African grey is sometimes scared.

[Night shift mat]

We have an African grey called Ozzie who we've owned for about a year and a half now.

He's whistles and talks a little plus makes a lot of household noises. He's fairly tame and likes to have his head scratched and when my brother brings the dogs around he's not scared of them, he's been known once or twice to chase them and peck their tails. ( the dogs are extremely well trained and would never turn on him).

On the face of it Ozzie would seem pretty fearless but sometimes he takes fright at the weirdest things. Things such as a plastic toy, a large piece of wooden doweling (round stick) a canvas painting that I had for Christmas and today I had a guitar delivered and he instantly took a disliking to it.

When he gets scared if something he makes this low growling sound in the back of his throat and he lowers his head and sort of sweeps it back and forth. You don't even have to be close to his cage for him to take a fright to an item you can just be in the same room as him.

Does anyone know what's causing this and can he be trained out of the habit?
Thanks
Mat

[Graeme]

I don't know why he does it, but you could get him used to these items by leaving them close by. He will eventually see them as being part of his everyday environment.

[Michael]

I don't know why he does it, but you could get him used to these items by leaving them close by. He will eventually see them as being part of his everyday environment.

Actually I disagree with this. Just it being there does not make it any less traumatizing to a skittish bird. Also just leaving it there does not achieve the bird actually getting comfortable playing with it, almost the opposite. I have a very clear example of this which is a desk I have across from my birds' cages with all kinds of trinkets and junk piled on it that you wouldn't want destroyed by your parrot. They have seen this every day all the time and yet they absolutely have no intention whatsoever to go and play there even though they could fly over. They only wanna play with MY stuff and hang out where I am. They are social creatures.

Thus the best way to make a bird less scared of something is actually to be involved with it yourself. Not only will the bird be less scared, better yet it will actually want it! Handle the object daily in sight of your parrot. Start from far away and doing less and with time be closer to the bird and doing more. Let the bird want to be involved by denying it at first. Works like a charm. Here is an example of this strategy at play when it comes to new foods:

http://trainedparrot.com/new_foods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgD_TF51uEE

[GreenWing]

I have a CAG and she gets skittish at things, too. It's a Grey thing, they can be phobic like that. Prime example: she has a toy in her cage, I cleaned her cage last night, so I took the toy out but later placed it back in (perhaps it wasn't in the EXACT spot as it was before, but close enough to me) and she FREAKED OUT over it. I had to remove the toy altogether and will have to "reintroduce" the toy to her later. African Grey parrots are HIGHLY intelligent but, like many very intelligent people, they can neurotic and eccentric.

Thus the best way to make a bird less scared of something is actually to be involved with it yourself. Not only will the bird be less scared, better yet it will actually want it! Handle the object daily in sight of your parrot. Start from far away and doing less and with time be closer to the bird and doing more. Let the bird want to be involved by denying it at first. Works like a charm. Here is an example of this strategy at play when it comes to new foods:

http://trainedparrot.com/new_foods
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgD_TF51uEE

Yes, I agree with this! If your parrot observes you with an item -- and Greys observe more than any other parrot species I've known -- they will see it is "safe."