Screaching, sqalking, biting and smothering

[Big_Squishy]

It has been a few months sinceI was able to get on here and post. My family just finished going through a nasty child custody battle. I am happy to say I now have sole custody of my son. SO life is better by the day.

 

No here is where the problems are. BoBo our CAG will be one year on Feb 2nd. We have already discovered that he has take to me and really does not like Amanda (my wife) BTW we got married 22 Dec 2008 For the past 3 months she has been BoBo's primart carrer and I have been hands free 95% of the time. BoBo is not very happy about this and has been showing it.

 

His vocabulary has not increased much although he has made some serious atempt to say hello, Fragmanted speach saying BoBo Pretty Bird , just BoBo ( several diferent tones and volumes) and Good BoBo.

 

The past 2 weeks BoBo has been squalking or honking like an african goose. He will also make some very shrill screaching sounds that will go on for hours if not either put in his cage or if I not Amanda give him attention. Belive me I know to give in would only be counter productive and is the last resort. I am not sure what else to do to change this. I do make more preferable sounds to try to get him to change the noise but it only works for the time I am interacting.

 

Second problem, BoBo has been biting me, seems he think he can get away with it. I do the earth quake when he trys while sitting on my arm, howeve when it is time for bed and I request a step up he will show a defencive stance and try to bite or move around his perch to avoid my reach. He will also jump and try to fly the other direction. I have no fear of being bitten I just do not want this to become a habit. I do not want my family to see him as the nasty mean old bird.

 

Last but not least when ever I have BoBo sitting on the chair behind me, (I have a gamer chair and will rub and scratch his neck while I play) He is happy to get the attention but wants to be right up under my chin and very close. Now normally I would take this as a good sign with the exception that ifI do not continously give him attention he will bite. At such time I will get up and put him in his cage and I put the sheet over it.

 

I amm looking into a behaviorist and going to some companion parrot classes taught by an Pat Malloy Ref:

 

Pat Mulloy, RVT, Avian/Exotic Nursing Team Leader

Pat (Patricia) Mulloy was born in South Dakota. Her early years were spent on a farm/ranch. Animals have always been a major part of her life including years spent riding horses. She graduated from high school in Pierre, South Dakota, and attended college at the University of South Dakota. Her family located to San Diego County in 1967. She has worked as a secretary, bookkeeper, administrative assistant, police dispatcher, and operated a day-care center. She has worked for the Navy, the Air Force and Boeing Aircraft Corp to name a few. Since animals have always been a passion for her she went back to school. In 1991 she graduated from San Diego Mesa College's Animal Health Technology Program. She passed her California State Boards and is a Registered Veterinary Technician.

 

She started with Acacia as a Mesa student in 1990 and has never left. Over the next 16 years she developed her love for and knowledge of birds. Since 1996 she has been the Avian/Exotic Nursing Team Leader. Pat has developed Acacia's Avian Behavior Program. She conducts regular behavior classes. She is also available for private behavior consultations. Her latest addition to the behavior program is the Acacia Avian Social Circle – a safe place for clients to socialize with other bird owners and for their birds to socialize with each other!

 

Pat belongs to the San Diego County Veterinary Medical Assn., California Veterinary Medical Assn., and Association of Avian Veterinarians. She is on the Advisory Committee for the Animal Health Technology Program at Mesa College. She served on CVMA's State RVT Committee for 6 years. She has lectured at the Wild West Veterinary Conference in Reno, at the Association of Avian Veterinarians Conference 2 different years, at the North American Veterinary Conference in Orlando and to local clubs and organizations. She teaches the avian anesthetic class at Mesa's RVT Program. She frequently participates in career days at local schools.

 

She shares her home with her pets Misty, a red-lored amazon, Jake, a blue-fronted amazon, Whitey Cat, a 18 year old domestic shorthair, Toby a 7 year old akita-border collie mix. In addition she is "nanny" to a geriatric Chow Chow named Fu Fu, 3 Hyacinth Macaws (Huli, Sapphire & Nino) 2 Blue & Gold Macaws (Maggie and Quickdraw), a Scarlet Macaw (Ruby) another red-lored amazon (Petey), and an African Grey parrot (Bird Brain). Things at her place can get quite noisy! Only the strong of heart and ears visit!!

 

In her spare time (what little she has) Pat teaches skin care with Mary Kay Cosmetics, volunteers at her church and spends time with her nieces shopping and going to movies. She loves old movies (especially comedies and old musicals), music (especially jazz!) and theater.

 

I know these kinds of classes can be expencive but is well worth it for our BoBo. However, with the $10k lawyer bill this extra expense could be very hard to swallow.

 

I have been searching the forums and have found alot of information that we have already put into practice. Maybe I am not being as patient as I thought but this kind of behavior needs to be curbed and re directed.

 

I do not normally do this but my cell phone number but I am open to calls that might help. It is not like I can't change my number. Plan on doing it here in a month or so anyways. So here it is 619-315-3596 We are on pacific standard time.

 

Very Respectfully,

 

Big_Squishy

AKA. JC

[LisaM]

Hi JC -

 

First and foremost - congrats on winning your custody battle! I have a few friends going through some nasty ones and it amazes me the hassle to go through and particularly for a father trying for sole custody.

 

Second...congrats on your recent wedding! (Congrats to Amanda, too!)

 

Now onto parrot issues:

 

1) I took a course, online actually, called Living and Learning with Parrots (http://www.behaviorworks.org/) and found it extremely helpful. It was all about reinforcing behaviors that you want and extinguishing those that you don't. (Now, I can't say that I have practiced it very well because I still have issues also, but not too bad). I did learn how I was unintentionally rewarding some behaviors that I didn't mean to! The class was free with a recommended small donation to The Gabriel Foundation. I don't know what the focus of the course is that you're going to take, but I hope it is as helpful as mine was. The teacher sounds like she has a lot of experience with a variety of parrots.

 

2) Bummer for Amanda. I don't think there's much you can do if you're the "chosen one". My Kenya will always choose to be with me if she can, but has gotten to the point where she will tolerate my husband but for shorter periods of time and she won't let him skritch her.

 

3) Screaming/squawking - maybe he recently heard a goose and thought it was cool? (Like your son picking up something from a friend at school). What I have found helpful is to try to identify what is triggering the scream and prevent it from starting in the first place. For my Max (male ekkie), it was that he was left in his cage too long after we got home without acknowledgement of his existence, and whenever I was cooking and didn't give him any. I found that if we just call out to the birds when we get home and whistle or something that keeps them quieter for awhile (they talk/whistle, and make other noises but not the loud obnoxious ones). I also keep fresh sprouted seeds/beans and will take them out of their cages and put them on their playstands before I start to make dinner. Then I give them some sprouts and maybe a bit of toast with peanut butter or applesauce or baby food on it. It almost always allows me to cook in relative peace. When we sit down to eat I'll usually drop a bit of veggie or something from what we're eating in their dish also. Every once in awhile I'll hold them or play with them first but I don't want to get into the routine so that if I don't do that they go nuts again. Just a few ideas.

 

4) I wouldn't worry about the talking. At only one, he's starting out just fine!

 

5) Biting...that's one I haven't had to deal with personally so hopefully someone else will come along with something better on this one. One thing that may help is holding a pot-holder or washcloth or something in your hand to get his attention on something else while you say "step up" and put your other hand in front of him. He may be distracted by the object and keep his focus on it vs. biting you. I read about this before and it seemed to work pretty well. As for biting while "cuddling"...if I stop skritching Kenya and she tries to give me a little peck (she's never bitten me hard), I'll immediately put her back in her cage...end of skritch time). The consequence is removed somewhat from the behavior (you're still giving the immediate attention of picking them up which may be rewarding somewhat in and of itself), but it has seemed to work. I also don't want her to start thinking that if she wants to go to her cage then all she has to do it bite me. Every time I put her in her cage I say "wanna go to bed" and now she'll say that when she wants to go there.

 

 

6) Patience. Things always seem to take longer than we'd hope or think they would. I think your little one might be coming out of "baby" stage and trying to push the boundaries and limits a bit. The best thing I can say is to be VERY consistent. Don't let him get away with something one day but not the next, etc. If it's bed time, keep at it and don't give him any chance to think that he can eek a few more minutes out of it by goofing around (my son does that also...maybe yours does too!).

 

You're definitely right about trying to resolve this as soon as possible so it doesn't become a bad habit!

 

It will be interesting to hear what others have to say on these issues...

 

Keep posting on what you're trying and the results you're seeing. It might take some trial & error.

 

One more thought...did anything change just before the screaming started (cage location, furniture, windows open/closed, new birdfeeder outside, new picture on the wall, new plant, etc.???

 

Yikes - I'm as long-winded as you! :silly: :blush:

 

Lisa

[Jane08]

From reading your post this really seems like our female and what we have been through with her, she turned one in Nov. It started with the screaming (for attention from my boyfriend), which we ignored (yes I know it is hard and I was in tears from frustration listening to her scream). Everytime she did a nice noise we praised her and praised her. When she screamed some times I would just leave the room and wait around the corner until I heard a nice whistle and rush aorund the corner and tell her how good she is. So after about 3-4 months of doing this she stopped the screaming and now talks and whistles instead. Yes it was months of hell and patience and consistentcy, but better that than years of screaming.

 

The biting started with me as she is bonded to my boyfriend. I swear it has taken me the whole year to make friends with her. One word sums up how I did it, bribery, bribery, bribery. Everyday I would hand feed her treats and then I started to train her to step up using the treats. I swear this worked so well. So now she steps up for me most of the time. If she is stubborn and doesn't want to (usually when going into the cage) I ask her to step up on the stick, because there is no way I am putting my hand there and getting a bite. As soon as she is in the cage I tell her what a good girl she is and give her a massive treat. Now she expects it and goes in the cage and waits at the door for her treat...so cute. She is now an angel for me at going back in the cage in the mornings, which before was a nightmare (to the point where I wouldn't let them out in the morning because I couldn't get her in).

 

She has now started with the biting my boyfriend when she is on him and we are going through this now. He puts her back on her perch as soon as she bites and goes into another room and closes the door. She also likes to sit on his chest at night right up in his face and sometimes can bite him. He removes her straight away and places her on her perch. I think she is now learning that she gets no attention for biting and is ignored instead.

 

I have now started to train both of them most days and I have noticed an improvement in both of our greys. We started with the clicker/target training which they love (our male has learnt to hop up on the scales so we can weight him). So this might be an option to start some training with him.

[Big_Squishy]

Thank you for the sugestions! Where do I get information on this clicker training? Is it costly?

[Carolyn]

Hi JC

 

If you google "clicker training parrots" you will come up with alot of different information on clicker training, I am still going through it all myself.

Check it out and see if this is for you - I have in the pasted clicker trained a dog and it worked out very well, right now I am not to sure about a bird I am going to continue reading.

 

Carolyn & Mika

[Jane08]

For clicker training you only need the clicker which doesn't cost much, you can use a dog clicker. We have taught our female to fetch and bring back a ring, our male to hop on the scales. I know this sounds like it has nothing to do with the problems that we have with our greys, but for some funny reason it really does help with these problems.

 

I am not sure if it is the fact that we are giving them structure so they know exactly how things should be done, or challenging and stimulating them as they are so intelligent and really need a challenge. When I train I watch our female and I can see her little brain working and she is so focused on getting that treat and trying to work out what I want from her to get the treat. When she does the right thing I click and give the treat and I see her eyes light up like ah ha.

[Lyric]

They do go through different phases in their development and it takes lots of patience, consistancy and love to get through some of these issues.

I have found that the distraction technique works well for me with picking up a bird that likes to bite and also for getting them back into their cage. Take something novel for instance your coffee cup. Let the bird look at and touch the item and while they are distracted by it do the step up- then while they are still looking at it and touching it whisk them away and into the cage. Sometimes they never know what happened. Remember our birds are very intelligent but also like 2-3 year old children- they are easily fooled if you know what you are doing. I hope this might help you a little in dealing with your BoBo. As far as the screaming goes, it can be hard to deal with but the best thing is really just to ignore the behavior. Any kind of acknowledgement or reaction from you will only reinforce it and make it worse. Please know that things will get better with time!