Cage aggression

[lifesazoo33]

Fritz (Jardine's Parrot. 2 years old) has some cage aggression issues. He will try to lunge sometimes when you are taking his water or food dishes out, or trying to re-arrange his cage toys. What can I do to discourage this activity, and make him less aggressive. It does not always happen, but it happens enough that taking out his water dish can become a mission (and in typical Jardine's manner, he likes to make pellet soup, so it must be changed often!)

Any help is greatly appreciated.
I will answer any questions that will help you to help me

[Wayne361]

I would avoid the cage agression all together. To be specific I would lure bird outside of cage before reaching in for food bowls etc. If he is cage agressive even to the point of not stepping up on command wihin cage without being bitten, target training (if you havent done this, its a good idea to teach) to bring bird out should accomplish your goal of not getting bit. What I have noticed in my time with my is patterned behaviour and changing this pattern over time. How this translates to your scenario, is by simply changing the pattern of luring the bird out of the cage during feedings (or any time you want to encroach on cage space), the agression is not patterned/enforced since you are removing the motivation for agression by luring the bird from his territory. Over a period of time the agression should subside. If it doesnt subside just continue to lure the bird outside of cage before encroachment and IMO the problem is solved. BTW frequent changes in toy/perch placement in cage helps as does changing cage placement altogether (as mentioned in other posts)

Hope this helps,

Wayne

[Wayne361]

I just noticed you said the bird is 2 years old. Terrible twos so to speak. This hormonal stage could also affect agression issues. My above advice still applies but keep this in mind. Read Micheals articles on training (if you havent already) and apply these training principles with your bird. This will not only make agression issues much more managable, but will strengthen your bond and help create a more well-behaved parrot.

[lifesazoo33]

Thank you both for your help.
I do rotate toys on a fairly frequent basis (remove some and add new ones, and move around existing ones every week to 2 weeks). He just becomes aggressive when you take out his dishes (water mostly) or if he is out and you are moving around toys.
I will try to target train him, and only reward positive behavior.

I have a food mix that he loves, which I use only when cleaning out his cage (and therefore when moving toys), is that a good method for distracting him. That way he learns that when we touch "his stuff" that it is not bad, but rather good and he gets a delicious treat out of it!

Also, this is a behavior that we have noticed since he was around 1 year to 18 months. It does not happen all the time, but enough that water gets spilled on the floor usually once a day