Godzilla Bird

[SummerJ]

Good Morning All!
Sydney has become fully flighted in the past month or so. That is a good thing, I think for her confidence. She seems to not be nipping off feathers like she has in the past. However, she has made it her mission to terrorize Simon our Cockatiel. She especially likes to play Godzilla on his cage.:eek: I think she would really like to do him in, given the chance. I spend alot of time running back and forth to his cage to get her off. Not the way I planned to carry out my New Year's resolution of getting more exercise!!:rotflmao:
It is hard to get her distracted to something else. What suggestions do you have that I might try to teach her his cage is off limits?
She has just started clicker training and that is helping her, but she has a long way to go. She is a very headstrong little bird!!
Janet & Sydney
Simon & Max

[jimleasure]

never forget PPC. Patience, Persistence, and Consistency. I'm sure you'll do well with her.

[Jim]

Hi Janet

Good to hear Sydney is fully flighted. I agree that their confidence is higher when flighted which is great for the bird, but can be challenging for the care giver.

I have flighted birds and I'm not sure we can really teach them a place is off limits. If they can fly there, they will, if it is rewarding to them. What I mean is, flying to Simon's cage must be reinforcing to Sydney or he wouldn't continue to it.

Birds can be territorial and when flighted the whole house becomes their territory. This is something that can be worked on.:)

In your opinion/observation is Sydney being reinforced by flying to the cage? Maybe he likes you running after him, maybe he likes seeing Simon act out.:D

If it's a territorial issue could you work on teaching Sydney that Simon is part of the deal to be in your good graces - he gets rewarded for NOT terrorizing Simon.

In my experience/opinion if we are going to have and live with a flighted bird, a strong recall is a must. Like a dog or other pet that has all there natural locomotion ability, they need to be trained to come when called for their safety and our peace of mind. It makes living with then so much easier.

I've been away for a while, sorry for the late response. Feel free to ask what you want and I'll try to help.

[SummerJ]

I think going to Simon's cage is a territorial thing. Simon is a very social bird who also is flighted. In some respects he is scared of her, but on the other hand I think he makes it his mission in life to drive Sydney crazy. His (Simon's) favorite thing to do is circle her just staying far enough away to stay out of her reach. For along time he was the only flighted bird in the house. At first I am sure he was suprised enough to see her come after him, but by now I would think he should have figured out she can fly.
I agree, it sounds like we need to start working on making Syd learn to come to me with the clicker. Dr. C just had us start with the clicker training, so we have a long way to go yet. Unfortunatley when I got Syd 3 years ago, my focus was to try and spoil her since she has had a pretty rough life. Some balance between spoiling & training probably would have been a better plan!! :scratchch
It is interesting that Sydney is scared of our Senegal Max. (Actually I think many of us are scared of him...he can deliver quite a bite!) She would not think to go and bother him, and certainly would never go and land on his cage!!
Janet

[Jim]

Good for you that you have started clicker training. Dr C is the expert and I'm sure she will guide you down the right path. I'm big on clicker training, don't get me wrong, but I'm also adamant about building trust when we don't have the clicker or aren't in a training session. Not that clicker training isn't trust building but what we do when we aren't clicking is just as important.

Trust! :scratchch Just what is trust when it comes to birds or pets anyway?

First let me say there are many ways to get behavior, I prefer positive reinforcement over force or coercion. I was looking through my notes I saved about positive reinforcement and trust so I'll put them all together in my own words. --- Does your horse, lion, bird, run or fly through the ring of fire because he trusts that you have made the right decision in asking him to do it? Does your dog stop chasing the cat or other dog when called because he trusts your decision? Not talking about animals that obey to avoid the shock of a collar, jerk of the lead or crack of the whip.:eek: That is stealing behavior, force, coercion or doing the task to avoid punishment.

I think my boys trust me pretty darn good. In turn they fly off of places they aren't supposed to be or stop chasing/dive bombing guests in our house when I ask. Why? I can't really know but it's plausible it is their history with me and the trust we have built. I do know for a fact, their behaviors are not done to avoid any unpleasant consequence.

Sorry I got so longed winded. Guess after all that dialog what I'm saying is. Build all the trust you can and I truly believe your birds will fly off of unapproved areas or come to you because they trust you.

I hope you get this worked out. You have a good person (Dr C) helping you with clicker training. Keep us updated if you don't mind. We all learn from each other.:)

[Shirley]

What Jim said! And I think clicker training (c/t) provides a quick and easily-learned spring board for building trust. It can be started through the cage bars if the bird is fearful or bites or is handshy. Trust and a "bank account" of positive reinforcement is built and developed, and then clicker or not, by your words, actions, and behavior, the trust and R+ bank account continues to build... inside and outside the cage.