Tips of How to Teach Pet Birds to Repeat Nice Things

Birds make great pets especially if they can be taught to say a few words although just because a feathered friend can repeat something they've learned should not be a reason to share a home with one. With this said, birds are very entertaining characters when they start to speak or sing, although they can be the cause of a bit of embarrassment if they've been taught a few “naughty” things to say which are best avoided.

First rule of sharing a home with a bird that likes to repeat things they hear, is to be extremely careful what you say around them or you may find that one day, your lovely feathered companion repeats a few choice words which leaves you red faced. A lot of birds are fast learners, which is particularly true of African Greys to name but one of the more exotic birds which have become popular pets. However, firm favourites among the feathered fraternity are budgies and with good reason because they are a real joy to have around. When it comes to being talkative, these little characters like nothing better than to chatter away to themselves and their owners!

Teaching a Feathered Friend to Say Nice Things

Budgies are very good at repeating lots of things which includes quite a few phrases. With a little patience and time you can teach these little birds to say all sorts of things, but it’s far better by far to start off with simpler things like “hello” or “hiya”. As they get more confident and really find their voice, you can progress to more complicated things for them to repeat always remembering that a nice tasty treat goes a long way when teaching a bird to talk.

Teach Your Pet to Ask for a Treat

Because our feathered friends learn things so quickly, using treats to teach them to repeat things you say helps speed up the process. Teaching them to ask for a favourite treat is a great way of starting their “speech” training and it makes it more fun both for you and your feathered friend. Most birds really appreciate a really tasty treat which includes things like the following:

• Grapes
• Apples
• Bananas

Every time you give your bird a piece of apple, you need to say the word “apple” to them and pretty soon they will start to repeat what they hear before you give them their treat. Your pet will then ask you to give them a favourite goodie whatever it happens to be. You'll soon discover which treat they like best because it will be the one they ask for the most or the word they find easiest to say!

Most birds love to take a sand bath and you can even teach them to ask you when they feel the need to clean their feathers. When the weather is hot, birds like to get themselves wet too which is a great time to teach them to say things like “get wet” so you know when they’d like to take the plunge. Birds are highly intelligent creatures and some species boast incredibly long life spans which means over time they can learn to repeat all sorts of things which includes many sound effects like the following:

• Mobile phone rings
• Car alarms
• Telephones
• Doorbells
• Sounds they hear on the television or radio

Tips on teaching birds to repeat things

It's really important to pronounce words very clearly remembering there are certain consonants that birds just can't say because unlike humans, our feathered friends don't have lips! With this said, it's often what makes them more endearing especially when they attempt to repeat words that start with “b” or “m” . However, there are other sounds to avoid when teaching birds to repeat things which include the following:

• Words with hissing sounds – birds find this sort of noise quite threatening
• Words that contain any “shh” sound in them – again this is one sound that often frightens them

With this said, there are certain phrases which you think might be fun to teach your bird, but further down the line you wished you hadn't because it gets to sound a little too dated. Although it can be funny to teach a bird to repeat a few swear words, there are times when they might say things at inappropriate times which is something you need to bear in mind if there are children around. Birds with “potty” mouths are fine in some situations but maybe not in the home

Conclusion

Sharing a home with a feathered friend can be very entertaining especially if they learn to repeat certain fun but not rude phrases. Birds are highly intelligent characters and they are very quick to learn new things, it’s what makes training them such an enjoyable process even though it may take a bit of time. However, you need to be careful what you say around pet birds because they might just repeat something you wish they hadn’t heard because it’s too embarrassing!