| By :
Azmi Adnan
A talking parrot makes a wonderful pet. If you intend on purchasing a parrot and teach it to talk, it is best to do with a parrot that is about 2 months old. It is during the infancy stage that a parrot bonds well with its master. The requirement on your part is just patience. Like human babies, exposing baby parrots to words will instill in them an interest in talking. When exposed to words, baby parrots tend to recognize them fast even though they may not be ready to talk yet. But with your patience, they will be able to mimic words at the age of 4 months old. Between 4 months to a year a parrot picks up words fast. It is during this time that you can really mould you bird into a talking parrot. They are most receptive before they are 1 year old. Beyond that, it may take a longer time to learn new words. So use this 1 year period to teach as many words as you can and discipline your bird to listen to your command. However, if you pick an older bird that has very little socializing with humans, you may end up with a parrot that may refuse to learn to talk at all. But that should not be a deterrent in keeping parrots if your desire is to keep parrots as pets. A parrot that talks is just a plus factor. Male parrots are better talkers than female parrots, and more receptive too. However, it is almost impossible to tell the sexes of parrots apart before you purchase one. You may need to see a vet to determine that as a surgical procedure or a blood test is often required. The best time to teach your parrot to talk is early in the morning or late in the evening. In the wild, birds are more active during these times and are at their noisiest as they gather to eat and squeak at each other. Take advantage of this natural phenomenon to entice your parrot to talk and utter new words. As with training other animals, positive reinforcement by giving a reward works best. Identify your parrot's favorite food and use it as a reward for getting the right word. When this is practiced continuously, your parrot will look forward to such training sessions and respond positively. Switch off the TV, radio and try to remove all sound distractions such as wind-chimes and sounds from other pets in the house. Take charge of the situation and let the bird know that you are in command. Speak the word in a loud and clear voice and give a reasonable amount of pause before you repeat the word again. Use facial expressions or hand gestures to give more meaning to the word. Parrots that you see dancing on youtube videos is the result of their owners using action with words. Learning the first word is usually the hardest. It gets easier over time until the parrot reaches an age when it just stops learning and you will know that the window learning period has closed. But again, it doesn't mean that your parrot will not learn talking at all, as different parrots adapt differently. Teaching a parrot to talk is lots of fun, especially when the parrot has built a vocabulary of words that are funny and cheeky. A talking parrot is always the life of the party and it also makes a great companion too as it has a very long lifespan.
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