hand training

[Silver]

Hi,

 

i am new here and could use some advice. Silver is around 4 now. I don't know much about his life until 2 years ago. I know that the woman who owned him developed an allergy to him (I guess his powder) and gave him to an aquaintance, where he stayed for a while and then this person gave him to my boyfriend (before we met). It took my boyfriend a long while to make him step up etc. and I am not sure about how much attention he got. Around a year ago, me and my boyfriend met and he brought Silver to my house. Silver lived with me and my boyfriend for around 10 months now.

 

What happened quite soon after he moved in is that Silver will not step up on my boyfriend's hand any more (at least not without biting really hard). He will step up on my hand without problems and also seems to like other females. I think that many aspects of his life probably improved since he moved in. He gets what I hope is good food (fresh stuff everyday: steamed edamame, peas, carrots, fresh sprouts, radishes, brokkoli, some nuts) and some seeds (he will NOT switch to pellets - and I tried every pellet I could get hold of and different methods). He gets at least 20-30 min out of his cage in the morning and usually a few hours in the evening. He is generally quite friendly to me (lets me rub his head for a few minutes every night before he goes to sleep) and started talking quite a bit. However, when I don't do what he wants me to do (i.e. want to make him go back to his cage when I have to go to work, or if he just gets fed up with riding on my shoulder in the morning) he will try to make me do what he wants by biting (e.g. biting my arm when I try to put him back, or worse, biting my neck if he gets fed up with me or annoyed at me). This will not happen every day, but still often enough that I would like to train him to stay on my hand, rather than let him run up to my shoulder every time. I tried to put my thumb over his toes on order to get him to stay there, but he doesn't like that. Does anyone have experience with a case like that?

[zandische]

Hi Silver,

 

Not sure how easily it will work with an older bird, but with my baby grey we have been saying "Be Careful!" whenever she does something we don't want her to do. One of the things we resolved not to do was let her get on our shoulder.

 

So what we do when she tries to get up on our shoulder is say "be careful" in a calm but firm tone. She knows that phrase means for her to behave, so if she pushes her luck I'll put my hand up and block her path, while saying "be careful" until she obeys. (Then she gets praise.) I don't ever physically force her down; instead, I allow her to realize that I am in charge and she simply isn't going to be allowed to do what she wants to do.

 

Sometimes she's just plain stubborn though, and even though she's just a baby and doesn't bite, an obstinate bird can still be a pain in the feathered tail. So that's when she gets a cage time out. That usually only lasts a couple of minutes, which is plenty long enough for her to realize she's not behaving. EVERY time we've let her out of her cage after a time out session she's responded with warmth and affection, as if she's trying to say, "I'm sorry mom!"

 

So my recommendation is to choose a common phrase (maybe you even have one already) that you can use consistently to let the bird know the difference between good behavior and unwanted behavior. Reward your bird (I don't use treats but many people do) every time he obeys. And though it may sound a bit silly, you might actually talk to your bird and let him know that shoulders are no longer ok to perch on. Point to your shoulder several times and give him the phrase. Then the next time he tries to get up there, give him the phrase and either block him, reposition him, or put him down. And of course if he resorts to biting you, immediately put him down or give him a time out. Just remember to be consistent, even through the stubborn times.

 

Hope that helps! <br><br>Post edited by: zandische, at: 2007/06/30 08:49

[Guest Monique]

I think you will have to consistently place the bird back on your hand (and take off of your shoulder) if he doesn't like his toes held. After he does it X times it will have to be back in the cage and no more perching on Mom until you have the patience again to start the routine over. It can take a lot of time and a lot of repitition and you must be un-erringly consistent. If you let him up there without immediately starting to remove him even once you are turning him into a gambler who wants to try even more just for the thrill of seeing if this try will be a "winning try" or not. Most likely as you start to enforce this he'll throw some tantrums. Just stick with it and he will come round. I think what you are doing is very smart. If your bird has bitten once on the neck then it could just be one more time and damage your eye or scar your face and then you may not be able to live with him with that history. Please let us know how it goes for you as you work on this!!!

[Silver]

Thanks, you two, for your comments!

 

He just bit me in the neck again yesterday. I had him out and he was whistling on my shoulder while I was making breakfast for him and then he just started biting my shoulder and got me two times in the neck before I reached the cage. Isn't the bad thing that I might be teaching him to tell me that he wants to go back by biting me? I am not so sure why he does it, but I really agree with you, Monique, that I cannot allow him up there anymore.

 

I will try to do what you suggested and let you know how it goes. I tried placing my thumb over his toes a few times a while ago, which he finds really irritating. When I block his way to my shoulder with my hand he can get quite agressive and once he is on my shoulder, he will not step up on my hand from there. The only way to get him down is usually to sit down and he will climb down my arm.

 

I was thinking of doing step-up training a few minutes each day with him and am now looking into ways to give him more opportunities to be out of his cage without actually having to be on either my hand or shoulder. We built a bird table for him that has a couple of ropes and perches on it - unfortunately he is afraid of it. I will be getting one of those rope climbing grids/nets and maybe try to let him "forage" for some of his food...that's about all I can think of.

[Guest]

Silver I just want to welcome you here and express hoping that you will enjoy the forum