neoow

So glad to hear Ollie is doing so well!

I think the target/treat training may come in useful here. As nonsense is quite treat motivated, you should be able to continue with what you are currently doing- getting her to come closer to you to get a treat. Slowly, you may be able to morph this into stepping on your arm for the treat. If you put your arm at the edge of the cage top and get her to come across the cage to you for a treat, you may be able to continue this into her actually stepping on to your arm to get at the treat by holding the treat out of reach of the cage top- so that her only option to get the treat is to step on your arm to get it. Remember, patience is key. You may need to wait before moving on to this step until she is comfortable approaching you/your arm. I am envious that nonsense is doing well with the target/treat training. I can offer Alfie his favourite foods as a reward as much as I like, if he doesn't want to do what I'm asking, he's not interested! And target training? No chance- he tries to kill whatever I used as a target!! Haha. The hardest part is absorbing a bite. If she does happen to bite, you're best off trying your hardest not to react (easier said than done, I know!). If you can absorb the bite without reacting (other than to end the session and give her some space) then it isn't so much of a game to her anymore. Alfie still nips me from time to time. When this happens he is either moved to his cage/a perch away from me- or if he's already on his cage/a perch then I just move away and give him a little time and space to get over whatever he's grumpy about.

I couldn't see it either. Might need to tweak the access on it to make it public? Or post it to youtube as an unlisted video perhaps?

Alfie knows when my housemate or I are coming home. He sees the car pull up and hears us getting to the front door. That's when he starts saying "hello!" as a cheerful greeting. He'll do the same when he hears my housemate coming down the stairs into the lounge. Or when we go to open the door to someone. Whenever I show him new things, I try and sound excited about them. I show them to him, tell him about them and go "ooo!" So now whenever he's not sure about an object, he says "ooo!" in exactly the same way. I'm therefore a bit more mindful if I'm taking it near him (like the washing basket- he's very unsure about the washing basket!) I can't think of any others at the moment. The only other thing he does is wait 'til my housemate is passing the cage and make the biggest loudest squeak he can. He occasionally does it to me too. And as he's at ear level it goes right through you and is hard to ignore.

So so happy for you! Great video!

I love this!! Made me grin from ear to ear!

Hello and welcome to the forums!

Oh wow, glad it all worked out ok. I can only imagine how horrifying that must have been for you. It can happen to anyone, at any time.

Alfie is a definite no shoulder bird. I've tried it with him several times but after a while he just seeks out my ears to chew on (lucky for me I have thick hair so he normally gets removed before he finds them!). With this in mind, I'm VERY conscious that my eyes are not too far away- and I only have one good eye. (I can see out of the other one but its a lazy eye so it doesn't get much use and I struggle to focus with it). Therefore, Alfie is allowed on my hand and on my forearm, but no higher than the elbow. If he starts making his way up there, I redirect him by putting my other arm in the way. Doesn't stop him from trying- but if he persists, then I move him to the back of my chair, my leg if I'm sitting down or his play stand. I continue to talk to him and interact with him so it's not interpreted as a punishment... and he always get a 'good boy' for moving to the new location. If there is any doubt or any amount of fear about him being on your shoulder/close to your face- then it's not worth the risk. Redirect him to an alternate location or find something else more interesting (like a toy) to take his mind off it if you can.

Hahaha I had to look twice!

Massive credit to you for being so honest and open about your life with Charlie. Honestly, I think you're being a little hard on yourself at times. You're doing the right things. You're learning, you're researching, you're asking questions and you're adapting to the needs of your parrot. I'm afraid I don't feel I can offer much advice at this point but I'm sure someone else will come along soon with lots of helpful information. Keep doing what you're doing. IT could have easily ended so badly for Charlie- but he ended up with you and is being suitably spoiled rotten. On a totally separate note- love the look of his play stand. Wish I could get something like that over here.

Oh man. So sorry to hear that. Do keep us posted!

Hmm not sure what's going on there- but try creating a new thread and see if that works. I'm sure an admin will be able to help if you're still having troubles!

Hello Isaac! Looking good there!

Brilliant! I work on this one with Alfie a lot- but he's never done it consistently. I can bribe him with treats and toys as much as I want- if he doesn't want to be on my arm, he won't come! Mind you, he's like that with any kind of "command" (for want of a better word). Everything is on his terms! I am also really jealous whenever I see videos of parrots who recall perfectly every time!

Hello and welcome to the forums! Glad you've already met the rule of joining.... which is i to post a photo!

Oh my goodness, so glad he is ok! I had a big scare with Alfie when he was younger and still learning to fly. He was living upstairs in my room at the time and I had him out of the cage. I can't remember exactly what happened but it ended with him getting spooked and launching himself out into the upstairs hallway, along to the stairs, turning 180 degrees then flying straight down the stairs and into the wall at the bottom. I couldn't do anything but watch as it happened. I didn't see him hit the wall as I couldn't keep up with him but I heard it. (He was still young so wasn't so good at turning or landing yet) I rushed down the stairs expecting the worse but thankfully he was sitting on the floor unharmed. There was a big dust mark on the wall in the shape of him (almost cartoon like!) where he had hit it- but it looked like he'd managed to pull up and hit it chest on rather than head on and must have managed to slow himself enough not to do any damage. He was absolutely fine and climbed straight back up on me. I can laugh about it now but at the time I was convinced he'd flown head first at full speed into the wall and had killed himself!

Aw she sounds amazing. I sometimes think that I would like Alfie to talk some more. His vocabulary mostly consists of squeaks, whistles and various other noises with the odd word or phrase thrown in. He's just not interested in learning words and picks and chooses what he wants to learn! But we have lots of fun with our whistling battles and flock calls as it is. Alfie loves those kind of games and often challenges my housemate with his whistling too!

He is regurgitating. He loves you! It's a mating behaviour I believe.

I'm not sure how much you can do to prevent teeth problems in older dogs. Our family dog Ben had his teeth brushed regularly and had a daily "dentastix" to chew on and he still had teeth problems in his later years which required surgery. Glad to hear Ollie is enjoying his visits with you. Sounds like he's had a new lease of life!

Glad to hear Ollie is well. We had a similar issue with our family dog, a german shepherd. He was about 10 when he had to have surgery for his teeth and had to have most of them removed. It was a worrying time for us, as I know it was for you an Ollie. But he pulled through and once he got over the surgery and meds he was back to his old self again. So I was very pleased to hear Ollie is doing so well as I know how stressful it is to be in that situation!

Welcome to the forums! thank you for all the photos! You'll find all sorts of useful information here. Feel free to post any questions/stories you might have too!

I have heard of some parrots who don't like it when their owners change their appearance. Sometimes it's colour based, sometimes its hairstyle based and sometimes its because they're wearing an accessory such as glasses or hats. Do you wear contacts more often than your glasses? It may be that Congo is afraid of the change to glasses because he's not used to you wearing them?

It may be best for you to start some new forum threads if you have questions- as they might be missed in this thread

Yeah, definitely take it slow and steady. She'll let you know when she wants to try something new. You're doing a great job already by taking an interest, asking questions and listening to the responses.