One of my favorite things about The Pet Shop was the talking birds. Aunt Vera had parakeets, cockatiels, canaries, parrots and a wonderful talking mynah bird. The mynah bird was “Baby Snooks.”

My favorite thing about Baby Snooks was one thing he would say. My aunt delights in recounting and laughing about the mynah bird. When a customer would look at the bird, it would say, “Buy a dog!” Aunt Vera also rescued a talking parrot at one point. The parrot had been in the home of someone who had colorful, blue language. She retrained the bird to have words and sentences that were more appropriate in a business.

May 1959 Aunt Vera with bird cages and Great Dane “Tish”

In the picture that shows a young man holding a parrot you can see Baby Snooks in his cage in the lower right side of the picture. In the picture above Aunt Vera is posing with her favorite rescue dog, a Great Dane named Tish. She was before her time in rescuing and rehabilitating abused animals. She also desired to sell animals only to those who would take good care of them. Some birds were very costly. This picture is a sign that was in the parrot area. Remember that this was taken when $175 or $150 was a huge amount to pay for a bird. Of course, these birds would live a long time too.

The Pet Shop Tropical Bird Price List
An unidentified Pet Shop employee with a tropical bird – Perhaps a blue and yellow macaw