Frostie the Dancing Cockatoo

A little while back a sulphur-crested cockatoo was a viral sensation when a video of him dancing to the Backstreet Boys began to circulate on the Internet (his YouTube vid has almost 2 million views!).

Well, someone pointed out a new video of a bare-eyed cockatoo shaking his tail feathers, and let me tell you Snowball the Dancing Cockatoo has got nothing on Frostie.

Check out Frostie’s moves:

(If you can’t see the video, click here)

Don’t Shoot the Dog: Book Review

I’ve probably mentioned that I recently read Don’t Shoot the Dog by Karen Pryor, a book that popularized clicker training among pet owners in the United States, and which spawned a whole industry — including clicker training books like Clicker Training for Birds by Melinda Johnson, which talks specifically about how to train parrots.

Since I just reviewed that clicker training book on this site, I decided to post my book review of Don’t Shoot the Dog to PetKnows.com, where I thought the topic could appeal to a broader (read: non-bird) audience.

But if you already own Clicker Training for Birds and want to get a broader understanding of the clicker training philosophy or just want to know what inspired Melinda Johnson’s how-to guide for birds, please check out my latest post on PetKnows: Don’t Shoot the Dog – Book Review.

(Or, if you trust my judgment implicitly and don’t want to bother reading the review first just go straight to Amazon.com to pick up your own copy of Karen Pryor’s book.)

African Grey Sings National Anthem at Puppy Bowl

Pepper the African Grey is a representative for Phoenix Landing, my favorite parrot adoption agency – and this weekend she rose to stardom singing for a national audience. This precocious parrot sang The Star Spangled Banner to open Puppy Bowl V.

Check out Pepper showing off her pipes at the Puppy Bowl:

And then join the Phoenix Landing Facebook page to show your support for Pepper and her Phoenix Landing friends.