[nagdu] . Guide - service parrot.

[Jewel S.]

I could never see a parrot doing effective guide work. I agree, that's
just rather stupid. For guide work, a parrot is about as practical as
(sorry guys) a toy poodle or chihuahua.

But for other purposes, a parrot can do some amazing work, especially
working with a deaf person, or for pressing buttons, flipping
switches, and the like. A parrot can even draw curtains or open/close
blinds. For a paraplegic, I imagine that would be a welcome action for
a service animal.

On 7/27/10, Ed Meskys <edmeskys at roadrunner.com> wrote:
> I had never taken seriously the use of parrots, but this is interesting. I
> am surprised at what they have been trained to do. In the science fiction
> world I had seen some serious discussion of the high intelligence of gray
> parrots.
>
> Soon after I lost my sight, some 35 years ago, a friend had sent me a
> newspaper clipping about a Hollywood animal trainer trying to teach a parrot
> to guide a blind person. It was held in a special cage by the walker and
> would communicate by ringing a bell or otherwise communicating with the
> bearer. The whole concept had struck me as stupid. A guide dog has to walk
> andavoid barriers, steps, etc, and is less likely to lose focus and forget
> to warn the user. The parrot is just sitting there and has no incentive to
> notify the bearer of steps, obstacles, etc. And that is assuming that the
> parrot could be trained to respond to al possible obstacles, which I
> doubted.
>
> Ed Meskys
>
>
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-- 
~Jewel
Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com