[chapala]

Just want to say that I'm a 2004 graduate of Susan Friedman's course and believe in the value of positive reinforcement training. Negative reinforcement intended to decrease certain behaviors is burdened with lots of possible side effects as you mentioned. I am wondering about your statement:

"A parrot that is feather plucking or self-mutilating, and no reinforcer can be found that overcomes this behaviour, may be considered for a punishment technique."

Since a plucking or mutilating bird without medical issues may be feather destructive for psychological reasons, it seems to me that punishment in such a case might increase the stress level for the bird who already may have high stress levels. Since you didn't mention a specific technique you would recommend in such a case, I may not be understanding your meaning here, but it just struck me as a little dangerous to make that statement to people with plucking birds who don't understand training principles.