Friendly dive bomber

[Inheavenlygrass]

Hello all! Since Kiwi and I are staying with my family for Christmas this seemed like a good time to ask about this. So. Kiwi likes heads, loves them in fact. The problem is that she will fly to people's heads regardless of whether or not they want her to, or are in fact terrified of her. If they duck or wave their hands around to shoo her away she'll just circle around and try again until I chase her down and towel her to get her to stop (seriously, it's the only way to stop her, she won't come back to me or land anywhere else, she just keeps dive bombing the chosen head ) Now, this isn't an aggressive behavior, if the person stays still and lets her land she'll happily sit there and preen them and maybe climb down to their shoulder to preen them some more. She's not trying to drive them away or attack them, she just can't figure out why they don't want to be friends. This is a big problem with people who I'm trying to convince that she is in fact very sweet and not winged death. (like the majority of my family) It's hard to tell them that she's trying to be friendly when she won't stop flying at their head in what I imagine is a terrifying manner. Even people who like her can get annoyed with her climbing all over them since she refuses to go back to me when other people are over. Does anyone have any suggestions or training ideas? I'd like to be able to let her out of the cage when people are over because she loooooves people but I can't if she's going to harass everyone.

 

[camelotshadow]

No clue, but I hope you get some good answers.

 

[Princessbella]

Unfortunately, as long as she is allowed to do that behavior with you, she will think that it is OK to do this to other people. You also need to teach her that when it is time to go back to you, she has to do it. Does she know the step up command? Or maybe you can make up a command that lets her know that she needs to come back to you. For Bella, when I put my finger out, she knows it is time to step up. When Bella does something that I don't like, I put her back in her cage so she knows that it is not acceptable. When she is good, she gets extra scritches (she is not a big food bird). She is also well versed in step up or up and the word no and she only will sit on people's shoulders and arms quietly without climbing on them. She is not even a year old and has been present for a baby shower with 20 people and a Halloween party for 70 people with the only problem being that the guests did not want Bella to go to bed. It takes a lot of work and consistency to do this but you will be happy with the results. It's like training any animal or human child to behave. The problem is that unfortunately, at least for me, Bella will be the eternal 2 year old and I will be treating as such for the rest of our lives.

 

[Inheavenlygrass]

She steps up and behaves herself when she's with me, once you add another person it becomes problematic. When there's another person she gets so excited that any reward (food/scritches) or deterrent (removing her from the situation/putting her in her cage) is not immediate enough to be an effective learning experience since she won't stay in one place long enough to administer either. (If I try to take her away from a new person she'll step up wait a few seconds then fly away). I suppose I need a second person to act as a prop while I teach her how to behave with strangers, since she's very obedient with me...

 

[Princessbella]

I agree. I did that with Bella. She met my friends one on one before she was in a group.

 

[Vee]

Hello Inheavenly... I agree too! How old is your conure. I just recently got my PGCC and he flies around like a maniac when he gets excited. I get frightened that he might fly into the wall or window and hurt himself. I am trying to change this type of thing with him, but birds love to fly-gotta tone it down at least!

 

[Sadieladie1994]

To much so leave her in her cage for now. Leaving her out to continue bad behavior reinforces bad behavior. She does not know it is bad as to her it is fun and a game. You need to do a bit of training. Teach her targets, reinforce and encourage time on a stand and off people.Harness train her and start taking her for visits so she is more familiar with other people being around.

A girl just wanted to have some fun.

 

[Kiwibird08]

Train her to "station" (stay in one spot unless you invite her over). Until she's reliable at staying where she's told, she should be kept up when guests are over. If you don't already, make sure you have a portable perch for her so she has somewhere "to be" in the middle of a crowd besides on guests. I also agree with sadieladie about getting her out and about on a harness (or in a bird backpack) to become more well socialized and not get so excited about strangers. Ours had the opposite issue, and while he doesn't fly, he was excessively aggressive towards strangers and went out of his way to attack them in any way he could. That also confined him to never coming out in public and limited his ability to "see the world" so to speak. A portable perch and getting him out in public did wonders for socializing him and teaching him proper manners of living in a human flock and that other humans don't need to be harassed by a featherbutt . He is much friendlier with guests and strangers now and can be out of his cage and on his perch hanging out with everyone when people come over. He has become a feathered dog when it comes to going out in the car and running errands with me, which is great mental enrichment. Getting parrots out in public (safely restrained of course) and having a spot for them to be included in the action when guests are over does wonders for a variety of behavioral issues. They didn't choose to live in a human flock, but the more they observe how we interact, the more they understand how they should behave and their place in their surrogate flock