Not behaving on shoulder

EdgesofTwilight · May 17, 2015

Cosmo likes to take a b-line up anyone's arm to their shoulder and likes to pick on moles, nibble and bite ears, and run to the back of your neck when you want him to step up. Or he'll just dig in with his nails into your shoulder so he won't go anywhere, and sometimes bites. Going up on the shoulder is fine as long as he behaves and it is on my terms not his. Any suggestions on how to modify this behavior? He has had multiple time outs in his cage for this, but has really affected it.
Thanks,

-Chris

JerseyWendy · May 17, 2015

Chris, I'd give him a very brief 'time-out' each time he misbehaves on the shoulder. Another option would be to not allow him on the shoulders until he learns how to play nice. That may sound a bit harsh, but now's the time to teach him right from wrong.

EdgesofTwilight · May 17, 2015

He plays nice otherwise. Sometimes gets a little carried away, but then he calms down. Its just on the shoulder he misbehaves. Past 2 times once on my shoulders and the other on my girlfriend's shoulder. He won't step up and any attempt to get him to results in him digging his nails in your shoulder. Then he gives a good bite to your finger. When I say no in a loud stern voice he eases up with the nails and into the cage he goes. A minute or 2 he is able to come out of the cage and he's all looking sorry and apologetic.

But he still wants to go directly to my shoulder majority of the time and mostly I can catch or trick him before he gets there. Also wants to get on the back of the recliner if I'm sitting down. Never mind the shoulder then when I have someplace higher to go.

He's banned from going up there for the time being too because he likes to climb your face. Once, I looked up at him and he climbed onto the bridge of my nose and he lost balance and dug in with his nails into the corner of my eyes. He wouldn't let go and started flapping. I tried to remain calm and cupped him and he got off. Luckily no real damage, just an irritated eye. Would have been a comical video to watch.

Birdman666 · May 18, 2015

I agree with Wendy. If he misbehaves on shoulders, he isn't allowed up there... He's a hand bird, not a shoulder bird.

My CAG displacement bites. She's the only bird I own who's not a shoulder bird.

My Ruby macaw was never a shoulder bird. Neither was my Shamrock. Those birds were arm candy...

EdgesofTwilight · May 18, 2015

Birdman666 said:
I agree with Wendy. If he misbehaves on shoulders, he isn't allowed up there... He's a hand bird, not a shoulder bird.

My CAG displacement bites. She's the only bird I own who's not a shoulder bird.

My Ruby macaw was never a shoulder bird. Neither was my Shamrock. Those birds were arm candy...

He is more inquisitive than nasty. He'll find something that interests him and explore it with his beak. He plays nice normally, just not on the shoulder.

Someone told me about another Hahn's that plucked himself and was rehomed. They said that the Hahn's is a shoulder bird and wasn't allowed to be, that is why he plucked himself. Which I know is probably not true. The reason he probably plucked himself is that the owners son who he was attached to went away to college and could take the bird. That's probably why.

I don't mind him being up there, if he just would behave. Maybe it's the baby in him. But definitely its off limits for now. He still makes a mad dash up the arm to get up there. Even more so if I'm on the recliner. He loves the back of the chair for some reason. Like he sees something in the room behind it.

How do I get him off a shoulder if he digs in with his nails and won't come off? Might be a good time to get his nails trimmed. They were a little long when he was at the vet but she didn't want to trim them because he is clipped and so young. So he would have an easier time getting around.
Hopefully he won't need to meet Mr. Towel!

Dinosrawr · May 18, 2015

I know when I first brought Avery and Shiko home, they had a natural tendency to immediately crawl up my arm and onto my shoulder. To curb the behaviour, I basically had to make my shoulder "impossible" to get to, and station trained my birds on my hand. Now that they know they can go on my shoulder when I allow them it's no longer an issue, but I always find young birds have a natural tendency to crawl up there.

The easiest way to avoid the nails is just stopping him until he's completely step-up trained, though it's not always possible. While it's not my favourite thing in the world to do, if you find he's digging his claws in and he won't step up then you could always nudge your fingers underneath his feet and basically scoop him up. I also let Shiko's nails stay longer for awhile because he had a soft wing clip, but once you notice they're agile enough around their cage then you'll be fine to clip their nails.

I'm glad Cosmo is settling in so well with you though, he's such a cutie!

EdgesofTwilight · May 19, 2015

He is a really good bird. A lot better than I expected. I just don't want him to have behavior issues down the road and want him to be socialized to the point he is nice or at least tolerates everyone.

I tried to put my fingers up to his chest and set him a little of balance so he would step up, but he squawked and bit me instead lol. He has only done that twice and didn't expect the reaction I gave him. I swiftly put him in his cage as I told him no, not nice and closed the door to the room for a couple minutes. He knew I was mad and let out this cute I'm sorry cry. After his time out, I went to his cage and opened his door and he eagerly came to me like he knew he was wrong.

Delfin · May 19, 2015

EdgesofTwilight, Geez, you try to force him to step up by pushing him off balance which he didn't like, so then he bit you. Then you put him in his cage, whilst rousing on him and left the room and you think he is in the wrong.

The first few times that Delfin or Mulawa have bitten me was when they were young and had just come into our family home. So they were scared and bit from the natural instinct of self -preservation. The bites were not hard, in fact they didn't even hurt. Instead of punishing them I conducted lots of trust building and bonding sessions (training) with great success.

Alexandrines parrot are not a touchy type bird. But I can touch both Delfin and Mulawa anywhere and they will not bite me. I have achieved this through positive reinforcement.

There was one time when Delfin bit me hard for no apparent reason, he just flew down and bit me on the forearm hard. It hurt, but I tolerated it, put Delfin back on his stand and in a firm and displeased tone of voice told him NO and gave Him the filthiest look. Parrots are extremely empathetic creatures who watch our facial expressions closely. I made sure that Delfin understood my displeasure and he has never bitten anyone since.

These are the six rules I apply to Delfin and Mulawa training procedure.
1 move slowly around the bird
2 let the bird come to you.
3 Don't force the bird to do anything that it doesn't want to do.
4 make the trust building and bonding sessions (training) fun
5 end all training sessions on a positive.
6 patience.

Because Delfin is quite well behaved, Mulawa is watching how he is behaving with the family and is copying.

Solo · May 19, 2015

I can agree with 4, 5, &6 on Deflins post. However Macs are very strong headed. Phoebe was accustomed to being on shoulders when I got her, however she sometimes gets a little carried away up there and will try to rip my ear off, or create trenches in my scalp. I can usually tell what kind of mood she's in, and adjust accordingly. If she's being a brat then NO SHOULDER! if she's calm and just relaxing (like after a bath) she may be up there as long as she behaves. There have been a couple times I've literally had to shove her back onto my arm, or drop my weight to distract her from biting. Phoebe is just playing, but its something that needs to be addressed and corrected as she can cause damage. I feel strong boundaries will create a better bond between the two of you, and consistency will do wonders for trust. If he's not behaving on your shoulder then he comes down..WHEN you tell him to. You will both be miserable of he becomes a entitled brat and he runs the house. Hope you get this behavior nipped in the butt quickly, and keep us all posted.

Bandespresso · May 19, 2015

Delfin said:
EdgesofTwilight, Geez, you try to force him to step up by pushing him off balance which he didn't like, so then he bit you. Then you put him in his cage, whilst rousing on him and left the room and you think he is in the wrong.

Positive reinforcement is great and all but you definitely still need to set boundaries. There its only so much you can do with a clicker and a treat. If a bird is misbehaving on my shoulder, you better bet I'm forcing it off. Biting means timeout but behaving means love and attention! Sometimes you need a little negative reinforcement to make the positive more positive and that it's okay! All birds are different and I'm sure there are many who respond wonderfully to positive reinforcement alone but Macs typically need more boundary setting than Most parrots.

I think you're doing great with Cosmo! One more vote for no shoulder until he behaves well enough for it.

EdgesofTwilight · May 19, 2015

Delfin said:
1 move slowly around the bird
2 let the bird come to you.
3 Don't force the bird to do anything that it doesn't want to do.
4 make the trust building and bonding sessions (training) fun
5 end all training sessions on a positive.
6 patience.

I do mostly what is in all these key points. Cosmo has become quite comfortable in his home and runs to me as soon as enter the room or near his cage/playstand. Understand I am not trying to I'll treat him, I am just trying to curb an unacceptable behavior that could potentially get worse. He does get positive reinforcement, but in this one circumstance it is not helping. He does know the difference between being gentle and biting. When he gets a little carried away, I just say gentle softly and he backs off with the bite pressure a bit. Then I give him a treat and say good boy. At first he was doing it purposely to get a treat, then I would only give him a treat sometimes, but always say good boy. It's interesting in how they try to train you as well.

EdgesofTwilight · May 19, 2015

Solo said:
I feel strong boundaries will create a better bond between the two of you, and consistency will do wonders for trust. If he's not behaving on your shoulder then he comes down..WHEN you tell him to. You will both be miserable of he becomes a entitled brat and he runs the house. Hope you get this behavior nipped in the butt quickly, and keep us all posted.

That's exactly what I'm trying to do.

But then again I think I need a little more of Delfin's #6 - Patience

I want to try clicker and target training soon. But I notice a lot of the time he seems to have a short attention span. Right now he's running around his playstand like a mad bird.

He runs up to and top of his water dish, pops his head in it, then jumps of the water dish onto the grass mat and rinse and repeat. Kinda reminds me of how kids run and jump on the bed. Wow that was fun, let's do it again and again! [emoji2]

Not behaving on shoulder

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