Screaming Senegal

[1134LaurieEarl]

Hi all

I'm hoping for some help on this subject. Kiwi is my 2.5 year old Senegal. She absolutely loves me, and I can get her to do almost anything. However, in the past 8 months, I have moved in with my boyfriend and his mother. Kiwi has taken to screaming at Karen in the morning..... Karen unknowingly gave Kiwi a treat to get her to be quiet. Unfortunately, she has reinforced very BAD behavior, and now Kiwi will continuously scream at her and my boyfriend.

I'm the only one that seems to be able to get her to stop, by simply telling her no.

But if I'm not home, or not in the same room, her screaming is unbearable.

Is there ANY suggestions to help me get her to stop screaming when I'm not around?

Please help... I love her so much, but I'm afraid my boyfriend and his mom don't care for her too much when she's screaming.

[Michael]

Pretty much impossible at this point. Just have to ignore it (everyone included) for months/years waiting for it to go extinct. Spontaneous recovery may still occur. You can try training vocalization as an alternative to screaming for seeking attention.

[GlassOnion]

Start from the beginning. Sit down with your bf and Karen and explain that feeding a great when screaming is the stupidest thing that can be done.

My cockatiel used to be an attention screamer. I would leave the room, he screams, I ignore until he quiets down OR he makes a pleasant sound. That worked well.

Leave the room and maybe whistle back and forth and the moment he makes a cute chirp, return and praise him with treats. The idea is to replace the scream with a cuter sound to get your attention.

[donald1954]

I agree with Michael, not to be stopped in a short time period. What usually happens is an extiction burst, which means for a certain time, screaming is becoming worse, until it stopps. What I did with my CAG when he arrived and had a period of screaming, was to reinforce him as soon as he was quiet.
Or speak to him when he was quiet. Otherwise not one tone. It didnt take too long, but it seemed endless.Luckily my Bird only did it in the Aviary, outside he was fine. He always wanted to be out, with the 3 others.

rgds Don + karin

[1134LaurieEarl]

I'll try to get everyone on board with rewarding when she is quiet. And leaving the room and ignoring her when she screams. It's hard to do at dinner time though. It seems the screaming will increase at dinner, because she wants what we are eating.

Maybe I should prepare a special treat of her favorites just prior to us sitting down for dinner and she'll feel like she is taking part in our meal. And just keep praising.

We do have conversations regularly. She has a good vocabulary and a variety of chirps and tweets that are adorable.

Loud noises seem to make her scream too. Such as running children. She always wants to be louder then everyone else.