Helper Parrots, Guide Horses Face Legal Challenges

npr ^

[JoeProBono]

" Is the monkey going take the wheel?"

Perhaps

[gogogodzilla]

Google ‘Alex the African Gray Parrot’... and then come back and say that. I doubt you will.

(That is, without being a liar.)

[JoeProBono]

[redhead]

"Avast there matey ! Ye be upsetting the captain ! Belay that!"

LOL! My parrot's favorite saying is, "Oh, sh*t." Next favorite? "Catalog. Wowowowowowowow!" Followed closely by a lung-ripping human cough. Not really calming, but it is nice to have him around.

[eastforker]

You may be amazed at what birds can and do understand.Once upon a time it was thought that they only mi mick words, it is now known they can think,rationalize and solve abstract puzzles.

[Slings and Arrows]

I dunno about service parrots - they hold grudges.

[JoeProBono]

[JoeProBono]

"Parrots can’t keep secrets and monkeys are just plain creepy......."

[JoeProBono]

"In Ohio stores can post "No Gun" signs prohibiting people from carrying firearms there. Does that apply to my service chimp too?"

Hell No!

[JoeProBono]

"Do they get minimum wage? Coffee breaks? The right to unionize?"

Some take coffee breaks

[George Smiley]

Parrots can articulate words, but they haven't the faintest understanding of their meaning.

I disagree. Cpckatiels, yes.

Used to have one of those that did a perfect imitation of a 9600 baud modem handshake. Strangest think I ever heard a bird mimic.

Do some basic research on African Grey parrots as they are the most vocal of all parrots, can develop vocabularies of several hundred words and are estimated to have the intelligence of the average two year-old, if I may use the terms "intelligence" and "two year-old" in the same sentence.

My wife gave her parrot a treat (he refers to all treats as "cookie" and was trained to do so before we got him), and they weren't the kind he preferred.

He threw the treat down and said, "Cookie".

She proceeded to give him another treat, and he repeated the behavior.

When she gave him the treat for the third time, he threw it down and said, "GOOD cookie", meaning that these were not the type of treat that he wanted.

[Daffynition]

That primate isn't a service animal ... he's looking FOR service and apparently got it.

I have a service lobster ....sometimes he gets a bit unruly and it's difficult taking him out to restaurants, especially where hot tea is served and when we're seated near the kitchen.

[JoeProBono]

Know what you mean. My guide turtle panics when we pass a soup kitchen

[Daffynition]

[Titan Magroyne]

Your arned service chimp may accompany you wherever he wishes.

Sir.

[Hyzenthlay]

Yeah, the ‘panic attack monkey’ sounds a little ridiculous, but I’m cool with the ‘calming parrot’ - I casually know a couple people who are bipolar, and I’ve seen them during some bad times, and I’d happily let every bipolar person in the world carry a parrot around in a backpack if that’s what it takes for them to get through the day OK.

I don’t disagree about the thing about the monkeys, though, especially given that they have higher intelligence and longer lifespans than dogs, and that’s not to mention the whole ‘manual dexterity’ thing that dogs just don’t have to begin with.