PLEASE recommend training books

[msminnamouse]

I'm getting pretty fed up, to be honest. Daisy is sometimes so nasty that I really don't want to have anything to do with her. I KNOW she's undomesticated and captivity is hard for such an animal but we have to get along and nothing seems to be working at times. It's not due to nestiness because it's she doesn't have a nest and it's not always taking place near her cage. Her hormones are being managed as effectively as possible with a low fat, low protein diet. Works better than Lupron injections. She's going to be 10 years old in March.

Example: She's telling me to throw her balls for her so she can fetch them and bring them back for me to throw again. To avoid the confrontation of her offering me the ball, me going to take it, and her suddenly changing her mind and biting me instead, I have multiple ones for her. Well, even with this system worked out, she manages to be nasty. She has a ball in front of her and I go to reach for another ball not even near her and she lauches herself at my finger and sinks her beak in.

Sometimes I'm literally just sitting here with my hand resting on the floor and she runs up and bites it HARD and runs away, even though I haven't moved an inch for a while and it's not near her. She RUNS up to it and bites my STILL hand. No toys are near it either.

Then, sometimes I don't know how to better handle a situation. Like most of the time, she refuses to go back into her cage so I have to use a pvc pipe that I shake one of her toys on the end of to get her to climb in so I can put her back without asking her to step up, which will get me bitten. But she only bites when I ask her to step up when she doesn't want to go back into her cage. And no amount of positive reinforcement makes her want to comply. And luring her with a treat or toy usually doesn't work. And half the time, she jumps out of the pvc pipe and there's no way for me to get her back in besides toweling her. She doesn't leave me any option. She WON'T step up onto a perch, she pushes it away or bites it.

So, sometimes I will admit that it's my fault but often, it's not and I can't even see it coming. It literally comes out of the blue. And I don't draw my hand back after she bites, so I'm not reinforcing biting.

I don't have any of these problems with Clover and other parrots!!!! Even wild animals I've worked with don't get as nasty as she does.

She is like the ONLY animal I've ever met that doesn't respond to positive reinforcement. I don't want to punish her. I put her back in her cage right after she bites (and she doesn't want to go back in) but I don't think she gets it. I can TRY to reward her for stepping up as much as I can but it makes no difference because she will do it if I'm not putting her back in her cage but if she thinks I'm trying to put her back, then she'll bite, no matter what.

I can't find any bird trainers in my area, the few I've found are flakes that don't continue communication.

So anyone know any good books on how to train and handle nasty little parrots???

[DesertDweller]

Check out this book by Sally Blanchard. Sally's been recommended numerous times by bird owners on the forums I visit. I'm posting a link to this book on Amazon so you can read the customer reviews. I think this book might be helpful to you.

http://www.amazon.com/Sally-Blanchar...6941093&sr=1-1

[Hasuki]

http://www.birdtricks.com/

This stuff works, my PoW doesn't bite nearly as much as he did when we got him. Now when he is upset with me he just goes to bite, but never actually does.