THE CONCEPT: "Inappropriate behavior" is any behavior that disrupts the relationship or makes it difficult to positively interact with the bird. Some examples are: General biting, biting selected family members, refusing to do as it is told, screaming, plucking.

This article, by virtue of the rather wide subject perimeters addressed and the sheer variety of instances, situations, personal perceptions, environments, bird species and severity of behavior patterns, has to be in very general terms. Approaches to the solutions of behavior problems must be tailored to the individual caregivers and birds involved. Much has been written about correcting inappropriate behavior. It is one of the misconceptions that anything written on this subject deserves our consideration. That is not the case. Some of the material currently available was generated years ago and since more and more about parrot behavior is learned every day, some of the old "wisdoms" clearly are counter productive and don't apply anymore. Recent books and articles authored by such experts as Sally Blanchard, Pam Clark, Sam Foster, Jane Hallander, Bonnie Munro-Doane, Bobbi Brinker provide thoughtful insight and excellent advice. It is very strongly suggested that the serious reader avail him/herself of this information.

"My bird's behavior is inappropriate. What do I do?" An important, sometimes desperate often asked question. What do we consider inappropriate behavior is important, even more important is the "why?" Keep in mind that inappropriate behavior is never the bird's fault. Also please remember that frequently pet bird behavior patterns have established themselves because they are usually "taught" by the caregiver, sometimes inadvertently.

There are two different "inappropriate" behavior patterns that can manifest themselves: The evolved pattern and the sudden pattern.

My "baby has always been so sweet, all of a sudden it is biting or frantic or panicky. It won't come out of the cage, it doesn't want to go into the cage, its plucking its feathers," are only a few examples. There can be different reasons for sudden behavior changes, most times they have to do with radical changes in the environment. Sometimes there are medical or hormonal reasons. In all cases we must determine underlying causes and we must remember that corrective action requires immense patience, respect and understanding. The old adage of "showing him who is boss" has been largely proven to be wrong. Sally Blanchard advocates a benevolent teacher relationship. Kindness, patience and gentle "coaching" will accomplish infinitely more than confrontations or even the absolutely counterproductive concept of punishment in any form.

Please note that the single most important and ONLY tool for modifying our bird's behaviors is POSITIVE REINFORCEMENT.

DEFINITIONS

Positive Reinforcements are rewards given for desired behavior only. These rewards can consist of favored treats or exuberant praise. (I prefer the praise. It reinforces the communication between my birds and myself; it tells the bird WHY it is supposed to do what I want him/her to do. A treat, in my opinion may accomplish the same goal but sends the wrong message.) There ARE exceptions, however. For instance: if you have a bird that has a problem stepping on your hand. You may want to get it used to take a treat out of your hand first. After that has been accomplished, you still offer him the treat, but make him step over one hand to get to the hand holding the treat. After awhile he'll step on your hand without the help of a treat. It is VERY important that in all cases praise is given, as well. It is also important that the entire exercise is accompanied by soft and gentle "up" commands.

Most of all: Feel comfortable and relaxed dealing with your bird and the bird will feel comfortable and relaxed with you. (Sally Blanchard)

Negative reinforcements are "rewards" given for undesirable behavior. While the word "reward" carries a certain meaning for us humans, the bird has a different perspective. This includes raised voices, banishment to the cage, a loud "NO," the "earthquake" reaction with a biter--anything that demonstrates displeasure, anger, disagreement. Negative reinforcement will encourage inappropriate behavior, not eliminate it. It will also damage the trust which must be established between bird and care giver. Without trust, there is no behavior modification. The ONLY reaction to unwanted behavior should be ignoring it. There is a cardinal rule: NEVER punish a parrot!! More on this subject in one of Sally Blanchard's outstanding articles:

Pet Bird Report: Punishment

In summary permit me to emphasize that educating wild animals like a parrot is the responsibility we assume when we decide to add him/her to our family. It requires an understanding of his/her nature, it also requires patience, love and, most of all--respect. Respect for a creature so unique and so special that we, as humans who think that we are at the top of the evolutionary "pyramid," very often have a problem imagining the intellectual and perceptive qualities of a parrot.

EXAMPLE: Dixie is a 3 year old sulphur crested cockatoo DNA sexed male. He is an absolute sweetheart and his family adores him. He gets held, preened and he LOVES to be caressed under his wings. All of a sudden he starts attacking and biting his beloved mom. What has happened? Dixie is overcome by hormonal impulses--he acts out of instinct and his mom soon realized there is really nothing she could do. She stopped caressing him under the wings because that arouses him and she did not give him the chance to attack or bite her--she left him largely alone to come off his hormonal "high" on his own. He did. It took about 3 weeks and now Dixie is an absolute sweetheart again. It is relatively easy to diagnose hormonal biting if we know our birds and learn to recognize their body language. Hormonal biting is quite common and can be expected from Cockatoos, Amazons, Greys, Conures. The "cure" is easy and requires the mindset not to take the biting personally and to give the bird space and time.

LESSON #1: Learn the "body language" of your bird
LESSON #2: Don't give a biting bird the opportunity.
LESSON #3: DON'T take a bite personally
LESSON #4: PATIENCE

For Cockatoo behavior modification advice, Sam Foster offers instructive articles as well as a private counseling service: 'Too Info

There are many reasons for sudden behavioral changes when something in the immediate environment of the bird radically changes. This is especially true with African Greys.

EXAMPLE: Rosie, a female DNA sexed Congo African Grey is about 3 years old. She seems to be a well adjusted bird and although she is rather poorly socialized, she loves her mom, steps up like a good girl and tolerates the rest of the household. Her cage is in the living room against a wall with a "view" towards the rest of the house. One evening, all hell breaks loose. Mom comes home, her heart filled with love and Rosie wants nothing to do with her or anyone else. She absolutely refuses to leave the cage, cowers on the topmost perch and, when approached displays behavior that one could charitably call panicky. What to do? Mom is heartbroken and wonders what happened to her Rosie. What happened to Rosie was a change in her environment, negligible to us but very serious for her. Mom had bought a new life sized marble statue of Hermes. It had been delivered and Hermes was now standing next to the couch and in Rosie's field of vision--Rosie felt threatened. Her world had changed and she was not used to sudden changes and could not cope with them. Once Hermes was removed and put in a place, where Rosie could not see him and after some loving conversations and patience, Rosie could be convinced that the threatening apparition was now history. In order to return Hermes to his place next to the couch, Mom now introduced him in stages, very slowly, over a period of weeks. Now Rosie can't wait to go visit him and poop on his head.

There are some lessons to be learned here:

Lesson # 1: Never, never consider inappropriate behavior to be the parrot's fault, because it is not.

Lesson # 2: Never take any unpleasant behavior patterns personally even if your fid has a fit because you bought a strange hat and insist on wearing it indoors. It's not you, it's the hat, (and probably the fid's objection to your lousy manners)
Lesson # 3: Try to find the reasons for this behavior and then deal with them first.
Lesson # 4: Never punish the bird, don't lock him in the cage until he "cools" off, don't get into his "face."
Lesson # 5: Be patient. Behavior modification takes time, lots of time.

It is not always that easy.

EXAMPLE: Ulysses is a 4 year old Congo African Grey, sex unknown. He is a valued member of the family and has the run of the house. He is fully flighted. He has a wonderful 6 foot tall play gym in the living room and another one on top of the cage. His family loves him and believes that they give him the best life possible. There is just this little problem: Ulysses does not want to go into his cage when he is supposed to and he won't come out when Mom or Dad ask him to. As a matter of fact, he rarely does what he is asked to do and pretty much makes his own decisions. He bites his flock members out of the "blue" and has even had a very firm beak hold on Dad's ear. Dad was deeply hurt, in more ways than one, and now is convinced that Ulysses doesn't love him anymore. This is a prime example of inadvertently "taught" inappropriate behavior. A lot of teaching has not taken place, Mom and Dad did not prepare themselves for the new arrival, consequently they had absolutely no idea how to guide and help him grow to be the affectionate and wonderful family member he can be. Commendably they did not give up on Ulysses, they asked for help. It was determined that Ulysses needed to be "reigned in" a little. He got his wings clipped to limit his mobility. The gym on his cage was taken down to reduce his "perching" height and the 6' tall gym in the living room was replaced by one 4' tall. Ulysses was also taught the limits of is "theatre of operations"--he was allowed on the cage, on the gym in the living room and was not permitted on the shoulders of Mom and Dad, the furniture or to roam around the house on his own. Ulysses is very smart and although he did not like the new rules, with lots of gentle positive reinforcement, plenty of praise and the occasional nutriberry he learned what was expected of him. He is much happier and more secure now. To complete the behavior modification effort, Ulysses also learned the step-up command. He and Mom and Dad had lots of fun with it and he has become a new birdie with the whole family being happier and wiser. At this point it is important to note that the entire endeavor took the better part of six months--all agree it was worth it. There are a number of lessons learned in this example:

Lesson # 1: Our love for our birds is not necessarily expressed in "human" ways. Permissiveness is not a sign of love--it's a sign of ignorance and weakness.

Lesson # 2: Our birds need to be given firm "territorial" perimeters. Contrary to some perceptions, the "run of the house" syndrome can very well lead to confusion and frustration.

Lesson # 3: Our birds with their instinctive flock behavior need a sense of security regarding their "place" in life. A loving and gently firm nurturing environment which provides limits gives them a feeling of security they need.

Lesson # 4: Use positive reinforcement to teach your bird. Positive reinforcement works.

EXAMPLE: Bud is an 8 year old B&G Macaw. His "parents" are desperate. He is plucking his feathers and mutilating himself. They have no idea what to do, so they asked for help. They were advised to take the bird to a good avian vet for a comprehensive examination to include checks for heavy metal poisoning, nutritional deficiencies and known bird diseases IMMEDIATELY. It also turns out that Mom used to have the bird prior to her marriage--they spent a lot of time together. Then the new hubby took some of that time and the bird was admittedly neglected. His present diet consisted of a parrot mix with a very heavy sunflower content. Here the advice, in addition to the visit to the vet is to adjust his diet to include a healthy pellet and fresh fruit/veggie mix and to provide Bud with an emotional support structure of regular attention consisting of the interaction to which he was used. This is not to say that Bud should have exclusivity. It is meant to say that he deserves and requires interaction with his flock. He requires to be a part of the family and a commitment to satisfy his emotional needs.

Lesson #1: Our birds are almost exclusively flock birds. As flock birds the have the emotional and instinctive need to be a part of the flock. They are ENTITLED to it.

Lesson #2: If they are deprived of the feeling of "flock cohesiveness" they will become insecure, frustrated and unhappy. We are their flock!

Lesson #3: A plucking or self mutilating bird should see a qualified avian vet.

Lesson #4: There are no short cuts where the bird's dietary requirements are concerned.

Plucking is one of the most serious concerns for care givers of parrots. It is presently assumed that at least 75% of all plucking incidents are based on medical or dietary causes. In order to aid those with plucking birds, a comprehensive and well written web site with Pam Clark as one of the primary contributors has been established. Anyone with a plucking bird is encouraged to visit there.