NCavender

@ Dan007(I think???? LOL!!!)- Thanks for sharing that story. All I can say is that TAG hit the jack pot with you and your wife being so tolerant of such "painful" interactions and such. An old friend of mine had purchased an CAG from a lady off craigs list about a week before I found Sadiee and her bird was aggressive towards all of them in the home and has bitten a couple of them withing the first couple of days and had posted on FB that she was wanting to sell her! I began questioning her about #1) Where they placed her cage?(low/high traffic area, quiet/noisey area, etc.), #2) Was there alot of loud, boisterous speaking/yelling going on in the home and esp around the bird's cage?(She has two boys, 13 and 8), #3) Did they approach her quickly and non-respectfully?, and some other things and her answers were ALL the "wrong" ones! I'm by far NOT even pretending to be a avian expert(as you can see by my situation with Sadiee here...), but I do have some "common sence" advice I can pass on to the novice fid owner and I was very frustrated why she took this advanced/highly intelligent bird into her home being a first time bird owner, the bird acts out and you all can put the puzzle pieces together I'm positive, and then it's "Get rid of the bird!!!", out the door you go! And these folks let who ever that crawls out from under a rock take these birds off their hands and then people like "us" end up with emotionally WRECKED birds on our hands to pick up the pieces with. Grrrrrr!!! So, I believe anyone that has the heart to stick it out with these poweful biting birds are pretty darn good people! When Madison(my daughter) had received her first, christening bite(of which was really a bad one) from Sadiee, she had to share her Boo-Boo with our pastor's wife and she's totally ANTI animal period, esp when a child gets hurt and she looked at me with this disgusted look on her face and said bluntly..."And that "BIRD" is still alive?!?!?!?!". I said "Yes MAM! Sure is and she's not going anywhere!***with a VERY polite smile on my face*** ;-) and she just looked at me in disbelief, maybe even disgust? Animals are animals and bite's and incident's are going to happen without a doubt! These aggressive birds just need someone to stick it out with them, that's all. And I understand some situations there may be no other options but to rehome, esp with your TAG stalking out the baby ***YIKES***, but I like to see the end products of my goals and challenges and I refuse to give up on Sadiee. But let's not all forget....she LOVES my husband! LOL!

@ Nancy- Yes! I sure miss that feller! :*( He was my boy! And I feel like I've failed him after all the love he gave me. I've moved on with that guilt though, I just wish Sadiee wasn't so hateful to me, but I understand that each bird comes with it's very own "baggage". I have all the patience in the world and as much time as the good Lord will grant me soooo it's only Up from here! : ) I'm such an animal lover and I've always had animals in my life that bonded and adored me and it's almost like Sadiee has become a "challenge" for me...."You're gonna LIKE me one way or the other!". Since CAG's are stubborn and I'm stubborn, looks like we've got a GOOD TIME on our hands! LOL!

@ dave007- So very sorry....you appeared to respond a little abrasively to my flub up on directing the message to the wrong "Dave". I'm human and I made a mistake....sorry. I'm sure you're more than capable of handling and addressing your comments and statements, no ill intent at all, just a mistake. I apologize for the confusion.

Hello everyone!!!! Good to hear from you all! Thank you for your advice, warm wishes, and encouragement! You'll definitely be seeing me around here often! LOL! I love learning more about the care for my feathered friend Sadiee!

@ birdhouse- I had a male, CAG back in the spring-fall of 2010. His name was Cooper and he chose me. When I had initially went to go see him to see if I wanted him or not, within 30 min's of the visit he regurgitated on my shoulder! He loved me from then on and he NEVER bit me! Now my husband is another story! LOL! I'm receiving the treatment from Sadiee he once received from Cooper. I could do whatever I wanted to do to him and he never minded. I lost Cooper to a tragic accident and I feel like I failed him terribly! I guess I was hoping for a relationship to evolve with Sadiee to that degree, but I know it'll never be. I just need to let go and allow Sadiee to be herself and quit forcing a "type" of relationship she doesn't want with me. As far a the "toweling" goes, I will stop that. I toweled her 9 days ago, so I'll not do it again. There is sooooo much information out there and it's quite frustrating and confusing. I comprehend the concept that every bird is different from another, even if it's the same breed/species, they can still react and behave very differently. It's all trial and error and it's a journey and it's one step at a time. Although I'm not a totally "Green" fid owner there is always great room for growth and I welcome all the help I can get for the happiness and healthiness of my pets. Thank you for your encouragement and advice, I appreciate it all. @ kins2321- Thank you for the kind encouragement! : )

@ danmcq- I wasn't saying by any means that I was expecting Sadiee to interpret that my daughter has Down Syndrome, I was wanting to clarify that I'd given Madison proper warning about why not to go near Sadiee, that's all. I realize Sadiee is going to be a long term challange and I'm Ok with that. I know how to keep the bites down to a bare minimum and I feel as far as Sadiee goes, I feel she's perfectly happy with the "distant" relationship we've built thus far. I sing/talk to her very regularly and for short periods bring her into the public areas of our home for her to participate in the activities of the household, etc.. For now it seems to be Ok with her, so I'm good. I'll allow things to work itself out through time and patience. Thanks for the feedback! : )

Great Dave! I feel even more empowered now! LOL! Sadiee isn't my first African Grey and I actually studied up on the "Body Language" subject quite a while ago. It's obvious she exhibits the aggression behaviors towards me and I'm fully aware of them and I stay CLEAR. Those "BITES" aren't FUN in the least! Regarding my daughter, no we didn't just negligently allow her to walk up to Sadiee and offer her food. Matter of fact we had had numerous conversations prior to the incident of "Why" she shouldn't get near her. FYI: Our daughter does have Down Syndrome and is "slightly" STUBBORN as a mule and has to learn things the hard way unfortunately sometimes. But thank you for recommending it though. I've come to grips now that she may never really like me, but it doesn't mean I'm going to choose to discard her from our lives. Patience I feel is the key here. For instance...I'm at home today with my daughter and I went and got Sadiee from her cage and placed her on her mobile perch that sits in the living room so she can be a part of everything. On occasion as I pass by I'll give her a treat and talk softly to her, she seems very content at the time. I want her to feel like she's part of the family regardless of her feelings toward me. And as you said about the "baggage" thing, I don't take her behavior towards me personally as I don't have any idea of how she's been treated in the past. All I can do is continue to care for her and interact with r in the least irritating fashison possible and hope for the best! : )

My Sadiee(15 yo female, CAG) amazes me! For instance......I can go get our dog Gracie's leash and Sadiee hears the leash and she automatically say "Come on Gracie! ***Whistles*** Good Girl(I tell Gracie "Good Girl" everytime she comes to me on command)!!!" and when we return and enter the door, Sadiee immediately says "Good Girl!!!!" again, as I praise Gracie for doing her business when we return! We initially trained our Gracie to "Go Out" by hanging bells on the door for her to ring when she needed to go out. Now when she rings the bells, Sadiee whistles and say "Come on Gracie!". She absolutely knows what she's doing! Sometimes when I'm told something unbeliveably rediculous, I'll hollar "WHAT?!?!?!?!?" in a loud, sharp tone and now when we're talking and saying something that I guess gets her attention, she screams "WHAT?!?!?!?!"....LOL!!!! When our cell phones ring she say "HELLO!!!", EVERYTIME! We nicknamed our daughter Madison, Tater Bug and call her Tater alot of the time and Sadiee hollars for Madison alot....."Tater!!!!". It's hillarious! If I go to the kitchen, she says "Sadiee want a cracker!", esp if she hears me rattling the wrapper on something. Last story and I'll quit for now....I took her to the vet for a physical, wing/talon trim and apparantly while she was there she had heard some "unhappy" kitty cats there...LOL! She'd imitate them just identical to the way they were crying and carrying on! So, our "former" land lady which "was" a beast called me and said "Hey!!! Do you have a cat?!?!?!", I said "No mam...", she said "I know I heard a cat when I was over there the other day and I looked and looked for it but could never find it!". I commenced to explain it was NO CAT, that it was Sadiee, my parrot. She grunted and said "Humpf.....I heard a cat!", I said "Noooooo! My parrot, Sadiee imitates animals, other birds, voices, and various other sounds as well and it was her sounding like a cat, I promise you!". Well, she said "Well, Ok! If you say so!"(With a BIG question mark in her voice). A few days later she came over and she walked around Sadiee's cage and walked around it again just strarring her down....I'd LOVE to report Sadiee bellered out a BIG OLE' MEEEOOOWWWWW, but just like kids, they never perform when they really need to! Sadiee did nothing but sit there and stare at her(probably in great fear! LOL!). African Grey's are so intelligent and they BLOW my mind as well!

Hello.....I most definitely feel this is the "thread" I need to be on! I adopted my now 15 yo female, CAG, Sadiee approximately 1 1/4 yrs ago and long story shorter....She had bonded with the "Dad" of this family and not really to any of the females ever. We decided to take Sadiee on concerned if she'd ever "bond" with me and guess what? She HATES me and LOVES my husband. She dances, flirts, plays, and regurgitates on him and she BITES the poo-poo out of me! He gives her some time, but not like I do. I sing to her, talk to her, change her cage out, I keep her toys rotated "In & Out" of her cage, and I'm strictly the only one that feeds her and she will take my hand off, lunge at me, pull my hair, grab at my clothing in attempt to bite me constantly! She's actually picked up on my songs I teach her, words, and she even uses my voice most of the time, but she HATES me. I can get her to step up on my hand as I move her to her portable play stand/gym or if she flopps to the floor I can get her to step right up on my hand with not to much worry of a bite(most of the time but would "Never say Never"), but if I'm not trying to get her onto my hand for a transfer and just want to give her a rub/scratch....KATIE BAR THE DOOR!!!! She'll nail me everytime! If I'm cleaning her cage out and she sneaks up on me without me realizing she's so close, she'll pull my hair. My daughter of which is 9 yo, snuck one morning before school without telling me what she was doing and she offered Sadiee a whole peanut and Sadiee just about removed the whole tip of her right, middle finger!!!!! She bled like a stuck hog for quite a while, even with heavy pressure. I really contemplated rehoming her at the time, but my husband and I decided to stick it out with Sadiee and we had a nice, detailed conversation with our daughter to NOT DO THAT anymore. I hold the bites down to a minimum as I really don't handle her much. I give her her space, I go near her cage to speak/sing to her and that's mostly it. I get her and "towel" her from time to time and she seems to be "Ok" with that, she allows me to pet her head, neck, and back without to much grief. I can take her to the tub and give her a light shower and she seems to enjoy that Ok for the most part. She just endures me, she by all means doesn't adore me like she does my husband. You'd think with me doing her feed, caretaking, etc. that she'd learn to trust, like, and not be fearful of me, but it's just not happened. If I stand off a certain distance from her cage when I speak/sing to her she listens attentively, tilting her head as if she were a dog trying to comprehend what was coming forth out of my mouth, and will even communicate with me by giving light clicks, tweets, and whistles, but if I near her cage too closely she lunges for me(she blows her feathers out, does a sharp click, rocks on the edge of her "porch" on the front of her cage and shakes) and attempts to bite. It's so crazy, I can say things as I'm walking through the house on the phone or talking with my family and I KNOW she'll be "laughing" and communicating with me specifically. I can even make certain sounds/whistles or even sing a song and she'll immediately imitate me. So, I know she feeds off me, she listens to me, etc., but she still hates me! I really don't know what to do from here to make things better for her as far as the two of us go? I want her to so desperately "like" me and enjoy me as much as I enjoy her, but it's just not happening. Any ideas PLEASE?!?!?!?!?!

Hello everyone! My name is Natasha and I'm the owner of a 15 yo, female CAG parrot named, Sadiee. We acquired her almost a year and a half ago from a lady that had begun nurse practicioner school and was soon to be married and just didn't have time for Sadiee anymore. Her parents had actually been keeping Sadiee strictly at their business office for several months and they decided to sell their business and her mother refused to allow Sadiee to be taken back into their home. I think it had alot to do with the fact Sadiee had bonded with the Dad and really no one else. I was very reluctant and actually pined over the idea of "Should I take Sadiee on? or Should I not?" for several days and had spoken to some bird breeders/experts in the meantime trying to get some insight on whether they felt it was possible for Sadiee to ever "really" bond with me, being I was a female and it didn't look as if Sadiee was too into bonding with the same sex. This was going to be "my" bird, my husband isn't really that into bonding with animals like I am, so I was really worried she may HATE me! Well, long story short and 1 1/4 yrs later......Yep!!!! She hates me annnnd she ADORES my husband!!!!! I speak, sing, feed her, change her cage out, etc., etc. and he's the one getting thrown up on!!!! :rolleyes: She's a treat to have around and she brings me lots of company and joy, I've even taught her several "Sayings" and songs, she even mimic's/imitates me, not him, buuuttttt......she still ADORES my husband and she still DESPISES MEEEE! If it sounds like I'm pouting.....I MOST CERTAINLY AM!!!! But I have to say my husband has really become bonded to her as well and he initiates alot of play time with her, I have to say I'm VERY proud of him! I have some issues that I'd like to get some input on, but I'll ask/discuss those in an individual thread. Nice to meet everyone!