Useful or cruel?

[eudaimonia]

Hello,

It's been a long time since I posted. Socrates is great, but can be a bit nippy sometimes after extended hours in the cage (we try to prevent this, but sometimes it can't be helped). One of Socrates' favorite past-times is to bite this cushy wrist rest I have for the keyboard. I found this little squishy globe that has a very similar texture, and Socrates is terrified! The globe is only about 2.5 inches in diameter. No flashy colors, nothing odd about it. Socrates won't have anything to do with it and scrams whenever I try to present the globe. When Socrates gets nippy I sometimes just hold the globe and the nipping stops, out of fear I think. Now I only have to use the same tone of voice without the globe and there's an amazing difference in the amount of respect my warnings receive.

Is this squishy globe trick useful or cruel? Tell me what you think.

[mangotiki]

I would not recommend anyone trying to use fear as a training method, but it sounds like this was an almost accidental situation. My worry is that any bird who nips out of distrust will only get worse if he is scared even more when he is biting out of fear to begin with. And a bird that is just full of attitude might become fearful. Hope that makes sense?

[eudaimonia]

I think our bird doesn't nip out of distrust, but out of a sense of dominance. Normally Socrates is super sweet, but sometimes there are bad days. Btw, it's very probable the "Socrates" is a she (my wife insisted on the name).

Thanx for the advice. I'll try not to use the globe, though my hope was that it would be bit instead of the wrist rest.

[Janie]

I have no idea if pulling out the globe to make him stop biting would be considered cruel but I can assure you.....I've done worse!!! :D I have one biter (of three) and I know he trust me, just gets a little out of control at times, and I've done a thing or two to, hmmm distract (scare) him. Maybe I need to get a globe! :D

If he/she is not showing signs of being afraid of you (just the globe) I don't think any harm is done. BTW, Socrates will probably get used to it and you'll have to find a new tactic. ;) The one thing that all three of my birds are afraid of is the shop vac. I love using it because it's the only time I can spend in the bird room w/o having three birds all over me but the more I use it, the less my "Shy" becomes afraid of it and sometimes he'll sit on my shoulder lately while I'm using it! :rolleyes: I adore my birds and would never intentionally want to freak them out but I know them and their personalities and just how far I can go.