Published May 7, 2009
It finally happened. After years, somebody finally felt it was time to put an end to the behavior. So in came the professional, and the law got laid down. It was pretty much exactly like this:
That’s what it comes to when the bird needs to straighten up and fly right. Parrots are famously jealous, and I’d initially worried that Junior would hate DJ L’il Bit taking my time, and attack her. She deftly turned away a couple of early displays of aggression, and so Junior changed his tune: he decided he would love her more than anyone, ever. Every time that he’d see her, he’d do nothing but stare — and lean as close to her as he could. He wouldn’t eat, he wouldn’t drink, and, after 2 1/2 years together and a year cohabiting, DJ L’il Bit has never seen Junior play with a toy. It was weird, it was disruptive, and it could sometimes be loud (warning: loud!).
So the behaviorist, Deborah Stambul, came by mid-day today and laid down the law. That is, she trained me and DJ L’il Bit about how to treat the bird properly. We’ll see if we have learned our lessons well; hopefully we’ll complete our schedule of treatment and come out the other end with a fully-functional family.
Or stew. We’ll see. Either way, the dog is exhausted from having the potential of training in the house.