I have a second (fifth) hand B&G. He was quite bad, when I got him. He lunged at anything even remotely close to his cage. And he had several areas plucked as he was very stressed in his former environment.

I treated him as someone with PTSD. You never know what will tick them off, but be sure to know, that if you are consistent in being kind and loving to him, he given time will improve. That being said, he will probably have relapses for a great number of years, but they will decrease little by little over time. I by now know what will make Sugar have a bad day(s). When going to the vet, I need to be aware of his temper for 1-3 days. And when those times come, you will learn to work around the moods

Hang in there Scott, we are all rooting for you and Diamond.

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Thanks guys for all your comments and support. I've read all suggested (most for a second time) and also read and watched some clicker training materials. Good stuff. Going to start today. I think it will help remove some of the confusion that may be generated from my end. He does come to me (usually) when I say "Diamond, come here" but "step up" has been rough, filled with uncertainty on both sides. I am hoping I can redirect him and make him more comfortable with the clicker. Bird tricks on on utube has some great videos. Their website is www.birdtricksstore.com.

We had a good day yesterday. I did get a fairly good pinch that drew a little blood but I think it was just a "where you been" pinch because I had to be gone most of the day. Also this morning rather than have him come to me for a treat I decided to ask him to say "hello" before he got it, something I've never done. He came over to me and I think I only had to coax him 3-4 times before he said it.

I've read a lot about the hight aspect and was looking for some enlightened opinions. Often, at some point during our time together he climbs up high, he's able to get about 7' up in his cage, and gets fairly animated and a bit talky. He usually says several variations of Scott, grandpa, grandpa scott. I kinda get the feeling he trying to let me know he's in control. He's usually perfectly content at eye level with me so I don't think he's going up there to feel safe and I know he's not doing it because he's afraid. I usually stand there, looking up to him and talk to him. He'll come right down for a treat. I've decided it's a negative and when he does it I will leave. What do you think?

When I first met The Amazon, he had a play stand on top of his cage that made him a foot taller than me. He would boss around from up there and there was no question of having him step up. Removing that stand put us at eye level, and it did cause him to recalculate our relationship. I still didn't force him to do anything, and I won't say it took any steam out of him ... but going up high added something extra to his base feist level, and when he couldn't go up high the feisting didn't get as intense. I don't know how you could restrict him from going high in such a big cage ... can you make some kind of perch tree with fun stuff on it where he can be just slightly above eye level to start, and maybe he'll accept that level as good enough (because it's higher than you) but it won't put him in stratospheric ego range?

He's got lots of places to be where he's at various hights. I am going to slowly add some fun stuff in a couple different spots that he's yet to explore. When I built the cage I decided to give him a place to get "up" too. We have 3 dogs. There were 2 dogs at his previous home but our dogs will have to pass right by him to get to the other side of the yard. They are blocked off from getting by him right now. They all have met but we are taking it very slow. Anyway, i wanted him to have a nice high spot to go to, if he felt the need, when they do finally come out.

It is the macaws instinct to go as high as possible, you leaving if he goes to a high place, will result in you never having any time with your macaw. When he has that type of cage he has, even if you remove perches up high, he can still just climb the cage walls.

I think it's a good idea to start training your macaw. I did the same thing, just without the clicker and just my voice as indicator for correct behavior. I can highly recommend using a wooden chop stick as target. That is very useful and you can make him focus on the target instead of stepping up on ex a handheld perch. If you then get him to start with that, that will make stepping up on you later on easier and you don't risk getting bit as much, as you have the chop stick and the handheld perch between you and the beak.

Happy training

Hi guys, thanks for your input!

I started clicker training yesterday. This morning back at it and it's going well. It's suggested that you keep the sessions short, 2-5 minutes. While I'm reading and watching all I can maybe someone could give me some input. If I spend 5minutes training should I then go away or can I stay and hang out with him? Should every time I go out be a training session? If so that might be 10-15 sessions a day. Or is it ok to go out, hang out, give treats and not train Throughout the day? I'm not asking for a complete guide to clicker training here just some insight. As soon as I leave here I will be reading and watching more on clicker training so maybe I will find the answers.

Also, side note here, last night maybe an hour before Diamond is ready to sleep I was hanging out in his cage and Carissa, a girl that's here 4 days a week helping with our son and has only been out to see Diamond several times, walked through the house to the kitchen. Diamond walked over to where he could see her through the kitchen window. I said "that's Carissa". He literally walked about 5 feet back to me, reached out and bit me, turned around, walked away while saying "get out! Get out Scott...get out!" Perplexed I stood there for a moment...and got out, then realized that was probably a bad move. Then again not sure. He's never told me to leave before, usually just the opposite when I do start to leave.

And again, I am reading and learning all I can but direct input sure is nice.

When training birds in general, it's very important to stop with a success. If you just started training I would only do max 3 minutes. If you get that thought "That's a good one, I'll just do one more" then stop. Don't do the next one.

And you can stay after a training session and socialize, it's actually recommended

You can easily do more sessions during a day, but you should leave him alone for at least an hour before you return for a training session.

You do not need to train every time you go in to visit. It's actually a good idea to come in and not ask anything of him, than just his company.

Good luck on your continued training and please feel free to ask any other questions and we will do our best to help you out

Awesome advice!!! Just what I needed to hear. Thank you very much!