I think my bird is weirded out by typing...

[Peachy-Gizmo]

We got Gizmo about a month ago and discovered fairly early on that he wasn't very well. About the same time he started a course of antibiotics my laptop died and had to be sent away to be fixed. Gizmo is now perfectly healthy (and a bit of a handful but training seems to be going fairly well. I have taught him step up and step down and we have started recall training using a spare wooden perch. Also using this same perch I have started teaching him 'touch' I use the end of the perch, tell him to touch it and reward him whenever he does not bite it. I actually got to the point where he allowed me to touch his beak and scratch around his face and neck last night. Then, this morning, I got my laptop out for the first time since getting it back whilst Gizmo was out of his cage and it all went a bit wrong. I was already aware that he's a bit of a biter so we've been working on this by getting him to step up onto our hands and rewarding him with praise and treats, I am hoping to phase out treating him every time once he gets more used to hands and realizes they will not hurt him. However, when I started typing and Gizmo came over to investigate, instead of doing what he did before (when he was ill) and just looking at the screen and tapping it curiously, he began lunging and charging at my hands like a small feathery rhinoceros. I can't decide if he reacted this way because he has decided that my hands are creepy and he is afraid of them, or if he thinks they are funny and he is pouncing on them as a cat would a toy because I don't know that I give the correct response. I know I shouldn't flinch but it's hard to overcome natural impulses. I put him in the cage after a while because I couldn't deal with being bitten anymore. A firm 'no' will give him pause, but he goes back to it almost immediately and a lot of his bites break the skin. Any advice would be very welcome. For the time being I have decided to leave him in his cage while the laptop is in use.

 

[tozie12]

i cant help but be reminded of the old joke: doc, it hurts when i do this. doc responds 'well, then dont do that!'.

i think not using the laptop in his presence is good. but getting to the bottom of the issue is better. biting can become a habit. this isnt a good habit to have. so i would suggest against simply enduring them. your parrot is trying to tell you something. the question is, what? he could be trying to get you to stop poking 'his' toy. he could have associated his illness with the laptop. he could be attracted by the swift motions many people make when typing. and it could be about a dozen other things. so first, we need to find out WHY he's doing it. what is he trying to tell you? watch him closely for any signs of distress, interest, etc. how do his feathers look? how do his eyes look. is he leaning away from or towards the laptop?


start by having the laptop on the table as you pay attention to him, ignore the lap top? what does he do?
if he ignores it, move on to step two the next day.

sit laptop on table. hold parrot. just touch laptop. dont type. what's he do?

keep things at baby steps. when you reach a point where he shows interest, fear, etc then you can start trying to figure out what he's trying to say to you.


now remember, i'm not a behaviorist. i have NO parrot training at all. i've done some reading. i've spent the last 5 years with my flock and before that had never spent any substantial time with a parrot. i'm just as prone to poor judgement as the next guy.


oh and congrats on your new lil one!

 

[Peachy-Gizmo]

Thanks, I'll give it a whirl. I am a bit concerned it;s becoming a habit so we'll try and nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand. He did bite my lip this morning, which is new so I will be tackling that next. Any ideas on how to do so would be much appreciated

 

[Katy]

It may just be things are going a little too fast for him. You mentioned you've had him only a month, and he was sick part of that time. As anxious as we all are to jump into training and start having really special relationships with our birds, the fact is we need to go slow. Otherwise we sometimes have to back up and start over. Your little guy may be feeling some performance anxiety and even though he's shown he can do these things, and you have appropriately rewarded him, he may just simply need to go a little slower. Beth's advice is very good. Even though she always minimizes her skills, she has a very good handle on the mind of a parrot. I wish you good luck!

 

[Peachy-Gizmo]

Thanks, Beth and katy, I had him out today and I think, just from witnessing similar behavior towards a pencil I was drawing with, that it could be a combination of two things: I think Beth's suggestion that he viewed the laptop as his toy could well be correct, i think he perhaps thought I was playing with him but got frustrated when he realized I wasn't giving him the level of attention that he has become used to and decided to attack me instead - the same sort of thing happened earlier when I was attempting to do some drawing. He came over to investigate and started off by quite happily playing with the pencil but soon became frustrated and reverted to trying to bite me. I put him in his cage for about 15 minutes, just long enough to do what I needed to, then praised him for playing in his cage with his toys and let him out again. All fine. At the moment I have stuck to teaching him a few basic things rather than overwhelm him straight away, also, I have never trained any animal before so it seemed best to take it slow, although, in retrospect, I may have been going faster than originally planned. Gizmo picks things up very quickly and this spurs me on to try other things but I will leave this alone for now, I think and concentrate on cementing what he has learned already. Thanks for the advice