ArthursMom
Meeting neighbors
I would just be so angry if i saw a person slap their bird, even with huge macaws its still unacceptable!!! I usually whisper to my screaming macaw and after a few minutes <sometimes about 20 mins>he starts to whisper back.
You dont. I recommend reading Barbara Heidenreich's Parrot Problem Solver to learn more. ANYONE who thinks any type of punishment is needed to work with a bird is WRONG, and needs to read that book ASAP.
Parrot Books | Parrot Training Books
You ignore the bad, or take them away from the situation(or take the situation away from the bird) that causes them to be naughty, and praise good behavior. With prey animals such as birds, they learn MUCH BETTER and faster when using positive reinforcement. Punishment does NOT work longterm and it barely works short term. Whether verbal or physical. The end result is usually a phobic bird, skittish bird, or a bird who is going to feel all its flight instinct to run from the scary punishment is gone and it'll go out on the offensive and it'll learn that in order for it to stop the evil human from being so cruel is to bite bite bite. Punishment, whether verbal or physical is a horrible way to train any animal especially a bird.
This is a huge reason why you see big aggressive parrots. They have been taught (although accidentally from ignorant humans) to bite to be on the offense when IT feels threatened. And typically a bird like this can be very unruly and "unpredictable" and hard to read.
Yelling or pointing fingers at them, giving mean looks, slapping and spankings, etc, does not work. All these things are human ways, and birds do not understand it. You cannot train a bird effectively when using punishment.
My soon to be ex husband had me give my OWA to my parents when he was in his 30's due to screaming, I wept every day and realized that it was the stress of living with my husband that made Loki scream.
As everyone says, birds vocalize, isn't that part of the reason we are so drawn to them?????