Baby CAG with bad attitude

[Ozzy]

My baby is 8 mos old and very smart. He began talking at 4 months old. He has quite a large vocabulary for his age. But, lately, he has picked up this incredibly loud scream that is enough to shatter glass! :ohmy: I've tried to ignore it and I've tried telling him no :naughty: Neither work. I have tried to talk softly to him and whisper to him "shhh quiet" which he now repeats back to me. But it hasn't stopped him from the screaming. I even have to admit that I yelled at him once or twice to get his attention. Of course, that hasn't worked, and I should know better. :blush: Does anyone have any good suggestions for me. I'd really like to get this thing under control before he drives me insane! I am at the end of my rope and have tried everything that I know and all the "expert" suggestions, but I am not getting anywhere. Please, please if anyone has some advice - we are open to hearing what has worked for you. Also, he has developed somewhat of an attitude. He doesn't like to cooperate much anymore and even nips a bit, which he has never done before. I don't know if this stuff is all related, but I just thought I'd throw that out there too. I am home all day with him and my other two birds, so it isn't like he is asking for attention. I couldn't possibly give him any more than that. The only time he's caged is for sleeping and for a couple hours in the afternoon so I can get some errands run. I hope this information helps all of you to help us. Thanks in advance.

[danmcq]

Hello Ozzy,

 

The screaming will only go away by ignoring the behaviour and it will take time. They really do not take punishment at all. But, you could try associating the Screaming with being placed in the cage. If you Cage your Grey everytime it goes into a scream fest, it will certainly come to the conclusion rather quickly that scream = put me in the cage. :-)

 

On the nipping. At 8 months old he is realizing that he is an individual, has a brain and wants to decide at times IF he wants to step up, be scratched, held, moved etc. This is a normal growing process. If their is no reason for example to make him step up or move. Then just honor his wish to remain and acknowledge his freedom to actually make choices. This will build the relationship to the next level.

 

You just need to "Make" him step up when he is doing something unacceptable, like flying to the top of the refrigerator and shredding mail. You must consistently go, give the command to step up and force him to everytime.

 

He will quickly understand there are boundaries and also that you will not demand a step-up unless he has gone out of bounds.

 

I hope this helps. :-)

[busere]

The cage thing worked very well with Rio; however…one problem with this plane is…Now when it’s 7:30pm (Birdie Bed Time), the ear piercing screams start-up. The other night my wife and I were off by only one minute….SCREAM!!! It’s turned into, “I want to goto my cage NOW!” So I would suggest the long road of ignoring the behavior. It’s hard, but sometimes it needs to be done that way. It’s kinda like crate training a puppy, its real painful listening to the crying and whimpering for about the first two weeks, but the rewards in the end are awesome.

 

Rodney B)<br><br>Post edited by: busere, at: 2008/07/10 20:55

[Mel]

Just a side note: I have heard that some parrots do not like change. That perhaps moving furniture or their cage may upset them. When my macaw screamed while in the cage I would cover her up. Sometimes she was more demanding for attention then time allowed. She would always say nite-nite but I kept telling her time out. I definitely never attended her with food or anything during screams.