[nagdu] . Guide - service parrot.

[Pickrell, Rebecca M (TASC)]

The thing I find interesting about this discussion is that it is "me
centric". Some of you are bummed that cats are no longer service
animals. Some feel the same about parrots and some about horses. Nothing
wrong with any of this, though I do wonder if 100 years ago, people knew
a dog could be housebroken and I think there is evidence to suggest that
a dog guiding a person used to be considered downright silly. 

-----Original Message-----
From: nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nagdu-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Jewel S.
Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2010 12:41 PM
To: NAGDU Mailing List,the National Association of Guide Dog Users
Subject: Re: [nagdu] . Guide - service parrot.

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

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