Senegal scared when outside of cage

[chrisp]

I have had my Senegal Parrot for about a month and a half. He is getting good at target training and taming is also going pretty well. As long as I stick to his beak and `maybe` the top of his head he seems to enjoy my touch. He even comes willingly into my waiting fingers if I say `tickle`. He still doesn't like it if I try and touch him anywhere else though and will try to bite immediately. Usually succeeding. And it is clear that now he is getting much more confident. Whereas say a week ago I could leave his cage open pretty much indefinitely and he would just stay inside, now he is very eager to leave his cage. If you leave the cage door open he will climb up the door and onto the cage roof. Unfortunately he still doesn't like to be approached at all when outside the cage and will fly away immediately. Finding himself in unknown surroundings around the house he gets terrified and will try to find a hole somewhere to hide. At this point he won't let me approach him at all and will be afraid of me as well. Fortunately, I got him used to recognizing his cage and climbing in, so if I just bring his cage over next to him and leave the room, he will climb back inside his cage on his own.

Can anyone please suggest ways of making him less fearful when outside the cage? When he is in the cage he doesn't fear me at all. But when he is outside he seems to be scared of everything and everyone.

Also, my approach to increasing the places where I can touch him is to make sure to touch him as often as possible and reward him for it. Is this a good approach? He seems to be really comfortable with me touching certain places but others are completely out of bounds.

Thanks!


Chris

[cml]

Can anyone please suggest ways of making him less fearful when outside the cage? When he is in the cage he doesn't fear me at all. But when he is outside he seems to be scared of everything and everyone.

Sounds like Leroy, only we have managed to get him to trust the outside world a little more than your little fellow and he isnt afraid of us when outside the cage.

Take baby steps, start training in one room, dont rush him into everything at once. Then proceed to introduce the next room and so on. Other than that, I dont have any advice.

[Andromeda]

Unfortunately he still doesn't like to be approached at all when outside the cage and will fly away immediately. Finding himself in unknown surroundings around the house he gets terrified and will try to find a hole somewhere to hide. At this point he won't let me approach him at all and will be afraid of me as well.

Can anyone please suggest ways of making him less fearful when outside the cage? When he is in the cage he doesn't fear me at all. But when he is outside he seems to be scared of everything and everyone.

Hi, Chris.

My brown-headed parrot is a rescue and when we brought him home he was terrified of everything. He was a very fearful and skittish bird. His wings had been clipped improperly and he would fall to the ground (or bottom of his cage) like a rock whenever he was scared by something, which at first was multiple times a day.

Since your bird flies away I don't know if this will help, but I'll tell you what I did with my bird.

I started by taking him on little trips around the house. I didn't start with the whole house right away, but just the area around his cage. As he became more familiar with an area and started being less fearful I'd expand the area slightly.

I'd tell him what we were going to do before we did it (I still do this), and I'd take him on a little "tour" and point to things and tell him, "Look, there's a box," or "Look at the TV!"

That was almost four years ago and while he is a very brave bird compared to how he was then he is still somewhat fearful in comparison to my GCC. When I walk around the house with him I do it slowly and I talk to him and tell him what we're doing or where we're going and he's okay.

Since you've started clicker-training your bird you can combine "room tours" or "house tours" with clicks where you reward him for tolerating and relaxing in the presence of things he finds scary.

I'm assuming (correct me if I'm wrong) that your bird is young so this could be part of the issue. Some young Pois go through a "fearful" stage. If you work with him every day he will eventually be braver.

[chrisp]

Thank you both for your advice! It makes loads of sense!

@ cml

That might be a very good idea. Keep him in the cage whilst doing target training or whatever in different rooms so he gets adjusted. Will give it a go! Thanks!

@ Andromeda

I really like the house tours idea And I am sure that constantly speaking to him and pointing out stuff will make his adjustment a lot easier. And yes, he is very young. About 6month old. I think it may be a territorial thing as well. Not in the sense of aggression but in the sense of comfort zones. He spends most of his time in the kitchen and when he is there he feels like a king He will only really play with you if he feels like it (or if he is hungry enough). When I take him up to my room I think he feels less comfortable and that makes him a lot more mellow. I wouldn't say he becomes cuddly by any means but he does seek attention and comforting touches more. Being outside the cage, whilst being interesting to him (because he actively wants to go out of the cage and explore) removes his safety net (the cage) and makes him panic. That's my suspicion at least. In fact he is completely happy exploring a room as long as you leave him on his own. He just doesn't want people around when he is outside.

Also, just yesterday he was up in my room and he let me rub his chest. This only happened once before, again in my room. So most probably what I will do is take him there more often, try and reinforce the behavior with treats and maybe then he will let me touch him more often

[Rokisha]

I hope it works out for you chris.

[chrisp]

Thanks

[chrisp]

Hi all. Decided to post an update on my progress!

I have been taking your advice of moving him around the house whilst inside the cage. This has indeed helped I think. He seems calmer now when outside the cage. He still flies off when approached but I think now it is more out if his `not wanting to cooperate or interact` and not out of fear.

Also, moving him around helps with his training (in the cage). He is more cooperative when outside of his usual spot. It's a territorial thing I guess. Finding himself in strange surroundings he is more inclined to interact with humans. Makes him feel more secure I guess.

Also, I am still trying to teach step-ups to Percy. After a lot of trying to make him step up on my hand (and plenty of bites) i opted for the use of a handheld perch. At first i just got him used to seeing it while target training. then i was putting it in front of the target stick so he has to lean over it. The next step was to place the target stick further away so he has to step on the handheld perch with one foot. Then even further so he has to step on it with both feet That is as far as I've got successfully. What I am trying to do now is to get him to step up on it without the need for the target stick. For now, the target stick has to be there even if I do not actually target him. So I guess that is going well. The only problem I am having right now is that as soon as he steps up and I hit the clicker he steps down right away (before getting the treat) because he knows he did what was required to get the treat. Also, if I try to bring him closer to me so I treat him whilst on the handheld perch he panics and flies away. I guess he does not trust a perch that moves. My intention was to just keep at it, hoping that repetition will boost his confidence. What do you guys think?

As far as touch, again he is more cooperative when away from his usual spot. I also notice that he becomes MUCH more `cuddly` when he is tired. I occasionally make him sleep in my room, which is not his usual spot and I let him stay awake until I go to sleep as well. I only do this occasionally when I intend to sleep early. The combination of weird surroundings and sleepiness really seems to work. he lets me touch him all over, scratching his neck and the back of his head, etc with no fear of biting. The only problem with this is that the next morning he will go back to his usual `beak only touching allowed` self.


Chris

[cml]

Glad to hear that you are making progress!

Actually, I meant that you should only train in one room at a time, but still outside the cage haha ^^. But if moving the cage has worked, that is great =)!

If you can get a step up with the target stick there, but still not actually targeting, try doing a few like that, and follow with one without the stick. Then do a few more with the stick, and then one without it. Keep doing that, and add on the number without the stick, until you dont need it at all!

[Andromeda]

Thanks for the update, Chris! I have to say I think that's great progress for a fearful bird given that it's only been two weeks!

Great advice from CML on how to fade the target stick.

The only problem I am having right now is that as soon as he steps up and I hit the clicker he steps down right away (before getting the treat) because he knows he did what was required to get the treat. Also, if I try to bring him closer to me so I treat him whilst on the handheld perch he panics and flies away. I guess he does not trust a perch that moves. My intention was to just keep at it, hoping that repetition will boost his confidence. What do you guys think?

Whenever you train you have to break everything down into the tiniest steps, and then once a bird has a step down you want to push him to do just a little bit more in order to get a treat next time. In this case he's learned that you want him to step up onto the stick, and since he does that reliably now you can move on to the next step, which is getting him to stand there longer.

Slowly extend the time he has to stand on the perch before he gets a treat. When he steps onto the stick, instead of clicking immediately, wait maybe three seconds (use your judgment because you don't want him to give up, but you want to make him wait a bit longer before you click). Once you can reliably get him to stand there for three seconds, push for four, etc.

After he will stay on the perch for longer periods of time, he should be more comfortable with it so then you can try to see if he'll take a treat while on the perch instead of stepping off first. I wouldn't try to move the perch at all until you've taught him to stand there for a while and to eat his treat on the perch as well.

I hope this helps! Remember that for training to be fun and interesting the bird has to think it's going from one success to another so if you try something and he's not cooperating after several tries (failing), cue a trick that he knows really well so he can get a reward, and then try to get him to do the new behavior again.

As far as touch, again he is more cooperative when away from his usual spot. ... The only problem with this is that the next morning he will go back to his usual `beak only touching allowed` self.

This is typical of a bird. If they're in a comfortable setting they'll be themselves but if they're in a strange setting they really cling to anything that is familiar (in this case, you). My brown-headed parrot doesn't really like me very much but when I take him to the vet he will run over to me and try to stand on my shoulder or hand which is something he never, ever does.

That's actually a really great start if he lets you touch his beak. Some birds instantly take to petting and scratching but most birds don't because, unlike dogs (who are domesticated), they are wild animals who don't really have an innate sense of "being petted is pleasurable." It's something you have to teach, and you can use clicker training to teach him to tolerate touching, too. Once he learns to let you give him a head scratch you won't have to give him treats for it anymore because the scratch in and of itself is the reward.

[chrisp]

Thanks for all the tips

What I have been doing now is continuing to reinforce the step-up by doing it over and over and over again. I also went back to a very basic step-up by resting the other end hand held perch (the one I am not holding) on Percy's perch. Once he was comfortable with that, I went for a slightly more difficult version where the hand-held perch was no longer touching his normal perch, so he has to actually step forward to it. Seems to be going well As you already suggested, I am not moving the hand held perch at all. Making it feel as solid as possible so he is not afraid of it. I will attempt to delay the click to force him to stay on longer as suggested. We'll see how that goes. What he does right now is he will step up, touch the target and step down even if I do not click because he knows that touching the target is what is expected from him. So I'll we working on that

Thanks again!