TK is making me so sad :(

[Molcan2]

Putting him in the room will make it worse. He isn't associating being put in the room because hes screaming. People come in, he sees them, he alarms you that there are strangers in the house (that in his eyes could eat the entire family - remember their prey animals). His alarm is a natural response, over time you will be able to condition it out of him but by putting him in the other room he sees it as the strangers are the reason why he gets removed from the area. In his eyes the strangers are the only thing that has changed, he will not know that it was because of his behavior. Removing him from the room is going to cause him to have even more resentment towards new comers.

Try the ear plugs, and continue having 'conversations' and acting as if he isn't even there until he calms down. The best way to get him over this, is to expose him to as many people coming over as possible and as often as possible. He needs to know that there is no need to scream. By exposing him over and over again to visitors he will get better. The only way hes going to get better by doing this is if his screaming is completely (meaning absolutely no attention paid to it) ignored. This way he will see no reason to do it. Once he calms down then you can go to him, pick him up, pet him, talk to him. The ear plugs are just so you guys can physically do this exercise. If he screams and you yell back, your going to encourage him. The reason is because he is giving off an alarm call (he is warning 'his' entire flock -your family- that there may be danger). If you raise your voice, in his eyes you are also alarm calling and if your alarm calling hes really going to think that there is a good reason for him to be doing it as well.

 

[Molcan2]

I would handle this situation delicately, in his eyes he is protecting the family. Punishing him for doing this is going to confuse him. He has to learn that people are not going to be bothered by his calling, and once the calling stops he will see that you are comfortable with these intruders in the house, over time so will he. If people leave because he screams, then in his eyes he has done his job. He will be proud of himself that he alarmed of danger and because of him the threat went away. If your irritated (which would be from his screaming) he may take that as you are acting this way because of the 'strangers' that came, and not him. This could cause a bigger reaction towards strangers in the future. Be prepared to sit for hours with ear plugs in, once you start you have to wait until he calms down on his own before either they leave or any attention is paid to him, otherwise it will encourage the screaming behavior.

 

[goalerjones]

here is an example of non-aggressive behavior modification. Tonight we were rehearsing some songs and 2 people who don't normally come over were here. As soon as they got here, one at a time with approx 1 hour between arrival times, Hahnzel began vocalizing in an unattractive manner. I explained to our guests what he was doing and that it was normal so they were on board. Then, after talking to him a bit, we just ignored him and went about our business rehearsing and he eventually stopped the squawking.