From: roberts@studguppy.lanl.gov (Doug Roberts)
Subject: Re: Help.  Fierce Amazon.
Organization: Technology Modeling and Analysis, LANL-A7
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 20:17:27 GMT

[Sorry if you see his twice: our news server hiccupped...]

In article <18qm6jINNkcm@skat.usc.edu> melton@skat.usc.edu (Mike Melton) writes:

> I believe your bird's behavior towards Katherine is fun for your bird.
> It is quite apparent that the bird recognizes Katherine and knows
> that Katherine is intimidated and will allow such behavior. It also
> sounds as if Katherine is rewarding the bird for this behavior by jumping
> back, jumping on chairs, and pulling away, which probably results in a 
> commotion by others as well. These events are mighty fun from a bird's 
> perspective.
> 

Mike sums it up nicely. Parrots are happy living with other parrots or
surrogate parrots (people) only when it is clearly defined who is
dominant and who is not. If the humans around the parrot are dominant,
everybody's happy. If the parrot has been led to believe that he's
dominant, then nobody's happy. The interactions between the Amazon and
Katherine all sound like the classical method by which a parrot can get
the upper hand (wing?) in his relationship with humans.

Once a pattern has been established where the parrot has assumed the
dominant role, that is the way things will stay until he learns that
the human is dominant. Mike's method of the squirt bottle is one way
to teach the parrot that his aggressive behavior is not acceptable.
Other methods include assuming an aggressive, dominant posture when
you approach the bird. I've tamed several wild birds, including two of
the most difficult parrots to tame: blue-fronted Amazons and an older
wild-caught Goffin's cockatoo. The toughest blue-front was seven or
eight years old when I got him, and the Goffin was at least ten.

The techniques that I have used included a combination of firm (but
gentle) instruction and positive reinforcement. With the blue-front, I
would put him on his perch, and then approach him. I would slowly move
close to him, moving inside his "personal space". I'd stand with my
upper body above him, which he interpreted as a dominant posture. When
he would try to bite me (or, as often, when he would succeed in biting
me) I would say "No!" in a firm voice and point my finger at him.
[Never, NEVER strike a parrot physically. He wil remember and _never_
forgive you]. When the parrot obeyed, or, in the early stages of
taming, when he at least didn't respond to me with outright
aggression, I would reward him with a treat. A single sunflower seed
made a nice treat for both the blue-front and the Goffin. The treat
was accompanied with verbal praise. Later, I taught him to get up on
my hand without biting me by firmly sweeping my hand up under his feet
while saying "Up!".

The key to establishing dominance with a parrot is to not let
aggressive behavior on the birds part go on unchallenged. Dominance
with a parrot isn't a bad or macho thing, it just happens to be the
only way parrots and humans can happily coexist...

--Doug
--

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Douglas Roberts                |
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