The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog | 
 enlarge | Author: Nancy Ellis-bell
Publisher: Harmony
Category: EBooks
List Price: $23.00
Buy New: $13.80
You Save: $9.20 (40%)
Rating:  20 reviews
Sales Rank: 26114
Format: Kindle Book
Media: Kindle Edition
Edition: 1
Pages: 256
Number Of Items: 1
Dewey Decimal Number: 636.68650929
ASIN: B001CJRD7G
Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
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Product Description
The last thing Nancy Ellis-Bell expected to descend on her life was a neglected, too-tall, smart-mouthed, one-legged, blue-and-gold rescue macaw named Peg Leg. And yet, it made perfect sense. A lifelong animal lover, Nancy could never turn away a stray cat, dog, squirrel, or raccoon from her California farm. But the macaw, quickly rechristened Sarah, was a whole new challenge, as Nancy, her husband, Kerry, and their furry menagerie would find out.
Initially timid of her new surroundings, Sarah soon imposed her four-foot wingspan into the family homestead-first claiming the laundry basket, then conquering a prized dresser-and achieved complete household domination. Nancy couldn't "bird-proof" the place fast enough, and it was not long before Sarah started stealing the dogs' toys-using her enormous beak to disembowel Ben the mutt's treasured stuffed bear-and bathing her richly hued feathers in their water bowl. She also peppered Nancy's phone conversations with expletive-laden outbursts. There seemed no end to Sarah's realm, nor her destruction, and it dawned on Nancy that the entire house had slowly transformed into a birdcage.
On the other side of the coin, Sarah started to abandon her own raptor instincts when she discovered that dog food was pretty tasty and that she had a knack for "barking" (and a few other sounds that alarmed the neighbors). As they all learned to live together, Nancy marveled that Sarah had truly found a place to call home, but she sensed that there was something she could give Sarah to make her feel more complete: a chance to fly again.
Touching, eye-opening, and laugh-out-loud funny, The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog is a tender tale of two worlds colliding, two lives enriched, and two souls restored. It is also a rewarding reminder that love can come from the most unexpected places.
From the Hardcover edition.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 15 more reviews...
The Parrot who thought he was a dog. December 29, 2008
Tiger Lady (Jupiter, Fl. USA)
Book arrived in less than perfect condition.
The white cover was mudged with dirt and extra care
should have been taken in handling the product when it
has a light cover. It was purchased as a gift and
looks used.
Good marketing December 26, 2008
M. Randall (Sandy, UT USA)
I recieved this book yesterday for Christmas. My mom got it for me after seeing it in a library. I have been a bird lover from my earliest year and have as my companions a green-cheek conure for three years and a "rescue" white capped pionus for nine months. I keep both birds cliped and will never allow them any flight it is far too dangerous and they don't mind walking/climbing one bit.
Poor Sarah, Nancy did what she thought was best for her but clearly did not understand birds well, her death was a result of Nancy doing what she thought was best based on her emotions. I agree that the title and pictures are misleading, Sarah did not think she was a dog she did learn to imitate thier noises and in typical bird fashion dominated the house.
The first 100 or so pages have great stories which help the reader understand Sarah's personality followed by the account of her death because she had forgotten how to be wild and needed to be treated like a companion.
I hope those who read this book can take from it the good lessons: Birds are A LOT of work, birds have big personalities, birds can share connection with humans, birds must have boundaries.
 A boring and misleading book with an unlikable animal December 3, 2008
NYC_Babe (Brooklyn, NY USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
If you've noticed, this book has garnered a lot of negative reviews from animal lovers based on the author's poor treatment of "Sarah", the one footed gold and blue macaw that she decided to rescue. Unfortunately, because the low ratings are obviously a backlash, this might make potential customers skeptical about the objectivity of their reviews and cause them to want to read the book anyway to "see for themselves" what the hoopla is al about.
Being that this book was a just plain lousy read regardless of the controversy surrounding Sarah's fate, that's the last thing I want. So I'm going to review it from a more objective perspective on why this book merits a one star, without focusing too much on the author's decision regarding her mobility.
So here goes: I thought this was just a poor book overall, for several reasons. The first reason was that it didn't deliver what it promised. Between the title and the photographs (a macaw with a dog biscuit in its mouth/ the same macaw playing in a tug of war with a terrier), you're led to believe that this memoir was about a quirky, but remarkable parrot who indeed took on so many canine characteristics, it was more "dog" than bird.
As it turns out, this "portrait" of Sarah was nothing more than a cynical and misleading marketing ploy. Not only does the book never really delve into Sarah's personality in any real detail, she never really comes close to being the "dog thinking" parrot depicted on the cover.
So if she was none of those things, how were they able to come up with this false image of her being the opposite?
Easy: as any pet owner knows, whenever you're adding more animals to a household, great care has to be taken to introduce the new pet to the others so as not to create conflict. Ellis-Bell, in a shocking display of favoritism, takes a different approach. She simply brings the new pet home, then decides it's the job of the 2 dogs, 16 raccoons, dozen cats, and other animals to adapt to the newcomer and not the other way around. And if the newcomer creates havoc or causes them inconvenience for them, too bad.
In the case of Sarah, Ellis-Bell not only does very little to prevent conflict when the new bird arrives, she allows her to dominate the house to the point where she's literally the queen of the roost and has all the other animal's things at her disposal. The dogs get their things constantly shredded, stolen, or taken over when she feels like it. Everything is up for grabs, even the bones of the two dogs, Ben and Blanco. Naturally, this leads to tenseness between the animals at best and conflict at worse.
There's a scene later on in the book that's an example of the constant confict that comes to be the norm at the house. One of the dogs is playing with his rope and Sarah swoops in to steal it. A verbal "fight" breaks out between the two (because Sarah has learned to bark) and a tug of war happens.
Someone-- whether the author or the publisher-- took this incident (and the others where Sarah would steal the dogs' bones) and twisted it into the premise that you see in the book, that she "thinks like a dog". But this "premise" is so far removed from the truth it amazes me that someone would have the guts to run with it. Sarah learns to bark-- not because she thinks she's a dog-- but as a ploy to "fight" the dogs when they confront her. She steals their bones because Ellis-Bell has taught the parrot that it's okay to act like a spoiled child who must nab the toy his sibling is playing with. Because the dogs are "the siblings" she's in contact the most, their bones are almost always a target.
So just a warning: if you, like I did, hope to pick up this book based on the title and photographs, think again. You will be sorely disappointed, even angry. The Sarah of this book is not the "Sarah" of the title, covers, or blurbs.
Now we move on to the second reason why I thought this book was lousy. A good animal lover's book of course has to have a likable animal as its focus. The problem with this particular memoir is that because Ellis-Bell allowed Sarah to have the run of the house and basically bully and inconvenience the other animals, she comes across as an obnoxious and spoiled animal, not the tragic one-footed figure that the author paints her as. In fact, as the book progresses Sarah grows from tragic, victimized animal to victimizer and spoiled, indulged brat, causing untold emotional distress and inconvenience for the other pets. By the end of the book, you feel more dislike towards Sarah than fondness, even though you know this is more the fault of her owner than the bird herself. Naturally, when the main focus of a book is so incredibly unlikable, it makes it that much harder to enjoy.
Now the third thing that was bad about this book. I frankly thought that it was a crashing bore; the only reason why I made it past page 40 was to see what all the negative hoopla was all about. The adoption of a one footed macaw is indeed a fascinating tale to tell; unfortunately, Ellis-Bell decides to tell it with the annoying quality of a first time parent who wants to spend the next 6 hours wearing you down with minutiae about every single unremarkable thing his baby has "accomplished". Entire chapters are dedicated to Sarah's climbing achievements that couldn't be described in more mind-numbingly boring, paint-peeling details-- how she climbed up a credenza, how she climbed down railings, how she climbed up a wooden table, etc and so forth. It comes across as so much filler.
One last thing I didn't like about the book was the ridiculous anthropormorphizing of the animals. There's constant mention of Sarah, the dogs and the cats in this book "throwing each other glances", "having expressions", "walking away in disgust" and doing human gestures and attitudes they couldn't possibly have. It was such an obvious inept attempt at trying to give them character that I couldn't take the writing seriously after a point.
So that's my feelings in a nutshell. This was an altogether poor book. You may, in hearing about the outrage that Amazonians have expressed about it, be curious enough to want to read it, anyway. My advice is to spend your time more wisely. Controversy notwithstanding, it couldn't be more tedious and you might wind up feeling more angered by Sarah than endeared.
The Story of How Sarah Died November 17, 2008
M. Julien (Nashville, tn USA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
I was one of the unfortunate people that bought this book for myself and a friend before it was reviewed. The marketing of the book fooled me as well. The clever placement of a happy healthy McCaw on the cover could not have been further from the truth. This story was told by a self centered author who should not own any animals especially one as special as a McCaw. I have shared the life of a wonderful Green Wing McCaw for the past four years and I cried my eyes out over what this woman did to Sarah. I can not believe she did the things she did and then put it all into words with no hint of remorse over the TWO BIRDS she mishandled and ultimitally caused to die. NO RESPONSIBLE parrot owner lets the bird have the run of their home with no boundries. Her actions would be like buying a puppy and never housebreaking it, or a kitten without a litter box. Birds especailly McCaws are very trainable and anyone that reads this book and thinks this is what life with a McCaw would be like needs to know that this woman did everthing wrong. Her feeding the bird CHICKEN BONES is crazy and unhealthy for the bird. Not to mention letting it drink her gin and tonics. I knew after a few pages this bird was doomed if she remained with this idiot. I kept reading hoping that her friend who made a huge mistake by placing Sarah with her would take the bird away from her abusive environment. It kills me to think a bird rescue organization would let a first time bird owner take a bird with Sarah's history and expect a good out come.
McCaws are not birds that should ever be allowed to fly free unless it has been trained to fly and return immediatly to it's owner/trainer. Ms.Ellis-Bell portrays herself as if she is some great authority on what is best for Sarah but clearly ignores the warnings regarding her reckless behavior as it is pointed out by her friend and parrot owner. Ms.Ellis-Bell argues that Sarah should be a free bird and sees herself as a hero to Sarah. If she wanted Sarah to be free why didn't she return her to the amazon rain forest and see if she could find her bird family? That makes about as much sense as letting a tame pet parrot fly into the tree tops in the mountains of California. I guess if she lived next to a busy highway and her dogs wanted to run lose she wouldn't think of keeping them behind a fence for safety but would let them be free to run in traffic.
I will never understand how this woman went to bed at night knowing that Sarah was outside stuck in a tree freezing and starving. She writes as if Sarah knows she could fly down. She didn't, and if she loved that bird at all she would not have sent a stranger up there with a net to get her. She should have been out there night and day trying to get Sarah down, it was all her fault Sarah was in the tree! Ms.Ellis Bell couldn't even wait for Sarah to die before she went out and adopted another bird. Her next victim.
This book should have never been published, but it has so if Ms.Ellis-Bell
ever had any feelings for Sarah at all she should donate 100 percent of the profits to a responsible McCaw rescue group.
Finally I am very disapointed that Mark Marone would give this book a favorable review. Did he really read this book? I have to wonder how anyone could read this book and recommend it to another. To think I gave this to someone as a gift before I read it makes me very sad.
I was so p****d off after I read this book! November 7, 2008
Fifi (San Francisco, CA USA)
9 out of 10 found this review helpful
I agree with Steve S. wholeheartedly about this book. Talk about a tome to bad companion care! This amateur, this FIRST-time parrot owner, decides to let her macaw fly free! And not only that, in the wilds of rural Northern California! Fortheluvagod, PEOPLE die of exposure from time to time in Northern California, let alone a creature native to the tropics! Then she even talks about how a friend of hers lost her bird outside, so it's not like she could claim ignorance about birds being lost that way. How that poor macaw must have SUFFERED, being alone out in the rain and freezing cold for a WEEK!!
Beware, because this woman has obviously let her brain fly free, too. My one line review: "Ditzy woman neglects, tortures and kills beautiful parrot, then writes perky book about it." If you have any heart for animals at all--or writing for that matter--do NOT buy this book!!
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