From: wiegand@rtsg.mot.com (Robert Wiegand)
Subject: Re: Help!!! My parrot bites/squawks!
Reply-To: motcid!wiegand@uunet.uu.net
Organization: Motorola Inc., Cellular Infrastructure Group
Date: Mon, 4 Jan 1993 20:05:59 GMT

au500@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Linda Zinn) writes:

>Zack, my yellow-naped Amazon is delightful, except for these two bad
>habits. I've read everything I could find, and the biting advice ranges
>from "give up...once a biter always a biter" to "just let him go ahead
>and bite you...he'll stop eventually"; I don't want to believe those are
>the only possibilities. Does anyone have experience with training parrots
>not to bite who has lived to tell about it? 

>I'd love to get Zack to the point someday (I know it takes time) where he
>could sit on my shoulder, or at least where I could consistently pet him
>and interact with him without losing an appendage (Once he bit all the way
>through my fingernail into my finger!)

Biting can be tough to stop because from the parrot's point of view
biting works. They get the reaction from you they wanted.

You should be able to reduce his biting if you work on it, but you
may never get to zero biting.

I'm not an expert, but here's some advice:

Try to see if there is any pattern to his biting and avoid conditions
that tend to cause biting. For example - mine will tend to bite if he's
higher up than me, and he doesn't want to be picked up. If I stand on a
chair so I'm above him then there's no problem.

Don't reward him by yelling (hard to do, but necessary).

Teach him the "up" command - get him to step onto yor hand when you say "up".
This give you a way to regain control of him after he bites you.

Put him back in his cage for a while after he bites you. Don't make a
big deal out of this (don't yell or move fast), just pick him up and
put him in the cage. If you yell at him you just reward him.

>The only thing that seems to deter him from loud, relentless squawking is
>one squirt with a water bottle on the fine stream. It ticks him off, but
>he does stop the ear-piercing shrieks. 

Covering his cage until he shuts up would probably be better.

>I'm really a novice at all this...inherited Zack when my son moved out of
>town. Any pointers anyone could e-mail me would be GREATLY appreciated.

>BTW, Zack has a pretty good vocabulary and does very convincing puppy,
>crying baby, human laughing, and cat yowling imitations, plus he can
>whistle most of the Andy Griffith them. I hear his breed is known for
>good talking ability...perhaps the squawking just goes hand-in-hand
>with that? (Say it isn't so!)

>Oh, one more question: I'm a little reluctant to bathe this guy too often
>in the winter, because I'm afraid he'll get chilled. Am I doing him more
>harm than good by being too cautious? He loves when I mist him with
>water...dances all around making his happy sounds and spreading his wings so
>I don't miss any hidden spots. I don't want to deprive him of that
>pleasure, but I sure don't want to make him vulnerable to colds (or
>whatever the birdie equivalent is).

Giving baths in the winter shouldn't be a problem, you just have to be
a little more carefull. Keep him out of any drafts until he is dry,
don't get him wet just before bed-time. Some people even use a hair
dryer to dry their birds (this of course will depend on if your bird
lets you do it).

-- 
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Robert Wiegand - Motorola Inc.
motcid!wiegand@uunet.uu.net            uunet!motcid!wiegand
Disclamer: I didn't do it - I was somewhere else at the time.