Sporadic aggression from affectionate new GCC - dominance issues?

[israel_gcc]

Sporadic aggression from affectionate new GCC [update + new question]

I just adopted a 6-month old green cheek conure on Friday. He's not hand-raised, but he is accustomed to humans, and very social. (I'm actually not sure if it's a male or a female, but I'll refer to it as 'he' for now.)

The day I brought him home, we had a family birthday party in the house - lots of people, pets, and noise. I put him in a quiet room so as not to stress him out, but he wasn't having any of that. He shrieked in protest until I took him into the main room, where he was much happier (chirping, posing and dancing).

I was going to wait a day or two before attempting to let him out of the cage, but when I was setting everything up in the cage later that day, he made it very clear that he wanted to come out. He perched on my hand, nibbled on my fingers, climbed up to my shoulder and nibbled my ear, preened my hair, cuddled against my neck... I was very surprised, because I've never met a parrot this affectionate before - certainly not on its first day with a new owner!

On the whole, he seems to like me a lot. He likes to nibble affectionately on various parts of me, but he'll go more gently if I let him know that something hurts. He loves it when I pet his head, and he's even let me help him with grooming the sheaths off the feathers on his head and neck that he can't reach (only the ones that are ready to come off, of course). He is curious, enjoys playing with the toys in his cage, and doesn't visibly appear stressed.

However, he gets these fits of aggression where he'll go after me to try and hurt me - biting hard enough to hurt but not enough to draw blood. It's happened a few times over the last 2 days, typically when I try to stop him from doing something he wants to do. For example: climb all the way up my face to groom my eyelashes, chew on my laptop keyboard, or fall off the side of the bed.

The first time I played up the pain and said 'ow' loudly, but that didn't help - unlike with the nibbling, his goal was to hurt me. After some reading online, I realized that if he's deliberately trying to cause pain, I shouldn't let on that he's succeeding. I started saying "No!" in a stern voice, then turning away from him for about half a minute. That has worked most of the time so far, usually he then reverts to his usual affectionate behavior.

My guess is that these are attempts to establish dominance over me - particularly since he's with new people in a new environment, and now is the natural time to try to establish himself as 'flock' leader. I'm worried that he might escalate, though. Last time this happened, he didn't respond when I told him no, and I had to put him back in his cage.

I'd really appreciate some advice: Is this typical? If so, can I expect him to grow out of it? What training/discipline methods should I try, and are there any I should avoid?

 

[wrench13]

I think you hit the nail on the head. I would continue to show yur displeasure at the harder bites, by saying No loundly, and turning your back on him, more the 1/2 a minute though. WHen Salty bites hard, I ignore him for like 2-3 minutes, no eye contact, nothing. He has stopped biting hard quite a while ago, and only nips me now when he is excited, and my hand has no business being ear his beak. Good luck with your GCC.

 

[chris-md]

I really don't think it's dominance. Dominance is a debatable concept in parrots to begin with. I'd suggest he's just a youngster testing boundaries, which is very well known young birds and new birds alike are prone and well known to do.

Wrenchs prescription is still the way you deal with it. Set boundaries and stick with them.

 

[israel_gcc]

Thank you both! Glad to read that it sounds like normal and potentially-solvable behavior.

chris-md: To be honest, I've never considered the difference between dominance and testing boundaries before, but I think I see your point. You mean that he doesn't necessarily want to be in charge of anything, so long as no one ever tells him 'no'? That he might not have a concept of a group authority figure at all?

I felt pretty clearly that he was trying to punish me with biting, not just to get me to back off in the moment. But I can see his actions as maybe being an attempt to create deterrence against further infringements of his rights, rather than an attempt to enforce authority over me. Fascinating... I can tell I have a lot of reading on bird social dynamics in my future.

 

[israel_gcc]

Update: He's definitely escalating. He was expressing his intense affection to my face with his beak (it sounds like I'm being sarcastic, but I'm not), and got furious when I asked him not to bite my lip or go near my eyes. I put him back in his cage again, with difficulty, and left the room.

I think it might even have been the fact that I was trying to set a boundary that angered him - saying 'no' sternly made him bite even harder the past couple times, when before it snapped him out of it. Like he realizes what I'm trying to do on some level, and is trying to discipline me out of setting limits.

Next time I take him out, I think I'll encourage him to spend shorter periods of time on me - distract him with something else, before he can get too excited about grooming me.

Mainly I want to ask how to reestablish positive contact with him now. I've waited a few minutes - do I walk back into the room now, greet him and pretend like nothing happened? Do I go in and wait for him to greet me? At what point do my friendly interactions with him stop being a 'reward' for bad behavior?

 

[Scott]

I felt pretty clearly that he was trying to punish me with biting, not just to get me to back off in the moment. But I can see his actions as maybe being an attempt to create deterrence against further infringements of his rights, rather than an attempt to enforce authority over me. Fascinating... I can tell I have a lot of reading on bird social dynamics in my future.

Very perceptive and likely accurate. I've never viewed such nipping as dominance but rather an intelligent and captive creature's attempt to tailor their environment.

Further complicating this situation is the newness of your GCC. What more do you know of his background, specifically how many prior homes? Given his age, not many, but they carry invisible behavioral determinants of "baggage." You are both in the "honeymoon" stage, and he needs time to acclimate to a new home.

Even a GCC can do significant damage to the face/head/neck area. Such areas accessed via the shoulder are privileged and should be earned. I would recommend you prevent his access given escalation. Short but meaningful time-outs in his cage are appropriate. When over, approach him anew, each greeting can be an opportunity for progress.

 

[israel_gcc]

I bought him straight from the breeder, though he was on display in the store for probably a few weeks at least before that.

I think you are correct that the newness is a factor. The first few times I took him out, he split his attention between climbing all over me, and exploring the room. Now he'll typically stay closer to his cage and play with the toys next to it. He still wants his head scratched a lot, but he is less obsessed with chewing on me.

Since I have to redirect him a lot less, he doesn't get mad at me as often, and I manage to get him back in his cage without conflict a lot more easily. However, it's a problem that he reacts with aggression even to a simple "up" request (never had a bird get angry at that before!).

After reading some stuff about it here on the forum, I was thinking that a logical next step would probably be clicker training. Both because it's an effective technique to teach a bird to step up, and also because he'd hopefully learn to associate me telling him what to do with positive experiences (rather than seeing them as infuriating annoyances).

 

[Dinosrawr]

Everyone has added some great points, and I'm here just to touch on the concept of saying "No" to parrots. In my experience with my birds, saying "no" with a stern voice actually tends to escalate their aggression towards me. In fact, if I simply say "No" sternly to them for no reason (I was testing my theory), they immediately take offense and will generally get mad right back.

Instead, I've found calmly saying, "That isn't acceptable", or "I won't tolerate this", and then putting them away for their behaviour and ignoring them has worked best. Birds tend to feed off of vocal cues and posturing because generally speaking they don't get physical unless they feel they have to.

Avery also gets upset at stepping up, and it can be the way the hand is presented, how quickly you bring it forward, or how to say "Step up". Instead, I've recall trained her to my hand and also have her trained to step up on a perch if I feel I won't be able to get her up without a nip. I never get a nip if I use those methods. So a lot of times it's just figuring out your birds and seeing where their limits are, reading their body language, and reacting appropriately.

 

[israel_gcc]

Dinosrawr: That makes a lot of sense. I'm used to dog training, where the tone during scolding is often "you did a bad thing and I'm going to talk at you until you understand that". But here that's counterproductive, and instead I want to project "if you behave like this, I don't want to hang out with you". I'll try to see if using a different tone will stop our disagreements from escalating into full-blown biting incidents.

 

[Teddscau]

Any updates? As chris-md said, parrots don't have any sort of formal hierarchy. In a (parrot) flock, all birds are essentially equals. In a wolf pack, the omega wouldn't even consider trying to eat until the alphas and betas have had their fill. With parrots, it doesn't matter if you're young or old, male or female, big or small. With primates, they're born into their social position. If they want to improve their social standing they'll groom those higher up in the hierarchy to gain favour and improve their rank. Parrots don't do that.

The reason he's been nipping you is because you've been offending him. When he's preening your eyelashes, he's showing you affection. The act of preening is very intimate (I don't mean it like that) and shows an amazing amount of trust (I'm sure most of us tense up when their bird puts their beak near their lip or eyeball). When you stop him, you're basically rejecting him. Think of it like a young child trying to hug their mom or dad, only for the parent to push them away and tell them to stop being so needy and annoying. The kid's going to feel hurt, and they'll probably want to hit their parent for rejecting their affection.

If you don't want him to touch your face, gently thank him and tell him that you love him too, then tell him... well, say something like this, "What a sweet boy. Thank you for the touches! I love you too. I just don't want the baby's little beak near my tender, squishy face. That's right, your widdle baby beak could accidentally scoop my eye out! You're such is a silly baby, want me to play with you/preen you/dance/have a treat instead?" Like that. Don't offend. It should sound like he's the sweetest little baby who's cute little beak could take a chunk out of your face, but that's okay because it's a cute little baby beak. The idea is that you want him to think you're just trying to return the affection, not that his razor-sharp beak near your eye is kind of freaking you out. Well, if he's proud and feels as though you're being disrespectful when you use cutesy baby talk with him, you probably shouldn't be calling him a baby or saying he's "little". Tell him he's handsome and smart instead. Although you might not realize it due to the rage and violence you incur, a lot of parrots react with anger and lash out when their feelings are hurt, or if they realized they did something a bit naughty.

If he does something you don't like, such as gnawing on your computer, trying to eat ant poison, etc., don't talk to him as though he's "bad" or has done something "wrong." I know, how will he learn not to do something? Well, you have to convey it in such a way that he doesn't feel like he's being judged or ridiculed. Keep it lighthearted, but get the message across. Ahem, "What are you doing silly boy? Are you chewing on the computer again? No, don't chew on that, you goof. Look, I have this cool phone book for you to shred instead!" Or, using a silly, British accent, "Good sir! Proper gentlemen do not eat ant poison. No, don't eat that. Come here, or I will have to tickle you and give you kisses! Good sir, what will the servants say?" Basically, call him out on it, but don't make him feel bad or make it into something really serious, then give him something else to do instead of causing mischief. Kind of like what you'd do with a young child. You don't want them to feel self-conscious. If a toddler (still in diapers) is playing with you but accidentally hurts you, you'd tell them that they're a goofball who's getting too rough, tickle them, and ask them to be more careful, and keep the conversation lighthearted while letting them know that they hurt you, but it was an accident so everyone still gets to play, but you better not get too rough again. The kid should now be more aware while playing, understand that if they're not careful they could hurt you, and if they don't get their act together, you aren't going to be quite so forgiving next time.

If your conure ignores your first lighthearted warning, your second, much more firm warning, then with strike three you clearly tell him he's being bad, put him down, and completely ignore him for 1–3 minutes. Soon, he'll realize that even if the first warning or two is lighthearted, he WILL be in trouble and will face a scolding and timeout. Odds are, he'll start listening to your first, "silly" warning, rather than opting to go into a full out tantrum when you're forced to scold him and punish him.

With Noah, he was just a little brat who ignored my requests to quit chewing on my fingers (most birds are absolutely obsessed with chewing on fingers for the first few weeks, so be compassionate since they can't resist, but also realize that they'll likely only smarten up after getting enough time outs). He couldn't care less if blood was pouring from my fingers. I was very kind and said "please" when asking if he would chew on a piece of paper instead of my fingers. Finally, I'd tell him "BAD!", pry his beak off my finger (he'd lose it when I told him he was bad, and would actually hurt me on purpose in response. One time, he actually clamped right down like a like crocodile and dangled from my finger, refusing to let go), then I'd set him down and ignore him for 1–3 minutes.

You also need to be aware that sometimes they just won't settle and the best thing you can do is put them back in their cage to rest and have a yummy snack. I'll put some sunflower seeds in a dish in the aviary, set Noah on the dish, and he'll happily munch on his snack while he watches me leave.

 

[israel_gcc]

@Teddscau: That sounds like really good advice! Totally going to try this going forward.

Things are going pretty well with my bird - he's charmed my entire family. He loves head scratches and is thankfully willing to (eventually) forgive the many indignities he is forced to deal with, like not being allowed to chew on my laptop keyboard.

I bought a big second-hand play stand for him, and I think it's really helped, in that it gives him a place to hang out that's fun but also difficult to get down from (and not in my space or my electronic devices). I think he might not be biting as hard when he's mad... but it could be that I've just gotten better at dodging his beak.