Help With Training... People!

[Vicky Chai Tea]

Ok. I work at a pet store, and unfortunately even though we carry parrots and other birds not one of my co-workers has shown any amount of knowledge in the area of bird behavior, body language, and appropriate training methods. I myself am not entirely well read on those subjects but I can certainly say I can predict bird behavior better than them.

As a result, we have many un-tame birds that stay in the store and rot in their cages while no one takes them out. It's sadly true, and bothers me greatly. They aren't bad people or anything, they just really lack a certain important knowledge about birds and how to handle them. I really want to find a way to help educate them, or allow them to educate themselves, on bird behavior and training so these poor animals will get bought and places in homes. No one wants a bitey, cage aggressive bird. They want nice hand tame sweeties. My boss is loosing money because he's not selling them fast enough.

Here are some things I've seen a lot from them:
Refusing to give the bird personal space
Forcing themselves on a bird (petting, touching, grabbing, especially touching the beak and face for some reason , etc.)
If a bird refuses to come out it's normal for them to chase it around the cage while it screams and flails until they catch it and take it out.
Dropping a bird to the floor when it bites them as punishment
Recommending covering birds up when they scream "too much" to customers
For some reason grabbing a birds beak when it obviously does not want them to and avoiding bites this way, until they actually get chomped then usually dropping the bird.
Even when a bird is panting and mouth wide open (obviously panicked) they sit there and pet the bird forcefully, and when it inevitably tries to fly away and falls they run after it then pick it up and do the same thing.

As a result of this kind of thing, I got bit by a young Scarlet we have. A worker brought the bird out and since this bird is still young it's usually lets people pet it all over. But the birds growing up and despite warnings (vocalizations, pulling away) a co-worker kept petting him. So they set the bird on top of it's cage and a different co-worker grabs his beak and shakes his head in a way that I guess she thought was playful, even though he was bristled and his eyes were pinning. Welp, I was leaning on a shelf thing next to the cage and my hand was the closest thing to him when my co-worker let go and he bit it. I calmly pulled my hand away though he latched on pretty well, then he let go. But then he bit my forearm and I pulled that away also, without reacting much (didn't want to frustrate him further). So the first co-worker grabs him and puts him back in the cage. Her explanation for the bite was "He's hungry and wants me to feed him, so he got frustrated." (we're still weaning him off of formula) And I didn't know how to politely tell her she was wrong.

So I need some ideas on how to get them to be able to work with birds, not against them! My game plan so far is to buy a few bird behaviors books (Specifically I had in mind "The Parrot Problem Solver"... any other suggestions?) and talk to my co workers like "Hey I got this awesome book on birds you guys should check it out!" then lend them my copies. And point out to my boss that he's loosing money when the birds are here for so long. People will buy well behaved parrots. But by refusing to socialize them or going about it in the wrong way he's causing them to become fearful, nervous, aggressive, and unhappy.

 

[rocabird]

You have your work cut out for you, people are harder than animals to train! Anything by Barbara Heidenreich would be good. Her site is Good Bird Inc. Even Bird Talk magazine would have info telling them that everything they are doing is wrong. You could print out articles from online and put them in a binder to keep in the breakroom.

One idea is to start by talking to your boss about allowing you to work with one bird and allow you to set rules on how others can interact and handle it. Then once he sees the difference it is making, hopefully he will see how important it is. You may also want to see if there is a bird club near who may have some members come and do a seminar for employees. Good luck. Hopefully you can make a difference for those birds.

 

[waterfaller1]

I say don't teach them a thing. Rather, start looking for a new job, report them for their abuse of the animals. Let your boss lose money, so maybe he will stop trying to buy any more birds, and shut his place down. Sorry, they sound incredibly cruel to me.

 

[mrstweet]

Could you ask for someone knowledgeable to come in and give a presentation or demonstration, and request that the manager require attendance?

 

[Laurul Feather Cat]

It doesn't matter how much training you give, if these people are not motivated to learn it will all be in vain. Are they there for just the money or because they like working with animals? First establish their interest; as well as your boss' interest in improving the plight of the birds.

 

[Doodle Bird]

I like your game plan, it's a great idea. It will be difficult to convince these people what they are doing is making things worse...pet store types usuallly think they know everything (I used to work in pet stores so have plenty of experience with those types). The seminar idea is also a good one. Maybe you could print out a shorter article and leave copies in the break room. People are more likely to read something shorter during break time than an entire book.

I admire you for how you are handling this!!

 

[Vicky Chai Tea]

Thank you guys for the ideas and suggestions. I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[Milo]

I tend to agree with Lois and Carole. In my experience people that do things like that are not motivated enough to learn how to properly care for the animals that they're selling. Your heart is in the right place for trying to help these unfortunate souls receive better care, but to be honest I don't think it's going to happen. If your boss took the time to research the animals that he/she is selling and put proper education in place then the birds would be in a better position. I'm going to guess that he doesn't want to pay employees for more training when he's already losing money on the birds. I really hope that I'm wrong, but if I were in your place I'd be looking for a different job.

 

[JLcribber]

Correct me if I'm wrong but these other employees are all "young" people being paid minimum wage. They are there to put in time and get their cheque and not being payed enough to actually take an interest in their jobs.

I'm sure you love animals and that is one of the reasons you got that job. You "thought" it would be different but the reality is, "that" is the life of almost all pet store animals and the reason why many of us do not support pet stores in any way. They are "products/inventory" and treated like furniture.

The sooner he goes out of business the better.

 

[Bokkapooh]

I'm going to be the odd one in the bunch and say you were too close and your coworkers was handling the baby unweaned macaw appropriately(unless I'm missing something). Baby macaws NEED beak play and to be abundance weaned, in order to develope into a well rounded happy macaw. I grab and play gently and roughly with Mera's beak all the time.

 

[waterfaller1]

I grab and play gently and roughly with Mera's beak all the time.

I do too, but .......
"If a bird refuses to come out it's normal for them to chase it around the cage while it screams and flails until they catch it and take it out.
Dropping a bird to the floor when it bites them as punishment
Recommending covering birds up when they scream "too much" to customers"

NOT

 

[Bokkapooh]

Oh I totally missed that part

 

[Milo]

I forgot to mention this earlier, but it could also be that your boss is trying to foster a "sympathy buy" situation where people are "saving" the birds from a bad situation.