Am I causing a problem?

[SilverSage]

My GCC Flick is a character to say the least, but over all she is a fairly quiet bird which is perfect for a family who lives in a 4plex. She is quiet, but she is opinionated. Sometimes she voices that opinion with her, well, voice, and I ignore it. However, when she "begs" with head/body bobbing, I respond. She begs in this manner for everything she wants, pets, play time, food, water, or just a ride around on your shoulder. It can take some time to figure out what she wants, but I like to comply as often as possible because she asked for it SILENTLY. However my husband thinks that responding so often will cause a problem. My goal is to keep her requests silent while at the same time increasing communication. If I don't have time to honor her request, I try to leave the room so she doesn't keep asking and get frustrated. She does not tend to move from head bobbing to screaming when she doesn't get her way, so I don't see it as a problem. Thoughts?

 

[MonicaMc]

As long as it doesn't cause any behavior problems and she doesn't end up doing *only* that to communicate with you, it may be fine. If it becomes excessive and she doesn't do anything else, then yes it may be an issue.

 

[MikeyTN]

However what Monica suggest is right BUT if constant responding, it can cause potential issue as time goes on, especially when a day when you don't respond if your busy or not feeling well.

 

[SilverSage]

Thanks. I would say that I respond about 80% of the time, but try to acknowledge 100% of the time. Such as if she is bobbing but I am busy I say "Later Flick" and either continue what I am doing and have a chat with her or sing, or I say that and then leave the room. She has not responded to being denied in a negative way, but she used to scream when she wanted something and I like this better. I have also noted that she is more eager to step up and spend time with me when I ask, now that I spend time with her when she asks. What specifically should I be on the look out for to see if it is going down hill? Thanks guys! (Flick is deciding right now if she wants to try to dismantle my keyboard again, even though she knows she is not allowed to.)

 

[Taw5106]

I'm on the fence because I've had Buddy for 4 weeks now. He's between 10 - 20 years old but he has routines he knows that I don't. For example if we are eating and he sees it, he starts a fit. To remedy that, we feed him dinner when we eat. He gets fruit and veg but he's happy because he's eating and he's quiet. If he's hungry and his bowl is empty (he is the green pig), he'll get loud. He gets veggies and he's happy. But if I leave the room and he starts calling for me, I don't answer because I worry about it being ingrained as a habit or reinforcing a habit prior to us having him. He goes from screaming to saying hello, pretty bird, a wolf whistle to our latest lesson (yay my first with him), wanna kiss, muah, muau, muah. See that little brain is working out how to get attention, lol. He's gotten better but I am not the expert, this is my experience, but I hope it helps. I wish Buddy would beg to come out. His cage door is open and he's just looking at me right now.

 

[MissLarissa]

I have a baby conure now, who doesn't talk yet, so we began communicating by bobbing his head in the direction of what he wants. I always respond to him when I see it and tell him what he is asking for a few times and take (or give) him to it, unless he can't have it of course. This is working well for me at the moment. Like yours, he doesn't scream unless I ignore him for too long or he jumps for it. I'd say that if he asks in a way you like, while still talking, it isn't a problem.

 

[SilverSage]

I was looking through the training forum and saw this so I thought I would post an update as it has been several months. We have established a pretty physical mode of communication, screaming has never returned (when we first got her she screamed for everything, I am not sure when exactly she started to bob instead, but I decided to respond to it, and that is why I originally posted). She has done really well learning to move on when she doesn't get her way, or to take things in her own hands, as what she is usually begging for is my husband, who is her favorite. Now we are trying to teach her that if she wants to go to him, she can just fly to him rather than turning me into a human trampoline in an effort to get me to carry her to him - she is flighted for the first time since she was clipped before she really got the chance to fledge, so she still doesnt seem to understand that she can fly on purpose

 

[Dustbunny]

Now we are trying to teach her that if she wants to go to him, she can just fly to him rather than turning me into a human trampoline in an effort to get me to carry her to him - she is flighted for the first time since she was clipped before she really got the chance to fledge, so she still doesnt seem to understand that she can fly on purpose

LOL! She has you well trained by the sounds of it.

Our PB is also learning to fly for the first time (that we know of). We had to start slow with her, holding our fingers inches away, and work up to longer distances. She was so funny at first. We'd call her and she'd bob up and down with excitement and spread her wings, but then she'd hesitate and change her mind. Bob again all excited and start to spread her wings, but change her mind again. It reminded me of how I hesitated going off the really, really high dive when I was young. I'd think I was ready, but then I'd get to that edge, look down and backpedal. So funny to watch. PB is gaining confidence now and is even starting to fly room to room if she wants something bad enough. Sounds like her and Flick will be flight masters soon enough to give us a whole new set of issues to train. :30: