Nychsa

Tons of good points made IMO. Dogs have a prey drive, and greys are prey. That is a situation that will always carry the potential for disaster if checks and balances are not put into place. I have two greyhounds, very gentle creatures, but they do have an active prey drive. One of my mitigation strategies is to leverage the pack mentality that dogs have. Dogs understand the pack in terms of a heirarchy. Obviously I've established myself as the pack leader. While maintaining the dog's routine, and level of affection and special things, I have however done things that put the birds in a higher ranking order so the dogs respect the bird's status. The birds are fed first in the morning. The birds get to sit on the couch in the evening too etc.. The greyhounds have clearly "gotten" that the birds are part of the family now. Jiggy my conure actually lands on my male greyhound, Doc, and hitches a ride on him. Doc actually stands still, and lets Jiggy catch his footing and then walks very carefully. It's as if he knows Jiggy is just a little guy and could get hurt if he moved fast. Dream, my female greyhound, is a little more wary of Jiggy's ride ideas. If he tries to land on her she dodges him. However, Bella, my grey, has buzzed her ears, and accidentally crashed into her side while she was eating, and Dream simply got out of the way. My grey has landed on Doc while trying to get up on the couch. He just looked at her like "geezum, can't you find somewhere else to go?". I think my grey, Bella, thinks she is one of the dogs. Part of her morning ritual is to circle around me on the floor in the morning with the dogs waiting for breakfast. The dogs are usually careful not to step on her (I think they're wary of that beak!). But - even though this kind inter-species harmony exists among my feathered and furry housemates, I would NEVER leave the dogs and the birds alone with each other. Greyhounds do have a strong prey drive and it would simply be a matter of seconds where they could revert into that mind set and hurt one of the birds. I think the jealousy factor may eventually subsized with your dog, and maybe a balance can be found. And that balance is a lot of fun- it just always needs a careful eye!

Wow 650g! LOL How long was he?? He must have looked like a little falon! Well, if she's done growing, I think we're at a good place. I like her size - she makes a statement to the greyhounds with her presence LOL!

Yeah!!! Super Rhonda!!!! You know, while writing abou this to you, I remembered that my Avian Vet used the gentle but firm approach with Bella and it worked like a charm. In my mind there are two people she absolutely needs to be comfortable with - that's me, and her vet. Our vet is a certified avian vet, with tons of experience with birds - not only companion birds, but he's also rehabilitated owls and other birds of prey. He has an Amazon. So, he is a real bird lover. During my first visit with Bella I asked him if I should ope her crate and he said no; he reached in, gently, but with tons of confidence and just said firmly for her to step up. She was so surprised by his confidence she complied without a peep! She did regain her composure though and flew off his hand , he went to pick her up and she stepped up, but nipped him. He then held her at eye level with him, and he made a sad face and said "ouch! That hurt! No Bite!". I'm pretty sure she "got it" because he was able to conduct all the rest of his tests, which were all about agility, and reflexes and he made a game out of it, so she seemed to be playing with him then. Afterwards she sat on my shoulder and stared at him in disbelief LOL! But it worked - taking control, gently, firmly, tons of love!

Tari wrote: Tari, as I mentioned in my post - Bella, who is not exactly a small grey has plenty of room in the crate. I also mentioned in my previous post how I took care of Jiggy when I got to my destination - he didnt' stay in his travel crate. Kibibi's web site is very good - check it out! It gives exact dimensions for the space on the plane etc.. It's really good. All one has to do is the math!

hi Leah, thanks for the input. I can easily feel her keel, so maybe she's just a big girl LOL!

ah ha Joe! I hold Bella way up high and then bring her down on to my lap on her back and then I blow a raseberry on her belly. I swear if she could giggle like a little kid she would!

Ronda477 wrote: Ronda, I wore a bulky sweater one day and Bella completely freaked out. She flew off her playtop screehing. When I tried to pick her up she fought me tooth and talon! I decided I can't have her telling what I an and can't wear so when this happened again. I caught up with her picked her up - and she was pitching a fit while I was doing it, but then I held her against my chest, cuddled her, and hummed a mantra into her ear. Her little heart was bounding and she was very upset, but she settled down, and she was snuggled up against the offending sweater. I stayed like that until she realized the sweater isn't going to do anything to her - it's still me.

Great info Kibibi! Booked mark that one and Karma to you!

Congrats Hannah!! Thanks for sharing the pics - looking forward to the stories too!!!

Well, I don't think I'm going to nominate Bella to the Mensa just yet She has this wonderful plam next to her cage, which she likes to climb around on and just sit on. However, she also enjoys chewing on the wood. I usually catch her and shoo her away and she squaks at me and scampers away. The minute I turn my back - she's back at it! :angry: In the mean time she's felled two nice long branches with one or two quick snaps of the beak But poetic justice prevailed! She was sitting on a edge of a branch and started knawing the branch off right out from underneath her :woohoo: !! Before I could shoo her away, she snapped the branch off and she went tumbling down with it! :blink: She's not quite ready for the Mensa - nope! (ok, I admit I did grin just a tiny bit - she's gotten quite proficient at knawing at record speed to get some chomps in before I shoo her away, and well, in her hurry, I guess she didn't realize she was pulling the branch out right from underneath her :woohoo: )

Forgot something Karla - when you make your reservations you need to make the reservations for your bird at the same time. Be prepared for some extra charges! I don't know if all airlines charge signifiantly more for pets in the cabin, but I flew from Baltimore to Jacksonville Fl - my flight was $80 - Jiggy's was $160!! Go figure! He was under the seat! That was U.S. Air - so, you do want to make sure you make your reservation for your bird as well. You don't want to be turned away at the gate because your bird doesn't have a ticket!

Hmm Tari, actually that's not been my experience. If the bird can fit comfortably in an airline approved carrier that can slide under the seat in front, the bird can travel in the cabin. Bella (14 inches long and 500g) fits very comfortably into her carrier (bought the carrier at Petsmart - it is actually a cat carrier, Karla, look for the lable "airline approved"). She can stand up without bonking her head, and she has plenty of room all around. If a small dog and a large cat can go into the cabin, then a grey can go as well. :cheer: Karla, I've traveled wtih my conure on an airplane. He actually slept once we became airborne. The only thing you need to be prepared for is the security screening. The carrier has to go through the x-ray machine and at that point you need to take your bird out of the carrier. On my trip to my destination I wasn't prepared for that, and had to take Jiggy out of his carrier without any kind of support and he bit the petudies out of my hand because he was anxious!!! Returning home, I put his aviator harness on him, was able to safely let him out of his carrier and he sat on my shoulder while we went through security. That was MUCH better then getting bitten to death!!! Be prepared for lots of attention :woohoo: When I took Jiggy into the ladies room with me, he got so much attention from everyone, I had a hard time making it clear to people that I really needed to go to the bathroom! We happened to be traveling during "Pirate's week" (which I had no idea) and ran into several people thinking we were doing a pirate thing :laugh: And Children - children, children - they loved Jiggy! Well, Jiggy is quite the clown, so he was haming it up with all the attention. I think with Bella I'd put a cover over the cage while waiting in the airport for transfers. I'm not sure she'd appreciate that much attention. In terms of how I handled his accomodations at my destination - I have one of those travel cages from Avian Adventures. For staying in an hotel or at someone else's house, it's really perfect. I shipped that head to my destination and set it up when I got there, and then shipped it back when I left. I could have put it into my luggage, but I decided to do it like that. I hope that helps. Like I said - if your grey fits comfortably into an approved airline carrier, you can bring him/her into the cabin with you. Cheers! Terri<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/01/26 15:44

I have a quick question re: weight - when does a grey's weight stabilize? In other words, when do they stop growing? Bella is 8 months, 14 inches long and 500g on the nose. She's been like that for about 4 weeks now. I've been wondering if we're now at her full grown length and weight. Cheers! Terri

hi there Sheila and so glad you came here! Wow - you are a super woman! Bright blessings to you for making your heart and home available to this poor little fellow. BMustee certainly had a great idea there with Rey.... Look forward to reading your posts. Regards Terri

Ah ha ha Christina! You too!! Since Bella started helping herself to my food I've found my diet becoming quite healthy!! Let's see - I drink fruit juice in the evening now instead of a glass of red wine - I tried the wine, but she had such a fit about wanting some, I deided it was better both of us if I just eliminated it all together. Then I've cut my salt intake WAY down, knowing she'll be munching along with me (can you say blech to no salt!!), then I make sure vegies are steamed not fried. Desert snack in the evening - well that's an orange now. No more chocolate swirls, chocolate cake, chocolate what ever :unsure: My doctor is going to be delighted with my feathered housemate! What she's been yelling at me about for years, Bella accomplished within a few months :lol:

Woody6 wrote: LOL they do pick us don't they Woody! Jiggy did the same thing to me. I had been thinking and researching parrots for about a year, but never made the first move to make it happen, and I hadn't even thought about conures. Then one day I was at Petco with my greyhounds and we walked by the conures and there was Jiggy doing anything and everything in his power to get my attention. I asked the attendant to let me see him and she looked anxious but cautiously let him come out to me. We connected immediately. The attendant was totally surprised and said he generally bites everyone and that's why she was so worried when I wanted to see him. He didn't bite me once (well, in the mean time he makes it a regular habit - like now he keeps nipping my ear sitting here with me LOL!). Did he win me over? You bet he did! The whole family couldn't imagine what life would be like without him! Cheers! Terri

Hi Jeff, When I decided to invite another parrot to move in with us (we live with a lively Conure named Jigme), I was looking at Amazons, and TAG's. The CAG's didn't really come into my first evaluation because I was reading all this stuff about them being more pluckers then the TAG's and that they were more sharply focused on one person and difficult to socialize. My decision came after my first visit to the breeder (well, they aren't actually the breeder, they were the "feeders" LOL. They worked with one breeder and did the handfeeding and weaning and initial training). I was able to visit with various Amazons,CAG's, conures and of course the TAG's. The Amazons seemed like quite a handful. So, I decided my conure was already providing that level of energy to the household, and shifted my focus to the TAG's. Well, at least I tried LOL! The CAG babies were quite busy doing everything to get my attention and making sure the TAGs stayed in the background!! The CAG's were chirpy, bouncy, interactive, and in general were going to make sure I didn't have a chance to get too aquainted with the TAG's! LOL! There was this one little CAG boy who nearly fell off his playtop trying to get my attention! I mean, the CAGs were pretty hard to refuse. The TAG's preferred not to have anything to do with me, so going by how I've found my canine family members in the past - the one who is drawn to me and sticks with me might have the right chemistry, in my heart - CAG it was - but, I was still open to having my mind changed. I talked to the ladies who run the avairy afterwards about whether what I was seeing was typical CAG/TAG behavior and they echoed what I was feeling - chemistry is an odd thing - what is typical for one person, may not be typical for another. And that made sense. After all, these are highly intelligent, sentient beings and why wouldn't they make a decision about us as we do about them? Since all the CAG's I had seen were already spoken for, I made me decision for a CAG and waited for the next hatchlings to arrive. Then one of the babies I had been playing with came available - my sweet Bella (I say that as I'm listening to her attack her toys and it sounds fierce!!). The family she was initially going to brought home a Macaw first and had their hands full and felt they wouldn't be able to devote the attention they needed to a baby CAG. Fate? Maybe! All I know is the chemistry was there, I visited with her two more times before bringing her home. The ladies put us together alone, and let us "find our way" to each other. It took no time at all, and I was able to pick her up, hold her and hum into her ear, she snuggled under my chin and nearly fell asleep. So - is it a question of breed? Maybe, but I also think it's a question of chemistry, that's why I think I'd always make a point of visiting the breeder, more then once. Since it is such a long term committment, I think it's important for both parties to "feel" right about each other. Cheers! Terri<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2008/01/24 15:56

Woody6 wrote: Woody, my avian vet turned me on to the idea of creating a foraging environment on the playtops. He's a real bird lover, has an amazon himself and has tremendous love and experience with birds. Every time we go see him he has some great idea to help me improve Bella and Jiggy's lives.

Woody6 wrote: Aaaah - please tell the "Devil Dog" Semper Fi :cheer: I can imagine it was important to teach them that tune LOL! Come to think of it - I'm wondering if I should teach Bella "Anchors Away" :woohoo: (I'm a Navy vet :cheer: ) Re: the callers - I had to get her one of those baby telephones, but she broke it after a couple of weeks. Maybe I should let her talk to the callers LOL! Cheers! Terri

That's awesome!!! My conure Jigme was mesmerized!!! Finally a Grey he can observe with out planning an escape route!

Woody6 wrote: Aaaah, you have a boy and a girl. Are they breeders? The Marine Corp tune? LOL that's funny! Do you have a "Devil Dog" in the family? Bella jabbers now when ever I'm on the phone. I didn't really rezlize it until last week I kept having to hold my ear shut in order to hear the other person on the line. It was a banker trying to sell me a loan LOL and he said "sounds like you're busy, I can call you back later?" and I had to laugh so hard, I told him that was my parrot! I looked over there, and there she was on her perch, just yapping away, heaven knows what she was saying it was just jibberish, but she was going on, and on, and on! Her little cheeks puffing out when she jabbers, and in between she'd say "woof, woof, woof" or something like that LOL! Ever since then I realized when ever i'm on the phone, she starts yapping away, non-stop!

Bella likes to fly on to the floor. She then snoops around in every nook and crany. I have to keep an eye on her because she seems to mostly enjoy picking at the heating vents and I don't want her to get hurt. I read that in the wild they are ground foragers primarily (the article implied that their intelligence comes from having to negotiate food with other animals who also look for food on the ground). Maybe she enjoys picking around the way Bella does. I put goodies on the floor sometimes for her, particularly if I'm making food for her. Interestingly, she'll play with it, and toy with it, but not necessarily eat it. Hmmmm:whistle:

Woody6 wrote: Oh my gosh Woody, she's like a tape recorder! She's only 8 months old, but the breeders told me when I got her that she was already very babbly at 4 months and was trying really hard to make words. She still "calibrates" her phrases sometimes, particularly if different people are over and they have different tones of voice. Yikes!!! She starts calibrating at the top of her lungs it can sometimes make your blood freeze! She has this new screech that sounds like something that should be in a horror movie :woohoo: And then in between she talks away, repeating everything she heard during the day. I like how she just joins in on coversations. I ask the greyhounds if they want to go potty and Bella exclaims "I don't know!!!!!" and she puts such an emphasis on the know it makes me wonder if I sound like such a drama queen :huh:

Awww Hannah! Sounds like she just wanted you to be with her You're new baby is coming home in what - two days or so? I'm sure you'll have some fun stories to share about your baby! Cheers! Terri

Oh my gosh, that is horrible! And PA is trying to talk us into opening an office there! Yeah right - so they can kill my bird?? I will shoot off an email as well and also notify other friends.