Don't Ever Make A Parrot Do
Anything He Doesn't Want to Do

Good Advice or a Recipe for Disaster?

By Sally Blanchard

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Make or Force?

I am having some concerns about one of the latest and pervasive mantras of parrot behavior and that is, “Don’t ever make a parrot do anything he doesn’t want to do.” However, I have little, if any, trouble with the words “Don’t ever force a parrot to do anything he doesn’t want to do.” (unless, of course, he is enjoying chewing on an electric cord and needs to be rescued.) So many times it is not what people dealing with behavioral issues say or write that is significant but how it is interpreted by readers and listeners. I know people are confused by this message because I talk with a lot of them. They are afraid to use a concise verbal command because it may mean they are making a parrot do something he or she doesn’t want to do.

One author suggests that using a command or cue and pushing you finger into the bird’s belly to get him to step on your fingers is making the parrot do something he doesn’t want to do. Um ... is this the Dr. Spock theory of bird behavior ... Perhaps it is simply the syntax of words plaguing us again but there is a lot of gray area and a successful balance between being a tyrannical boss and a parrot in control of his own life doing a bad job of it. There is a big difference between aggression and direction. I personally think that the concept “Don’t ever make a parrot do anything he doesn’t want to do” goes too far and can be too easily misunderstood to say, “Let a parrot do whatever he wants to do.” To me this concept is a recipe for disaster and is asking for a LOT of trouble. Companion parrots have no idea how to exist happily in our lives and desperately need guidance. They need to have a clear message on a daily basis on what Whether there is a “flock leader” in the wild is not significant because it is obvious that households where people establish themselves as “flock leaders” have less confused and therefore, happier companion parrots.

How many of the things we ask (or make) our parrots do on a daily basis are things they really “want to do?” Perhaps my grey Whodee doesn’t want to come out of his cage when it is being cleaned but it is important for both of us that he does. When I reach in for him and give him the “up” command (is it really different if I call the “UP” command the “UP” cue?). When it is time for him to go back to his cage after being in the office up on one of the playgyms, he doesn’t always want to leave his play perch and sometimes will play a little game with me but I let him know that it is time to go whether he wants to or not. I do this with a friendly up command and sometimes I have to play a bit of his game with him before he cooperates but I am essentially making him do something he doesn’t want to do. There is no way that I can roll his cage into my office to place a food bribe in it so he will climb down and get in his cage. I prefer to be his mode of transportation and I can assure you that our relationship has in no way suffered because of this, however, I think it would suffer a great deal if I just let him make all of his own decisions about what he did and didn’t want to do.

If we train a parrot to expect a reward and then use a cue (or command) to get him to step on our hand does that mean that we aren’t making him do something he did not want to do? Or does it mean we are manipulating his behavior so he does what we want him to. Does a parrot in a bird show really want to do the tricks and is he happy in his cage when the show is over?

Guidance Implies Leadership

We need to provide guidance to our parrots so that they can adjust and be happy living with us as companions. Guidance implies leadership but it certainly does not imply force or aggression. In fact, I believe that our consistent leadership and guidance builds trust and makes the relationship far more positive. When Whodee first came to live with me, there was no way he wanted to step on my hand. I did not force him on my hand the first time but I also did not give up and go away when he let me know he did not want to step on my hand. I lowered my energy and approached him in a more indirect manner. Even though I was patient and calm, I essentially made him get on my hand. I gently pushed my fingers into his belly and said, “up.” He clamped his beak on my finger to tell me to go away. I didn’t so he stepped on my hand. I believe that our relationship got a very good start because of this. I did not force him onto my hand but I made it very clear what I expected of him as I do every day during our time together. Whodee had the background that could have easily led him to be an overly fearful bird. He lived in at least six different places before he came to live with me. My steady, trust-building, consistent guidance and affection has helped him become a secure happy parrot.

I deplore it when people use aggression or force with their parrot, but I have a major concern about the concept of never making your parrot do something he doesn’t want to do.

When I studied the development of creativity in children it was very clear to me that children needed guidance and leadership that included instruction and even a command to do something in response to certain words. While young children need to be encouraged to think for themselves, they are not capable of doing so until they are old enough to understand at least some of the consequences of their behavior. At the risk of being called “anthropomorphic” (there’s that ‘nasty’ accusatory word again), I think there is definitely a similarity in the way a young parrot learns and the way a young child learns. I don’t think companion parrots are generally capable of making successful choices for themselves, at least partly because of the conflict between innate behaviors and life in our living rooms. I believe that the majority of solvable (those that occur when the parrot receives adequate physical and emotional care) companion parrot problems are from a bird in control of his own life doing a bad job of it. While ‘training,’ patterning positive behaviors, and focused attention are critical in changing negative behaviors, these are all an integral part of Nurturing Guidance as is letting the parrot know what is expected of him, which often involves “making” a parrot do something he may not want to do.

Pushing Limitations

I got my start working with and taming wild-caught parrots. Many were quite traumatized and some were extremely fearful of new situations. This is also true of many poorly socialized domestically-raised chicks. The only way to tame these parrots to accept handling by people was to slowly and gradually “push” them a little bit past their comfort level. This concept certainly involves “making” a parrot do something he does not want to do. Certainly this can be done with various training methods and rewards, but it worked just as well for me to slow down my energy so that the parrots sensed no fear or aggression coming from me. I was often able to work wonders with these parrots in this manner.

In the wild, the socialization of young birds can include pushing them a bit beyond their comfort level. This is done with parental reassurance. Fledging can be kind of a crapshoot and the event has to be “timed” so that it occurs in the best situation possible. There are many behaviors in parrots that are “hard-wired” but the finesse of it is often learned. For example, it is instinctive for a baby parrot to fly but he is not the Red Baron on his first flight. Flying skills and learned and developed with parental instruction and reassurance. One might refer to this as cajoling the young bird to increase his sense of exploration. I have never watched parrot chicks fledge in the wild but I have watched several species of native birds fledge. I was watching a clutch of five baby scissortail flycatchers who were all out on a branch. The parents swooped at them and one by one the babies propelled themselves into the air — all but one. The parents called to him from a nearby branch and he called back. The other youngsters were also squawking — mostly for the attention of their parents. When the unfledged bird seemed to take forever, one of the parents flew over and virtually knocked him off of his perch. His fledging was not as smooth as the other birds who seemed to make a choice to fly but he quickly flapped his wings, gained some height and landed on a nearby branch. There is no doubt that his parents made the decision that it was time for him to fledge and made him do so.

Companion parrots tend to narrow their acceptance unless we continually provide them with new experiences and situations in a safe way. Some poorly socialized chicks need to be slowly let out of their tunnel of inexperience for them to adjust to any change. This involves the kind of desensitization that many therapists use with people who have phobias. With encouragement, the person makes a small but unfamiliar step into the feared situation. For this they receive praise, but most of all the situation is controlled as much as possible so that it is positive. Once he accepts this, he is encouraged to take another step and then another until the fear is essentially removed from the situation. With all animals, including humans, reward training can be successful encouragement to go beyond a comfort level. Building trust with praise and cajoling can go a long way in making a parrot do something he didn’t want to do before.

Cajole or Coerce?

The dictionary definition of cajole is to “compliment with an ulterior motive.” This definition applies as far as praise going a long way to get a parrot to do something you want him to do that he may not want to do at that moment. To me the term ‘cajole’ means that we are able to create a situation where a parrot does something we want him to do because he trusts us and there is a consistent positive outcome. The definition of coerce is to “make someone do something against his will.” We NEED to make decisions for our parrots and “make” them do things they may not want to do on a daily basis. With the concepts of nurturing guidance, we can do this in a way that is trust-building. I think that a parrot’s response to a verbal command depends a great deal on how we present it. If a caregiver checks out the parrot’s body language, announces his presence, and approaches the parrot in a nurturing manner with a smile, and give s a friendly “up” command with his finger against the bird’s belly, he is not making a parrot do anything he do not want to do. On the other hand, if the owner shoves his hand in the cage and pushes it into the parrot with a loud, authoritarian “UP” command, then that is coercion. The use of the UP command creates consistency for the parrot and for the person; it is not aggressive unless someone uses it that way.

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