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"Everything must be voluntary"

Kassiani

Biking along the boulevard
Celebirdy of the Month
Mayor of the Avenue
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
9/12/20
Messages
6,832
Location
Southeastern U.S.
I came across the idea of a trust account and found it helpful.

Basically, we hold an account with our animals. Positive interactions are like paying into the account and negative interactions are like withdrawing from it. There isn't a one-to-one correlation - a tiny positive interaction isn't enough to make up for a significant negative interaction. However, lots of tiny positive interactions can mount up and mean that an occasional negative interaction isn't devastating.

It's also important to be aware that what an animal percieves as a "payment" or "withdrawal" and its magnitude isn't necessarily what we expect. Anyone who knows a food-motivated dog knows that a small piece of cheese as a reward is enough to overcome quite a lot!

So all those interactions where you ask what a bird what they want to do and respect them when they say "no" are paying into the account and establishing trust in you. It explains why it's often easier to take a new bird to the vet for a checkup sooner rather than later - you get the unpleasant, scary thing over and done with when your trust account balance is already in the red rather than undermine the fragile new relationship you're trying to establish.

An interaction where you have to do something like towel or medicate an unwilling bird is going to be a withdrawal - but the strength of the pre-existing relationship means that it isn't going to destroy your bird's trust in you.

btw, I had to medicate Leia. She was smart enough to not go near me until she'd had her medication then she'd be all sweetness :laughing2: I ended up letting the dose soak into a third of a Parrot Cookie. She thought she was getting a delicious treat and I was far more successful in getting her meds into her.
I've run across this particular idea before, too! I'm hopeful I'm not overdrawing my account!
 

Parutti

Jogging around the block
Avenue Spotlight Award
Joined
6/21/22
Messages
647
Location
Minnesota
I like the trust account idea too, it's been really helpful as my relationship with Cotton develops.
 
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