Dear Parrot Lover,

Just as with human children, our parrot children also have bad days and good days. Whilst we should always praise them when they are being good, we should also learn to help them better cope on their bad days. We can do this by teaching our parrot boundaries for acceptable behavior.

A few bird training secrets of the professionals are listed below:

1. Schedule a date with your parrot. Having some one-on-one time with your parrot every day will help you to not only become better acquainted with your parrot, but will also give you an opportunity to teach your parrot various skills, and even tricks. Just remember to keep these sessions short and sweet, and to always reward your parrot any time he even attempts at saying or performing a new command or word.

2. Keep calm and train on. Parrots are very susceptible to their owner’s moods. If you are having a bad day and are stressed out, your parrot will immediately pick up on that and will become moody himself. If you are in a bad mood, stay away from your parrot. Only engage with him when you are calm, relaxed, and happy. Subsequently, never shout at your parrot or excitedly wave your arms about.

3. Put on a comedy. Parrots are attracted to comedic antics and therefore it is wise to use these training sessions to teach your parrot to talk by pronouncing words and phrases loudly and clearly. This will help to keep your parrot’s attention focused on you. It will also help in encouraging your parrot to join in the fun by repeating back the words and phrases, that you have shown him, are fun to say.

4. Location. Location. Location. When conducting a private training session with your parrot, it is best to choose a location in your home where you will both be uninterrupted. A room that is free from distractions of TV’s, radios, dogs barking, and young children crying is best. This will help your parrot focus solely on you. However, in general, it is much preferred to place your parrot’s cage in a location in your home that gets a lot of traffic when not having a training session, such as the living room. This will help your parrot feel more like a member of the family. It will help you parrot to learn different words, phrases, and sounds that other family members use.

Problem Solving Parrot Behaviors

Birds and common problems

Join The Elite Parrots Club NOW!

Parrots are extremely intelligent animals, and this intelligence is one of the primary factors behind many of the “problems” people report with their birds. Some of the most common issues are behavioral problems such as feather plucking and screaming. Both of these can often be attributed to a very intelligent animal who is simply bored.

These problems can be addressed through environmental stimulation exercises like you hear about in zoological parks. That means plenty of stimulating toys that engage your bird, creating different opportunities for seeking out food, and training your bird. These are all mentally stimulating activities that are fairly easy to do.

Another problem that occurs in captive birds is health related. Parrots are very long lived in the wild and they can even outlive their owners in captivity. Poor diet or care during the years can lead to health problems, illness, and even early death. This can also be easily avoided through proper and varied nutrition and maintaining a clean environment.

Click here to learn more about behavior and health problems in parrots

Problem solving parrot issues

How do you learn what to feed your bird or what toys he will like best that will work his mind? How do you create the best living situation for him to keep him healthy and happy? You need someone you can turn to that can provide you with a wealth of information in one place.

The Elite Parrots Club is one of the best places for access to tons of knowledge through training videos, articles, and resources to troubleshoot behavioral problems. The Club maintains a bird expert affectionately called The Bird Lady who is a direct link to the very information you need to know. The videos and articles are easy to follow, and The Bird Lady is there to help along the way.

Click here to learn more about the Elite Parrots Club

Look at everything that’s available!

There is so much that comes with the Elite Parrots Club:

• Over 33 easy to follow online videos to be watched at any time.
• Over 70 expert articles that are written for the everyday bird owner.
• One-on-one access via email to the club’s birding expert, The Bird Lady.
• Forum access to other bird owners

Join the many others who have already found out about the Elite Parrots Club

Regards, Nathalie Roberts

Dear Parrot Lover,

How many parrot owners, do you think, can honestly state that their beautiful parrot truly is an angel? If truth be told, more than likely, less than half! This is because all parrots go through various stages of their lives wherein they are sweet as pie one instant, but then mean as an ogre the next.

Like with most behavioral issues, there are certain things you can train your parrot to do, or not to do, as the case may be. One of the most important things is to train your parrot not to bite.

Can you count how many times your parrot has lashed out unexpectedly and used your innocent fingers to sharpen their beak? I’m sure you can…just count the scars on your fingertips!

Now, thinking about these instances, how many times do you think you have yelled out in pain as your parrot’s beak sinks further into your flesh? You most likely felt betrayed that your feathered family member could lash out at you like that, without any obvious reason.

Sadly, once you have been bitten at least once by your pretty parrot, you will gradually begin to distrust him. Eventually your distrust will cause your parrot to develop socialization issues, because you simply refrain from spending too much time with him as you fear being bitten again.

There is a very simply solution from preventing this downward spiral – teaching your parrot the “No Bite!’ command.

Before doing so, you will need to understand why your parrot bites in the first place. There are many reasons that a parrot bites, such as:

• Fear
• Frustration
• Reaching Adolescence
• Molting Feathers
• Protecting their cage/toys/favorite person
• Jealousy

Observe your parrot’s behavior for a period of time and you will eventually see a behavioral pattern emerging. Take note of your parrot’s body language, gait, and normal vocalization – as these are all possible clues that your parrot is about to bite.

Once you have the warning signs figured out, it will then be time to teach your parrot the “No Bite!” command. This will take a lot of love and patience on your part. As soon as your parrot bites you, or even attempts to bite you, tilt your finger backwards while stating quite clearly “No Bite!”

The tilting of your finger will cause your parrot to lose his balance and let your finger go, whilst the command is a verbal cue that your parrot will quickly learn to associate with the biting and the hand gesture. Repeat this every time your parrot bites you, and you’ll eventually be able to state “No Bite!” as soon as you think your parrot is about to bite and he’ll be stopped in his tracks.

Training Your Bird like a Pro

Birds can be amazing

Click here to see easy ways to train your parrot

I don’t know about you, but I remember when I was a child watching the amazing antics of trained birds. I am still amazed when I see a bird engage with his handler in a variety of tricks that you wouldn’t imagine a bird doing. I’ve seen birds with huge vocabularies or birds that use their feet to perform a wide variety of tricks like pushing objects, placing rings on posts, and more.

Of course these are professionally trained birds, but does that mean the average pet bird can’t do these things too? No. Any bird can learn these tricks, even if they don’t live with a professional trainer!

Click here to learn more professional-style tricks

How to get similar results with your bird

Training is all about relationship building with your bird. In short sessions each day you can teach your bird all the same things as the pros once you know the basics. Training must be positive with no punishment. It’s easiest to train tricks using a marker like a clicker. You may be familiar with clicker training from dogs, but it’s a useful style of training for all animals. It helps make it clear for any animal what behavior is desired and being rewarded.

Clicker training can also be used for bad behaviors you want to undo, not just trick teaching. For example, clickers can be used to help a bird feel more comfortable with being approached because you can let the bird know it’s okay.

Click here to learn more beginning bird training and using clickers

Bird Tricks can make you a pro in your own home

The best way to really get going in training and to not feel immediately overwhelmed is to have the help of a professional. The internet makes it possible to connect you immediately to someone who has the knowledge and skills to guide you through the training process.

Bird Tricks offers easy-to-follow training videos, articles, and support so that you’ll feel like the professionals behind Bird Tricks are right there with you! In no time you’ll have a bird who is a joy to live with and who may know a variety of new tricks too.

Click here to view to read about Bird Tricks and the training program

Regards,
Nathalie Roberts