Ok,whats with my 'tiel?

[candyraver]

Up til this week we haven't had probs with Madeline.
She has tons of toys,great food,fresh water daily,not kept in a cage 24/7 & is with either me or my man everytime we are even remotely close to her.
Lately she been looking out the window more at wild birds,& my first thought was "she wants a bird friend" (which i'm getting from my aunt when the bird can hitch a ride from another province).
Well N0W our once very well behaved bird is turning into a noisey bird She'll start at 5am,& not give up no matter what..."tweeting" her heart out til we go to where she is.When we "calm her down" & head back to bed,she'll give us 5 minutes...tops.
We always spent a lot of time with Madeline& still do,but for a week...she just can't be left alone.
Her health is great,everything is great (she got a check up 3 weeks ago)...but now she dont want either of us to leave her side!
Can she "sense" theres a baby on the way?
Is there a way we can get her back to being "independent" during work hours,meals,bedtime,etc again?
Is there such thing as spending too much time with a 'tiel?
I'm not seeing how it can be boredom,she averages 4 new toys or more a M0NTH...she's spoiled rotten! We even play "fetch" with her using pop corn....

whats the matter?

[candyraver]

Any replies...?

[Mygala]

Sounds like a textbook training exercise. She has trained you to come when called.

If she is truly frightened, as some cockatiels can be in the dark, you can help by putting a night light by her cage. See if that helps.

Otherwise, you'll have to break the cycle that has developed. It could take some time at this point if the behavior is well established.

Bob

[Ravnos]

I was going to say something similar to Bob, but couldn't think of how to word it to not be a jerk and say "She has you trained well."

[Mygala]

People tend to underestimate animals, ...especially small ones or ones that we are familiar with, like cats and dogs ...and cockatiels.

When I was working at the zoo and started each year's apprentice trainers, I'd ask them "What is the first thing you need to know before starting to train an animal?"

I'd get answers like "Behavioral management" or "How to use a whistle/clicker" or "Operant conditioning", etc.

I'd smile and tell them that the right answer to the question of "What do you need to know first?" is .....More than the animal.

A lot of owners are trained so well that they have no clue that they've been the ones being trained. And truthfully, it happens to everyone at one time or another.

I'd recommend a book, it's called "Don't Shoot the Dog", by Karen Pryor. It is the standard book that some of the best training programs use to start off new trainers. I go back and read it every year or so, it's well worth it.

Bob

[candyraver]

Quote: Originally Posted by Ravnos I was going to say something similar to Bob, but couldn't think of how to word it to not be a jerk and say "She has you trained well."

hehe,I wouldnt have taken it that way at all!

Thanks for the advice Mygala!
We do use a night light near her cage,& we started covering only part of her cage...seems to be working a bit.

My boyfriend has made it an habit to let the bird know "we are going out/we have work/we have to go shopping"...we did that first,& went out& closed the door...first she would scream for us to come back,& I wanted to go right back but he said no his aunt had a bird (macaw) with the same problem or similar enough...after awhile,she just realized the owners were going to come back in their own time.
Mine is "getting to" that point,but still screams at night.
The nightlght stays on,& we got 2 more,plus we open the bathroom door now (its the only light we keep on),she'll still scream..but not for an extended period of time (hours) like before.
This bad habit only came up recently.
I was wondering if part of it had to do when we lost our power for a few hours & everything was pitch black,it was nighttime then,but her nightlight went off (due to the power) & that seems to be around the same time when it started.& we were upstairs then,usually around that time we were downstairs,so it could have spooked her,& made her not want to be alone at all I think?

I'm strongly thinking that sometime after the baby is born,we'll be getting her a couple friends.
I always loved cockatiels,normally shes very well behaved...so i'm thinking just a couple things have to be tweaked now,& she'll go back to herself.