# teach my budgie to stop chewing on the blinds?



## berk's_mom (Sep 22, 2021)

I have an extremely sweet budgie named Berk. He is such a handful though! He is bonded with both me and my husband and he always wants to be right in the middle of whatever we're doing, whether that's eating, typing, writing, brushing our teeth, chopping vegetables with sharp knives...every time I wash my face in the morning he climbs into the sink to let me know that he needs a bath too. He is super adorable and smart, but he doesn't respond very well to being told no. He just gets more and more insistent at going after whatever it is we're not letting him have (usually our food or something he wants to chew on). I can't eat around him or he'll dive bomb my plate. One time he fell into my husband's smoothie and it took me two days to get him fully clean. He also gets into things around our apartment--a big problem recently has been that he flies up to the blinds and chews them to pieces, and when we tell him no and make him stop, he just flies right back. We tried hanging toys on the blinds to distract him from them, but that only worked for a few weeks. It's like if something is forbidden he wants it even more!
How can I train him that some things are off limits (especially the blinds and our food)? He is flighted, so I can't just put him in the cage when he misbehaves. I have trained him to fly to me on command, which he does consistently unless he is chewing on the blinds or doing something else he knows he shouldn't be. 
I'm concerned that he might be bored, since I've been going back to work in person almost full time, and my husband only works from home about 3 times a week. He has a play gym and lots of toys, and usually gets a lot of attention from me and my husband when we're home though. So maybe we should get another budgie? But I don't really want another budgie for my own sake--the motivation would only be if it makes Berk happier. But that might just turn into double trouble!
Any advice would be hugely appreciated. I feel like most of what I read about training budgies is about teaching them not to be afraid and taming them, but Berk is almost too fearless.


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## FaeryBee (May 9, 2011)

*Hi, Welcome to Talk Budgies!

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*It sounds as though Berk is "running the household" at this point in time.

How old is he?
Does Berk have a cage?
Berk needs to have in-cage time every day whether he is fully flighted or not.

He should not be allowed in the kitchen at all -- if you are cooking, chopping food or eating, he needs to be safely in his cage.

I would definitely not bring another budgie into the mix. Doing so will just cause more problems.
Berk is strongly bonded to you and your husband and would be very aggressive and territorial toward another bird.
Additionally, another budgie would need to be quarantined for at least 45 days in a different room in a different part of the house.
You would need to have a separate cage for the new bird and be ready, willing and able to house the two budgies separately on a permanent basis if necessary.

If Berk does not have a cage, I strongly suggest you get a good sized flight cage for him and begin teaching him that there are times during the day that he needs to be in the cage entertaining himself.
Budgies need a set bedtime and a set time to get up in the morning, but from what you've written I don't know if that is happening.

With regard to chewing on the blinds, Berk needs to be put into his cage and given a "time-out" when he misbehaves since you are unable to distract him.

Have you considered clicker training Berk? If you do so, perhaps one of the things you could teach him is to leave the blinds alone. (Just a thought)
Positive Reinforcement in Training.
Basics of Clicker Training
There is additional information regarding Clicker Training in the "Taming and Bonding" section of the forum.*

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