Beginning to not listen as well and regressing with training

[Karlys]

Hello,

We met Skye at the breeder at the beginning of April and she (who is actually DNA male but whatever lol) learned to step up during our every other day visits. When we brought her home in May, she had it down to perfection and listened well. We had even done a little bit of recall training, getting her to walk over to us to step up if she glided down to the ground or had walked to the other side of the couch out of reach.

Over the past 2-3 weeks, she's become more ornery and obstinate to step up and, especially, doesn't want to come over when she strays too far and we try to call her back. When she's in an especially defiant mood, she squeaks and bites at our fingers as we move them closer to her. It's not hard at all and doesn't hurt but she never used to do anything like that before. The only thing that has changed is that she's able to fly now, even if she is still a little afraid of doing it. The only other thing I could think of is that she is and has been molting since early July but now she's going through her bigger feathers like in her wings and tail vs all the fluffy stuff that she did at first.

My SO and I find ourselves really frustrated with her and it's hard not to yell or grab her but we have been holding back. Though, I've had to grab her (gently) a couple of times as she was making haste towards under couch once and behind the refrigerator another time, for example.

Is this from her new ability to fly and/or molting itchiness? Is she old enough for puberty and grumpy hormones? We were told she was 4-5 weeks old when we met her, so she's ~6 months. What can we do to get things back to the way they were? It makes it very stressful to have her out of the cage.

 

[noodles123]

Baby birds ARE ALL SWEET....and by that I mean, sweet compared to what they will be like as adults....birds as adults are nowhere near the same as they were as babies and most birds (if not all) also go through a terrible twos stage, followed by a rocky adolescent period (and none return back to how they were before, as they are not babies anymore). You will need to really research bird behavior and you may have to change many of the things that you did when your bird was a baby. You need to reevaluate your behavior and expectations. This is not abnormal, although it is a common frustration for owners...Many inexperienced bird owners re-home their birds at this point because they expected a cuddly bird forever. I am sure you will figure it out-- don't give up.

 

[chris-md]

Keep Plowing ahead! They are literally like children. Bird often go through an initial complacent period where they behave very well. Soon after (maybe a couple months, couple weeks depending on the bird) they become restless and start testing limits.

They test their boundaries.

Keep the boundaries in place and she will eventually settle down. In the meantime, do other dogs of training with her: target training, recall training, trick training. Engage the mind.

 

[MonicaMc]

Is she still getting rewarded for doing the things that you ask her to do?