Hi Mary. I understand your frustration because they can certainly pick up some irritating sounds to make. And because they are parrots, usually the louder the better. A lot of it is because in the wild, loud calls back and forth between the flock is how they stay together, stay in touch, and feel secure. There are ways to work with, and around this instinct but any kind of scolding and any kind of discipline is not the way. It will only work against you, may make matters even worse and, can seriously damage your bond with your bird. Ignoring is good. Scolding and tapping on the cage needs to be stopped right away. Lots of praise when he is being good is excellent. Whatever it is he is imitating, he heard it somewhere, maybe from a TV show. If it is a sound they like, it doesn't take long for them to pick it up and use it until they drive us to distraction. What you need to do is to work on replacing it with something more acceptable to the both of you. If you give him any kind of loud response to any negative behavior, you are only playing his game. The louder and more animated the response, the better they like it and it gives them no reason whatsoever to stop doing it. All parrots of any size or type, do flock calls. When we, (the human race) removed them from their flocks, it became our responsibility to become their replacement flock. There is not a parrot anywhere that will not use some kind of flock call when they want our attention or if they only want to reassure themselves we are still there. I would suggest you pick something you want to use as your flock call with him. It can be a whistle, a phrase, or just a couple words like "I'm here". Whatever it is, you must be consistent at all times. Do it in a soft, low decibel but cheerful tone of voice. Everytime he "barks", acknowledge him with your flock call. When he stops barking, then go to him and give him a few minutes interaction. If he barks again, turn your back and walk away for a few minutes. There isn't much a parrot hates more than being ignored. When he stops, give him your chosen flock call and give him some more attention, and/or a treat. What we are doing is trying to fight mother nature and we all know how hard that can be. It's so important for all of us who live with birds to remember they are not dogs or cats and we can't think of them that way. They are wild exotic animals and require totally different approaches to almost everything. We can't change their basic instincts and needs, we can only work on finding ways to replace them with actions that are more acceptable. That applies whether it's biting, loud obnoxious noises or any other less than desirable behavior. It's impossible to predict for you how long it may take to turn this around. It depends mostly on how dedicated you are to working with him and maintaining ultimate, endless patience with him. Even when you manage to get the bad noise replaced with a more aggreeable one, don't assume you will never hear the barking again. They don't forget. We can only hope to give them something more acceptable to do with that energy. It's all about redirecting as opposed to stopping, no matter the problem. I hope this give you some more insight into what's going on in that little feathered head and how to work with him. Best of luck with it but if you have any more questions at all, just let me know. Patricia

---

If I've helped, please click the ACCEPT. Even if a deposit was made, I won't get paid until you accept. A bonus is always appreciated and leaving feedback benefits us both.

---