine, I wish; it is a house/"zoo" that I am taking care of for friends!

[GingerSnaps]

34. Is he a young bird?

Have you heard him laugh like his owners yet?

I had to change my underwear when that happened one time because I knew that my Aunt was dead but I heard her anyways. After I looked through the house for the "ghost" the bird laughed again and I laughed so hard that I peed my pants.

I was scared and I couldn't move hardly I thought that it was a haunting instead it was the Bird LOL.

Birds are amazing!

[Mara Steele]

36. Wow, that's spooky!

No, Roberto is 42, and pretty grumpy.

[sus]

30. that's hilarious.

a college friend shared a house with four other girls. one of them had a parrot. it had mastered the sound of five girls laughing hysterically. it was the eerie and fascinating.

[HEyHEY]

31. My friend's mom got a parrot from the pet store

It was kept too close to the dogs and kept barking for the first two months

[Zero Gravitas]

35. French parrot

My parents were in Paris last year and went into a store that had a parrot in a cage. The parrot could see a dog outside and kept saying (in French of course) "Bad dog! Go away!"

[Kat45]

37. That's great! What kind of parrot is he?

[Mara Steele]

38. I don't know! He's mostly green

with some blue and yellow feathers, from Brazil originally, I believe.

I keep forgetting to ask his type. I'm not a bird person, really, so I usually just accept a parrot as a parrot, unfortunately.

I'll find out next time I talk with the owner!

[Magrittes Pipe]

40. Sounds like a blue-fronted Amazon.

They can be demanding (and quite nippy in the breeding season), but they are wonderful birds.

[Mara Steele]

41. Thanks!

How do you know so much about birds, hedges?

[Magrittes Pipe]

43. Because I love my birdies!

[Mara Steele]

44. Awesome, what kind are they?

I remember you posting those pics once before.

:yourock:

[Magrittes Pipe]

46. Well...

...Logos (top) is a Meyer's parrot, and Olive (getting petted by my big toe) is a Pacific parrotlet.

[Mara Steele]

47. You've got a cute big toe, too!

:loveya:

[Magrittes Pipe]

50. Why, thank you!

I'm rather attached to it, myself.

[Mara Steele]

51. ha, ha, ha!!

I set you up for that one GOOD, didn't I??

We're a team, like bing & bob!!

:yourock:

:D

[Mara Steele]

42. Yep!! That's Roberto... Cool...

I just did an image search for that type of bird, and he is practically IDENTICAL, to the pictures I got.

[MallRat]

39. I've heard parrots ring like telephones and doorbells.

If they hear a sound over and over, they eventually start to pick it up.

:-)

-MR

[GingerSnaps]

45. You can't watch TV Shows over & over

My Aunts bird had the theme from the game show "Wheel Of Fortune" down to a tee. He would say "Wheel of Fortune" and they he would imitate the sound of the wheel going around and the binging when the tiles are turned over.

[jus_the_facts]

48. A friend o'mine's would whistle the Andy Griffin Theme...

[burrowowl]

49. When I lived in

France, there was a bistro that had a parrot and it would bark. My new German Shephard puppy looked around and around, then looked up at the parrot who barked again. The pup sat on her haunches tilted her head back and forth, flipped her ears around and sniffed and stared. She couldn't figure out that 'dog'.

[Mara Steele]

52. Wow, how great -

I just love your story!

Had never heard a "barking" parrot myself,until today, though!!

:hi:

[Mara Steele]

53. kicking this...

:kick:

for the amazing, barking parrot, ROBERTO...



(Not him, just his twin)