Setting up your bird’s environment to facilitate a positive relationship is something that both your and your bird will benefit from.

Avoid situations where the birds may injure themselves.  Keep training surfaces non-slippery and large enough to work on.  Make sure training perches are sturdy and easy for the bird to grip.  Keep perches at the most effective level; high enough so the bird feels safe, and low enough for you to comfortably reinforce them during training. 

Introduce new things at the bird’s pace.  From new toys, to furniture, music, and new people.  Their body language will clue you into whether they are receptive to immediately checking out that new toy, or if it’s best to place it a few feet away from the bird for a little while first.  If they are leaning away from the object (or person), then step backwards until they sit up straight again.   That’s the place to start. 

Keep your bird healthy.  Feed the best diet for them (work with your avian veterinarian to come up with this), make sure they get enough sleep at night (individual birds vary, but 8-12 hours is a typical range), make sure they can get around in their environment easily and safely, and make sure they get both physical and mental playtime and exercise.

Avoid situations that may trigger undesirable behavior.   Does your bird get cranky around 8pm every night?  Put them to bed a little bit earlier.  Does Polly try to bite you when you mess around in her cage?  Try training her in another area, out of site of the cage.  Is your African Grey less motivated when strangers are around?  Do your initial training sessions alone, and work on 'socializing' slowly.  Does your bird bite you whenever you're headed back to their cage?  Bring them back on another perch (that doesn't involve your finger), and make sure you reinforce them for going into the cage by giving them a favorite treat as soon as they step down.  You get what I’m saying, right?  You have a lot of influence over the environment your bird lives in, from their food choices, to cage size, toy styles, music choices, who else (or what else) has access to them, etc.  Don’t be afraid to work with those variables creatively to persuade good behavior, and avoid the undesirable ones.

Have a clear understanding of what you want.  When you have a goal in mind, it helps make it easier to creatively problem solve ways to accomplish it. 

© 2005  Kelly L. Ballance