Parrots Training you

[nuttyone1]

I.m reading through the posts and quite often I come acros this saying. I am new to parrots and am not sure in whay way they train you and really dont want to fall into this trap unknowingly so any advice would be grateful. Rodney has been with me for 3 weeks now and is happy to take treats from me now and again. He will also let me scratch him when he is relaxed. I tried clicker training and he sulked for a day...no treat taking or scratching would he have. I really would like to have him stepping up etc but if he has trained me it would take longer yes? Thanks in advance me and rodney

[Michael]

Parrot training the owner is when the parrot does things that cause its owner to do what it wants. For example the bird doesn't want to be handled so it raises its crest and bites. The owner learns that when the bird raises its crest to leave it alone or it will bite. The bird successfully used positive punishment and negative reinforcement to teach the owner not to try to handle it. Another classic example is that the parrot screams for attention. So in order to avoid the screaming, the owner just brings the parrot along preemptively to avoid leaving it alone and screaming. Lots of other examples exist. I mentioned a few more in this article.

Basically stick to the training approach. Reward the bird for what you want and ignore the things you don't want. The parrot mainly wields positive punishment and negative reinforcement. By NOT reacting at all in any way shape or form (ignoring) when the parrot bites, screams, plucks, or does anything else undesirable, you avoid rewarding it for it and being trained by the parrot about what it wants you to do. Stick to positive reinforcement based training and YOU teach the bird how to behave instead of the other way around.