HOW TO TRAIN YOUR PARROT (Chapter Two)

Chapter Two: Behavior Problems And How To Fix Them

Before you begin panicking about your bird’s behavior problems, there are a
few things that you will want to try first.

Quick fixes to try first:
These are super quick fixes that don’t require much, if any, training.

1.  Diet is key.

  Get your bird onto a better , more varied, diet.  This will help
his mood and aggression.

2.  Sleep is vital

.  Make sure that your bird gets 10-12 hours of sleep during the
night.  This must be uninterrupted sleep in a dark room.  This especially helps
during the spring and summertime because it curbs the seasonal mating issues
that often arise.
     

3.  Control your reaction

.  When your bird becomes sexually mature, he will
automatically will start exhibiting some bad behavior.  Don’t allow your bird’s
behavior to alter yours. 
     
For example, if your bird is feeling particularly hormonal and decides that he
doesn’t want to step up or to have you pet his head.  He may lunge at you and
look like he’s going to bite.  Instinctively you retract your hand and change your
mind about interacting with him. 

Normal behavior for you too, but it causes a problem.  You’re training your bird
to think that anytime he doesn’t feel like interacting, he can lunge or bite and
his problems are solved.  Unfortunately, this can escalate.

Instead, if your bird bites you or shows aggression, stand your ground.

For example, if the bite doesn’t hurt you can push your hand into the
bite.  My macaw is a big faker and will lunge and scream but if you just
keep your fingers there he’ll wrap his beak around your fingers and
then back down.  He just wanted to scare you.  

4.  Always make sure your interaction ends on a good note. 

When your bird lunges for your hand, you can turn the back of
your hand so your bird can only bite the back of your hand.
This throws him off and he may end up only bumping into it.
He may nip but it won’t hurt very much. 

5.  Don’t antagonize him

The goal is to not react in any manner that gives your bird what he wants.
Now, once he’s realized that heisn’t going to bite you, you can gently touch him
somewhere you feelsafe like his foot or the top of his head.  This enables you to leave the
situation on a good note.  You don’t want him to feel like he can get
away with bad behavior.

Here’s a real life example of what I’m talking about.  My cockatiel 
didn’t want to get out of the cage with my hand.  He wanted to get out
on his own.  I realized that I needed to establish a new rule – you don’t
get out of the cage unless I take you out of the cage. 

So I make him be nice. 

I make him step up and then I’ll take him out immediately and place him on
the top of his cage.  I make him make the decision to get out of the cage. 

This type of behavior generally happens once your bird is beginning to turn
mean.  If he doesn’t step up, then you can simply shut the door and he doesn’t
get to come out.  Go back five minutes later and repeat the process.  You may
have to repeat this 20 times, before he decides that he’s ready to come out on
your terms—this is where your patience comes in handy.

Generally, most birds will eventually figure out that they get to come out if
they step onto your finger. 

With a bird that doesn’t like to come out of his cage to interact with you, you
have to keep the deal by only taking him out of the cage.  No further interaction
is required.Don’t hold him,don’t bathhim,don’t wrap him in a towel.

All of those interactions may be why he didn’t want to come out on your finger
in the first place.Your only goal here is to get him to learn that if he wants out of his cage, he
has to come out onyour finger – nicely.

One last example,Tiko my blu and gold macaw never really took to my wife.He wasn’t
raised properly or socialized. The problem arose when Tiko began to be jealous. I would
hug her and he would scream and become aggressive.

We were able to eliminate this screaming behavior in about 30 minutes.
Know how we did it?

When he screamed, we hugged longer.  The second he stopped or said
something nice, we backed off.  We rewarded him positively for stopping the behavior.

The bird doesn’t set the rules! If you let him, he will run your house. Not too much fun.

6.Read Your Bird’s Body Language.

To no tget bitten, you need to be able to read body language.You need to be able to recognize
why your bird is pissed. Many people have trouble figuring this out, my parents
included. For example,their Tikko didn’t like women for some reason and whenever a woman
would come into the house, he would stand at the top of his cage with his wings spread wide
and he would act as big and dominating as he could. To make matters worse, if a woman walked
too close to him, he would scream.

Body language cues couldn’t have been more apparent or obvious however, they simply thought
that he was showing off. He wasn’t showing off, he was being EXTREMELY aggressive.
He was demonstrating his unhappiness that the person was in their space.

I share this story only to demonstrate how easy it is to misread your bird’s physical cues.
Recognizing body language isn’t an easy thing to do so here’s a cue - anything your bird does
before he bites you…that’s aggressive body language.


Here are some more things that you can look for to identify possible aggressivebehavior:

• Your bird can have a rapid pinning of the eyes
• He can show a fanning of his tail feathers
• He can even have a trancelike look, or sway back and forth.  
• The feathers on his head may pop up or they may stay down.

It’s
 different for every single bird. You can tell by the feathers on their heads,
their wings, their chest feathers and so on.  Pay attention to your bird’s body
language.

Once  you learn to recognize your bird’s body language you can determine youractions.  Sometimes, the answer is that you simply don’t touch your bird.  Respect the body language. My Cockatiel doesn’t like to be touched. We still have some rules, but I respect his space and he respects my rules.

My Macaw, who generally loves to be petted, will gently grab my finger and move it away when he doesn’t want tobe petted. Listen to what your bird wants, respect, and do not antagonize.

You don’t want to be the parrot owner that doesn’t know when to stop. We’ve all met those kinds
of people. They just don’t get it that you want them to be quiet and leave.

Don’t be that person to your bird.

7.  Be aware of how your bird’s environment affects his behavior.  Sometimes

very unexpected and strange things can set off your bird to behave badly. I have customers that have
had some interesting occurrences and they’re common enough to take note of.

For example, there have been birds that respond unfavorably to particular
colors.  I’ve known parrots to throw fits when they see a red sweater or a
hat.   New furniture has even thrown some birds for a total loop.

If your bird begins exhibiting unusual or unfavorable behaviors, you need
to think back and determine what has possibly changed in his environment.
New people, new pets, new cage location, just about anything can be a
trigger.

Even rooms can make a difference.  I really notice a change when I take
my bird Magoo out of my office.  He likes to be in my office and he’s calm
but on the weekends when I bring him into the main room – boy does he
like that better. 

Pay attention to your bird’s environment.  He will like some rooms and
locations better than others.  Experiment with location to find the best
situation for your bird.

Now that you know how to properly care for your bird and you have eliminated any of the quick
fixes, it’s time to get into some training.