bluedawg

This is the shelf I built for her above the sink - At first that was going to be her "Kitchen" area but it grew as you can see and now we "share" the kitchen.

I am sorry I was exaggerating a bit... she didn't chew "right through it" I left her alone with it and didn't notice how much she was chewing on it. She had gone through it in a few hours. But yes, definitely keep an eye on it - this was a new one and chew resistant so they are not chew proof.

Aww, Thanks.. You are so kind!

Dayo's MOM here...

Yes Timbersmom... You remind me, I went to Maine last summer and found all of this really great driftwood I was going to make awesome perches and play areas for her. I had big plans. Low and behold she took one look at that driftwood and behaved as though I had brought her home snakes to perch on. i left it out for the longest time but she will not give in when it comes to the driftwood. So it's now all piled in my basement.

Nancy, Where are you from? Who is in your flock?

My latest post is here: http://www.greyforums.net/forums/showthread.php?198590-Establishing-who-is-the-parent... I don't know, I think what happened was I posted a long time ago and I didn't check the "subscribe to this post" link so I thought I had no responses. There might have also been a login issue and so until something has a chance to become routine I am unlikely to waste too much time with it. I am much happier this time since I know how to see my responses. It makes all the difference. We are very happy. There will be hurdles to overcome so I will need this forum. I want to get her in an Aviator harness but so far handling her in the manner she will need to allow to get the harness on is out of the question and the "how to" video that comes with it shows you how to do it on a totally docile bird. I did let her hang out with it to get used to it and she chewed right through the teather part so I see where they could not be left unsupervised outside in the harness - not to mention the predator situation. There is a funny thing she does with one of her food jars where every time I take it out she runs over and reaches up and hooks her bill on the lid and just stays there waiting to be scratched. When the food jar is involved I can even begin to lift her wings and she won't bite but she will shuttle off if I take too long about it. She loves the food jar. It contains Totally Organic Pellets which she does not care for but apparently the jar gets two thumbs up. That is where we are starting our "handling" lessons. The other day she was lying on her back feet up in the air and I gave her my hand and she used her beak to hold on but she didn't bite down hard she just held on and I was able to lift her and she used my thumb as a handle to right herself. I was very pleased with that.

Understood, I'm sure I am the same. Bedtime is no longer an issue

Will do. They are tricky to get as you probably know. As soon as I get the camera and point it at her she is more interested in he camera than playing... Like in the "ello" video. She stops what she's doing and comes right over to check out the camera (my phone) she's very into electronics apparently

Thanks Nancy, This post is vey old but still, thanks. I did the same thing with Dayo when she would have night frights in her cage, I would come out and console and sit with her... she was obviously very upset so it was the necessary thing to do. We have since worked out her sleeping issue... She goes to sleep the same time every night and it's in my room with her "flock" Myself My dog and my cat. This set up works well for her.

That is so funny! Dayo has a Satan thing she does too sometimes and I always say "Where did you hear that? Nobody here talks like that" ...It's very creepy

Yes, She loves to be on her back. She's always rolling around on her back playing. I'll hear a lot of shuffling and playing going on above the kitchen sink where I have a play area and I can only see her feet sticking up so I'll say "There better not be any poop up there" and of course there is so my little girls is kind of messy... She takes a lot of showers She only has one back toe so maybe it's easier than hanging off things although she does that pretty well too, she just falls a lot.

Yes, by all means post away... You should never care what others may think about your ugly 1970's countertops, or your choice of 70's tunes for that matter

As always, I forgot to subscribe so.....

As always, I forgot to subscribe so.....

http://www.bluedawg.com/hello.MOV

http://www.bluedawg.com/Dayo_Plays.m4v

She is flighted now so just goes to show it's been a while since I used the "putting her down on the ground" bit. These days you are right she would probably just fly back to her perch. But still what she really wants is to be near me so it might still be effective. I don't think the harsh "No Bite" works alone because she has bitten me pretty hard before and I have said "No Bite! and left my hand there only to be nailed again while she looks me right in the eye as if to say "Are we learning yet"? P.S. Is that your bird in your signature? I chose the name Dayo as well It means "Joy arrives" I thought it was appropriate.

Thank you for your response! I shouldn't say she hasn't had any discipline... In the beginning when she would reach down and bite my hand I would right away put her down on the ground... Not drop her but in a controlled manner say "No Bite" and put her on the ground where she hates to be. She then looks right up at me with her foot raised to be picked back up. This has been very effective. I think you hit the nail on the head with consistency - It is not always convenient to put her down on the ground and I wasn't sure how effective just saying "No Bite" is. I am not a big fan of making her cage into a punishment area - maybe there's some more ideas out there???

Just subscribing to this thread....

Wow, when I posted this it was my first post and I did not check the "subscribe to this post" box so I did not know I had all of these responses. Thank you everyone for chiming in! Since then and since I had not read any of these responses, Dayo has been sleeping in my room with the rest of her "flock", myself, My dog and my cat. I built her a perch above my door and she seams to like sleeping up there. In the morning she flies down and is quite content to sit on top of me until I get up. She only really goes in the cage when I have to go out to the store or if I have to work on site or for any reason I can not be home. Of course I just posted another post on behavior problems that are emerging where she does not fully appreciate me as the parent so clearly I am no expert.

I got a 6 month old CAG about a year ago. She was in a very loud pet store situation where she was in an open cage to interact with customers. I am sure it seams like it could be a good idea but I can see where inexperienced customers interacting with the birds can lead to problems. My girl came to me afraid to be touched and already a biter. Not terrible but she had learned how to protect herself. I bought all of the Good Bird Inc. CDs and we have done a pretty good job I think of establishing trust. She allows my to scratch her head when she wants a scratch...at first this was out of the question. Of course there is room for improvement. I would like to be able to get a harness on her to take her outside but we are not there yet. I allowed her wings to grow in and she is now a good flyer and able to get to where she wants to go in the house - this is very important to her... to be able to fly. As we go about our daily lives now a problem is emerging and I see that where I have done a good job of establishing trust I have not done a good job of establishing who is the leader or the parent. She has perches and play areas throughout the house... wherever I hang out she has a spot. But she mostly wants to be right under my nose doing what I am doing. I work from home on the computer so she's like to be disassembling my keyboard while I am working. Every two minutes I am removing her from the top of my head or my shoulder where she quickly swings down in front to get to my desk where all the activity is. She bites when I am not doing what she wants, like when I put her down, if she does not want to get down she holds my hand with one foot and bites it in protest before she lets go. This is why I think maybe she doesn't fully appreciate who is in charge. She basically has me trained very well. Since I don't know how to discipline her without breaching trust - she never really gets disciplined. How do I keep her happy and establish myself as the parent - I don't want to have to put her in her cage in order to get work done... She is in there now calling me. it's heart breaking.

Hi, I have a 1 year old CAG named Dayo. I just put her to bed and thought I'd better post a question before I forget ... again. The thing is I have noticed that Dayo gets very antsy before bedtime. She does not want to be put away in her cage. She wants to stay out and remain anywhere but locked in the cage. I considered letting her just stay out but if I do she screams in the morning... first light - like 6am. So The last few nights I have been covering her cage. That seams to work. I would love to just let her do what she wants but the morning screaming is out of hand. Has anyone experienced this reluctance to go to bed? and the morning screaming? Any Ideas how to let her stay out and stop the morning noise? P.S. we need a category, unless I missed it, on Grey behavior. Thanks! -Dayo's Mom