Socializing

[Chris&Akilah]

Over the weekend, my siblings and young necies/nephew were over, so Akilah got to see new people for the first time. She was scared of everyone though, and hid at the back of the cage. I let them in one at a time over the weekend, not all at once, no one was comfortable with me taking her out of the cage with them in the room except my middle neice, but Akilah freaked and flew to the floor which scared my neice and then she wanted nothing to do with her. I dont know anyone who wants to interact with my bird, theyr'e all too scared of "it flying in your face" (despite the clipped wings she does pretty well, I admit). So my point is, I'm a bit at a loss as to how to socialize her. I'm taking her to the bird store where I got her to get her nails cut, hopefully they can help too.

[Shani]

I dont know anyone who wants to interact with my bird, theyr'e all too scared of "it flying in your face" (despite the clipped wings she does pretty well, I admit).

That's kind of saddening, poor Akilah

Sadly, it's been said a lot on these forums, but you can't train people. All you can do is try and educate them as to what being owned by a parrot is really like, and hope they learn from what you tell them and warm up to socializing with your bird. I will never understand the fear so many people have of birds flying into their face.

I wish I could give you some advice, but I have a bit of a similar problem developing with my bird (no one wants to handle him apart from me since "He likes me more,").

[Chris&Akilah]

yah, I need to meet some other bird-lovers!! Is there some kids movie or something where a bird attacks someone's face? I thought it was weird that all the kids were so scared of that happening when they've never had a bad experience with a bird before.

[Shani]

Not that I'm aware of. It's a weird fear that's for sure - but it's really common. Lots of people seem to instinctively duck when they hear the sound of wings flapping near them.

[idlepirate]

Make the kids watch more happy parrot movies like Paulie.
When Rio hits theatures im sure alot more people will be interested in parrots. same with nemo, everyone wanted a fish. Hope not the wrong people buying them without knowing what a big job they're taking on though.

Its sad really, if you're a bird person like I am i keep trying slowly, with my sisters parrot when I do visit (well he only gets to see me once a year when i go home) i try feed him some treats and walk to him slowly, never force the bird or make him overwhelmed. At some stage he did actually step up onto my arm but didnt look comfortable at all and couldnt wait to get off.

If people are really commited and spend enough time, anythings possible. Maybe once Akilah starts targeting, you can target her to step up on others, or see if they can target her. for a treat some parrots will do just about anything.

Flying into people fear- i know hey. its just people that dont understand birds, they're used to dogs and cats that just come up to you and you can cuddle them easy etc. I used to work with a girl who had a phobia of pigeons, she really freaked every time she saw them. Told her I have a parrot now and of course...she never visits hahaha. i just dont understand what the problem is!
Theres a lady back home we knew as well with our african grey, she actually fainted when she saw him and everytime she came we had to put the poor bird in another room and hide him from her.

[michellet]

As an animal lover I find other peoples fear of birds/animals really odd! I just cant get my head around it I guess some people are just wierd!!

I work at a preschool with 4 year olds and regularly take in our 2 tame budgies for "show and tell".....some of the kids have no fear at all and are first in line to have a budgie sit on their finger, and are delighted if he climbs up onto their shoulder. Others are cautious and may jump a little when he first steps up onto their finger, but are happy to be holding them. Some really want to hold a bird, but hang back a little, watching and very interested, but let their fear stop them from having a turn. Then there are the ones that are absolutely terrified and wont come near the birds at all. It can be really interesting as the kids that are usually confident and give just about anything a go might end up being one of the kids that are terrified of the birds, and theres one little girl that is shy and almost scared of her own shadow, but she LOVES the birds and shows no fear at all!

[Chris&Akilah]

The funny thing is, I've kept reptiles and such since I was a kid so am used to people having poor reactions to my pets, but my necies always wanted to hold my snakes and lizards...but a bird, ahhhh scary!!! I'm sure they'll come around when she is trained, I started target training the other day and she has caught on already, and is learning "Spin" (turn around).

[Michael]

Sorry if I'm not answering the exact question or repeating what was already said. Just going to give a quick reply based on some stuff I skimmed.

Some good strategies for showing frightened parrot to visitors:

A) No visiting/interacting with the bird immediately upon entering
B) Give parrot opportunity to sit at safe/undisturbed distance and watch while you entertain guests
C) Slowly place parrot closer or bring crowd closer
D) Interact with parrot yourself with visitors watching at distance (this way they can see how to handle and parrot gets used to being handled in their presence)
E) Target parrot onto people's hands one at a time (but no petting)

Don't feel that you must let visitors interact with your bird (though over time socialization is good). If people want to hold your bird but you know it will be bad, don't feel obligated to do it. Bad interaction with guests will make the parrot much more weary of them in future.

You need to mediate any parrot-human interaction at all times. You are the bridge. You must make the parrot feel safe and make sure the humans don't do anything wrong. You should practice targeting your parrot on your own so that when you have visitors you can use the same familiar techniques to target onto their hands. With the target stick there, the parrot knows what you want from it and is more likely to cooperate in similar ways that target training was good to get the bird to step up for you earlier on.

If the parrot is mature and territorially aggressive, it is best to perform these socialization interactions away from the parrot's area (better yet away from home). But if the parrot is young or not territorial, then at home is probably best.

[Mona]

Another simple idea is to teach "wave".

The Wave is good because it is a no contact behavior. To most people, it appears very friendly....like a dog wagging its tail. I used to bring both Phinney and Babylon to retirement homes and they would wave and wave and wave. Babylon will wave at any body.

Most people are charmed by the simple wave.

Good luck and thanks!

Mona

[Michael]

Article about how to socialize parrots to other people:

http://TrainedParrot.com/Socialization