# Pigeons and voice commands



## Otis7 (Sep 1, 2012)

Has anyone had luck with voice commands with pigeons? I have a blind bird, rescued feral, Lewis. I haven't had him long but I was ho
Ing to improve his quality of life by offering my words to explain where he is. He responds to his "name" (more I think he responds to my voice calling and singing his name in my high pitched pet voice), but id like for him to know certain things. I'd like for him to know when he's back in his cage for example, so he doesn't feel confused and the need to figure out where he is. I've started saying cage every time I out him back. Could this possibly work?


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## kingdizon (Jan 14, 2013)

Otis7 said:


> Has anyone had luck with voice commands with pigeons? I have a blind bird, rescued feral, Lewis. I haven't had him long but I was ho
> Ing to improve his quality of life by offering my words to explain where he is. He responds to his "name" (more I think he responds to my voice calling and singing his name in my high pitched pet voice), but id like for him to know certain things. I'd like for him to know when he's back in his cage for example, so he doesn't feel confused and the need to figure out where he is. I've started saying cage every time I out him back. Could this possibly work?


It might if the routine gets set in. Thats very nice od you to do that for him. Pigeons are in the top 15 smartest animals. Nobody really knows what a pigeon is capable of comprehending. Maybe if you have his food or something of significance in the cage, everytime you say cage you can make a lil familiar noise to what he associates with it. Maybe run your fingers on the cage or something. Keep talking to him about things, dont think its crazy to actually have a conversation with him about stuff. How your day was or ask him how his day was and tell him wheres hes at what youre doing. Stuff like that. Its appreciated by both of you, im pretty sure of it.


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## ClaireinTX (Sep 1, 2009)

Even though they seem to have a limited repertoire of vocalizations, my three seem pretty tuned in to words, one more than the others.
I used to have a dog who understood hundreds of words. The dogs I have now are much more limited, so I guess it varies from animal to animal within a species. 

Our feral rescue Rocky knows several commands and does those mostly because he feels like it, but he'll do anything for hemp seeds. He knows: left foot, right foot, circle, and clockwise. Those are just tricks he does for that specific reward, but he'll fly to his cage when I say "go home". Or he'll sit on my hand and poop on a paper-lined tray when I first take him out of his cage and say "do your business". I think he mostly does those because it gets him praise. 

When I first got him, I'd leave regular seeds in his cage. I'd feed him treat seeds several times a day from my hand and enthusiastically tell him "good boy"while he ate them. I think he may just get that good feeling of eating the yummy treats when I say "good boy" without the seeds.


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## John_D (Jan 24, 2002)

Both of our blind pigeons respond to their names. For one of them, Lily, I sometimes ensure she has a fill of water after eating by placing her in a shallow but wide container of water and saying 'drink of water' a few times. After a while she began to understand, and now she will turn a few circles then bend down have a good drink.


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## WestofSummerville (Jun 10, 2012)

I have a ruby roller, Houdini, he responds to my voice, but I have only had him for 5 weeks, I won't to teach him some tricks by vocals, but I feed him small pieces of chicken scratch


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## Otis7 (Sep 1, 2012)

All very interesting! Thank you, I'd definetly like to explore this with Lewis! His blindness might be accompanied with brain damage, so I'm not sure his learning capabilities. But I figure if he's learned me, he may be able to learn some other things as well. I'm curious what tricks and com ands people's pigeons know


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## nancybird (Jan 30, 2011)

That is very kind of you to care for this bird.


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## Otis7 (Sep 1, 2012)

I love him dearly, it's been a long road to recovery after a severe head trauma. He's a great little bird and a true fighter.


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## Jay3 (May 4, 2008)

kingdizon said:


> It might if the routine gets set in. Thats very nice od you to do that for him. Pigeons are in the top 15 smartest animals. Nobody really knows what a pigeon is capable of comprehending. Maybe if you have his food or something of significance in the cage, *everytime you say cage you can make a lil familiar noise to what he associates with it. Maybe run your fingers on the cage or something. *Keep talking to him about things, dont think its crazy to actually have a conversation with him about stuff. How your day was or ask him how his day was and tell him wheres hes at what youre doing. Stuff like that. Its appreciated by both of you, im pretty sure of it.



I think this is a good idea and would work. When he hears the sound of you running your fingers across the cage wire, he will recognize it as being home. Great idea!


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