Re: 7 month old female Vos biting

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: Hi Linda! : I read your additional information and have some more thoughts for your consideration. At first I am going to present a couple of “long stories”, then address your additional questions more specifically. : The “evil” washcloth / defending space : It could be that your girl doesn’t like the washcloth/ doesn’t like it in her cage. There are a couple of things you can try for that. : You can let her out of the cage to play on top while you clean, or if she will be supervised by someone else, let her out of the cage and take her to her playtree, then clean. Sometimes I think a bird feels a need to defend his/her space if s/he is inside the cage and “things are happening” – whether cleaning it, changing water bowls, food bowls, etc. This could stem from the basic need to defend space, defend a food source, or could also stem from not wanting to feel “trapped” inside the cage with a big human (even a beloved human) blocking the door and reaching in and “doing things” (even familiar things). : Once the bird is out of the cage, it seems her need to defend it from intrusion diminishes. She plays on the cage, you clean it, all is well. Neither Cabby nor Chardy like to be in their cage while I am cleaning it. They will come down and try to chase or “get” the washcloth or my fingers etc. They are much happier when they are out of the cage….then I can do what I want and they don’t mind (except I can’t use the green and white washcloth – I use white or blue!). : Sometimes when I try to change the food or water bowls (like when they make “soup” in the water dish!), one of the birds will zoom over and growl and guard it. I just come back later and change the bowl when the guarding has stopped, or my husband or I will distract the “guard bird” while the other one changes the bowl. The distraction method helps in the morning when we are getting ready for work and don’t have time to wait for the “guard” to “stand down”. : We have found it helps to say what we are going to do – like “time to change the water!” or “time for breakfast!”. We think this helps the birds to know what you are going to do. For young birds this may be especially helpful as they are trying to learn what is expected when you come to their cage and/or reach in. Do you want me to step up? Do you want to take my food away? Are you bringing me food? Are you going to try to grab me and eat me? : When it is time to clean the cage and Al isn’t home, I open the cage and say “who wants out?” Cabby and Chardy zoom out of the cage and up onto the top to play and stretch (if Al is home, I have them step up and take them to their playtree, and Al watches them while I clean). If one of the birds is slow about coming out, I just leave the door open and ask “do ya wanna come out?” and go about my business cleaning outside of the cage, like the floor, or brushing crumbs off of the outside, etc. Usually it just takes a minute for the slow one to come out. : When you get ready to let her out and clean the cage, bring an extra clean damp washcloth for your baby to play with. I rinse the washcloth through with warm water several times to remove fabric softener perfume and such, then squeeze it gently (leave some water in it, but not sopping) and place it on top of the cage in a little heap. Cabby and Chardy both like to go over and chew on the washcloth, jump on it, growl at it, shake it, etc. They have a good time with theirs and I use mine to clean the cage. : : A little bit of patience goes a long way – a trust building technique : Sometimes baby birds are insecure about coming out of their cage. I wonder sometimes if it has anything to do with being shy about leaving the nest cavity in Nature….Just like there are shy people, there are shy birds, it seems. They see the cage as “their place” - secure, safe. Intruders into the cage might upset them, and leaving the safety of the cage might also. Think of a shy child who will cry and resist if being “made” to go outside and play….but if he sees other children outside having fun, gets curious and wants to go out and try to join in. Try this…it has worked well with an Amazon parrot our family has rescued (this is basically a technique we learned from Sally Blanchard’s book and video). : Bring a chair into her room. Situate it near her cage. Bring in a magazine or book. Talk to her gently. Open her cage door. Sit in the chair and read the magazine for a while – maybe 15 or 20 minutes to give her a chance to come out on her own. Look to see what she is doing without seeming to look at her. She will probably come out of her cage and either begin playing on top, or will want to see what you are doing. If she is playing, look up at her and talk to her. Go over to her and touch her or play a little with her toys with her. Ask her to step up, and praise her lavishly when she does. Maybe give her a little treat. See if she wants to go back to playing. If she does, put her back down and let her play while you get the washcloth. Tell her she can play while you clean the cage, and start cleaning it on the inside. Check to see what she is doing and talk to her and praise her. If she wants to come down while you are cleaning, have her step up and talk to her and cuddle her. If the washcloth upsets her, put it under the cage out of her sight while you pay attention to her for a few minutes. If you are lower than the top of her cage (which I am when I am cleaning it), in a minute or two, see if she wants to go back on top. Our birds usually do. Then when she goes back, resume cage maintenance. : If she comes as close as she can to see what you are doing, look over at her, talk to her, ask her to step up, praise and cuddle, see if she wants to play on top, etc as in the paragraph above. : If she doesn’t come out, observe what it was she was doing in the cage – was she standing in a back corner? Was she on a favorite perch? Was she watching you? Eating? Preening? What she was doing can give you some clues to her relaxation level – a back corner would be “nervous” and “preening” would probably be relaxed. Talk to her gently, praise her and leave the room for a minute or two. Then come back and see if she has come out. If she is still in the cage, tell her she is a good girl and that you are going to clean the cage, then clean it with the least amount of disturbance (except talking to her in a gentle, happy voice) to the bird, shut the cage door and leave the room. Check on her later to see if she wants to come out to play – hopefully by stepping onto your hand, but possibly by coming out of the cage first, then stepping up. She may come out more readily since the cage has already been cleaned and the washcloth is nowhere in sight. Watch her body language for clues. The next day, repeat the exercise. The goal is to have her feel secure and curious enough to come out of her cage and play or want you to pick her up so you can clean her cage etc. : Soon, she should be eager to come out of the cage when she sees you. In a short time, you will probably be able to open her cage door and ask her to step up without waiting for her to come out on her own. Be sure to talk to, praise and cuddle her a minute each time to reinforce the pleasure she will find in doing what you ask her to do. After she comes out, do just a little bit of laddering to gently reinforce your position as flock leader, as well as reinforce training in and compliance with the UP command. Keep the laddering exercise short and enjoyable. : All that information is just basically to say that sometimes the birds don’t want to be picked up or to come out of their cage exactly when we want them to. Since we don’t know why they might be slow to comply, pushing them or forcing them might damage some of the trust we have built with them. Something Sally Blanchard says is that the things we do with our parrots should be trust-building, not trust destroying. She advises to think of the things we do in those terms, and if we feel something could be trust destroying, try to think of another approach that can accomplish the goal in a positive way. : Yawning a lot : As you have observed, birds yawn when they are tired just like people do. They also do something that looks like yawning – called “gaping”- when they have a respiratory problem such as an infection. Some yawning and gaping is normal. If your bird is doing A LOT of yawning, and especially if she is also sneezing (especially “wet” sneezes) you should take her to her avian vet for an exam (also, as for humans, some sneezing is normal). Her behavior could be due in part to being tired, but could also be due to not feeling well. Something to note is that a respiratory infection or a sinus infection is a potentially serious problem for birds as these infections can attack not only the areas we think of as “respiratory” such as nose, lungs, sinuses – but air sacs including those in the bones. : Sleeping during the day : Parrots nap during the day, even if they receive plenty of restful sleep at night. I personally believe a good night’s sleep is very important, especially to a young bird that is still growing and developing. Some people who have their cage located in a family room or other area that is not quiet at night have a small “sleeping cage” located in a quieter room such as a guest room. This “sleeping cage” would only need to be equipped with a comfortable perch, and small bowls for water and dry food. If your bird has her own room or her cage is located away from the family room, you can shut her door while the human family members are awake – like you might for a human baby. : Leaving the TV on for her : Many people leave on a TV or radio for their birds when they aren’t home. I think it is a good idea as long as the TV is tuned to a channel that doesn’t have lots of loud bangs or loud explosions, etc. : Clicker training for breaking bad habits : I personally do not use these training methods, although I have read about them. I feel that such training probably works well for teaching tricks or other things on command. However, I also feel that if a bird (or dog or any other animal) is “trained” away from bad habits, the problems that caused those habits will resurface in another form – with a good chance of being worse or more difficult to manage than before. I feel that the only real way to change behavior is through positive, trust building modification techniques. Then you have a better chance of getting at the root of the problem effecting a real, lasting change that has the added benefit of building a stronger relationship between you and your bird. : I have posted the link to Sally Blanchard’s website in case you are interested in learning more about her parrot behavior techniques. Her methods and approach make a lot of sense to me. : I hope this information has been of help to you. Please write back if you have additional questions! : Al and Mary : Cabby and Chardy (SIE)

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