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20221023_205345.mp4 Did a bit of training with Alfie this evening as admittedly I've been slacking on that side of things recently. We worked on "touch", "wave" and "spin". For the touch command, he just needs to touch the chopstick with his beak. He tends to grab it- but so long as it's gentle then I'll accept it. For wave he just needs to lift his foot up. I would normally cue this with a hand gesture as well but I had my hands full with the clicker and the phone, so I think that's why he was more hesitant on this occasion. And for the spin I just want him to rotate round on the spot. I'd normally do this one on a perch, but he seemed to get the hang of it just fine on the flat surface. I need to start adding recall training back into the mix as I haven't been doing this in a structured way recently. Alfie tends to pick and choose when he's going to recall and when he's going to stay put. Sometimes he opts to fly to me then go over my head or round me at the last minute. I'm hoping I'll get better results if I start doing more structured training sessions with him again.

She wants my new keychain so bad it's consuming her all morning. It must be a keeper 😁

What's yours is hers 😄

This girl is already 17 years old today. I have had her since she was 6 weeks old , she flew from Florida to MA all by herself in the cold of December.. with a little help from Delta Airlines. Yes, she was too young, it was a rocky start, but we got thru it & she is the biggest comedian ever! Her days are filled with trying to outsmart me & find her way into ALL my kitchen cupboards..even tho she has 2 of her very own on top of the fridge! she LOVES to try & get the best of you! She also LOVES dive bombing my Amazon when she is on my shoulder & I am not looking! But she is very sweet to me. <3

Things have been going really well with Alfie for months. We went through a spell where Alfie didn't really tolerate me much any more and my confidence was knocked so I was super wary of him for a time. We have worked on that through lots of training and times spent together and I feel we now have a much better understanding and mutual respect of each other. On top of this- Alfie now flies to me to sit with me for loooaaads of head scritches - just like his does with my mum when we go visit my parents. Plus I can scritch his head through the cage bars again without worrying about him lunging at me. Buuut every so often I have to be reminded of who exactly is boss round here! 😂 Yesterday it was getting late so I wanted to put Alfie back in his cage so I could go to bed. He was sitting on a basket which is part of the cats' scratching tree (I should note: the cats are kept out of the way in the upper half of the house when Alfie is out of his cage). I offered my arm and asked Alfie to step up. He didn't move- but he didn't turn away or walk away from my arm. So I left it there, waited a moment and asked him to step up again. He doesn't always step up on my arm/hand but will usually always step up on a spare dowel perch I have kicking around. So I was debating about grabbing that instead of using my arm as that's usually more successful. Before I could move, Alfie decided I'd obviously pushed my luck, put one foot on my arm then grabbed my wrist as hard as get could. As he was half on/half off I just had to ride it out. He loosened off then grabbed again even harder. It hurt like heck but again I just had to ride it out cos he wasn't fully on my arm. He then let go and put the second foot on my arm. So I didn't say anything, moved over to his cage, waited for him to step up on to the perch in his cage then closed the door. Didn't say a word, just went about tidying up the lounge area. The little bugger sat there waiting patiently for his pine nuts that he normally gets for a good step up and for going back into his cage 😂 Needless to say, he did not get rewarded for that behaviour! Amazingly he didn't break the skin but I have quite a big welt on my wrist and it's very sore to touch. I haven't received a bite like that for a long time, so I almost forgot how painful it can be... to both the bite location and my ego!! 😂 It was my own fault- I should have removed the arm sooner and offered the perch instead. Apparently his lord highness Alfie prefers the perch! That's me told! 😁

I'm sure they are just amazed at how stupid and inept we can be. That combined with their complete lack of patience 🤣