Bird Training

It has been reiterated for years in the companion parrot literature…your parrot must obey the step up command! Obey and command. For me these words carry strong implications. I visualize a parrot with no desire to step up onto the hand being forced to comply. This usually involves maneuvers such as a hand pushing into a bird’s chest, quickly scooping a bird onto the hand, or peeling toes off of a perch. For a positive reinforcement trainer such as myself this is very unpleasant to picture. Why one might ask? Certainly the mentioned strategies can create the desired resulting behavior of a bird on the hand. However the process of training through force involves strategies that rely on aversive experiences. Pushing a hand into a bird’s chest, scooping or peeling toes are uncomfortable experiences for a parrot, no matter how minimal the aversive is.

Training is simply teaching. When we train an animal with positive reinforcement we give it information on what it can do to earn desired outcomes. What behaviors we choose to teach are limitless. In addition to training birds for entertainment, we can use this form of communication to address behavior problems, to manage birds on exhibit, to teach birds to cooperate in their own medical care and/or to allow us to facilitate captive breeding practices.

Training is Science Based
Although training birds in general is not a new concept to avian enthusiasts, understanding the science behind training is just recently gaining momentum. The science behind training is called behavior analysis. This science focuses on how organisms learn. And truly we are all students of this science on a daily basis whether we are conscious of our application of its principles or not. Current trends in animal training choose to focus on using elements of this science that focus on kind and gentle strategies to create desired behavior and reduce undesired behavior. This includes avoiding the use of positive punishment and negative reinforcement. In its place, trainers learn the art and skill of applying positive reinforcement to gain cooperation.

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Peachy, my 14 year old Moluccan Cockatoo has taken up a new hobby. SCREAMING! It’s not the usual and expected morning screaming. Not the when I leave the room screaming. Of course, Peachy is a healthy, normal male M2 so we are used to talk between flock mates. Peachy has recently started loudly vocalizing at about 30 second intervals during his routine bird stand play time. Peachy has several hours of bird stand play time each day.

My first step to extinguishing this behavior is to recognize what has changed for Peachy. It’s pretty easy to pinpoint. We’ve had some family challenges lately and Peachy is well aware of the tension. This makes him uneasy and aggitated. Secondly, I went on vacation with my son to must see Puerto Rico recently and Joe, my boyfriend provided reinforcement when Peachy screamed. Thank goodness this is a new problem which we can solve. Neither of these changes are Peachy’s fault.

So where do we go from here. Two words. Good Bird (by Barbara Heidenreich). If you haven’t stumbled upon this professional avian trainer and educator let me introduce you! She is an extremely valuable resource for all things parrots. Bird behavior issues, parrot enrichment and more.

Now that I know that Peachy is screaming as a reaction to household attention and recent reinforcement for screaming, I’m ready to extinguish what I’ll call Reactive Screaming.

1. Actively reduce tension in the home.
2. Everyone in the home will use the same extinguishment techniques.
3. Ignore screaming. Whatever it takes, we all need to NOT RESPOND to Peachy when he screams.
4. Reward quiet behavior. For me, that would be whistles, singing, talking and silence. Since Peachy had been screaming at extremely frequent intervals, I decided to reward silence of 10 seconds to insure results. Peachy LOVES fresh banana’s. I just happen to have a couple on hand! He also loves sritches, which is not a problem at our house.
5. Model appropriate vocalizations. Peachy loves to sing with us. If I whistle a tune, he can repeat it. As I make appropriate vocalizations it plants a seed in Peachy’s mind that that is how I want him to communicate with us.

UPDATE: I only started using Ms. Heindenreich’s Good Bird recommendations yesterday. But, even today, I notice a drastic improvement in Peachy’s screaming. Of course, Peach had not internalized his need to scream and our little household crisis has diminshed in size, but never the less, the techniques described in Good Bird really work! (As a clinical social worker, I had no doubt; hence, I seriously advocate Ms. Heindenreich’s work.)

Peachy is now using words to yell at the dogs as opposed to screaming in an irritating pitch at me. He is singing, whistling and talking. I can’t say that I love that hip hop stuff that my son teaches him, but it is a heck of a lot better than screatchy screaming. He just said his favorite phrase; “Whatcha doin’ doin’?” The dogs got a good chewing out every time the door bell rang today. But, Peachy’s inappropriate and unacceptable screaming was SIGNIFICANTLY less today. Thanks Good Bird! And, gosh, thank goodness for banana’s!