Windycityparrot.com Helpful Hint: Alpha Male
Macaw Solution
A Greenwing Macaw owner and very good customer
was in the shop the other night. We got to talking about the "intimidation
factor" of big birds. The man's children are adults but are not comfortable
around his Macaw named Mac. He and his wife got the bird at 5 months old and
have had Mac for about a year and a half.
Mac has a
lovely very large King's cage almost 6 feet tall. My customer said when Mac
got to be a year old he climbed to the top of his cage and did something he had
never done before. As his human, Mike approached, Mac spread his wings signaling
"I'm an Alpha Male" "I'm the boss!"
Without missing a beat, Mike grabbed the closest
chair, placed it in front of the cage and stood on the chair (which now made
Mike a head taller than Mac). Then Mike extended both his arms, like wings,
looked Mac in the eye and evenly said to Mac "I'm the big dog in this flock."
Mike then reached out, asked for a "step up." Mac obliged and Mike immediately
put Mac back in his cage.
Although very simple, this is a great technique
for reminding your big birds - who's the boss.
