Blind owner seeks help

[Odin]

A lady reached out to me for help with her bird. A tiel named Spyro. This lady is a friend of my cousin, they live on the other side of the country.
The lady is blind, and wants help with taming her tiel. Apperently he bites and is very aggresive, no doubt because as she said "I cannot see his body cues"
I would love to point this lady and my cousin the right direction. Anyone in BC, Canada know where I can send them? Or who to send them to?
The lady also has a budgie which was tamed, and she can handle that one.
Thank you in advance.

 

[Birdbabe]

Bump!

 

[Percy&Ivan]

Bump

 

[Animallover03]

 

[Odin]

Anyone?

 

[JLcribber]

Not a clue. Taming has everything to do with observation, body language and sutle clues. How one is going to do that when they can't see is beyond me.

 

[macawpower58]

I have no idea of the area or who is close.

Hopefully there is a club or sanctuary, or even a generous (with their time) AA member there, that would be willing to spend some time with her to help her and her bird connect.

Sight is definitely a help, but nothing is impossible with time and patience.

I've seen things done by people with handicaps, that make me believe she can do this if she believes in herself and her bird.

 

[Brigidt36]

Hoping someone can point you in the right direction. I do believe anything is possible and hope someone can help.

 

[Odin]

I agree, thank you

 

[JLcribber]

She is going to need a mentor who knows about blindness intimately as well as someone who has animal training skills. Specifically birds. A very rare combination.

She may be better off having someone else foster the bird for a while and do the Taming.

 

[JLcribber]

Just wondering?

How would this bird ever be allowed to fly outside of its cage? If it got out she would have no way of locating it to get it back in the cage? Even a well trained bird has a mind if it's own and doesn't always listen.

 

[MommyBird]

I'm not much help but I do think it's possible.
training does rely some on our response to a parrot's body language but positive reinforcement is based on the parrot doing an action in order to get something it wants.
I think he could be trained to do some things - for example...to chirp on cue so she could tell where he is, or do do a recall flight. These would both be handy.

Or who to send them to?

I'd contact Heidenreich (Good Birds) or Lara Joseph (Animal Behavior Center). They are people who are up for challenges.