Chewing... on everything!

[TweetysMommyAlexy]

I understand Stewie is a baby (5 months). But how do I speed up the process of him not chewing? He chews on my blanket on my shirt even his birdy harness. I feel like I'm constantly playing tug a war with his beak! So I need tips on how to teach him to stop.

[Emmilyy]

parrots chew - its a fact, lol.

does he have lots of toys to chew?

[Greycloud]

A chewing quaker, hhmmm.. never heard of that! Just messing with you. Yes, quakers are avid chewers. Make sure Stewie has lots of different kinds of chew toys. If he is on you and chews your shirt or chews his harness, promptly tell him No! and offer an acceptable chew toy or chewable foot toy, right away. He will soon learn what is acceptable behavior. He is experimenting with his beak at this age and should be offered many new textures.

[TweetysMommyAlexy]

yes he has a lot of toys to chew on. He will just have to learn no. lol thanks guys I was going crazy!

[Chicklette]

Actually chewing is good. It wears their beak down so I would get lots of wood block for him to chew on to encourage it. All birds chew.

[jenseits]

Originally Posted by TweetysMommyAlexy

y He will just have to learn no.

Just remember, "NO" is a difficult thing to teach. Try as much as possible to teach "do this instead". Like others have said, distracting him with other toys is good (preferably before he chews on something he isn't supposed to). The more he's occupied with something he's allowed to do, the less opportunity he'll have to do something he isn't supposed to be doing. In the end, that's a lot more effective than telling him "No!" all the time.

[NotEnoughTime]

I agree with jenseits - "no" is a difficult thing because it is *general* while teaching *specific* behaviours is much easier (and you are more likely to be successful).

I like *stop* as a behaviour - which means *stop* what you are doing and don't do anything else. Just wait for another command. Kind of like the "play dead" command my girl has just learned... But she doesn't lie on her back and put her feet up... :-)