Yeah, I don't know, I grew up raising birds and we never disciplined them in any way, but Oliver really does seem to adapt his behavior. THe people we got him from claimed to have trained him to stop tearing up his paper and to quit screaming and he doesn't do any of those things. If he is making a big racket or something, that will make him stop in the moment. Larger parrots are WAY more trainable because they're so intelligent, but also way more irritating when they're not trained.
I do think proactivity is more important by far - for instance if we keep chunks of wood in his cage for him to turn into toothpicks and a cardboard box on top for him to shred into confetti, he doesn't chew up the siding by his cage or turn his wrath on our dining chairs. He has a ball with a bell in it and some hanging rope and a cage-mounted treat and things right now, all of which he plays with. He likes spending supervised time on the deck. Everyone in the house gives him attention and he comes out to the park with us and things.
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Date: 2012-03-31 03:38 pm (UTC)I do think proactivity is more important by far - for instance if we keep chunks of wood in his cage for him to turn into toothpicks and a cardboard box on top for him to shred into confetti, he doesn't chew up the siding by his cage or turn his wrath on our dining chairs. He has a ball with a bell in it and some hanging rope and a cage-mounted treat and things right now, all of which he plays with. He likes spending supervised time on the deck. Everyone in the house gives him attention and he comes out to the park with us and things.