[HarryTheParrotlet]

A good post by Flock Talks:

Flock-Talk on Instagram: "“My bird is a demon spawn”, “he’s just like that”, “he just screams all the time”, “he hates my partner” New behaviours form because they serve a function, serving that function is usually reinforcing, behaviours that get reinforced get repeated. Ignoring undesirable behaviours is unlikely to cause them to go away on its own. When you ignore a behaviour a few things can happen: - the behaviour will continue to get rehearsed and as such will not stop - the bird may become frustrated by the lack of clear instruction which can worsen the behaviour or start new problem behaviours -the behaviour might go away at the expense of the bird experiencing a lot of stress Say your bird is screaming for your attention, naturally you’d want to ignore them so you don’t provide reinforcement through the attention they’re seeking and you would be right! Your attention is reinforcing, but your lack of instruction on what To Do instead is confusing and frustrating which can make screaming worsen (especially if screaming has worked in the past) as they go through an extinction burst and that frustration could cause the bird lash out at you. Instead of only ignoring what you don’t want, focus on rewarding what you Do Want. Pick an alternative behaviour the bird can do to receive your attention and reinforce that instead, reinforce moments where they are playing independently or quietly. They’ll quickly notice what behaviour is working to achieve their desired reinforcement (your attention) and the other behaviour will fade away without that immense frustration. This applies in a variety of contexts, ignoring aggression, waiting for them to “grow out” of it, thinking they’ll stop biting your partner and sort it out on their own? Clear instructions make learning so much faster and so much smoother! You have to work for the change that you want! #forcefree#forcefreetraining#parrottraining#limatraining#positivereinforcement#birdtraining#birdbehaviour"

779 Likes, 8 Comments - Flock-Talk (@flock.talks) on Instagram: "“My bird is a demon spawn”, “he’s just like that”, “he just screams all the time”, ..."

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