By Vicki Ronchette
© Vicki Ronchette
If we expect an animal’s behavior to change, we need to implement changes in the world around them…Quick fixes are generally not permanent, long-term solutions. However, there is one piece of applied behavior analysis that allows us to sometimes get a quick, sometimes immediate change in behavior and that is by creating a change in the antecedent…When faced with a problem behavior with a bird take a look at the environment and see if there is anything you can change in the general set up to affect the behavior. Can you close the blinds so the bird cannot see outside to alleviate his alarm calls? Can you move the piece of furniture he is chewing 2 feet farther from the cage so he cannot reach it? Can you put him in his cage when the friend he does not like visits so he cannot fly straight to that person? Read more.