biting, step up,

[rayyan]

hi,

 

does anyone know how i can stop george biting? hes not scared, its more aggressive behaviour. he wont step up and i want to know how to get him to do it without him biting. also he doesnt accept anything as a reward so i dont know how to prase hime except for with my voice which has limited effect.

 

hes also been making a raspy noise often but i dont think its thru his nose its a vocal noise, does anyone know what this means or if their grey does it to, he does it all the time.

 

thanks

[Dave007]

Greys make all sorts of sounds. So many are strange to us but if you're in an area where they can constantly be heard as I am, you'd see what I'm talking about and most have nothing to do with human words. I personally believe that's what's happening but it's just my opinion.

 

You can begin by locating a spare perch or training stick which you can teach the bird to step up onto If the parrot is tame, you can begin training with the perch. In the case of a tame parrot, it is better to perform training while the parrot is away from its cage. My suggestion is to find a room that's enclosed and can't escape by flying away. I also believe that the stepping up routine should start with the bird being on the fl;oor. This method is for training a bird that is not comfortable stepping onto a human hand.

 

Begin by getting the parrot’s attention, bring him to that quiet training room and let the parrot see the training stick while you speak the command “step up”, “up” or whatever words you wish to use to mean the action you are teaching. If the parrot moves toward the stick, even a single step, provide a reward and lots of verbal praises. Repeat this process through the first training session. Any movement toward the stick, or in the case where the parrot tries to back away, even learning to not move away, should be rewarded.

 

The next day, again get the training stick and rewards. Allow the parrot to see that you have these items. Talk in a soothing, calm voice to the parrot to let it know you are not going to hurt it in any way. Again, be sure the parrot knows you have the reward and the training stick. On this second day, as you speak the command, the parrot should have to come a bit further toward the stick in order to get the reward. Once it has made progress toward the stick, only reward behavior that is as good as or better than past behavior. Do not provide rewards for doing less than it has done before. Parrots are smart and it will not take long for the parrot to get the idea!

 

Each day, request the parrot to do a bit more in the parrot training session than the day before. If it took one step toward the stick yesterday, reward it today for taking two steps toward the training stick. Or, if it came near the stick yesterday, then today it should be rewarded only for lifting a foot toward the stick or stepping onto it.

 

After some days of regular training using food rewards as well as verbal praise, the parrot will move closer and closer to the stick, eventually stepping onto the stick. When the bird takes to the stick, hold him there and talk to him for a while and put him back on the floor After that goal is reached in the parrot’s training, you can begin shortening the distance from your hand to the end of the stick, eventually getting the parrot to step onto a very short stick. Soon after, the parrot will be stepping directly only your hand!

 

If you are performing parrot training with a tame bird, this whole process may take as little as two or three days but will take longer if the bird is extremely frightened of you. However, continue to reinforce the training until it is ingrained in the parrot’s mind that each time you give the command, it should perform the behavior. After the parrot learns the behavior, verbal praise is all that is required. Continue to provide food treats during training for a new manners command. You’ll be so proud of your parrot when it becomes well trained.

The stick should be about 10 inches long , about 3/4 inch thick.

Patience is the trick It does take timeEventually walk around with the bird on the perch. When he eventually accepts your hand, do the same thing. No sudden jerky movements. Talk in a soothing voice. Let him see those treats.

Again, this is just one method that has worked for me when working with skittish, nervous birds who in general are tame. If a bird is untame, many other things have to be done before any hand training can start. Hope this helps.

[rayyan]

Ok thanks but he always likes to stay on his cage or the sofa, is it ok to do this from here? Also he will step up onto a pearch but then flys off, what can I do then ? Shud I just start again? Also he sometimes let's me sctrach his head but sometimes bites me, shud I leave him alone and accept he's not a scratchy bird or is there something I can do to b able to pet him?

[Dave007]

Well, that's really up to you. You can start working with him in any area you like but if he's gonna simply fly off, then my suggestion is to work with him in an area where even though he'll fly off, he'll be in an area where he can't fly far away. If that were to happen it's basically you chasing him. That's why I suggested an enclosed room.

There aren't too many methods to stop a bird from flying away. I used this method on 1 grey that was semi-tame. First I had to train him to stop being aggressive. That grey belongs to a friend of mine and the bird was older than yours and had bad habits ( biting)and he didn't know how to cope with the bird. The other grey which is mine was tame and 4 yrs old and completely bald. He never knew how to fly cause he had no feathers to fly with so the first thing was to get the feathers back and then teach stepping up, general handling, lessening his fear.

The last bird was my Timneh who was 9 yrs old at the time--probably the worst of all of them. He knew how to fly, was never perch trained or hand trained. His only purpose in life was to attack the owners including their baby. It took over a year to change his attitude and accept my wife and I. Many, many, many serious bites there. All of them were trained in a quiet room away from other people and familiar areas.

As far as your bird nipping at you, I'd bet there's loads of people that went through this after getting a bird who started to develop it's own attitude. It's part of owning a young parrot. The scratching and then biting is a common thing they do.

 

""""Shud I just start again?""""

 

The whole process is repeating the training over and over and over but a young bird gets the message faster than an adult bird but it still takes time. Obviously, he steps up and immediately flies away all around familiar areas. That's why I suggest a place that he can fly in but can't go anywhere.

Young birds are easy to train but you need to know that they are stubborn and will try to get away from anything that bothers them such as training.

PS--all this training has to be done with rewards ( treats) even if you think they shouldn't have those types of treats. It's not as bad as you think and you can't hurt your bird by giving him these types of treats.

[rayyan]

hi thanks for that!

 

i have just been playing with george and he shakes hands (which he always does) just now i gave him my hand to shake and he held my hand and i kept i there to see how much he wanted to bite me, he just kind of mouthed me and thats it, i did i several times and he just mouthed not bit!

[rayyan]

hi again, just wanted to add something! When he mouths my hand, if he does it a bit to hard and I say "no bite" or he thinks he's done it to hard he puts his head down in the scratch position straight away, why is this?

[Dave007]

It's hard to answer to what his routine is but if he's starting to hurt you with that mouthing, you shouldn't let him do it anymore. Biting starts with mouthing. Some birds stay at the mouthing stage but many more to to the next step--biting

 

If you're absolutely sure he's doing it so that you'll scratch him--fine.

 

PS--if you're bird is mouthing you too hard and you say no bite, you're referring to the mouthing and not the biting so you gotta make up your mind when you wanna use that phrase. The bird doesn't know the difference between mouthing and biting hard. Some birds bite to get petted and some others mouthe to get petted.

 

Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/25 03:19<br><br>Post edited by: Dave007, at: 2009/04/25 03:28

[rayyan]

I don't think he wants a head scratch, he looks more like he knows he did something wrong.

[tthopp05]

I also thank you,I can use all the training advise I can get as I am new to birds.