Question by Abigail: How to train a spoiled parrot?
My african grey has received lots of scratches(which it really likes) and now whenever I try to teach it to step up, it just ignores me and asks for a scratch. Is there a way to fix this?
Best answer:
Answer by N B
I have 11 birds including an African Gray. If it wants a scratch, tell it in a firm voice, ‘No.’ then tell it to step up again. if it attempts to bite you, tap its beak and say again in a firm voise no. We just grab ours by the body then put it on our arm. Not sure if it will work with your bird but we can try. Hope this helped
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Never never never tap a bird on the beak to punish it! A bird is not a dog! You cannot train them in the same way! If you smack your parrot, you could end up making the problem worse, and cause your parrot to fear you.
Now that that is out the of the way….
Its great that your birdie loves to be scratced, I know my Grey does!
I would suggest a few things to do. First, stop scratching the Grey while he is in the cage. Only give him scratches when he is out of the cage.
Second, when you ask the bird to “step up” and it just puts its head down, simplily close the cage and walk away. Your Grey wants attention from you, and is smart enough to figure out after a bit that it does not get attention by putting its head down.
Lastly try luring the bird out with a treat. Hold a seed or something slightly out of its reach and say the step up command. When the bird steps up on your hand to reach the treat, move the bird away from the cage, praising it, and then offer it some scratches.
Just be firm and don’t give in. With parrots it is a constant game of “who is the top bird” don’t let your parrot rule the roost!
Best Wishes!
Edit:
In regard to what I said about not punishing your African Grey physically. That is because it can teach the Grey that your hand is a bad thing! If the parrot learns to fear your hand, he will certainly not want to step up onto it. If you read any parrot training guide they ALL say never to strike your parrot, even gently. Once the parrot fears your hand, you will have more then just a “I want pets, not to come out” problem.
Training via of fear is stupid! Use psychology
Good Luck!
Tapping the beak will not hurt your bird and is a good way of letting it know not to bite.You have got to start getting him out of his cage and working with him.This takes alot of love and time.
Have you tried clicker training him? It really works wonders.
Here is a great place to ask questions:
http://www.parrot-crazy.com/forum/forum.php