Save My Wardrobe

[TonyM]

I try to focus on positive reinforcement and clicker training with Zuri. So far, it has worked great and we are bonding well. She has stopped all but the lightest pinching. I've even come to trust her enough to allow her to take my finger into her beak. But there is one problem that I haven't figured out how to solve with positive reinforcement...

Zuri loves to distroy my clothes. If I'm wearing a shirt with buttons, she'll break the buttons off. If I'm wearing a tee shirt, she'll poke holes in it, rip it, tear it, etc. I've resorted to only getting her out when I'm wearing one of two beat up tee shirts.

I want to be able to take her to other peoples' homes, pet stores, etc. to stimulate her and socialize her. But I don't want to have to let her ruin another shirt to do so or wear a nasty torn up tee shirt when we do go.

What can I do to convince her to not distroy my clothes? I'm had some luck with distracting her when she starts doing it, but I can't distract her 100% of the time. Discouraging her dosen't seem to help.

Any tips on how to save my wardrobe?

[NotEnoughTime]

Not from me... Everyone knows I have a bird and they don't seem to mind my holy shirts... Or they don't mention it - even if I have a poop on my shoulder...

Parrots chew. That's a fact. If you don't want a parrot to chew something then it probably should not be in the vicinity of the parrot...

[magdalena]

If you don't want her to chew on your clothes keep her on your finger away from them. Wear something exciting on your wrist for her to play with maybe.

[RubyMuse]

you can give her something else to do. give her a shreddable toy (foot toy) and treats for not tearing your clothes - you can just redirect her to do something you would like her to do - much easier than trying to get her to not do something

ever seen a kid in a restaraunt without a coloring placemat? same idea...

[jdlilfan]

I have special toy necklaces for my conures to chomp on. They have wood blocks and beads and bells and such on them. You could probably make them for macaws...I'd just buy a thing of those wood block toys, string them on some string and make it into a "necklace" and wear that when she's out. It seems to amuse them and keep them from chomping on clothes.

[nmrspindoc]

No advice whatsoever.

But, I do have a funny story. Ralphie (my CAG) was sitting on me while I was lying down on the couch. I started to doze off and woke up when I found her working on the zipper of my pants. She also bit the tooth off of a plastic zipper on my ex's winter coat. I swear she wasn't trained. LOL

She's become really terrible lately about chewing holes in my shirts. I am going to cut her a little slack...I am moving, just got back from a 2 week honeymoon (where she was boarded), so lots of changed.

I tried to wear a "please-chew-me" necklace and she was freaked out by it. She much prefers my watch if she can get a hold of it. Or my necklaces. Or various locations on my jeans. Zippers, side seams, and pockets are a favorite.

[jylu97]

When my amazon is bored or wants attention, she chews my clothing.

[MissV]

My Dusky actually seems to sort of worry with my shirt in her beak. I think it's just because she's been neglected and cagebound for awhile and is nervous when she's out. She never chews through it though and usually if I start petting her it distracts her.

I just kept shrugging my shoulders or lightly shaking when my sun would do it and she eventually stopped trying. That's working on my bgm too...

The only issue is that he seems to not realize that my clothing is covering MY SKIN. and if he needs to pull himself up, he bits my cloth (me) a lot harder than he would my bare flesh. Not sure how I teach him that's me too..working on that one. ^^;

[jenseits]

I once saw a bumper sticker that said: If your shirts have all their buttons intact, your bird doesn't get out enough. :)

Sorry, I have no advice. I just learned not to care... (also, I don't walk around outside my house with my birds on my shoulder, so wearing ratty old clothes around them makes no difference to me. The only time my birds are in public is when they're in their carriers, so I don't have that problem.) That said... quite a lot of my wardrobe has beak marks in it.

[Flappuccino]

Do you have a Walgreens near you? They have t-shirts 5 for $10!!!

I bought some in a huge size so I could wear them over my clothes and not have to change. Works great for poop, and somewhat for chewing.

The t-shirts are pretty thick cotton, but do shrink, so get a big size.