Barbara Heidenreich explains how to build trust with your Parrot.

Read more about training Parrots here.

Today I was stroking my Yellow – naped Amazon Parrot Delbert’s foot. I was marvelling at how such a little tiny creature would sit there so relaxed while I gently touched him.

Seriously, it really is a moving experience when you think about it. An animal that can easily fly away from me or perhaps bite me hard enough to draw blood is allowing and enjoying me touching his feet. I think that is really cool.

And in a weird way, a proud moment. The pride comes in because I know it is the choices I have made when interacting with my Parrot that allows me this wonderful privilege.

Method

Building trust with your Parrot is a very realistic goal. What it requires is tossing out those old school notions about how to interact with animals. You are not going to be the boss, your bird does not have to obey you, and your Parrot doesn’t have to do anything right this second.

Instead you are going to be your Parrot’s partner, his provider of all things wonderful and most of all, you will be his friend.

Here are a few tips to help you start building a trusting relationship with your Parrot.

1. Avoid using force to get your Parrot to do something you want.
2. Avoid doing anything that creates a fear response. (You will need to learn to be very attentive to your bird’s body language so you know what the slightest fear response looks like.)
3. Avoid doing anything that creates aggressive behaviour. (Just as with fear responses you will want to become very familiar with aggressive body language to avoid creating it.)
4. Empower your Parrot to choose to participate. Let him walk or fly away when he wants to.

Freedom

Some may be thinking “With my Parrot having all that freedom to choose how in the world will I get him to be well behaved and do what I ask when needed?”….like step up when it is time to go back in the cage. This is where learning about how to train with positive reinforcement will be very important.

Positive reinforcement training will teach your Parrot that when he does cooperate with your requests wonderful things happen. Like he gets treats, head scratches, cuddles or attention. Or all of the above!

When you use this approach you get a Parrot who can’t wait to do what you ask. And best of all you get a Parrot who really enjoys interacting with you.

Follow these tips and not only will your Parrot learn to trust you, but you will also find your relationship will blossom.

DVD

Making that connection with a Parrot is very rewarding for you both when you train with positive reinforcement. You can learn more about how to train your Parrot and build trust from my DVDs Parrot Behaviour and Training: An Introduction to Training and also my Live Workshop DVD The Basics of Parrot Training.

Also check out the DVD Understanding Parrot Body Language to fine tune your sensitivity to fear and aggressive behaviours.

I get lots of emails about people having turned their relationship with their companion Parrot around by following these strategies. I can’t wait to hear your story!

Read more about training Parrots here.

Happy Training!

Barbara

Contact details

This article was originally published on Barbara’s blog in July 2011
Barbara Heidenreich
www.GoodBirdInc.com
Copyright 2011 Good Bird Inc

Barbara Heidenreich has been a professional animal trainer since 1990. Her company Barbara’s Force Free Animal Training (www.BarbarasFFAT.com) provides animal training DVDs, books, webinars and workshops. She has been a featured speaker in over twenty countries and has been published in nine languages. Barbara works with the companion animal community and also consults on animal training in zoos.