Internet Fraud Targets Parrot Enthusiasts

Introduction:

Experts in the animal industry are often providing information. This information may be based on hands on experience, education and usually a combination of both. The internet has offered an opportunity for those with little of either to exploit the unsuspecting parrot owning public. Those seeking to make a living off of the internet are instructed to position themselves as gurus. In many cases the self-proclaimed expert is practicing fraud by misrepresenting themselves, their knowledge and their experiences. This article will expose the various questionable practices used to sell information on the internet, how to safeguard the consumer, how to protect intellectual property and use the internet to market ethically.

How Internet Marketing Works
The internet has led to new ways of generating income. In recent years a controversial and not well-regulated type of internet based business has emerged. The classification of infopreneur is a new style of business on the internet which allows anybody with a computer and an internet connection to start businesses by publishing information. An infopreneur is generally considered an entrepreneur who makes money selling information on the internet. They use existing data and target a specific audience. The most profitable areas are usually non-fiction ‘how-to’ subject matter, where you teach or demonstrate how to do something.

There are generally two kinds of infopreneurs: those that sell information they have amassed on their own and those that earn commissions from selling information that they know nothing about. The latter may be considered more of an "information trafficker". Many of them utilize the power of the World Wide Web, creating web sites and blogs to act as their storefront.

The infopreneur may attract traffic to his/her site by manipulating their site to appear higher on search engine results. This may be done by creating a site that is robust in information, and configuring META keywords and descriptions that accurately describes the web page. But often, infopreneurs that are out to get a "quick buck", will create a mash-together of information by publishing popular, sought after content, often incorporating RSS feeds from more popular sites. The infopreneur then makes money from ads, affiliate links, referrals and leads, and/or selling eBooks that are related to the search parameters and keywords. These infopreneurs "piggy-back" on already established information. For example, there are many spam blogs (splogs) that copy verbatim the articles from other websites, which is then used to promote affiliated websites, to increase the search engine rankings of associated sites or to simply sell links/ads.1 The bottom line is to increase traffic to pages to draw in as many potential consumers as possible.

Male gang gang cockatoo being trained by the author

Expert defined
To be a successful infopreneur, it is recommended to position oneself as an expert. According to sites that teach internet business strategies people like to buy from experts, which is why top sales professionals invest substantial time and energy in positioning themselves as experts in their field.2

Positioning oneself as an expert and actually meeting the criteria of being an expert are two different things. According to the Dreyfus model of skills acquisition there are very specific criteria that must be met in order for an individual to be considered an expert in a field or at a task. The following is a summary of the five skill levels as defined by Dreyfus.

Dreyfus Model of Skills Acquisition

1. Novices
The main goal of novices is to accomplish immediate tasks. Since they have little or no previous experience, they’re usually insecure and are focused only on having their first successes. Novices need clear rules and unambiguous instructions, and to concentrate on following them strictly. As such, they commonly don’t feel responsible for anything other than correctly following what was passed to them (“I’m just following orders!”).To improve, novices usually need close monitoring to bring their actions as close as possible to achieve what is expected by adhering to the rules.

2. Advanced Beginners
Advanced beginners still operate following rules, but they’re able to apply them not only on the exact situations that they were intended for, but also on similar contexts. The once-rigid rules become more like guidelines. Advanced beginners try new things out, but still have difficulty troubleshooting problems. Just like novices, they’re still focused on completing tasks — they don’t want lengthy theorizing and don’t have much interest in the big picture. To improve, advanced beginners need to gain experience dealing with real situations, preferably in limited and controlled situations (with much of the ‘real-world complexity’ filtered out).

3. Competent
As the rules and guidelines become prohibitively complex, practitioners begin organizing and sorting them by relevance, forming conceptual models. Competent practitioners can troubleshoot problems, and will work based on deliberate planning and past experience. They are willing to make decisions and to accept responsibility for their outcomes. To improve, competent practitioners need exposure to a wide variety of typical, real-world, ‘whole’ situations. By dealing with those, they better grasp the connections between the isolated conceptual models they already use.

4. Proficient
Proficient practitioners create not only conceptual models, but a conceptual framework around their whole skill. They want the big picture, and become frustrated with oversimplified information. They’re conscious of their performance and can adjust their behaviors accordingly. They can also use and adapt others’ experiences, as well as grasp and apply maxims — which require much more sophisticated interpretation than mere rules or guidelines (as they’re much more generic and context-dependent).To advance to the fifth and last level, proficient practitioners need even more practice. And, as much as possible, they should practice without being hindered by policies or guidelines. The intuition of the expert starts with a vast pool of practical knowledge, and that can only be developed by experimenting freely.

5. Experts
The hallmark of experts is intuition: they just do what works. No explicit analysis or planning is involved. While proficient practitioners can intuitively identify problems, experts can go and intuitively solve them. They tap into their vast pool of knowledge and effortlessly identify patterns, applying solutions in context. Although experts are amazingly intuitive, they are usually rather inarticulate in explaining how they arrived at a conclusion. Although technically this is the last stage in the model, experts never cease to practice and evolve in subtle ways, incorporating rarer and exceptional cases in their knowledge pool.3

The Dreyfus model of skills acquisition is an excellent tool as it evaluates performance. Many times degrees, certification, titles, memberships to professional organizations, years in a profession and a high profile are considered elements of expert status. However there are many who meet those criteria who may not demonstrate expert skills. There are others who will use certifications, titles and organizational memberships to inappropriately exaggerate their qualifications. And there are others who carry no degrees, certification or memberships that perform at an expert level. Being an expert and being perceived as an expert involve meeting different criteria.

Perceived experts
People that qualify as experts can certainly successfully follow the formula to become an infopreneur. However what is more prevalent is the desire to make money via the internet without meeting the expert criteria. Internet marketing strategists’ advise such individuals to use the following tactics to create a perceived expert status.

Flood the internet with information
This can include massive blogging efforts, press releases, articles, Google ads, podcasts, video clips, social media postings (Facebook, twitter, etc.). To quote one site “It’s the strangest thing…but as soon as someone sees your name in print, your ‘expert’ status automatically leaps up!” Guest blogging also raises presence as a perceived expert. 4

Write an eBook
Infopreneurs are advised to compile any existing writings, such as blog posts, into an eBook and self-publish. As one site suggests “Once you’ve gone ahead and published it, you’re an author. There’s nothing quite like the title ‘author’ on your biography to hoist you up the ‘expert’ scale.”5

Call yourself an expert

"Bio" for a person who doesn't actually exist. Read on to find out who this is.

As one site suggests “People are more impressed with titles than wealth. Tell them you are the creator of this, you are the author of that, a founder of this, a director, a CEO. Reference this in you bio, in your video and in your speeches. Tell them you have perspective of the industry, challenge or problem.” 6 From another site “This might sound funny, but believe me, it is very effective. I discovered this is one of the most effective ways of being seen as an expert in your niche. Don’t just be afraid because you have no results, the results will come. If you want to be called a pro-blogger then write it boldly on your blog, in your author bio and even in your about page, this will make other people call you an expert. It is what you call yourself that others will call you.”7

Promote yourself as the most popular
Those seeking perceived expert status are told to tell their audience they have the best-selling products, most downloaded items, most viewed sites, etc.  One site goes as far to say that many beginning experts do not yet have these examples of social proof, but that it doesn’t matter. Later they will.

Partner with other experts (real or perceived)
According to internet marketers partnering with other experts gives borrowed credibility

Gather testimonials
These can be about the infopreneur and/or product.

Provide a product
Having something to sell is also said to be important to be perceived as an expert. This can include eBooks, presentations, hard goods, etc. Anything that people can purchase to acquire help or information from the perceived expert.

Creating a fan base
Operating as an infopreneur is much like being a conventional author, artist or musician. Typically the infopreneur is trying to create a fan base or following. Having copious content on the internet is an important aspect of driving search engine traffic to an infopreneurs material. Once on a site, one goal is for the infopreneur to capture contact information. This allows the infopreneur to market directly to the potential customer.

Infopreneurs use the following strategies to create massive amounts of content and drive traffic to their sites and materials:

• Blog frequently
• Pay others to blog as guest bloggers
• Pay other to blog on their sites with references back to the infopreneur
• Create eBooks
• Pay ghostwriters to make eBooks
• Post YouTube videos
• Post comments frequently on other blogs, YouTube pages, and Facebook pages
• Employ Facebook campaigns to increase “likes” for fan pages
• Use hash tags to post on trending topics
• Respond to twitter posts
• Post in yahoo and other chat groups or forums
• Request back links from other sites
• Use back links in blogs that refer to the infopreneurs material
• Use keywords in all posts that include text (blogs, tweets, YouTube text)
• Use relevant tags on any posts that include tagging
• Write blogs on trending topics with appropriate keywords
• Use affiliate programs to increase presence on other sites

For more information on how to use apply these strategies see “Marketing: Beyond the Basics” by Laurie Hess, DVM Dipl ABVP (Avian) and Bill Schroeder in the Association of Avian Veterinarians conference proceedings 2011. 8

Once a fan base is well established infopreneurs focus on continuing to build their following and marketing to their existing fans.  Email addresses are captured via marketing tactics such as signing up for a newsletter, providing address in order to receive a free digital product and/or contact forms.

Unethical Practices
Information marketing has the potential to be an excellent opportunity for credentialed professionals to deliver quality information. Recognized experts can use the strategies of providing content, building a fan base and selling products as easily as the perceived experts. However typically those with credentials are less focused on being infopreneurs and more focused on practicing their craft.  The unfortunate result is that the perceived experts are dominating the internet and public attention.  While on the surface this may appear harmless, as one digs deeper into some of the strategies employed it becomes clear that many are practicing fraud on the consumer, copyright infringement, plagiarism and endangering animals due to their lack of experience.

The following are examples of unethical practices exhibited by some infopreneurs that target the companion parrot community.

Misrepresentation of identity and/or credentials
Knowing that being perceived as an expert is a key ingredient in successful information marketing; it is no surprise that those without credentials resort to misrepresentation of skills and experience. One particular example includes the following biographical sketch on the “About” page of the site for ParrotSecrets.com.

“About 13 years ago, Nathalie Roberts discovered the world of parrots and soon swore lifelong fidelity to these beautiful creatures. Today, she is one of those rare and ardent parrot enthusiasts who took up the cause of taking care and protecting this wonderful avian species. It's difficult to believe that this lifelong relationship began as a mere accident, while on a visit to a friend. Since then, she has also become a formidable authority and renowned expert on the subject. Nathalie has successfully raised and trained a motley group of parrots over the years, organized over 210 seminars and 47 workshops in the US and outside, and authored over half a dozen books. Countless parrot-owners from around the world have benefited enormously from her massive repertoire of practical tips and home-grown techniques of parrot parenting, training and maintenance.”9

Bob Cringley, PC pioneer, wrote a blog to commend the owner of this website’s internet marketing prowess. However in doing so he also exposed an underbelly to internet marketing. Cringley says “The owner of Parrotsecrets, for one thing, doesn’t even own a parrot. That’s why the figurehead for Parrotsecrets is Nathalie Roberts (“A Parrot Lover for the Last 12 Years”). Nathalie looks like someone we can trust. Nathalie also doesn’t exist. The owner of Parrotsecrets isn’t Nathalie Roberts, isn’t even a woman, and isn’t even American. He’s Indian and lives in India.” 10 In this example a fictitious expert was created to make it possible for the infopreneur to market and sell parrot related information. The site is still active.

Another example of similar fraudulent practices involves a prominent parrot training infopreneur. This individual has several web businesses that focus on parrot training, dog training and parenting.  The infopreneur has no prior work experience or education in any of the topics for which he sells information. His qualifications are equivalent of any parrot owner, dog owner or parent. He followed the formula for positioning himself as an expert and selling information on the internet. In various signature lines he has called himself author, expert on behavior modification and learning, parrot training expert, professional dog trainer, and expert author. None of which are backed up by professional experience or credentials in the industries mentioned. When a publishing house contracts an author, it is generally considered validation and thus infers credibility. However in this example all published materials were self-published.

For two of his businesses he uses his real name. For his parenting site he has given himself a pseudonym and refers to himself with the fictitious name in videos, blog posts and articles posted to his parenting site. It is not stated why a fictitious name/persona is used for the parenting site.

The same infopreneur has also admitted to using ghostwriters and paying other known experts to write content that is meant to represent the knowledge of the infopreneur. This misrepresents the actual skills and expertise of the infopreneur.

Plagiarism and copyright infringement
Two of the most difficult to address unethical practices that have emerged with the development of the internet is plagiarism and copyright infringement. Intellectual property is routinely appropriated by information marketing practitioners. It appears the generations that have grown up with the internet rarely see it relevant to cite or reference sources. If it is on the internet, it is assumed to be fair game. Unfortunately the practice is rampant and difficult to fight. Copyright lawsuits are expensive and difficult to prove. Furthermore the consumer is easily duped into thinking plagiarized material is original to the author. There are many examples of materials being lifted for the benefit of others.

The DVD Captive Foraging by Scott Echols, DVM Dipl ABVP (Avian) was released in 2006. In November of 2008 a video that mimicked the content but claimed it as the infopreneurs original idea was posted to the internet without credit or reference to Dr. Echols.

The authors DVD Understanding Parrot Body Language was purchased by the same entrepreneur on August 9th, 2008. In January of the following year a video that contained similar content was produced and posted by the same infopreneur without reference or credit to the author.

Another of the author’s techniques was utilized in a video of a case study by the same infopreneur and presented as a new technique he had discovered without credit or reference to the author.

The same infopreneur asked to shadow another professional animal trainer to learn about free flying parrots. The animal trainer reports “We picked them up and dropped them off at the airport; let them stay in our home and all for free. While here they told us this was their first venture into free flying parrots.18 months later they have expanded their business to include selling their “expert advice” on free fight training. For $5000 they will provide personal instruction on flying parrots, including personal training with the person’s bird here in our city, at the very locations we took them.”11

Author's WebPage on Workshops

Site That Copied Content for Their Page (see yellow boxes)

Misrepresenting knowledge by using zoo video

Many infopreneur sites will embed videos of excellent parrot training from a zoo or animal park. Sometimes the videos are embedded from YouTube, which at least allows the viewer to see the source. However often they are lifted and hosted on the site selling product, which prevents the viewer for finding where the video came from. These videos are presented as examples of what the consumer’s bird can learn from their product. However the video clips are of other animal training professionals not associated with the infopreneur. This is not clear to the viewer and the clips are used without permission to sell a product.

Other infopreneurs will track the Facebook posts, tweets and videos posted by recognized professionals in the industry. They will then post similar content to their own sites as their own original piece without reference to the original post. For example the author wrote an article about training a parrot to drop an item on cue. An infopreneur shortly thereafter wrote a blog on the same topic presenting it as an original idea. Similarly a photo of a parrot bathing posted on an experts site, may prompt another marketing to post bathing parrots photos. 

Some individuals reproduce product such as workshops or presentations based on other people’s materials without reference to the original product. In some situations even the wording to describe the product is almost identical to the original source.

The unrestricted lifting of materials makes it challenging to share intellectual property to help the consumer. It is a risk credentialed professionals take whenever they put information out in the world
.
Deceptive practices
Misrepresentation of one’s credentials certainly qualifies as deceptive. However there are other practices that occur as well. One common strategy used by a prominent infopreneur is to have friends/family/employees pose as pet owners and get involved in chat groups. The post most frequently contributed by these participants is along the lines of “Have you heard of ‘Infopreneur?’ What do you think of his product? I heard it is pretty good.” To a consumer this may appear as an innocent post requesting information, when it is actually a marketing opportunity. The post just mentioned the infopreneurs name and product to a large group of people with an interest in parrots. Even if the post results in negative feedback, another person assigned to post to groups can respond with a positive comment. Either way the result is more exposure for the infopreneur.

Spam post attempt on author's YouTube page

Another strategy is to post comments on other people’s blogs. What may seem like a genuine compliment is another attempt for exposure. Many times the compliments are generic in nature and could work on any site. For example “Great post! I love the information you provide. Can’t wait to read more.” The commenter's profile will appear with a link and potentially lead to more traffic. This same strategy can also be applied to Facebook’s photos and postings. Others will create tweets that include a recognized professional’s twitter name so that the post will appear on the professionals twitter page and potentially reach thousands of followers. Rather than develop their own fan base, they take advantage of the existing following amassed by someone else’s efforts.

Another strategy employed by a prominent infopreneur is to create new names for known principles of behavior analysis or animal training techniques and claim them as a new discovery. This marketing strategy helps perpetuate the illusion of guru status. This has been applied to target training (renamed “touch training” by the infopreneur), negative reinforcement (renamed the “power pause” by the infopreneur), and intermittent schedule of reinforcement (renamed “random rewarding” by the infopreneur.)

Is there a secret book on parrot training out there?

In another example a prominent infopreneur decided to provide in a marketing video an explanation for where his parrot training knowledge was derived. Rather than from work history, hands on experience or education, he explained he had purchased a $300 book off the internet that was recommended by his veterinarian. The book was filled with all the secrets to parrot training. He explained in the video the day after he bought the book the website disappeared. When contacted privately by another professional animal trainer for the name of the book and author the infopreneur refused to answer.  It was pointed out by another professional animal trainer that the infopreneurs story bore many resemblances to the premise of a popular best-selling book called “The Secret.”

Another deceptive practice found on infopreneurs websites is the use of duplicate but slightly modified testimonials. For example a site on parakeets has a testimonial by person X about their parakeet. On a page for parrotlets, the exact same testimonial appears except the word parakeet has been replaced with parrotlet.

In another example a false testimonial was written using the name of a customer and posted to the infopreneurs site. When the customer (who had returned the product) complained, the testimonial was removed.

Other questionable practices
There are many practices to increase traffic and attention to a website and ultimately sales. Many of them can be utilized in a way that most would consider ethical and appropriate. However some infopreneurs stretch the boundaries. For example, affiliate programs allow others with a similar interest to promote and/or sell an infopreneurs product. This can work well for a group or organization who cannot afford to warehouse merchandise. Instead their website acts as a storefront and any sales via their site result in a commission for the organization. Bird clubs, rescues and veterinary hospitals are examples of businesses that can take advantage of this arrangement.

However rather than carefully select affiliate candidates some infopreneurs will accept any offer for partnership. This leads to other internet marketers with no knowledge or experience in the subject matter creating sites to generate affiliate income. These sites are filled with misinformation, fraudulent credentials and lifted material. Typically the infopreneur that allows this does not monitor the activities of the affiliate. When it was pointed out to one prominent parrot training infopreneur that his affiliates were using videos by recognized professionals on their site without permission, they claimed they have no control over their affiliate’s actions. When it was suggested they could remove the offenders from the affiliate program, they refused stating “I don’t see how they are using that content to promote us.  They just happen to have our ads on those pages.” There were no other affiliate links on the site.

Individuals focused solely on building income via the internet have also resorted to lifting email addresses from parrot chat groups to send unsolicited marketing emails. As anti-spamming regulations evolve to protect the consumer more, it is anticipated some of these practices will be stopped.

Another strategy to drive traffic to a blog or post is to use keywords that are trending or searchable on the internet. For example if a celebrity buys a parrot, an infopreneur may find ways to include the celebrity’s name and the word parrot in blog posts, Facebook posts and tweets. This can draw search engine traffic to his postings. However some infopreneurs will use the name of recognized parrot professionals as a way to pull search engine traffic away from those known experts. The post may be as simple as “I heard person X released a new DVD. I have not seen it yet” but it ties the professional’s name with the infopreneur and creates searchable content to pull in the credentialed professionals followers. It also can give a false impression that the credentialed expert and the infopreneur are colleagues.

 A common practice for the income focused infopreneur is to tell the consumer what they want to hear. This can include quick solutions, magic cures and outrageous claims. They are often presented in a way that is quite compelling to a parrot owner desperate to address a problem. Many are presented as “secret” methods, never seen before, newly discovered, etc. Some examples taken directly from prominent parrot infopreneurs materials include the following:

• You will get a 3 step formula Mrs. X (a top parrot behavior consultant) revealed to me during a private consultation that cures even the meanest parrot’s fear of you in 3 days.
• Learn our techniques and you can walk into any parrot store and have them meanest parrot begging you to pick him up and play with him.
• Learn cures for feather plucking.
• Teach your parrot to say a new word in 24 hours.
• Stop biting in under 7 days.

Protecting the Consumer
Although the way in which material is acquired and provided by some infopreneurs may be questionable, one might ask “does it matter?” if the information is sound.  Because the infopreneur is misrepresenting themselves as an expert, the information provided carries more weight than the casual post by a hobbyist or pet owner on a forum or discussion group. This is especially problematic when the perceived expert with no experience posts information that is in fact harmful to animals. Due to the infopreneurs lack of actual experience or knowledge, he is unable to evaluate or apply the information he has collected from others.

In one example a prominent infopreneur shared a strategy called “weight management” sometimes used in professional bird shows to train birds. It involves determining a weight range and corresponding amount of food that facilitates sufficient motivation for food reinforcers for training. This strategy is one that professional trainers use primarily with raptors and can be harmful if applied inappropriately. It is therefore usually carefully monitored and is used in conjunction with a variety of other science based training technology to ensure the animal is not compromised. An inexperienced infopreneur applied this to a budgerigar and reported the process on the internet. The birds weight was dropped from 42 grams to as low as 25 grams. The infopreneur reported the training weight he determined to be most effective was 27 grams.  This was a 35 - 40% weight reduction. In professional animal training a 10% weight loss is considered the maximum acceptable standard. The infopreneur freely shared this with his followers as a recommend strategy and example of successful bird training.

Example of dangerous and inappropriate use of "weight management" by inexperienced infopreneaur

Another infopreneur with very little bird training experience applied the same weight management technique to his bird. His bird is featured in his self produced instructional video on the internet in which his adult bird has reverted back to baby vocalizations in anticipation of being fed. Experienced trainers recognize this behavior as an indication of poor training strategies and inappropriate use of weight management.

Other examples include an infopreneur using a technique in which two sticks are used to harass a bird until it gives up and steps onto a stick. In the video clip the infopreneur is smiling throughout the process of the bird attempting to attack the sticks. Although unknown to the infopreneur at the time the scientific principle behind this process is called flooding. Flooding has been shown to be highly damaging to animals. When the infopreneur was informed of the problems with flooding he agreed to change his approach. However the material is still present on the internet and was later re-released in conjunction with a customer success story using the technique in marketing email blasts.

In another example the same perceived expert suggests an outdated method to address biting. He states that parrots are “bluffing” when they bite and to teach a parrot to stop biting, one should leave the hand and take the bite. Professional animal trainers routinely teach that parrot biting is clear communication from the bird. Rather than ignore aggressive behavior, it is better to avoid it and respond to the slightest response in order to teach the bird biting is not necessary.

The same infopreneur is the one who shadowed a professional free flight parrot trainer and has now offered his services to train consumers how to fly their parrots outdoors. When the infopreneur initially began marketing and promoting his free flight training he posted many video clips on the internet without warning or disclaimers. At least one known individual attempted to use the information in the video clips and lost and never recovered his parrot when it flew from his balcony during a flight training session. Most professional bird trainers concur that free flight involves risks and is best learned with an experienced mentor by your side as opposed to over the internet.

Many parrot enthusiasts are easily persuaded by the sales, marketing techniques and perceived expert status. One consumer reported “I was amazed at how stupid I was to believe all their claims in my attempt to get my bird to quit biting and screaming. The specific site mentioned by Bob Cringely is one of the sites from which I bought eBooks. I now realize that most of the things they said to do actually caused my bird to get more aggravated with me and to bite me every time I get close to him.  All I can do is try and undo everything I have done wrong and regain his trust again”

Protecting Content and Marketing Ethically
For many businesses marketing is equally as important as providing a quality product. Although there are people who use techniques others may consider unethical, those practices are not required to successfully use the internet to promote products and services. Developing a marketing plan and position statement can help business owners define parameters for marketing tactics. Business owners can decide what is considered ethical for the company and abide by those rules. This may also include not supporting other infopreneurs that do not practice those ethics.12

Providing original content is an important part of internet marketing. Content can be protected by including the name of the author, the words “copyright”, the year the content was created and a URL for the website in any text posted to the internet. This should be placed at the end of blogs, in the text that supports YouTube videos, or any other location on the internet that includes text. Crawlers will often lift text to place it on other sites for content. This will ensure the author still gets credited for the material. It is also helpful to add the word “copyright” and the URL for the creator’s website to any videos posted to the internet. Filming could also be done so that a logo or sign appears in the background that cannot be edited out.

It is also recommended to set all comments or postings to moderation for blogs, YouTube sites, chat groups and other pages. This will prevent individuals from marketing products on sites without permission. These should be monitored daily as some may slip through. On Facebook people will often “tag” someone in order for their promotion to appear on that person’s wall. Remove tags and report the posting as spam. The person can also be blocked from future postings if the problem is recurring.

It is also helpful to set up Google alerts for keywords that are relevant to your industry or business. This may include the business or expert’s name. This can alert professionals when their name is being used by another infopreneur. It will also allow professionals to see if their materials are appearing on other websites without permission.

Internet marketing can be beneficial to parrots and their caregivers when done with integrity and honest practices. Infopreneurs can be a part of the solution by demonstrating good internet marketing etiquette and supporting others who follow suit.

Conclusion
Most of the unethical examples presented come from a handful of offenders. While the number practicing fraud on the consumer is limited, their reach is broad. Their heavy emphasis on internet marketing means they have likely in some way connected with most every parrot person who has been online.  There is power in numbers, but this also works in favor of those promoting ethical practices. True animal industry professionals and experts outweigh the unethical internet salesman.  When veterinary professionals, aviculturists, bird trainers, behavior specialists, parrot welfare organizations and companion parrots enthusiasts gather their numbers to expose these hidden problems, parrot caregivers have the opportunity to make an informed decision.  By exposing the questionable practices utilized to sell information on the internet it is my hope that members of a professional community, will be better prepared to educate clients and other colleagues about resources available on the internet.

In 1982 Barbara Heidenreich secured her first job working with animals in a veterinary hospital. In 1990 after exploring various animal related professions, Barbara started her career as an animal trainer at a zoological park and has been a professional trainer ever since.  Barbara provides consulting services to zoos, nature centers and other animal facilities. She lectures regularly to the veterinary community and is an adjunct clinical instructor at Texas A & M University, Veterinary Medicine and Biological Sciences. In her career she has trained animals, trained staff, lectured and/or presented shows at over 40 facilities around the world.

Barbara also owns and operates Good Bird Inc (www.GoodBirdInc.com) that provides behavior and training products to the companion parrot and small mammal communities (www.BunnyTraining.com) These products include, books, DVDs, and animal training workshops. Barbara Heidenreich has been a featured speaker on animal training on six continents, over 20 countries and has been published in nine different languages. (For a complete list of past presentations, please view her past calendar . Barbara Heidenreich is a former president of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators (www.IAATE.org) and served on the Board of Directors from 1997-2009.



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11.    Liberty Wings. A Word about Information Resources. http://www.libertywings.com/2009/information/birdtricksters-com/ Accessed March, 20, 2012.
12.    Good Bird Inc. Internet Marketing Position Statement. http://www.goodbirdinc.com/about-internetmarketing.html. Accessed March 20, 2012.



Additional Reading

http://avianambassadors.com/BirdTraining/bird-tricks-to-avoid/
http://avianambassadors.com/BirdTraining/a-blog-follow-up/
http://avianambassadors.com/BirdTraining/the-real-secrets-of-training-success-and-where-to-find-them/
http://avianambassadors.com/BirdTraining/14/
http://carlylusflightblog.com/2008/06/new-training-review-scam/
http://carlylusflightblog.com/2008/05/dont-be-bird-tricked/
http://carlylusflightblog.com/2008/12/how-not-to-tame-a-bird/
http://goodbirdinc.blogspot.com/2008/04/parrot-training-marketing-secrets.html http://animaleducationfoundation.wordpress.com/2009/05/09/bird-tricks-training-and-teaching-will-the-real-experts-please-stand-up/
http://bestinflock.wordpress.com/2008/12/08/guest-post-by-sid-price/

Article copyright Barbara Heidenreich 2012
www.GoodBirdInc.com

Quick Training Tips: Using Foraging to Get Good Behavior

Play Kaytee's New Foraging Game! Click Here.

Foraging is often looked at as a fun way to provide enrichment for your parrot. I am all about parrots having fun, but I am also very interested in teaching my parrots to be well behaved. Believe it or not, foraging activities can also be used to help influence your parrot’s behavior for the better. Here are four situations in which foraging activities can be used to help create desired behavior and prevent undesired behavior.

Tip #1 Use foraging to make going back into a cage or enclosure reinforcing:
If you parrot enjoys your company, going back into the cage can be a difficult behavior. Some parrots view spending time with preferred people as highly desirable. To address this, the goal is to make sure fun things happen inside the cage as well as outside. Giving copious amounts of attention inside the cage is usually not realistic. This means we have to offer something else as reinforcement. Foraging toys or activities that are delivered right when your parrot goes back in the cage are a great way to increase the value of going home. This time consuming activity also helps keep your bird focused on foraging instead of wondering where his favorite person went.

Tip#2 Use foraging to teach your parrot to enjoy spending time on a play stand:
Many companion parrot owners want their birds to spend time on play stands. Play stands are often positioned to ensure lots of socialization and enrichment. However play stands can quickly lose their appeal for parrots when everything (view, toys, diet, etc.) stays the same. Providing foraging activities can make a play stand interesting again. The novelty of having to search and extract food items from foraging toys can increase the likelihood your parrot will choose to spend more time on the play stand rather than roaming around the house. Mix up where food is placed and how your bird will access it regularly to keep play stands more engaging.

Tip #3 Use foraging to prevent your parrot from vocalizing for attention:
Many parrots learn to vocalize loudly when a preferred person leaves the room. A great way to prevent this is to engage your bird in other acceptable activities prior to leaving the room. This is a great time to offer foraging toys and activities. When your bird is eagerly foraging, you can slip out of the room and let your bird enjoy searching for his favorite foods.

Tip #4 Use foraging as an alternative to feather damaging behavior:
Feather damaging behavior is a challenge for many parrot owners. If your bird has this problem be sure to visit a veterinarian with experience with this condition to get an accurate diagnosis and treatment plan. In the meantime you can work on redirecting your bird’s behavior from feather picking to foraging. If you know there are certain times when your bird is prone to pick, plan on providing foraging activities just before that time. For example some birds seem to pick early in the morning. For these birds, foraging toys can be placed in the cage just as your bird is going to roost for the night. When the sun rises your bird may choose to engage with the foraging activities rather than destroy feathers.

Foraging is more than fun for your parrot.  It is a great tool for managing behavior. Get creative with ways you can use foraging to influence your bird’s behavior. The end result is a well behaved companion parrot.

Barbara Heidenreich has been a professional animal trainer since 1990. Her company Good Bird Inc (www.GoodBirdInc.com) provides parrot training DVDs, books and workshops. She has been a featured speaker in eighteen countries and has been published in nine languages. Barbara also consults on animal training in zoos. 


Copyright 2013 Barbara Heidenreich 
Good Bird Inc

Help! My Parrot Wont Step Up!

It has been reiterated for years in the companion parrot literature…your parrot must obey the step up command! Obey and command. For me these words carry strong implications. I visualize a parrot with no desire to step up onto the hand being forced to comply. This usually involves maneuvers such as a hand pushing into a bird’s chest, quickly scooping a bird onto the hand, or peeling toes off of a perch. For a positive reinforcement trainer such as myself this is very unpleasant to picture. Why one might ask? Certainly the mentioned strategies can create the desired resulting behavior of a bird on the hand. However the process of training through force involves strategies that rely on aversive experiences. Pushing a hand into a bird’s chest, scooping or peeling toes are uncomfortable experiences for a parrot, no matter how minimal the aversive is.

Fallout from Force
There can be serious repercussions with lasting effects from using aversives to gain cooperation. One of the most common results is a parrot that learns to bite in response to the presence of a hand. The important word in that sentence is “learns”. Parrots are not hatched with an inherent aggressive response to hands. This behavior is learned through repeated exposure to unpleasant interactions involving hands. Often as a last resort, a parrot bites in an effort to deter the persistent pushy hand. Should the bite produce the desired results; the bird can learn in that one encounter that biting works! And it will be likely to use it next time a hand invades its space.

This is not to say one should ignore a bite to dissuade the aggressive behavior. A more trust building approach is to heed the parrot’s body language prior to biting. Typically a parrot will present other body language that indicates discomfort well before a bite is landed. By carefully observing body language and making adjustments so that the bird appears as comfortable as possible, a sensitive avian caregiver is more likely to gain cooperation without aggressive behavior.

The same can be said for fear responses. Many likely have met a parrot who will step onto an arm, or shoulder, but will do everything in its power to avoid a hand. Again it would be an odd adaptation for a parrot to come into this world with an innate fear of hands. More realistic is the explanation that the bird’s experience with hands taught it to display fear responses.

 

Positive Reinforcement Offers Hopes
Unfortunately it can be challenging to retrain a parrot to step up onto a hand for positive reinforcement after it has learned aggressive behavior (and/or fear responses) towards hands. But the good news is it can be done. This is particularly important to note as so many birds are often given up, left with little or no attention, or suffer fates worse than that due to being labeled a biter or no fun, through no fault of their own. It is always a sad moment for me to encounter a parrot that has learned aggressive behavior. It is sad mainly because it never had to be if the people in its life had been given the opportunity to learn about positive reinforcement.

Having worked in free flighted educational bird programs for years it was quite a shock when I first discovered the thousands of parrots that had fear responses or showed aggressive behavior towards hands in the companion parrot community. This observation lead me to conclude that the difference is information. The community training flighted parrots for shows has been raised on a positive reinforcement approach to training. Flighted parrots can easily choose to leave should a trainer resort to negative reinforcement to force a bird to step up onto the hand.  Therefore negative reinforcement and its drawbacks are usually not a part of the training strategy.

The companion parrot community, on the other hand, has traditionally been fed advice that heavily promotes the use of negative reinforcement. This in turn has lead to a plethora of troubled birds. This means an important opportunity lays waiting for companion parrot caregivers. With positive reinforcement training finally making its way to many avian caregivers, parrots and their owners now have hope. No longer do parrots have to obey, instead they can learn stepping up results in desired consequences. They can learn to look forward to stepping up!

Positive Reinforcement Vs Negative Reinforcement
Change can be difficult. And those accustomed to using negative reinforcement to create behavior often present solid evidence as to why there is no need to consider other strategies. These arguments include the statement that negative reinforcement works! This is true. Negative reinforcement does work. However effectiveness is not always the measure one needs to consider as a conscientious caregiver. The reason is that the process of learning through negative reinforcement is not a pleasant one. Negative reinforcement is also sometimes called escape or harassment training. The animal complies to avoid the aversive experience. Not exactly a trust building process. In addition negative reinforcement training strategies create a bare minimum required response. Animals only do what is necessary to avoid the aversive experience.

There is also the misconception that negative reinforcement will create faster more reliable responses. While results can be immediate, it should be noted that quick, efficient, reliable, repeatable responses can also be attained with positive reinforcement.

Some argue that in an emergency the bird must step up quickly. In a true emergency, such as the house is on fire, it is understood that one may do whatever is required to ensure his or her parrot is safe. However sometimes the lines get fuzzy on what constitutes an emergency. Being late for work is not an emergency enough for this trainer to abandon her positive reinforcement training strategies. In the long run I will get more reliable performance of the behavior if I take the time to commit to using positive reinforcement even when it is slightly inconvenient to me. In my experience there is no real justification for the use of negative reinforcement for the behavior of step up in most cases.

Tips on Training Step Up with Positive Reinforcement
A key component of training with positive reinforcement is giving the bird choice. Rather than forcing oneself on the parrot, the goal is to teach the parrot choosing to come to the caregiver results in desired consequences. These consequences can be food treats, head scratches, toys, attention, etc.  Identify what the bird likes and use this to reinforce approximations towards the desired goal behavior of stepping up onto the hand.

An easy way to teach a parrot to move in a desired direction is to train the bird to orient its beak towards a target. The target can be any chosen object. The target can then be gradually positioned closer and closer to the hand identified for the step up behavior. The identified hand should remain stationary and in a position that facilitates an easy step onto the hand for the bird. The goal is not to move the hand towards the bird, but for the bird to voluntarily move to the hand by following the target.

A bird that has had an unpleasant history with hands may show signs of apprehension or aggressive behavior as it ventures closer to the hand. Reinforce generously the frightened bird that dares to move in closer. If the parrot shows aggressive behavior, gently remove the hand as well as any positive reinforcers being made available to the bird for just a few seconds. This not only demonstrates to the bird that its body language was understood and acknowledged, but it also removes the opportunity to gain positive reinforcers. When this strategy is paired with reinforcement of the desired behavior, the bird can quickly learn to increase calm behavior and decrease aggressive behavior without the use of training strategies that rely on aversives.

Eventually the parrot can learn to voluntarily step up onto the hand to earn positive reinforcers. While the bird is learning to step up, the targeting behavior can be used to help direct the parrot where to go if needed for basic husbandry duties. This helps avoid caregivers resorting back to negative reinforcement training strategies to move birds during the re-training process.

Conclusion
A positive reinforcement approach embraces giving animals choices to participate. Caregivers can try to make it easy for parrots to choose to present the desired behavior, such as step up, followed by ample rewards. The result is a companion parrot that eagerly anticipates interacting with its caregivers. One of the joys of sharing ones life with a companion parrot is the relationship that can be forged between the caregiver and the bird. Positive reinforcement fosters trust and that incredibly rewarding relationship. If there is one thing you change in your handling strategy, make it this. Move over step up command….. here comes the step up request.

Copyright 2007© Good Bird Inc.To learn more about products and services to help you train your parrot visit www.GoodBirdInc.com

Barbara Heidenreich has been a professional in the field of animal training since 1990. She is the President of Good Bird Inc (www.GoodBirdInc.com), a company that provides parrot behavior and training products to the companion parrot community. These products include Good Bird Magazine, books, videos, and parrot training workshops. Barbara Heidenreich has been a featured speaker on animal training on six continents and has been published in nine different languages. Barbara Heidenreich is a former president of the International Association of Avian Trainers and Educators and served on the Board of Directors from 1997-2009. She is a behavior and training consultant for KAYTEE and SuperPet.

Barbara also consults on animal training in zoos, nature centers and other animal related facilities. She has been a part of the development and production of more than 15 different free flight education programs and has worked with over 40 different animal facilities. In her career she has trained animals, trained staff, and/or presented shows at facilities around the world.

The Parrots and People Advancing Avian Medicine

My 26 + year old Amazon, Tarah

It can be devastating to lose a beloved pet. Because parrots can live so many years it can be particularly difficult. I often joke that my relationship with my Blue Fronted Amazon Parrot, Tarah is the longest in my life. I have lived with that bird since 1987! And yes I would be crushed if anything were to happen to him…I mean, her. (I am still adjusting to the confirmation that my “boy” is truly a girl.)

It is for this reason I do what I can to provide a healthy life for my parrot. But there are some things we need to know more about in order to protect our birds. This is why the research done in regard to avian medicine is so important.

I am fortunate to live close to a university that is well known for its groundbreaking work in avian medicine, Texas A & M University. The Schubot Exotic BirdHealth Center is a division of the veterinary teaching hospital that is devoted to the advancement of avian care. Their mission is to improve the health of wild and exotic birds by promoting research into the cause, diagnosis, treatment and prevention of avian disease.

One area of interest currently on the edge of a major breakthrough is Proventricular Dilatation Disease (PDD).  There have been major strides in accurately diagnosing the disease and there is the hope for the development of a vaccine in the near future. Researchers at The Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center are a significant part of this important work.

Over the years a number of birds that carry PDD have eventually made their way to The Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center. They are well cared for by students and veterinarians at the University. I have been fortunate to spend time with these birds and their caregivers. The birds have participated in training workshops and were also the stars of an excellent project by veterinary student Kelsey Daugette. She trained several of the birds to be voluntary participants in medical care.  

The Schubot birds enjoying a toy from Dot Rambin

Making sure these birds have a good quality of life is important to everyone.  Parrot enthusiast Dot Rambin helps contribute to this by making, donating and shipping toys to the center. She uses Café Press to help raise money to do this. My yellow naped Amazon Delbert has agreed to allow his image to be used on her Café Press items to help get more toys for the Schubot birds.

If you want to help Dot, be sure to visit her Café Press page and buy a few items. Here are the links.

Greeting Card http://www.cafepress.com/drambin/9690203

She was the kind of person that keeps a parrot http://www.cafepress.com/drambin/9683689

My parrot can talk. Can your honor student fly? http://www.cafepress.com/drambin/9702790

Pets http://www.cafepress.com/drambin/8573121

To learn more about the research on PDD at The Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center, listen to my interview with Dr. Sharman Hoppes on the Wings ‘n Things podcast. Visit Pet Life Radio and look for Episode 36. And visit the website for The Schubot Exotic Bird Health Center.

Barbara Heidenreich
Copyright 2013
www.GoodBirdInc.com 

My Top Three Animal Training Moments 2012

Animal training is always a thrill. There is a special moment that happens when an animal understands what you are trying to communicate. I swear there is an adrenaline rush associated with it for the trainer. And I often wonder if it's the same for the animal? A part of me thinks it is because you often see a little change in the reaction from the animal. It's like they realize they have solved the puzzle! As you can imagine it can be quite difficult to pick out just three special training moments in a year full of animal training. But here goes! Here are my top three…… and a runner-up.

1.    Sirocco the Kakapo: It would be hard for any animal training I've done to compete with the experience of working was Sirocco the kakapo. There are many factors that contribute to this. First the training addressed a very serious behavior problem. One that had in fact put Sirocco in danger. There is a great satisfaction knowing the training has helped ensure his well-being. Also rewarding was seeing how the rangers were successfully applying positive reinforcement training with Sirocco while he was on display. One ranger described it as “being introduced to Sirocco's brain.” I liked that. They definitely have a greater understanding of how to work with this very special parrot. And of course playing a small role in the conservation of these amazing parrots was the icing on the cake for me.

2.    Elephant Training at The Santa Barbara Zoo: One of my regular gigs is consulting with the Santa Barbara zoo on animal training. We do often work with the elephants, but during my last visit we encountered a very difficult training challenge. Susie an Asian elephant had already been trained to wave a eucalyptus leaf with her trunk. The problem was whenever the trainers tried to switch the leaf for a different object Susie would eat the new object! We tried a few good different strategies, all of which failed. We really had to put on our thinking caps to solve this problem. We decided to start with reinforcing for giving up the eucalyptus leaf when cued. We did fast repetitions of this. Next we paired the leaf with another similar object, such as a piece of bark or twig. And repeated the process. After more fast repetitions we slipped the leaf out of the equation. Success! Susie gave up the bark instead of eating it. We repeated the pairing of the leaf with several different objects and practiced phasing out the leaf. We then just started offering her novel objects, and as we had hoped she did the behavior instead of eating the new objects. Although the behavior doesn't seem very difficult, it really was for this particular elephant. It was a huge accomplishment and a big thrill for all the trainers involved when Susie chose to give up an object rather than eat it. I was even jumping up and down I was so excited over our success! Those are moments when trainers get that rush I described!

3.    Training my Macaw to Paint: My macaw Blu Lu certainly isn't the first animal to paint. But she may be the first parrot to paint pictures of other parrots. And she is the first parrot I've trained to paint. This was another behavior that was not as easy to train as one might think. Getting a parrot to pick up a brush is no problem. Training the bird to strategically place that brush on a piece of canvas is a lot more difficult. Once again I had to think strategically to determine the approximations I was going to use. I don't want to give away too much because detailed instructions will be in the next issue of Good Bird Magazine, but in a nutshell I used a variation of a retrieve to get this behavior. The best part is that all of Blu Lu’s paintings were raffled off to raise money to save parrots in the wild. When all was said and done about $4000 was raised and donated to blue-throated macaw conservation project the Bird Endowment.

Runner Up: Training Veterinarians to Train Rabbits: I teach parrot training workshops all the time. I usually know what to expect when we bring a group of 20 parrots into the room and have people try to train them. Some will work, some will be too nervous, some won't be motivated to eat until later in the day, and some will be simply fantastic.  Each parrot offers us a learning opportunity and in most cases we get some behavior out of just about everyone.  This year I repeated the process with 20 rabbits. Just like the parrots, the rabbits came from a rescue. These rabbits had never participated in a rabbit training workshop before, so there was no way to predict how they would react to a new environment, new people and the training. We were all pleasantly surprised when almost every single rabbit eagerly participated. Not only did they participate, they all learned several behaviors throughout the day. Best of all the veterinarians got to practice using positive reinforcement to teach rabbits to cooperate in their own medical care. I am thrilled that so many veterinarians are on board with incorporating training into their day-to-day practice. It is the wave of the future!

Here are my top 3 non animal training related moments of 2012:

1. Meeting Bruce Springsteen……. He really is nice!
2. Singing “Ramble On” with Robert Plant and 200 other lucky fans at my favorite music venue.
3. Spending an evening of laughter with the wonderful John Ellis before he unexpectedly left this world too soon.

A new year starts in just a few hours. I hope you will add some animal training experiences to your year in 2013. Teaching your parrot to target, turnaround or maybe even step up can really bring joy into your life and your parrot’s life when you train with positive reinforcement. Indeed it will be a very Happy New Year!

Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com