I came across a site of various articles on the subject of parrot behavior and other issues. I am always looking for stuff regarding the use of positive reinforcement that I can apply to my birds. I thought the following article was interesting and made some good points.

Alternatives to Breaking Parrots:
Reducing Aggression and Fear through Learning
Presented at the StopPDD Conference 2002
S.G. Friedman, Ph.D., Utah State University

There is irony in the practice of using force to reduce aggression and fear in companion parrots. Chances are human force was involved in producing the aggressive and fearful behaviors in the first place, at least from the bird’s point of view. It reminds me of the equally ironic practice of slapping a child for hitting a sibling. While I can’t be sure where these pervasive practices come from in our culture, I’m sure I know some of the reasons why they persist: First, force is a familiar strategy to many of us, having
ourselves been forced to do things throughout our lives. It is our cultural legacy passed down from one generation to the next and often takes the form of seemingly benevolent reasoning such as “this hurts me more than it hurts you” or “a little pain for a lot of gain.” Second, force works in the short run, some of the time. This short run and occasional effectiveness intermittently reinforces the user which makes it very likely that force will
be used more often in the future. It is not uncommon to see such a chain of events result in a teacher or caregiver who unwittingly grows to rely on force to the exclusion of effective, non-forceful strategies.

Still, we’ve come a long way. Many cowboys would rather hang up their saddles than break their horses; puppies are often crate-trained rather than housebroken with physical punishment; and, instead of breaking our children’s spirits or their bad habits we set them up to succeed and catch them being good. With the recent reduction of force where horses, dogs and children are concerned, what explains the recent acceptance of force by some to manage aggressive and fearful parrots?

The entire article may be read here: Parrot Behavior

It is the third article in the list. I've read several of the other articles as well and found many to be very informative. Thought some of you might be interested....

That makes a lot of sense. I'll have to read the rest later.

Thanks Stizby. Regarding the question:

"what explains the recent acceptance of force by some to manage aggressive and fearful parrots?"

My answer is, alot of really bad opinions from alot of really uninformed, mean spirited, ignorant so called "bird lovers".

Kelly, I absoulutely love Susan Friedman's articles. I signed up for one of Susan Friedman's online courses last year. I think I am slated to be included in the January enrollment. Her and Barbara Heidenreich are my absolute favorites and are very similar in their beliefs.

I have been researching quite a bit into "Learned Helplessness" and "Empowerment." They are very interesting topics.

Here's another of Susan's articles.

He Said, She Said, Science Says
By S. G. Friedman, Ph.D.

“Man masters nature, not by force but by understanding. This is why science has succeeded where magic has failed; because it looked for no spell to cast over nature.” Jacob Bronowski, 1953.

“Never make a parrot do anything it doesn’t want to do.” No way, it’s “Never allow a parrot to be in control.” But I’m sure I read, “Parrots are partners not subordinates.” Well, I was taught, “Humans must establish superior rank over their parrots.” He said, she said, they said, we said. Will the real parrot behavior experts please stand up? The parrot owning community is in quite a state of confusion about how to best interact with our companion parrots.

With all the contrary advice and argumentation, it’s no wonder so many parrots fail to thrive in our homes while we tear our hair out searching for solutions to biting, screaming and remodeling. When push comes to shove, do we shove or do we empower our birds to choose? If we empower birds to choose do we face certain parrot anarchy?

In the face of such disparate opinions, there is no better arbiter than science.
CONTINUED AT:
“He Said, She Said, Science Says

I don't believe in punishment or force. I try to give my birds choices everyday to empower them. I'm still learning so I make mistakes and often go back and re-evaluate problems to figure out how I can set things up differently to help my birds make better choices.

When I am faced with problems I try to rectify them by using the ABC's (antecedent, behavior, consequence). There is an entire online group that is focused on helping people with this process. When faced with a problem we have a tendency to think only in terms of correcting or punishing the behavior and not what set it up or what continually reinforces the behavior.

To change an undesirable behavior, I work at changing the antecedent (that sets up the behavior) or the consequence to make a desired behavior more rewarding.

I would really love to get a discussion going regarding the ABCs, Karen. I am still in the learning stages of this technique but would love to hear from others who use it. Parrots are such complex, intelligent beings.....

Kelly, it would be a great discussion! (Should we move this to the Training Techniques Forum?)

Each bird is truly a study of one, I think that what makes it so complex. It may help us all if we were to give a; Setting events, ABC and prediction example and everyone could discuss what their ABC strategy would be.

This is taken from Susan's ABC article;

I'll offer an hypothetical ABC and prediction to start us off;

Setting events: John has just gotten home from work.
Antecedent: John is watching TV.
Behavior: Gizmo starts screaming.
Consequence: John yells at Gizmo to shut up.
Prediction: Gizmo will continue to scream every time John watches TV to get his attention. (Attention is attention, whether it be positive or negative)

I feel an important point to remember in the ABC's is WE can only control the A (antecedent) and the C (consequence) not the behavior. It is key to change the A and/or C to change a behavior.

What in either the Antecedent and/or the Consequence could be changed or set up differently to change the behavior?

Thank you; this is a great article. Particularly, her discussion of desensitizing the bird is on point. While this approach takes time; it produces lasting results.

How many people here remember reading the "taming" part of the book the "Little Prince?" That section of the book is a great primer on how to create a relationship with another animal.

I think this article should be available permanently to people here as the question of how to handle biting comes up over and over.

I guess that means I'm a bad parront in ways, I do use force and domination with Jean, or at least I did in the beginning. In the beginning he was violent, angry, not really afraid...because he'd charge me and what not. So I would deliberately intimidate him and when he tried to strike me I'd hiss back at him and spray his feet every time he lunged for my hand and eventually he stopped. After about 6 weeks of me dominating him I didn't have to worry about taking him out of the cage in a towel, he came willingly, and I stopped being agressive back to him as part of a reward system. I wouldn't scare him if he behaved and that's why Jean's a good boy now because he knows he gets cuddles...in fact I haven't had to spray or yell at Jean in a good long time my tactics worked just fine. I know we're supposed to reinforce behaviors in soft tones and by being nice with treats but my way worked, I know it wasn't supposed to work but it did. (Didn't really read the article I just wanted to share)

ALSO, new baby comin soooooon! And I heard he's a sweetie (I haven't seen him since he was 6 weeks old) so I'm not concerned at all with having to break him in like Jean.