Posted by creativedolan on Thu, 09/13/2007 - 09:41 :: Reducing Problem Behaviors
Hello everyone!
I've had my cockatiel "birdie" for over a year now, and we believe that shes almost 2 years old. here are 2 pictures of her:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/creativedolan/P1010157.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/creativedolan/P1010010.jpg
She's a great bird, very friendly, happy and loving...BUT, she has one habit that me and my husband need help breaking. SHE SCREAMS. I run my own business out of my home, so I can't understand why she screams likes she does. she sees me all day long, and I take her out in the afternoon, and evenings and other times in between. I've noticed that she screams when these three things happen:
1. When someone is walking down the stairs that go to our second level. (only when their walking downstairs, not up)
2. whenever a car pulls into or out of the driveway. (thats every car...and its a community driveway, so this happens more then once a day)
3. When the garage door opens and we come into the house from the garage.
Sometimes I think that she does this because she's really attached to my husband(although shes my bird...go figure huh?!) and my husband works out of the home all day long. I've noticed the attachment back when she layed eggs in February. My husband was the only one who she accepted at this time-and since then she still doesn't accept me as much as him.
I know that I can probably fix the driveway screaming if I move her away from the window, but I'm sure that she will still scream around the other 2 times. The point is, that she's been doing this screaming thing for a while now, and we've tried all of the rules in the book to try to stop it.
ie: we don't talk to her when she does it, we'll cover her up until she stops, we award a no screaming birdie with time out of the cage and treats.
I would really appreciate any info or advice if you have some! Thanks in advance ;)
~Mary
I've had my cockatiel "birdie" for over a year now, and we believe that shes almost 2 years old. here are 2 pictures of her:
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/creativedolan/P1010157.jpg
http://i42.photobucket.com/albums/e337/creativedolan/P1010010.jpg
She's a great bird, very friendly, happy and loving...BUT, she has one habit that me and my husband need help breaking. SHE SCREAMS. I run my own business out of my home, so I can't understand why she screams likes she does. she sees me all day long, and I take her out in the afternoon, and evenings and other times in between. I've noticed that she screams when these three things happen:
1. When someone is walking down the stairs that go to our second level. (only when their walking downstairs, not up)
2. whenever a car pulls into or out of the driveway. (thats every car...and its a community driveway, so this happens more then once a day)
3. When the garage door opens and we come into the house from the garage.
Sometimes I think that she does this because she's really attached to my husband(although shes my bird...go figure huh?!) and my husband works out of the home all day long. I've noticed the attachment back when she layed eggs in February. My husband was the only one who she accepted at this time-and since then she still doesn't accept me as much as him.
I know that I can probably fix the driveway screaming if I move her away from the window, but I'm sure that she will still scream around the other 2 times. The point is, that she's been doing this screaming thing for a while now, and we've tried all of the rules in the book to try to stop it.
ie: we don't talk to her when she does it, we'll cover her up until she stops, we award a no screaming birdie with time out of the cage and treats.
I would really appreciate any info or advice if you have some! Thanks in advance ;)
~Mary