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Post by Deleted on Aug 4, 2015 22:40:56 GMT -5
My Quaker Pete I've come to learn is absolutely terrified of boxes. An Example I got my jinja Game out so he could play with the blocks and he absolutely went nuts I put the box away he was fine. As I've stated before he is a re-homed Quaker I came home from the grocery store I was putting away groceries and he saw the bags that were in the kitchen he started screaming bouncing around his cage. Today I went to put pet freshener on the carpet and vacuumed he saw the box and went ballistic then I was eating sunflower seeds out of the bag out of his view. He proceeded to look around the corner as he was on to of his cage and went crazy again this time he hurt himself on the the Side of his face. I'm very concerned about him because I can't hide every bag or box from his view. My question is what do I do about this how do I teach him that boxes and bags aren't meant to hurt him . I'm concerned that someone may have tried to hurt him with the box or bag before I got him or he may have been in a box at one time I'm also concerned how easily he's agitated by this and that he may hurt himself if he sees a box or bag. I'm going to the place I got him tomorrow to ask some questions because to me this is serious. His screams where horrific from the standpoint that it was like a child crying uncontrollably like they just gone through the worst trauma in their life. I felt helpless it took me hours to calm him down.
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Post by aaron on Aug 4, 2015 23:59:22 GMT -5
Wow, that sounds challenging, and poor Pete, I imagine he must have had some pretty rough experiences to have that kind of reaction. I am honestly not knowledgable at all about resolving post traumatic stress triggers. I feel for you, this sounds very difficult and sad. If I had to make a suggestion, it would be to talk to him about it, at length. An amazing amount of our speech is comprehended in some way or another, be it inflection or actual words. And not that I'd be very good at it, but keeping your own emotions level will certainly help him see that it's okay. Flock mates learn from each other, and if you are rock solid in the face of his meltdown, he will get over it more quickly. I'm sure there are techniques for this but I am not familiar with them, but others on the forum may be.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2015 0:15:01 GMT -5
I remained calm through the whole thing which is very hard my main concern is figuring out why is so agitated by boxes or bags. I thought it might be the sound of the bag which could be correct for the bag portion of my problem as for boxes I'm not sure why. The way I see it fear is learned or experienced in some form or fashion now I just have to get to the bottom of the problem. I just hope I can learn how to help him overcome this problem we are facing.
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Post by aaron on Aug 5, 2015 0:21:25 GMT -5
Yeah, if possible, it would certainly help to know specifics about what he has experienced. It sounds like you are handling it as well as possible. Definitely keep us posted as you learn more, and good luck!
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Post by biteybird on Aug 5, 2015 2:59:12 GMT -5
Poor little Pete. But he is lucky to have someone who's willing to help him through his fears. I wonder what happened to him before...guess we'll never know, but at least you are aware now of what causes him stress. Hope you get some info.
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Post by easttex on Aug 5, 2015 8:27:11 GMT -5
I feel for both of you. It's tough to see that kind of distress in a companion. At the risk of sounding like a Heidenreich cult member, I would point you to a couple of her offerings. I'm on her email list and coincidentally received this blog post a couple days ago: goodbirdinc.blogspot.com/2015/08/overcoming-fear-responses-two-tools.htmlThis is from an earlier post: goodbirdinc.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-to-address-fear-in-parrots.htmlIf you look at the bottom of each, you'll see that she responds to commenters about specific situations, though it can take some time. If you really want the nuts and bolts of her processes, you have to have to go deeper, and invest a little money. It is how she makes her living, after all.  She does web-based seminars on a number of topics: www.goodbirdinc.com/parrot-store-digital.htmlNumbers 4 or 8 might be very helpful for you. I haven't had a chance to do any of her seminars live, which would be great because you get a chance to ask questions and she keeps them very small, but I have some of the recordings and find them really useful. Honestly, I don't think it's so important to know why this is happening. Most of us with rehomed parrots will never know why we see certain behaviors. You just have to learn how to respond appropriately and help him overcome his fear. |
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Post by siobhan on Aug 5, 2015 10:00:14 GMT -5
I sympathize because we have a rescue cockatoo who is afraid of so many things and we're always discovering a new thing accidentally and traumatizing him without meaning to. One thing he's afraid of is TV trays, wooden chairs and stools. If you move one of those things, he freaks out. We eat off TV trays almost every day, so the way we desensitized him was to move very, very slowly and constantly reassure him when we had to move them. Little by little, he has relaxed a bit, but not completely. He still tenses up when he sees them, but he no longer goes completely haywire. Hubby dug up his old set of Tinkertoys because he thought he could make interesting things for Rocky to play with, and at first Rocky recoiled from those, too. We have to move slowly and show him what we have and be careful to never move as if we were going to hit him with them. Bring them up slowly from below, let him see it in your open hand and look it over and then set it down a few inches away and let him decide if he wants it. Rocky is afraid of a broom if you carry it horizontally, but if you're using it, he's not afraid of it. He's wary, but not afraid. You can desensitize your bird to boxes and bags if you take your time, verbally reassure him, and possibly if you produce a favorite treat from a box or bag every day until he begins to associate those things with something good instead of something scary.
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Post by julianna on Aug 5, 2015 13:27:43 GMT -5
Great advice Siobhan. The reassurance is very important as this is the method that has helped Oscar my QP with many of his fears. Also... showing him the item and allowing him to touch it on his own terms.
Oscar is still afraid of boxes and if I leave he Kleenex box on the coffee table I can be sure he will beat it up and knock it to the floor. However, this action does not hurt him.
When he is terrified of things ... such as a large bag, I just always try and keep it out of his sight. I am terrified of bugs and if I don't see them, all is well.
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Post by Deleted on Aug 8, 2015 20:01:58 GMT -5
I've been working with Pete with those certain objects and He's got a lot better thank goodness
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Post by bruce on Aug 17, 2015 10:29:46 GMT -5
It is interesting how QPs fixate on "hating" a person or object. My QP, Chuckie, hates boxes filled with shredded paper. A friend sent him one as a toy a year ago, and Chuckie spent a few minutes attacking the box and hurling it around his play area. Needless to say I don't use it as a toy. He also fixate on trying to attack my brother each time he visited. I have to warn anyone that tries to get near him that he is very territorial and likely to try to bite them if they are near his house. If he is away from his house, he will usually interact peacefully with other humans. Another object that he objects to is the vacuum cleaner. Just seems to be a quirk of their behavior. I am glad Pete is doing better.
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Post by easttex on Aug 17, 2015 12:28:28 GMT -5
Peppy hates the vacuum cleaner, too. It stimulates my grey to bathe, as it does for many birds.
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Post by biteybird on Aug 18, 2015 3:25:00 GMT -5
Oh, don't get me started on the vacuum cleaner!  Bonnie regresses into a squawking frenzy whenever she sees it (not that often, LOL). |
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fig
Hatchling
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Post by fig on Aug 18, 2015 3:42:06 GMT -5
Skye is terrified of my broom, but he's cool with the vacuum cleaner.
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Post by aaron on Aug 18, 2015 10:15:02 GMT -5
Cupcake hates the vacuum cleaner, although she has definitely gotten more used to it over the years. Now she just yells at it a few times rather than going completely berserk |
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Post by Jan and Shah on Aug 18, 2015 16:23:50 GMT -5
None of my birds care about the vacuum cleaner which is unusual given that Shah hates just about everything else. The little stinker bit me this morning and drew blood - the honeymoon is over  It really was my fault as he was going berko and I put my hand near him - I should have known better. Back to the Slave Training Manual for me! |
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She does web-based seminars on a number of topics: 
Bonnie regresses into a squawking frenzy whenever she sees it (not that often, LOL).
It really was my fault as he was going berko and I put my hand near him - I should have known better. Back to the Slave Training Manual for me!