avian Archives - Fear Free

Parrot Prep: How to Set Up Avian Training and Behavior Classes

Rachel Lees, RVT, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior)Behavior problems are a common cause of relinquishment and euthanasia in most domesticated species, including parrots. When obtaining a new pet, clients have specific expectations and ideas about what normal behavior looks like for each species. Whether they have a dog, cat, bird, or guinea pig, these choices are most likely made from a positive experience the client had in the past.

But what happens when things do not go as planned? What if expectations are too high and the pet obtained is unable to live up to the client’s expectations? Biting, screaming, and feather picking are parrot behaviors that many new owners are not prepared for when they acquire their pet. In the avian world, euthanasia is much less likely as most veterinarians are hesitant to end a bird’s life due to the client’s convenience, but this makes it more likely that the bird will be rehomed multiple times.

What if we were able to prepare our avian clients for behavioral problems before they start? What if avian rescues could work to teach birds specific cued behaviors to help eliminate aggression in some of these pets?

Psittacine preparatory programs or avian prep programs can be life-changing for birds and a great resource for owners to understand normal bird behavior, create realistic long-term expectations, and work toward creating an environment that is mentally and behaviorally enriching. They also help teach cued foundation behaviors used to eliminate and replace unwanted behaviors (just as we do with dogs and cats). Avian prep programs can help to strengthen the human-animal bond, keep birds in a home long-term, and increase the bond between client, bird, and clinic. Bonus: offering such programs also increases revenue through fees and the sale of products and treats.

Creating the Course

Who will teach the courses? What are the most important topics to teach? What foundation behaviors are most important and why? These are all great questions and we will break them down below:

Educator/Instructor: An avian veterinarian or veterinary technician with a special interest in birds should instruct this course. The individual should be knowledgeable in avian communication, body language, forms of enrichment, and use of positive reinforcement for training. An exotic-animal trainer may be an ideal instructor if one is in your area. This trainer should use and recommend positive reinforcement. Avoid use of aversive training techniques, which can increase fear, stress, and anxiety in all species.

Curriculum Breakdown

I recommend creating a four-week course. The first two weeks can be taught virtually or in person without the client’s bird present. The goal in the first two weeks will be to review the basics of avian communication, enrichment and environmental set up, learning theory and use of positive reinforcement (with a marker), and answer client questions. The third and fourth classes will focus on teaching cued behaviors with the birds present in the hospital. (See the chart below)

To prevent potential disease transmission or other risks for birds brought to class, take the following measures:

Waiver (indicating risk to client, bird, etc.)
One owner per bird
Clients should bring their own equipment and reinforcers (carriers, towels, etc.)
Birds will need to have a current examination by a veterinarian, complete blood cell count, and Chlamydophila screening in the past year.
- Old World parrots such as African greys, lovebirds, and cockatiels must have a negative test for circovirus
All unwanted behaviors (feather picking, etc) should have been medically worked up prior to working solely on behavior.

Class	Topic and Discussion Points
Class One (Humans Only)	· Introduction and Client Problem Behavior Discussion (Why are they here and what are they seeing at home?)· Avian Communication · Environmental Enrichment/Management
Class Two (Humans Only)	· Environmental Enrichment/Management (cont.)· Learning Theory and Using Marker Training · Marker Mechanics and Preparing for Birds in Class
Class Three (Humans and Birds)	Break down into 5- to 10-minute training sessions with short breaks in between.· Name Orientation · Target · Step to Me · Off · Station Training
Class Four (Humans and Birds)	Break down into 5- to 10-minute training sessions with short breaks in between.· Name Orientation · Target · Step to Me · Off · Station Training

Foundation Behaviors to Teach

The following behaviors can be useful to have trained and generalized prior to problem behaviors starting. Response Substitution is a term used when we want to replace an unwanted behavior with a new behavior. Teaching and creating strong cued behaviors can help to eliminate and give alternative responses in situations involving attention-seeking or aggression.

Name Orientation: Teaching birds their name can help with obtaining their attention to interrupt unwanted behaviors and ask them to offer a different behavior.

Target Training: This behavior can be used to teach the bird to move from one place to another by teaching them to place their beak near the target.

Step to Me: Cue a bird to move to handler’s arm or hand to be transported from one place to another.

Off: Cue bird to move off of handler during periods where conflict may occur.

Station Training: Teach bird to go to a specific location on cue. This can be used as an alternative behavior.

Avian prep programs and training classes are currently scarce but ideally courses like this will become as routine as dog training classes. Pet birds deserve just as much of a chance to be successful in the home environment as dogs or cats. If you or others you know are teaching a course like this, please update us on the Fear Free for Professionals Facebook Group. We would love to see your photos and ideas for these courses as well as your feedback!

Resources

Luescher, Andrew. Manual of Parrot Behavior. Blackwell Publishing. 2006

Shaw, Julie K. and Martin, Debbie. Canine and Feline Behavior for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses. Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2015.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Rachel Lees, an Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, is a veterinary technician specialist in behavior, a KPA certified training partner, and veterinary behavior technician at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. She loves helping people create and maintain a strong human-animal bond.

Words on Birds: Collecting an Avian Behavior History

Rachel Lees, RVT, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior)To successfully identify behavior concerns and recommend a treatment plan, a veterinary professional should be proficient in collecting a thorough behavioral history. It’s essential to gather information on daily routine, environment, training history, and other lifestyle and behavior facts.

With feathered companions, this is especially important, as many avian behavioral issues may be related to lack of environmental stimuli; specific relationships with members of the household; the owner’s behavior; and daily schedule and routine, to mention a few key pieces of behavioral history taking. Most veterinary behaviorists require a client to complete a behavioral questionnaire prior to the pet’s appointment, but even with this information, they must act as detectives, sifting through the information and asking further questions in the examination room.

This article will discuss four aspects of collecting an avian behavioral history. Having a thorough understanding of the situation can help the veterinary team reach a diagnosis.

Gaining Client Trust

This first step is an important factor in taking a history, even though it doesn’t relate to the bird’s behavior. Veterinary professionals should present themselves in a way that promotes and creates an open and honest relationship with the pet owner. If the client feels judged, the history obtained may not be accurate history, leading to misdiagnosis.

Humans communicate visually and verbally. Actively listening and appearing open, sympathetic, and relaxed are important when entering the room to evaluate the patient and meet the owner. When in an exam room with clients, I mention specific behaviors that may be challenging to ignore and tell the client that everyone makes mistakes and we all lose our tempers. I evaluate the client’s nonverbal body language and based on that, I may state that there is zero judgment in this space and that we are a safe zone. We support owners and understand that they are in the office to help their pet. It is not our job to judge, but to help the owner and pet move forward.

Abnormal vs. Normal Behavior

Clients who obtain parrots may or may not fully understand normal parrot behavior. Many clients bring their bird in for behavioral evaluation only to learn that the behavior is normal for that species. Parrots, for instance, are inherently loud, destructive, and messy. The parrot walking into the consultation is going to be the same parrot walking out. Giving the client clear expectations can be informative for clients and help them understand long-term goals for modification of unwanted behaviors. Communicating that some of these behaviors are normal can educate the client and lead to a discussion on how to manage the behavior moving forward.

Observing Behavior

This can be the most challenging part of obtaining the behavior history. It is important for the veterinary professional to witness typical behavior for the bird. With birds, the majority of behavior is going to be displayed in their home environment where they feel most comfortable. Most birds will alter their behavior in the presence of unfamiliar people. While using video to evaluate the behavior is valuable, it may add new, potentially “scary” stimuli to the situation, and this may influence the bird’s behavior.

To help to counteract this, have the client bring the camera or tripod into the environment a few days prior to collecting video and data. This should help the bird habituate to the camera and reduce or eliminate behavior changes. In the text Manual of Parrot Behavior, edited by Andrew Luescher, DACVB, it is recommended that clients film the following prior to the consultation:

Interactions with each household member (or members of the home who routinely interact with the bird)
Interactions with owner during:
- Meals/eating
- Playing
- Snuggling
Routine behavior in the cage (with owner in the room)
Routine behavior in the cage (without the owner present)
Film a “Bird View” video of what the bird sees from the cage
- Full circle view

The goal of these videos is to give the veterinary professional insight to how the bird interacts at home. The veterinary team can then read and understand the animal’s body language as it is displayed during each circumstance or situation. Caution the client against purposefully eliciting aggressive behavior or frightening the bird. The goal is for the videos to provide a glimpse of the bird’s everyday behavior and comfort level with interactions and surroundings.

Evaluating Physical Environment

The bird’s environment can play a large role in normal or abnormal behavior patterns. This can become a concern when diagnosing a behavior condition. When evaluating the pet’s physical environment, look at the following:

The bird’s cage
- Size
- Construction
- Cleanliness: A dirty cage space can cause increased stress and anxiety
- Location: Where is the cage located? In the common room with the family and or owners? Is it in an isolated space away from human interaction? Is it in the center of the room? Certain locations can increase stress and anxiety.
- Stimuli and surroundings near the cage: The cage is where the bird spends a large amount of time. Since parrots are a prey species, certain sounds, objects, or conditions may be more concerning to them, causing increased fear, stress, and anxiety. Specific objects such as clocks or portraits may increase stress and anxiety (“Why is the scary portrait staring at me?”). Loud sounds, cigarette smoke, and air quality are other factors that can make the parrot uncomfortable.
Toys and enrichment:
- Are perches and play gyms present in a social gathering space? This may suggest that the bird is able to loosely and comfortably play and interact with the equipment in the presence of people and other unknown stimuli.
- Assess the type of toy, size, construction materials, and suitability. Toys that are too challenging become uninteresting. Each toy should match the preference of the bird. Variation and rotating toys can be a useful tactic to keep toys as “fun” as possible. Some birds may not know how to play with toys, and for this reason may be more dependent on and bonded to the owner.

Veterinary professionals may also request that the client submit a video tour of the home. This can aid them in knowing what the pet may be experiencing based on human movement, placement of items, and daily routine.

These are just a few of the considerations to take into account when obtaining an avian behavioral history. Other areas to assess and discuss are the patient’s signalment, breed, developmental history, prior environmental information, and grooming. We will dive into other aspects of taking an avian history in a future blog post.

Reference:

Luescher, Andrew. Manual of Parrot Behavior. Blackwell Publishing. 2006

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Rachel Lees, an Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, is a veterinary technician specialist in behavior, a KPA certified training partner, and veterinary behavior technician at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. She loves helping people create and maintain a strong human-animal bond.

Bird Brain: Learning and Problem-Solving in Psittacine Pets

Rachel Lees, RVT, KPA CTP, VTS (Behavior)Parrots and other psittacine pets can be fascinating additions to a home. They are gorgeous, colorful, charismatic and captivating, and it’s all too easy for potential caregivers to think, “How hard can it be to have a pet bird”?

Then they acquire their new family member and find there is quite a bit to know about living with and caring for them, especially when it comes to dealing with common behaviors that are normal for psittacines but problematic for humans. They frequently turn to the internet for advice on how to “fix” these problems, which can include aggression to humans, vocalizing for attention, and self-mutilation such as feather picking.

As veterinary professionals, it is important that we understand how this species learns so we can educate owners accordingly at their first appointment. Living with a psittacine can be financially, emotionally, and mentally draining. Building a strong human-animal bond from the start is the best means to help create long-term homes for pet birds.

Learning is defined as a permanent change in the behavior of an animal after being exposed to a stimulus. Although changes may not be immediately apparent, they are real changes that will affect long-term behavior. It is important to communicate to clients that every interaction they have with their bird is a training session, whether they intend it that way or not. Any time a bird interacts with the environment, behaviors either increase, decrease, or become suppressed. Understanding this is crucial to communicating the best training and behavior recommendations based on science to clients with avian companions.

Increasing and Decreasing Likelihood of a Behavior

Operant conditioning is learning in which a behavior is affected by consequences. When a behavior is associated with something the bird wants, the behavior will strengthen. When a behavior is associated with something the bird finds aversive or dislikes, the behavior will weaken. There are four quadrants of learning common to all animals: positive reinforcement, negative reinforcement, positive punishment, and negative punishment.

These terms are unfortunately misused by clients and even some veterinary professionals. They are defined as follows:

Positive (+): Adding something to the situation
Negative (-): Eliminating something from the situation

The terms reinforcement and punishment are defined as follows:

Reinforcement: strengthening a behavior
Punishment: decreasing a behavior

Below is a table reviewing each definition with an example of each quadrant:

Quadrant	Definition	Example
Positive Reinforcement	Addition of a stimulus to increase likelihood of a behavior or to strengthen a behavior	Presenting a finger and when the parrot steps up to station giving a treat. Adding a treat increases likelihood of the “step up” behavior.
Negative Reinforcement	Eliminating a stimulus to increase likelihood of a behavior or strengthen a behavior	An example of this is forcing a bird to step up by pushing a hand into the chest or prying toes off a perch. Eliminating pressure or discontinuing handling reinforces the behavior of stepping up to a perch.
Positive Punishment	Adding a stimulus to decrease likelihood of a behavior	A client’s cockatiel bites when a person reaches out to touch them. The client smacks them on the beak, adding an aversive situation to decrease the likelihood of the biting behavior.
Negative Punishment	Eliminating a stimulus to decrease likelihood of a behavior	A client’s macaw squawks for attention. The client turns their back to ignore the behavior. Taking away attention decreases likelihood of vocalization behavior.

Positive reinforcement and negative punishment are the most humane ways to train most animals. However, negative punishment can induce frustration, increasing FAS, so it’s important to use it with caution. Force or aversive methods are not recommended and can damage the human-animal bond between clients and birds. These methods can also increase fear, anxiety, and stress and can create more aggression concerns. They should be avoided.

Breaking Down Unwanted Behaviors With the Problem-Solving Model

Dividing each behavior and problem is crucial in creating a plan to alter unwanted behaviors. There is no single way to handle any particular behavior. Using the problem-solving model, we can break down the Antecedent, Behavior, and the Consequence to evaluate the trigger and the true problem. The ABCs in the problem-solving model are defined as follows:

Antecedent: stimuli, events, or conditions that immediately precede a behavior.
Behavior: actual behavior caused by the antecedent.
Consequence: stimuli, events, and conditions that occur after a behavior and influence probability of the behavior recurring.

For example: A client comes in and mentions that when their dog barks, the macaw (when out) will fly from her perch and chase the dog.

Breaking down this situation can be done as follows:

Antecedent: Dog barking
Behavior: Flying to chase dog
Consequence: Dog discontinues barking

Now that the behavior is broken down, we can determine motivation for the unwanted response. With animals in general we can simplify things and say that behavior is either self-rewarding (i.e., would happen regardless of the owner’s presence) or human-reinforced. In the example above, this behavior is likely self-reinforced, as the macaw’s behavior results in the dog discontinuing the barking. After this, we can figure out how to solve the problem. Some things to consider:

How to manage and prevent the situation from starting.
What to teach the macaw to do that is incompatible with flying down to attack the dog?
How to interrupt the behavior while it’s occurring.
Foundation skills needed by the dog and the macaw to eliminate and modify this issue.

Breaking down one behavior takes time, expertise, and patience. No behavior can be fixed easily as each behavior has many layers. Encourage clients with birds to seek help from a skilled positive-reinforcement trainer, veterinary behaviorist, or veterinary behavior technician experienced with birds if any behavior problem is mentioned.

References:

Luescher, Andrew. Manual of Parrot Behavior. Blackwell Publishing. 2006

Shaw, Julie K. and Martin, Debbie. Canine and Feline Behavior for Veterinary Technicians and Nurses. Wiley & Sons, Inc. 2015.

Yeates, James. Companion Animal Care and Welfare: The UFAW Companion Animal Handbook. Wiley-Blackwell. 2019.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.

Rachel Lees, an Elite Fear Free Certified Professional, is a veterinary technician specialist in behavior, a KPA certified training partner, and veterinary behavior technician at the University of Tennessee College of Veterinary Medicine. She loves helping people create and maintain a strong human-animal bond.

What to Know About Recognizing Signs of FAS in Avian Patients

Fear Free

Specific signals of fear, anxiety, and stress (FAS) differ slightly by species, but what remains constant for delivering Fear Free care is to attend to what animals communicate through their body language.

For exotic animal veterinarian Alicia McLaughlin, who practices at the Center for Bird and Exotic Animal Medicine in Bothell, Washington, paying close, constant attention to body language signals throughout interactions and care is vital for protecting the emotional experience and safety of her animal patients and the veterinary team.

In the case of Dr. McLaughlin’s exotic animal patients, signs of FAS may be slightly different and adjusted to depending upon the species. Avians in particular can be challenging for most people to read. But with practice, reading their signs of FAS becomes second nature.

Some signs of increasing fear, anxiety, and stress McLaughlin watches for in avian patients include eyes appearing more round as opposed to soft and almond-shaped. Stressed birds also do not preen themselves and are unwilling to eat even favorite treats. Birds may stand taller on their perch and lean away from a scary object or person, with feathers slicked and held close to the body. If these body language cues are ignored, birds may attempt to fly away or vocalize, or FAS may progress to defensive gesturing, with the bird opening the mouth, lunging, and threatening to bite.

Another aspect of body language to watch for is overexcitement.

“Overexcitement can lead to aggression quickly,” McLaughlin says.

Signs of overexcitement include feathers ruffling on the nape of the neck. A parrot may fan out tail feathers. Parrots have voluntary control over their pupils and can dilate and constrict them rapidly in what is referred to as eye pinning, another sign of overexcitement and a red flag for potential aggression.

Carefully and continually monitoring for signs of FAS throughout preparatory visits and actual veterinary care is protective both for the ability to handle patients in the immediate situation and for building their long-term comfort with care.

This article was reviewed/edited by board-certified veterinary behaviorist Dr. Kenneth Martin and/or veterinary technician specialist in behavior Debbie Martin, LVT.