# Cockatiel talk training tapes????



## lovinbirdies (Jan 30, 2009)

Has anyone used a cd to teach their cockatiel to talk? I bought one today at Petsmart that is made to teach tiels to talk, and I want to know if these cds work before I open it and try it out. I understand that males are the ones who talk, and since I know that Hedwig is a boy I would love for him to be able to talk to me ... he already whistles a whole bunch. Actually he has even imitated a doves coo a couple of times.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Frankly they usually bore birds making them less likely to want to say the words. It's better to talk to you tiels and watch their reactions. If they seems interested (and you can tell) then repeat what you said with a little more excitement.


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## r2pn23 (Dec 25, 2008)

I dont think you really need one.
Ive had BJ just over 2 weeks and he is already starting to say 2 different words and put them together (his name and what you doing) oh and he picked up the kisses sound that i make to him as well

If they want to mimick a word they've heard said to them they will, and if they dont want to i dont think playing it to them over and over on a recording would convince them otherwise,lol

talk to Hedgwig as much as you can and repeat words that you _want_ him to pick up, talking in a cutesy but clear baby voice will help them want to try and say it. also try not to say anything around him that you _dont_ want him to learn. a bird that i no longer have knew how to say cheeky boy, and use to sometimes say George boy, one day i heard him say very clearly _stupid_ boy. it broke my heart and i tried really hard to make him unlearn that one!
it wasnt the fact that anyone had CALLED him that, it was that he knew to say boy already with other words and picked up the word stupid alone then decided to put them together.


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## lovinbirdies (Jan 30, 2009)

*Thank you ....*

I took the cd back .... I listened to it myself, and it would have ended up driving me crazy if I had to listen to that over and over. I decided I don't really care if Hedwig talks or not as long as he's happy. I know that he likes to whistle so maybe we'll work on some different tunes for him to learn instead. Sometimes he even mimics the doves coos ... it's kinda cute, but also kinda obnoxious. Anyways thanks for the advice.


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## Avalon_Princess (Feb 13, 2008)

Is there someone yor bird particularly reacts to? Echo my tiel adores my Dad, so when we're teaching a new phrase we get dad to say it clearly and record it, then set it on a loop near Echo's cage for a few hours, he'll be saying it within a week.


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## lovinbirdies (Jan 30, 2009)

That's a pretty clever idea ... I have never though about that. Thanks.


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## Terri Peters (Dec 24, 2008)

I love going to Youtube and type in cockatiel in the search. Holly will listen to other cockatiels for as long as I'm willing to play another video. She hasn't picked up anything new by doing that but a vocal male might.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

Anything you play for a bird if it's one phrase repeated shouldn't be done for hours. You run into the same problem of boring your bird. 15 mins in the morning and 15 minutes in the evening is plenty. But watch to see if your bird seems interested in it. If not shut it off.


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## Aly (Jul 30, 2007)

You don't really need one. A former friend send her copy over to me and we tried using it but it didn't do much. Ziggy still learned much easier from daily repetition with my voice.


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## sweetrsue (Jul 8, 2008)

I agree with Aly. Direct contact is always best.


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