I have had my sun conure just shy of two years. She turned 2 at the end of June or this year. I used to bring her to work with me at a pet store all the time and she LOVED it. The store I’m at is warehouse-like with a few isles that she would free fly up and down. This also was GREAT for my mental health as she was there, training and socializing was amazing…. And she would sleep about 14 hours afterwards so I got in extra 1:1 time with my cockatoo without her around.
Around December 2022 she started getting a little hit aggressive. She gradually started interacting less with customers. She would gently nip me to indicate she does not want to go to them (I NEVER forced the matter whatsoever, and rewarded her for communicating gently) but it turned to hard bites gradually. She never went after customers ever. One day she gave a coworker a hard pinch. Coworker took it as ”par for the course” of interacting with birds. Another coworker who she had previously ADORED, and would recall to her better then ME, asked her for a kiss and she chomped on her nose real good and drew blood. She also has a sun conure so she was very chill about it. The (paranoid) manager freaked out saying she could do it to a customer and could not come back. This is highly unlikely as she never once bit a customer unless they were being forceful with her to which I would go mama bear.
I waited a few months, and brought her back for the last 2 hours of a shift as a trial run. A 3rd and different coworker just talked to her and said hello, and she flew at her face, but she blocked it, so Theia did a loop and came back, landed on her shoulder, and bit her neck. This coworker has a bird but was extremely upset about it, and she hasn’t been back since.
Since being home and not going to the store, she attacks anyone that comes into the house (except for one person who she loved instantly). Vet and I determined that she is at the age for puberty, and it was the very beginning of breeding season. But we are into August now and she was still showing major aggression from in the cage when someone came over. How am I supposed to have any social or dating life. Nothing stops her attacks. I will reward her or provide distractions with treats/toys for good behaviour and staying on her perch or me if someone is over, but as soon as she finishes the treat, she goes in for the kill. Every. Time. I end up having to put her away, and then will try again in 15 mins. This cycle will repeat. Over. And Over. No amount of rewarding the good behaviours/reprimanding the bad is discouraging the attacks. I dream of being able to take her back to work for both her benefit and mine. I think she misses it as the attacks at home really only started when I stopped bringing her to work. When I put my uniform top on she would scream louder than ever. At one point she was even TERRORIZING one of my cats who is scarred for life I think. Theia had decided that Hades was not allowed on the cat tree. The other cat was fine to be there there, but not Hades.
Also, it’s never kids. Only adults, both men and women. I look after two boys on occasion, and when they are over, she just ignores them and doesn’t interact. She was never unsupervised at the store so it is unlikely that a customer caused her drama. She either stayed with a coworker, me, or in her cage.
Are there any training techniques I am missing here other than rewarding the good stuff, and removing her from the situation for the bad stuff? Do I need to get someone to react to her attack in such a way that she thinks twice? Do I just let her attack them over and over till she is done?! Do I just never have anyone over ever again?! Is she THAT mad about not coming to the store anymore?! I have never had such difficulties training a bird as I have had with her. Two sun conures at work are about 50% recall trained after 15 min sessions 2X week. Theia has very much stopped caring when I call her. At her peak, she would come when I called about 4/5 times (at the store). Now I’m lucky if it’s 1 in 10.
HELP.
Around December 2022 she started getting a little hit aggressive. She gradually started interacting less with customers. She would gently nip me to indicate she does not want to go to them (I NEVER forced the matter whatsoever, and rewarded her for communicating gently) but it turned to hard bites gradually. She never went after customers ever. One day she gave a coworker a hard pinch. Coworker took it as ”par for the course” of interacting with birds. Another coworker who she had previously ADORED, and would recall to her better then ME, asked her for a kiss and she chomped on her nose real good and drew blood. She also has a sun conure so she was very chill about it. The (paranoid) manager freaked out saying she could do it to a customer and could not come back. This is highly unlikely as she never once bit a customer unless they were being forceful with her to which I would go mama bear.
I waited a few months, and brought her back for the last 2 hours of a shift as a trial run. A 3rd and different coworker just talked to her and said hello, and she flew at her face, but she blocked it, so Theia did a loop and came back, landed on her shoulder, and bit her neck. This coworker has a bird but was extremely upset about it, and she hasn’t been back since.
Since being home and not going to the store, she attacks anyone that comes into the house (except for one person who she loved instantly). Vet and I determined that she is at the age for puberty, and it was the very beginning of breeding season. But we are into August now and she was still showing major aggression from in the cage when someone came over. How am I supposed to have any social or dating life. Nothing stops her attacks. I will reward her or provide distractions with treats/toys for good behaviour and staying on her perch or me if someone is over, but as soon as she finishes the treat, she goes in for the kill. Every. Time. I end up having to put her away, and then will try again in 15 mins. This cycle will repeat. Over. And Over. No amount of rewarding the good behaviours/reprimanding the bad is discouraging the attacks. I dream of being able to take her back to work for both her benefit and mine. I think she misses it as the attacks at home really only started when I stopped bringing her to work. When I put my uniform top on she would scream louder than ever. At one point she was even TERRORIZING one of my cats who is scarred for life I think. Theia had decided that Hades was not allowed on the cat tree. The other cat was fine to be there there, but not Hades.
Also, it’s never kids. Only adults, both men and women. I look after two boys on occasion, and when they are over, she just ignores them and doesn’t interact. She was never unsupervised at the store so it is unlikely that a customer caused her drama. She either stayed with a coworker, me, or in her cage.
Are there any training techniques I am missing here other than rewarding the good stuff, and removing her from the situation for the bad stuff? Do I need to get someone to react to her attack in such a way that she thinks twice? Do I just let her attack them over and over till she is done?! Do I just never have anyone over ever again?! Is she THAT mad about not coming to the store anymore?! I have never had such difficulties training a bird as I have had with her. Two sun conures at work are about 50% recall trained after 15 min sessions 2X week. Theia has very much stopped caring when I call her. At her peak, she would come when I called about 4/5 times (at the store). Now I’m lucky if it’s 1 in 10.
HELP.
