conure hit puberty and now aggressive year roun

[Bobos_mom]

PLEASE, CAN ANYBODY HELP!

I am having a real problem with my 5 year old Nanday conure Beaubeau. About a year ago he suddenly became very attached to my Jack Russell Terrier, Sassy. At the same time, he started attacking my other dog, and since she passed away in June he has been attacking my husband's Catahoula (big dog). Luna (the Catahoula) will snap back at him but prefers to get away if she can. But last night Beaubeau just flew off my shoulder and at Luna who was between the bed and the wall and she might have killed him if I hadn't gotten him out of there quick. I told him bad boy and promptly put him in his cage, like I always do (unless I can't catch him). I never know when it's going to happen. He can go a couple weeks without bothering her, and we have to keep the dogs separated at all times already.
Prior to this I rarely had a problem between him and the dogs. (Oh, and Luna has only been here for 2 1/2 years since I got remarried.)
Anyway, Beaubeau used to stay with me when he was out of his cage (which is most of the time that I'm home), but now he spends more time with Sassy. He follows her everywhere, rubs his head on her leg, sleeps next to her, and grooms her. He does still spend a lot of time with me, but it seems pretty clear he has decided that Sassy is his mate. He has also taken to biting my husband's and my son's feet (occasionally mine) and refuses to "step up" a lot of the time and tries to bite me instead. I never used to have a problem getting him to step up. He was doing it from the time I brought him home as a baby.
I started researching when this first started and read over and over that birds can get aggressive during mating season, but then it passes. This has not passed! Is it because he actually has a mate (thinks he does) and now the whole house is his territory? One behavioralist I asked said the behavior probably wouldn't stop unless he is separated from Sassy.
Has anyone ever had a similar problem? I've heard of birds thinking their human is their mate, but never heard of them adopting another animal as their mate.
I am so afraid he's going to get himself killed (the foot biting is annoying but easier to fix I think). Is there any way to stop this? I love him dearly and cry just at the thought of giving him away. He's definitely not unhappy and doesn't exhibit any of the other signs of sexual frustration. But like I said, I fear for his safety, and if comes to it I'd rather give him to a sanctuary where he can find a mate of his own kind.
I have just learned that conures need 10-12 hrs sleep (all the reading I've done, and never came across that?!!), and not in the LR with the TV on even though he's in his little bed and cage is covered, so I am working to remedy that immediately.
Any other advice? I'm sorry for the long post. I am desperate. I love my little buddy so much (and the dogs are old and only have a couple years left).

Thank you

 

[Flboy]

Bumping you back up!

 

[Kentuckienne]

Parrots form pair bonds with birds of other species and with humans, so why not dogs? From what I understand it could be difficult to change the parrot's mind, so maybe you could train Sassy to avoid the bird. Teach her to leave the room? Maybe teach her to run and pick up a non-bird-looking toy to bring to you for a reward? Beaubeau might get the message and start looking for love in more the right places.

 

[Bobos_mom]

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately, since we have to keep the 2 dogs separated Sassy doesn't always have any place to go, even if she was inclined to. The only time he really bothers her is when he starts screaming and then she doesn't have the sense to go in the other room. She's OLD.

 

[GaleriaGila]

My best advice...


Ever since the Rickeybird hit sexual maturity at about 3-4 years of age, I've had to manage his hormones! If kept on too steady a long day, and too much light, he stayed "in the mood" (aggressive, even louder than usual, pleasuring himself on my neck ) year round. If I keep him on a natural light schedule... up with dawn, down with dusk, year around... THEN he's only a little monster rooster from July to September). He has his own room, so I can do that easily.

 

[Teddscau]

I'm currently taking courses to receive certificates in Wildlife Rehabilitation and Animal Training and Enrichment. I'm currently taking a course in avian training, so hopefully I can help solve the issues he's having.

My advice (similar to Rickeybird's mom's) is to have his cage covered in a quiet place to sleep for 14 hours. This will have a huge impact on his hormones. Yes, fourteen hours seems like a long time, but trust me.

Next, you need to start having some quality training sessions with him without any dogs to distract him. A portion of his daily food intake should only be provided as food rewards during training so he has to earn his food. I want you to practice basics like target training, step up, and flight recall, along with tricks like "turn around", "bat bird", "wings/big eagle", retrieval, etc. This will help improve his relationship with you, keep him entertained, help burn off excess energy, and will encourage him to perform good behaviours by re-establishing a history of...fudge, my language skills suck. Here's what will eventually happen: "Mommy asked me to step up and I want to because I like her, I've gotten a lot of praise, scratches, and treats for doing what she asks (a strong history of reinforcement), and stepping up means we get to train together and fly and cuddle!"

When working with birds (or any animal), an animal should "behave" or perform cued behaviours because they want to (good relationship with trainer or caretaker; history of positive reinforcement), not because they're forced to. It's a common misconception that you should make a parrot step up for you, even if they are politely indicating through use of body language and avoidance behaviour that they don't want to. If you ignore their body language and keep trying to force them to step up, they will either step up for you in order to end the upsetting situation, or they will bite out of self defence. However the bird repsonds to you forcing them to step up, it negatively impacts your relationship. It creates a feeling of helplessness and loss of control. We already control pretty much every aspect of their lives (play, sleep, food, cleanliness, social interactions, and flight), which gives them very little control over their lives. To reduce anxiety, stress, fear, frustration, etc., it's essential to give them at least some control. For example, if you want to work on practicing retrieving, but they're indicating they would rather have a bath first or practice stepping up or flight recall, listen to them! Odds are, after they've performed some tricks and behaviours that they are willing to perform to receive a reward, they will be willing to practice fetching.

When you want him to step up for you, I'd recommend using a hand held perch and showing him you have a yummy treat if he steps up. When he steps up on the perch, reward him, and do things that he enjoys. Don't just stick him back in the cage. You want him to only associate stepping up for you with good things.

When I ask Noah to step up, he associates it with positive things (cuddling, flight practice, food, training, playing with the tap, etc.), and as such, he steps up for me. I can just put my finger near him and not even use a verbal cue as he's always eager to step up because he knows we'll be doing something fun. Even when he's doing something he really enjoys (foraging for sunflower seeds, for example), he'll step up for me without me needing to ask him again. Now, he absolutely adores sunflower seeds, so you're probably wondering why he would listen to my step up request. This is because he knows he can choose whether or not to step up. He also knows I'm not there to ruin his fun. When he steps up, he knows it'll be worthwhile for him. When he steps up for me even though he was just in the middle of doing something he really wanted to do, I really reward him for it. He could've chosen not to step up, but he put his trust in me that I had his best interests in mind. I really praise him for stepping up, do some really happy parrotlet vocalisations (I'm not going to lie, I've gotten pretty good at copying his vocalisations), and I reward him and take him somewhere to do some fun activities.

To get him back in the aviary, we walk back to the aviary together and I put a bunch of sunflower seeds in a dish, or I'll give him a foraging toy to play with, or I'll have a really yummy dinner waiting for him in there.

A parrot should step up because they want to, not because they're forced to. If you force a parrot to step up even though they're telling you they don't want to and that your insistence is upsetting them, it causes them a lot of resentment and anxiety. How would you like it if someone was doing something you found irritating or upsetting, or was trying to make you do something you didn't want to do, despite politely asking them to leave you alone? You'd start feeling anxious, frustrated, offended, and helpless. You'd want to try to escape the situation. But what if that person wouldn't leave you alone or leave? This is what a parrot goes through when you force them to step up.

Try using luring or targeting to get your conure to step up, and practice stepping up and reward him for stepping up. Keep sessions short (no more than five minutes long), and keep things fun and interesting by mixing in some targeting, flight recall, and trick training/rehearsal.