Food aggressive (?) bird

[k9shrink]

Hi all,

I have a CAG that is clicker trained and quite tame (even wears a harness).

She has always seemed startled by the movement of a toy, and will make a fast lunge to bite at my hand. For instance, she would be on top of the cage and I'd be slowly moving a toy from one part of the cage to another--and she'll nail me the second my toy hand gets in range. I've learned to always place toys far out of bite range, including when we're doing tricks like fetch or basketball.

Now, this seems to have moved on to food aggression. She has a cage with an open door, lots of play gyms, an aviary, etc... and I'm always working within a couple feet of her. When I want to give her a messy food, I always carry her into her cage and hand it to her. Then lock her in for a few minutes to eat, and let her out as soon as she's done. She has never resisted being put back in her cage, as there's always a high-value food being provided, and the chance to come out the second she's done.

However, the last few times I've put her in the cage, I had a slice of apple or banana on the cage floor where she eats (I change papers several times a day). Thinking she hadn't seen the food, I slowly moved my hand to point out the food, while also telling her "look, here's your apple!" Just like the toy behavior above, she rushes at me across the cage floor, all puffed up, and nails my hand. Actually, she grabs some skin in her mouth and repeatedly chomps down on it, in about a 5-10 second attack.

I'm a dog trainer and frequently see cases of food-bowl aggression in my foster dogs. Are parrots the same way? I always thought parrots were communal feeders. What's up with this aggression when a hand is moving something past her, or even pointing out her favorite foods?

Thanks for any advice,

Sharon

[k9shrink]

Can't anybody help with this? Hasn't anybody else had this problem with their birds?

Sharon in Istanbul

[el-parrot]

Hi Sharon, actually I never had this problem and I don't have any tips for you? I hope someone else does!

[Michael]

Well the good thing is that you know the issue and you know what can prevent it. That's really all you can do I think. You gotta know where not to put your hands.

The only thing I can think of to help your situation is to teach your parrot to station. Teach it that whenever you approach the cage to go to a particular perch in order to be let out or given food. Then the parrot must stay on that perch or it doesn't get out or food. Teach this by targeting the parrot there every time you come to cage, then reward by letting out or giving food. Eventually your bird will always go to that spot when you approach and you can clean cage or do things elsewhere. The moment the bird leaves the spot you walk away and don't let it out. So it will learn to stay put there until you are done hanging toys or whatever.

[SlaveToAParrot]

I've got a Senegal who is food aggressive... whenever I go to place the dish in the cage for him to eat his food. He comes down and lunges at me then throws his food sometimes. I've been doing the target perch for awhile now... it works.

I would wait for Cody(my Senegal) to climb on his perch near the food dish. Then after having him learn to target a stick I got the idea to do something similar with the food dish. I just have him wait on that perch til I place the food dish inside his cage, if he starts making his way down before I get it inside. I have him go back up on his perch again. He knows now that when I'm coming with supper, he goes immediately to the perch near the dish(if he's not already on it) and waits til I place the dish inside and close the food dish door. He comes down after to eat - no hands harmed in the process.

I haven't had much of a problem with it since doing that, he still lunges every now and then but I ignore it and wait til he gets up on his perch and calms down before placing the dish in the cage.

[k9shrink]

Hi guys,

Thanks for the great advice! I was afraid that might be theonly option, and you've confirmed it.
I'll implement some stationing training immediately.

Sharon