macmodo

It must be getting close to 6:30 around here. Every day around 6:30, Phoenix starts going crazy and getting noisy. Same time... every day.

Here's a quick update on Phoenix... She has now completely mastered stepping up. Everyone in the family can handle her, although my kids can only hold her if they are supervised. They both still get overly excited when she steps up for them. We've had a few friends over, and she even stepped up for them too. So far, so seems to be a very well socialized and not scared of people. On another note, she is now giving kisses for her almond slices. She'll beak the upper lip for me and my wife, she'll kiss my kids on the nose. If she's on her playtop, we can tell when she wants an almond slice. She'll stretch herself out as far as she can reach as we walk by to try to give us kisses. I am looking forward to the day that she can just say "Kisses" instead of stretching out.

My CAG, Phoenix, loves almond slices (the kind you buy for salads).

Bribery worked really well... I'm pretty sure that she would sell her soul for a slice of an almond

Thanks to everyone for the advice... Phoenix has now mastered stepping up after only a few days. She's most comfortable with me, but she will step up for my wife and my daughter.

Just got back from taking Phoenix to the vet for her first checkup. She has a clean bill of health. Phoenix had just finished preening all of her feathers and had them just where she wanted them... and then she got wrapped in a towel to have her blood drawn. When it was all over and the towel removed, she growled at the vet because her feathers had been all ruffled up and then went right back to preening. Once she got her feathers back where she wanted them, she was happy again.

Thanks... I practiced with her on the sofa yesterday and she did better. I'll try a blanket in the floor when I get her out this afternoon.

Phoenix is 5 months old and had her nails trimmed and wings clipped the morning that I brought her home. I was told that she fledged before having her wings clipped. She is comfortable around me, but she is very clumsy right now. I believe this is causing her to be scared to step up. Sometimes I will put my hand in to let her step up, and she will raise a leg and start moving it toward me hand. Then it looks like she just loses her balance and flaps her wings like crazy to regain her balance and then just give up. Once she does finally get on my hand she will usually climb up my arm and then hold on to my shirt with her beak. Any advice on teaching her to step up during this awkward/gawky/clumsy phase? I'm afraid that she will get too scared of being near me if this keeps up.

I (tried) to attach a photo of her... hopefully it works. This was taken earlier today. We put her on the sofa for some practice on stepping up... my wife scratched her head for a good ten minutes before she just fell asleep sitting there.

Thanks for the welcome. We have quite a few animals in our house. In addition to our two children (7 & 5), we have Phoenix the CAG, two parakeets named Ginny and Tubsy, a 13 year old chihuahua named Jacob. I am the type of person who does an immense amount of research before making a big decision, and although I only registered yesterday, this forum provided a lot of valuable information during the six months leading up to Phoenix coming home. I should also point out that she came from Los Angeles... but named Phoenix because both of my kids love Harry Potter.

On Friday, my wife and I welcomed Phoenix to our family. She is a 5 month old CAG. We just so happened to make contact with the breeder just a few days before she hatched. My daughter was so excited to bring her home that she was willing to make a 12 hour round trip drive to Phoenix up and bring her home. We got home late on Friday night, so yesterday was her first full day home. So far she seems to be adjusting well, and definitely enjoys getting her head scratched by my wife. She falls asleep every time.