Sioux Falls Zoologists endorse The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog for showing us the richness and depth of one bird's personality.
The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog
By Nancy Ellis-Bell
The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog (2008) - 245 pages
The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog at Amazon.com
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 to be 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 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.
Nancy Ellis-Bell is a respected literary agent, a former professor, and an author. She divides her time between her mountain home in northern California, which she shares with two parrots, three dogs, two cats, fifty-one koi, and a husband who understands and accepts her passion for animals.
The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog
By Nancy Ellis-Bell
Sioux Falls Zoologists endorse The Parrot Who Thought She Was a Dog
for showing us the richness and depth of one bird's personality.
