This woman gave me a bird she said it did not know how to talk I broght it home and everything was fine for a few days untill it saw my girlfriends cat now all it does is say this all day long it was funny at first but now it's driving me NUTS....
here kitty kitty you sorry son of a ***** come and get me!!!!
2006-09-14 14:01:49 · 17 answers · asked by THE CRAZY NUT 1 in Pets ➔ Birds
The reason that he's doing it all the time now is because you laughed at the behavior. You inadvertently "reinforced" the behavior though one thing parrots find incredibly appealing: attention.
Conure Feather Dragon is correct. The most efficient way of stop unwanted verbal behhavior is to ignore it.
If you do not reinforce the behavior, eventually it will "extinguish".
In animal behavior, when someone or something is not getting a reinforcement of some kind for a behavior: attention, for instance, or receiving a "primary reinforcement" (food, water),
the behavior simply ceases to exist as it serves no purpose to the subject.
However, there is an interesting thing that happens right before the behavior completely stops.
It's called an "Extinction Burst".
This is kind of like a last ditch effort to see if there is any hope at all for getting something for the behavior.
So you might see the behavior fade over time to next to nothing, and then it will all of a sudden start up again like crazy. This might go on constantly for a short period of time. During the extinction burst, you cannot in any way reinforce the behavior. Don't look at the bird, don't react, or respond in any way. When he stops after that burst, you'll have it pretty much gone.
This doesn't mean he has forgotten the behavior...he'll know how to "Call Kitty" for the rest of his life. But he just will knows he won't "get paid", or reinforced for it, so why bother....
Extinguishing a behavior is hard to do. You have to have real guts not to EVER respond to it. It's very effective, but I think it's harder on the Trainer than any other form of behavior modification.
Good Luck!
2006-09-14 23:52:40 · answer #1 · answered by Phoenix 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's going to take some work to change the bird's repertoire but it can be done ;-) .
The first thing and the most important thing to NOT do is freak out every time the bird says the line. Don't look at it, don't say anything, don't punish it. Don't walk into the room when the bird is saying it. Try to keep the bird out of the room for the first little while so the bird isn't stimulated to say the line. Pretend the bird didn't say anything. Now try to find a series of words you DO want the bird to say and replace them. IE: use 'ITCH" when the bird says 'B*ch'. Do it one word at a time until the entire sentence the bird knew is gone and replaced with words you can handle.
Most folks find that if they don't respond to the bird's unwanted words (whether swearing is involved or not), the bird eventually find words they prefer and will forget the original sentence. Birds love drama and every time you respond when the unwanted behavior is said or done the bird will do the unwanted action more because their human made such a big deal out of what they were doing. I have to wait behind my door or my conures start screaming. Since I've gotten guinea pigs that wheek every time they hear me, the conures have stopped screaming. They know when the guinea pigs get going I'm about to arrive and the conures don't have to scream a hello :-) .
Good luck!
2006-09-14 15:03:56 · answer #2 · answered by white_ravens_white_crows 5 · 4⤊ 0⤋
Sounds like the woman who gave you the bird set you up.She must be a heck of a trainer. Maybe she could give you some pointers....kitty kitty...LOL
2006-09-15 08:42:33 · answer #3 · answered by auntgnu62 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You need to spend some time with it. Teach him/her new words, keep talking to her normally. I know a lday very well who's bird says hello, meow, hello gorgeous, wolf whistles when you walk past, says come on tickle, goodbye, weeeeeeeeeee, and does a telephone impression.
2006-09-15 09:34:44 · answer #4 · answered by Little Red Riding Hood 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Oops, Sounds like your bird has a serious problem with cats!
2006-09-14 21:32:56 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good question. Try making it think it's nighttime, my birds won't do anything at night unless you touch them.
2006-09-14 14:45:28 · answer #6 · answered by G. B. 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have a seriously effed up bird.
2006-09-14 14:03:41 · answer #7 · answered by pseudonym 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
keep him occupied, he won't talk as much. If you cover him or try to ignore him and he know's it's still daytime, he will continue to talk and annoy you. I would go to www.drfostersmith.com and get a couple toys to keep him occupied
2006-09-15 01:27:30 · answer #8 · answered by dazedandconfused 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Play a radio while you are away so it can learn some new words.
Or find him a new home.
2006-09-14 14:07:15 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Well what I have found that works is that if you put a towel on top of its cage it will be quiet. Other thrn that you realy cant do anything.
2006-09-15 09:19:31 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋