Establishing who is the parent...

[bluedawg]

I got a 6 month old CAG about a year ago. She was in a very loud pet store situation where she was in an open cage to interact with customers. I am sure it seams like it could be a good idea but I can see where inexperienced customers interacting with the birds can lead to problems. My girl came to me afraid to be touched and already a biter. Not terrible but she had learned how to protect herself.

 

I bought all of the Good Bird Inc. CDs and we have done a pretty good job I think of establishing trust. She allows my to scratch her head when she wants a scratch...at first this was out of the question. Of course there is room for improvement. I would like to be able to get a harness on her to take her outside but we are not there yet.

 

I allowed her wings to grow in and she is now a good flyer and able to get to where she wants to go in the house - this is very important to her... to be able to fly.

 

As we go about our daily lives now a problem is emerging and I see that where I have done a good job of establishing trust I have not done a good job of establishing who is the leader or the parent. She has perches and play areas throughout the house... wherever I hang out she has a spot. But she mostly wants to be right under my nose doing what I am doing. I work from home on the computer so she's like to be disassembling my keyboard while I am working. Every two minutes I am removing her from the top of my head or my shoulder where she quickly swings down in front to get to my desk where all the activity is.

 

She bites when I am not doing what she wants, like when I put her down, if she does not want to get down she holds my hand with one foot and bites it in protest before she lets go. This is why I think maybe she doesn't fully appreciate who is in charge. She basically has me trained very well. Since I don't know how to discipline her without breaching trust - she never really gets disciplined.

 

How do I keep her happy and establish myself as the parent - I don't want to have to put her in her cage in order to get work done... She is in there now calling me. it's heart breaking.

[danmcq]

Good to see you post again. At a year and a half old, she is testing her boundaries and also exercising her right to do what she wishes to do. This will become worse as she enters her terrible twos most likely. All greys are a flock creature and behave as such. Your not a parent in the human sense. You are an adult flock member and you must "Correct" her when she is on you such as your head where she should never be (in my opinion) and you have no control over her whatsoever there other than to swoosh her away with a swipe of your hand.

 

Her biting is telling you she does not respect your request to move at all. When she bites like that, the best thing you could do is cage her for a 5 minute timeout immediately while telling her "No Bite!". After a year and a half of not having her behavior addressed. She has basically been trained that her behavior is fine if I understand your post on how you have interacted with her up to this point. It is going to take consistency in your respond to the specific behaviors you wish to address and stop. It will take a hundred times perhaps, but you must be consistent in your feedback. Greys in the wild are "Corrected" in the wild by both their parents and flock members when they act in an inappropriate way. Positive reinforcement is great and works most the time, but not always.

 

You will find a ton of help here on this forum if you keep posting regularly and describing the cause and affect as this goes on as you endeavor to get her to start behaving the way you wish. There are many members here that will be more than happy to give ideas and help.

[bluedawg]

Thank you for your response! I shouldn't say she hasn't had any discipline... In the beginning when she would reach down and bite my hand I would right away put her down on the ground... Not drop her but in a controlled manner say "No Bite" and put her on the ground where she hates to be. She then looks right up at me with her foot raised to be picked back up. This has been very effective. I think you hit the nail on the head with consistency - It is not always convenient to put her down on the ground and I wasn't sure how effective just saying "No Bite" is. I am not a big fan of making her cage into a punishment area - maybe there's some more ideas out there???

[danmcq]

If putting her down works, then that is sufficient correction and just ignore her immediate request for a step-up. The cage was suggested because those of us with flighted birds have no control over them just flying right back to where you removed them from or to bite again if they happen to be a little upset over the correction you just made. Consistency is definitely a must.

 

I have no doubt others will pipe in here once they log in and see this thread you started.

[bluedawg]

She is flighted now so just goes to show it's been a while since I used the "putting her down on the ground" bit. These days you are right she would probably just fly back to her perch. But still what she really wants is to be near me so it might still be effective. I don't think the harsh "No Bite" works alone because she has bitten me pretty hard before and I have said "No Bite! and left my hand there only to be nailed again while she looks me right in the eye as if to say "Are we learning yet"?

 

P.S. Is that your bird in your signature? I chose the name Dayo as well It means "Joy arrives" I thought it was appropriate.

[danmcq]

After you say "No Bite!", don't leave your hand there for another. That would just end up making the statement have no significance at all other than "Go ahead, make my day and do it again". So that loo of hers is "Cool, I like this game!"

 

When Dayo bites me, I tell him sharply "No Bite" and many times just walk away and ignore him. He cannot stand being ignored or separated from us. He still bites occasionally, but most the time it is my fault because I see it coming and ignore it because I do need the step up right then. So I take the bite and get the step-up anyway and he has learned over the years that when I do that it is not a negotiating session.

 

Yes, that is Dayo in my Signature. We named him that after visiting him at the breeder starting from 6 weeks old onward. At around 10 weeks old is when he had chosen us and we gave him that name because "Joy has Arrived" and it has never left. Accept those moments in time he is a BRAT!!!