help, how do i unteach a bad behavior

[cheryl]

when i first got sweetypie she, of coruse, didnt want anything to do with me so when she finally hopped on to my shoulder :happy: i wanted her to stay there as long as she would. :D knowing she needed to eat and drink i offered her food and water instead of putting her back in the cage to get it.
so now here we are 2 1/2months later :blush: and she wont eat anywhere but on me:roll: , if i put the food bowl next to me on the couch she gets a hunk of cornbread out and gets in my lap to eat. seed on the other hand i put in the cage and she will go there to eat it but not as often as i think she should, ditto with her water on the outside of the cage

how often should she be eating and drinking at 5 months old, and how often when she is over a year old?

i know, i know, i taught her this :roll: but how do i unteach it and teach the behavior i want? which is, of course, to go get food and water on a regular basis thru out the day.

also how do i know if iv taught her im the head of the flock or if i taught her she is the head of the flock:confused:

[linda040899]

Cheryl,
There's something I've heard many times about being careful what we wish for............... :rolleyes:

Birds kind of graze on and off whenever they are hungry, all day long. When you put her back in the cage to eat, try sitting next to the cage and eating, too. While it may not be exactly what you want, I think it's a start in the right direction. I would put her back in her cage every couple of hours which means you may have to treat yourself to a small snack every few hrs. :)

[LauraO]

Cheryl: Funny thing, I was thinking the other day I should start a thread entitled, "Things I accidently taught my parrot." I was more thinking of my attempt to build a relationship with our old wobbly cranky woman hating indian ringneck Chubs a.k.a Bumpy. He has this awful scream and when he used it I would try and figure out what he wanted to make him happy. Well, what I've taught him is to scream if he wants something and keep screaming until he gets it:x :x :x :x .

I don't really have any advise about Sweetypie. I did something similiar with my Chopper when he was still part of my life. Once he got used to me feeding him water, that's how he always wanted to drink it: me holding the dish:lol .