How do you get a parrot to stop swearing?

M S: How do you get a parrot to stop swearing?
I inherited a parrot and it’s favorite thing to say is “kiss my shiny metal ass”. How do I make it stop?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Kara W
you can’t un-teach it something. just make sure you don’t say it and maybe it will stop eventually…in a couple of years.

Answer by Barry W
kill it

Answer by robert m
don’t cuss the bird learned it from around the area

Answer by duffyrules_skipper
don’t say it any more and when she saids it say no.!

Answer by quest.
try to stop saying it around the parrot and if it says it pester it

Answer by JSSK
Try to think up something that you can replace that sentence with, that the bird might like saying even better. (something nice, of course.. lol ) Teach it LOTS of new sayings & sentences, and in time… hopefully not a LOT of time… that saying, will be “pushed away”, hopefully for good ! Praise it (with treats) for saying the new things…. and NOT when it says that one sentence.

Answer by Bluebear
Part of the problem could also be your response. The bird has learned you respond when he says this, ignore it.

Answer by Paula G
The best one was – NO RESPONSE TO THE SWEARING!!
A bird is like a forever two year old child and any kind of response about anything is a reward! So even saying NO when he says it is a reward!
So just ignore it! Dont cover his cage, dont put him in another room, etc. – it will stop – and another response was have him learn other things that will take over in newness from the bad sentence.
Most parrots like high pitched – exciting sounds – they learn those sounds first – womens voices are good.
I have a parrot who learns a lot from me as I have a high pitched female voice so he has a high vocabulary, but I have to watch out what I say – cause he can learn bad things too
The first sentence my bird learned was “KITTY GET DOWN!” because I had a cat who was always climbing the curtains! He NEVER SAYS THAT NOW. So it will stop – might take awhile but it will and if it happens with someone else in the house – make sure they do not respond to it either!

Answer by Mary Who?
Most birds love attention,so shower him with lots a love and affection for good behavior and let him know U are disappointed with the bad. Birds are emotional creatures , they can tell when U are upset,just make sure they know U when U are not so they know they are wanted and loved. It will take some time so please be patient… good luck!

Answer by Tam Tam
Stop rewarding it’s behaviour. When it says something you don’t like, turn your back on it, just ignore it. When it says something you DO like to hear, talk sweet to it ( my birds like to hear me laugh and ask them “What?!” in a high voice ), give it a piece of bread or a treat of some kind. Usually, if you ignore the words, AND DON’T REPEAT IT, EVER, they forget about them.

Answer by Robert A
turn off the cartoons, kiss his shiny feathery ***, and replace that phrase with a phrase that sounds almost alike

Answer by rcolsen11
You’ve got a lot of good advice here. Let me say replacing the “bad sentence” with sometime that sounds close is probably your best bet. Along with teaching it something new to say like “What the dog say…..whoof.”

Our bird used to swear but now he really doesn’t. The main thing is to get the bird excited about a new phrase and he will soon figure out that other one will not get him what he’s looking for; which is your attention.

Answer by acekingsuited83
Birds specifically smarter ones like parrots, will respond to your actions. By turning around and saying hey everytime it curses, it knows that it will get a response. If you ignore it, it won’t do it anymore. Same thing if a bird bites you, if you say ow everytime it bites, it will entertain the bird and will say ow for attention, and/or bite you for its own amusement!

So just tongue in cheek for a while, it will eventually blow over!

Answer by Haroundb
Mind your words and stop laughing at its bad behavior.

Answer by lola
IGNORE HIM WHEN HE SAYS IT, DON’T MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT IT AND MAKE SURE OTHERS DON’T EITHER. IF YOU REACT TO IT, THE BIRD WILL KEEP DOING JUST TO AMUSE HIMSELF.
P.S : I THINK THAT’S HILARIOUS!!!

Answer by chunkydunk
The bird is just repeating what was taught to it. If you ignore the bird when it curses it will stop doing it. However, I must tell you this takes a great deal of time. The other thing you can do is to teach it something else to say, and keep teaching it things to keep his vocabulary growing which in time will fill up his bird brain and he will forget the cursing and replace it with words that get positive reactions from you. Most birds and animals re-act best to positive reinforcement than by someone yelling or punishing them. Good luck!