Coral

            “She might be getting too dangerous to keep.” 

Those were difficult words for my husband to say.  Coral had bitten me again.  He loves our Moluccan cockatoo.  But this bite was deep and serious.  Even worse than bite before that. 

And the one before that.   

 

By the time Coral charged me in a full out attack we were in serious crisis.  I knew that biting and screaming are the habits that most often cause parrots to lose their homes.  I also knew that parrots who lose their homes often end up abused, neglected, or worse.  I couldn’t bear the thought of sending Coral off to such an uncertain fate.  But we couldn’t live with a dangerous parrot, either.  What if she bit one of our kids that hard?  What if she bit a guest?

            Coral came to live with us when she was eight years old.  She wasn’t

abused or neglected, but changes in her first owner’s life made it impossible to keep her. After her initial settling in period in our home she was a lovely companion.  She would blissfully cuddle with anyone who would spend a bit of time with her.  Who can resist a precious upside-down headed pink cockatoo laying against one’s chest?

            It came as a terrible surprise two years later when she decided that I was coming between her and her man- formerly known as my husband!  At first she lunged at me when I got too close to the two of them.  The aggression grew to the point that I could not come near her without risking a serious bite.  The last bite took place when she needed to be returned to her cage and I was the only one around to do it. She lit into my thumb and refused to let go.  There was substantial blood and screaming- all mine. 

 

A Woman Needs Her Thumbs Like A Cockatoo Needs A…  Bicycle?

 

After a helpful woman named Nan suggested I look into Clicker Training, I realized that I knew some professional bird trainers through an online newsgroup.  Linda Morrow has been training professionally using Clicker Training with parrots and other animals for about six years. Her partner and mentor, Doug Cook, has been training all sorts of animals for 30 years. 

Training issues came up from time to time on that newsgroup, but I didn’t think fancy techniques were for ordinary pet owners like me.  I didn’t feel an urgent need to have my cockatoo ride a bicycle.  My immediate need was to be able to keep this parrot as well as my fingers!  

            According to Linda, not only could Clicker Training resolve our problem, but it would be fun for both me and Coral.  I had my doubts that teaching this rebel cockatoo how to play basketball would improve our situation.  What would stop her from biting off my digits between slam dunks?  Linda assured me that Clicker Training wasn’t just about fancy tricks.  It was about developing a relationship with an animal. 

 

What Is This Clicker Training Business?

            First and foremost, Clicker Training works.  Just as important, it is humane.  It does not involve dominance or aggression with an animal.  That’s good because punishment with a parrot usually backfires.  It’s very difficult, if not impossible to get desirable behavior from a bird by showing it who is boss.  You get far better results by showing it that you are a friend. 

            Dorene Olson, a behavior consultant on staff at Tri-City Animal And Bird Clinic in Ellisville, Missouri, a west county suburb of St. Louis, says, “There are no other methods I have found to elicit the happy, enthusiastic, cooperative responses that I see across species with clicker training.”  Olson uses clicker training primarily to resolve problem behaviors in dogs, cats and birds.  Her most unusual subjects are her two pet ducks!  These males had grown aggressive while passing through adolescence, but clicker training just a few tricks caused the aggression problems to resolve very quickly.   

A clicker is a small plastic box with a metal flap inside that makes a clicking noise when depressed.  The trainer decides upon a certain behavior he’d like to reinforce in the animal student.  When the animal performs that behavior, the trainer clicks the clicker and slips the animal a favorite treat.  The animal learns that when it does this thing, it gets something it likes from its trainer.  Everyone is happy. 

            The Clicker is used to let the animal know exactly what it did that you liked.  Because you can’t always get a treat to the animal the instant it does what you want it to do, you condition the animal to associate the sound of the click with the treat.  When it hears the click it learns that what it was doing at that instant was the desired behavior and that the treat is on its way. 

 

How Do You Stop The Biting?

That’s how you train the animal to do something, but how do you train it not to do something, like bite or scream?  Strange as it may sound, you do not always have to address the problem behavior directly to stop it. 

I asked Linda Morrow how you get a parrot to stop biting.  Her answer was, “Avoid the bite, avoid the bite, avoid the bite!”  In other words, don’t give the bird a chance to sink its beak into you!  I asked if that meant I should wear gloves to handle Coral.  She replied with an emphatic no!  Instead, she said, don’t handle her at all until the habit is broken.  According to Morrow, biting is self-reinforcing for the parrot.  The bird gets satisfaction from the act of biting whether it bites your flesh or your glove.  Even allowing the bird to see that you won’t respond to bites on a glove does not teach the bird not to bite.  Apparently a reaction isn’t all it is after when it bites.

 

Target Training

I was instructed to start training Coral with her inside her latched cage, where she couldn’t get at me and not to handle her for two months.  My husband could continue to hold her as usual because she didn’t act aggressively toward him. (My children elected to avoid her until this was all sorted out.  Who could blame them?)

First I had to find a treat that she really loved.  I tried a number of items before I finally found something that would make Coral salivate.  Her choice?  Canned premium baby peas. Not the ordinary canned peas.  The expensive ones.  Of course! 

I also had to acquire a clicker (See side bar for purchase information) and a target stick.  A target stick is just a stick- any stick.  (Don’t worry, you’re not going to hit anyone with it!)  For my large parrot, I used a chop stick.  Some people use the end of a teaspoon, a wooden skewer, or a twig from outdoors. 

Now I had to get Coral to associate the sound of the clicker with the treat.  I clicked the clicker and offered her a couple of peas on the end of a long handled spoon several times.  The spoon was to keep her from getting close enough to bite me.  Once she associated the click with the forthcoming treat, I introduced the target stick.  I placed the stick near her in the cage and waited for her to touch it.  The first several times she bit too hard but I clicked and treated her anyway.  As she learned that I wanted her to touch the stick, I began to click only when she touched the stick softly, not when she clamped down.  Eventually she learned to only give the gentlest of touches to the stick to get her treat.

Because I was as much a novice as Coral was, it took a while for us to get the hang of things.  Even so, we’d made definite progress in under two weeks with two five minute sessions a day.  Later I reduced to one session of ten minutes or less per day.  It doesn’t take a whole lot of time, and your parrot will retain what it learns with occasional refresher courses.

Next I made her move around her cage to touch the stick.  Once I could get her to move anywhere in the cage I was ready to start other tricks!  The next thing she learned was to turn around on her perch.  I “lured” her to turn around by getting her to follow the target stick.  Once she turned around I clicked and treated.  In a short time she would turn around with just a small circular gesture from the target stick. 

 

But What About The Biting???

            The biting stopped.  I never addressed the biting problem directly.  All I did was give Coral the idea that doing things with me was fun.  She stopped biting on her own.  In just under two months I started holding her again, for short periods of time.  She was once again a sweet, lovable family member.  Clicker training provided a means for me to improve my relationship with Coral so that she no longer feels motivated to bite.  I had no idea our relationship was lacking in any way, but apparently Coral felt it was!

Now I can snuggle her just like before.  I am very aware of her moods and I avoid holding her if I think she’s acting strangely.  During the early stages of training, Coral did try to bite me through the cage bars.  When she did that, I put the peas and training tools away and left the room.  She learned that if she wanted to keep playing for peas, she had to be nice. 

 

Why Do Parrots Bite?

            According to Morrow, no one knows!  We can’t read parrot minds.  Sometimes we have a pretty clear idea of what is making them aggressive, but sometimes we have to guess.  Pet owners like to presume it’s because they are getting “hormonal” or because they’ve been abused, but the fact is that we cannot always know.  They cannot tell us.  What we can know is that their behavior improves if we use positive reinforcement in our interactions with them.  And that has to be enough.

 

Is Clicker Training Good for the Average Parrot?

            A resounding yes!  Even if your parrot is perfectly behaved and you have no desire to go on the road with a performing parrot act, clicker training can make life easier for you and your parrot.  I’ve heard of parrots that have been trained to roll themselves up in a towel for vet’s visits!  My own cockatoo, Coral, holds her foot up to have her toenails clipped, then holds her foot to her beak making the clicking noise as if to tell us what just happened!  Behaviors like this can make general parrot husbandry and management much easier. 

 

Kellie Snider, Copyright 2001

           

           

 

 

 

 

Clicking With Birds:  Linda Morrow’s Site:

http://community-2.webtv.net/Lincomacaws/ClickingwithBirds/

 

Email List:

 

Where to Get Clickers:

Clicker Pet:  http://www.clickerpet.com/

PetSmart