Gilbert is home

[katana600]

""Rollin' rollin' rollin, keep them birdies rollin' Rawhide!" Recently Gil has started whistling "Dixie". I'm pretty sure she learned that in her previous life. But she is picking up new words (and thankfully letting others slide away from daily use). I got a new tv remote that has a "recall" feature and it sounds like the sonar in a submarine. Once she heard that Gil repeated it about a hundred times in one evening until she perfected it. Also, I may be repeating myself but during an especially exciting bath I had my grandson in a tub on the counter when he "spewed". It was unexpected, I squealed. Then I sprayed him with the kitchen sprayer and he squealed. Gilbert was around the corner out of sight and I shouted "Poo KA No". She got such a big kick out of it that apparently she thinks that is his name now. If we Skype, talk on the phone or even just mention our Houston family Gil gives us her rendition of "Poo KA No".

 

Gil is just making great progress. Over the July 4th weekend we had to drive to meet family in Baton Rouge to get my car home from Houston. Our vet had a new tech and she was so good with our dogs I was mentioning to the vet how I was impressed. She told me that Kiera does home/pet sitting to help with college expenses. I asked if she was free that very weekend and she was. It is probably the first time I have left Gil with someone that I didn't come home to a bundle of nerves. She allowed Kiera to reach in to change food and water and even bowed her head and let her give scratches.

 

Earlier today while I was trying to figure out how to post the photo that kept turning sideways, Gil stayed with me and stepped from the back of the chair to the table. She was there all of a half hour. There was no shaking, no pleading to go back and when I offered to take her back, it was another first because she declined and stayed on the table a little longer. She was like a little statue, just frozen in place. I didn't look at her or speak to her. I just kept working on the computer. Still, inside I felt like cheering and giving her a hug. It is the small victories like this that make Gil my little miracle girl. I know she will someday acknowlege that I have learned "grey time" and she will be fearless and free.

[Timbersmom]

LOL to the Tourette's comment! What great progress Gil is making.

[katana600]

Gosh it is good to be getting settled in back at home again with no travel in the near future. Today has been magnificent with Miss Gilbert. She not only came to sit with me at the kitchen table, as I worked at the computer, she came closer and closer and she bowed her head for a scratch. I've been duped by that maneuver more than fifty times and have been bitten for my gullibility and I don't mind telling you it made my stomach just a little queasy to try it one more time. She didn't tolerate much touching but this time she just moved away rather than giving me the cobra strike. I am enjoying her so much in her newfound affections during this homecoming. One of the things that have changed was the change from the individual cages to the really tall, stacked 3-compartment "breeder cage". Gil has the top bunk and Java the center and they both seem real appreciative of the change. The living space is smaller by volume compared to the previous cage. However, it is about equal to the space that Gil actually used previously. Whereas the perches were spread apart vertically in the old cage, they are much closer together so she still has a top, middle and bottom to travel. Since it is more compact vertically though, all the perches are within easy beaking which has made it easier for her to scuttle from any point in her cage to her favorite scratching perch in a matter of nanoseconds.

 

In the past week, I have really been taking stock of the monumental leap she has made from the first year of clinging to one perch trembling to coming out of the cage onto my hand almost every time I ask her now. Every time we reach a plateau, I think, this might be the best it ever gets. I am firmly prepared to accept that she just can't trust me enough to take one more step forward. I give her suggestions, try new things, new toys, new food and I might get rejected 499 times before she finally accepts my offer and then we climb just a little higher to test our wings.

 

The right thing at just the right time seems miraculous when I see her relax and change a little. The new cage was magical. Traveling and coming home again is magical. Stepping up from inside her cage seems like a miracle. She has gone from viciously attacking my hands to biting the bars of her cage after I pulled away to now just fluffing up, grinding her beak and getting twenty minute head massages. Sometimes when she is wary about a noise, or worried I might touch her through an open door of her cage, she will pull back and watch me but she leaves her food up on the bar because she isn't quite ready to stop the exchange. Lately when she does this, I rub her toes. Her beak is right there and she could really nail me if she decided to, but she watches me rub one toe after the other and the bottom of her talons. We still have the rule that when I am touching her I am not permitted to look at her and by no means may I speak to her or the spell is broken and she tears things up in her cage to show her frustration.

 

That is another really huge change in her behavior. In the beginning, if she was scared, frustrated or just plain ticked off, she would bite herself or barber her feathers in a frenzy. I have seen her yank out a solid flight feather follicle and all. It is every bit as gut wrenching as watching her turn to a stone and just shake in a frozen state of terror. It seems like it has taken so so long to reach her and bring her to a better state of mind. Slowly, I see gradual changes that are remarkable. Like the pinning of her eyes. I can see in each pupil a "comma" shape. Her vet said that is a sign of trauma, a head or eye injury. I really thought she might be incapable of pinning. That was tough because that is sometimes the only warning before a bite. I think it has been about a year since I saw her pin her eyes for the first time and it was so slow as to almost be a figment of my imagination. This morning while she sat next to me, her pupils were constantly adjusting. She doesn't have the range or the speed of pinning that Java has, nor what I have seen in other parrots. It is more like a slow motion... not too big, not too small kind of thing, but I believe it is progress. I still couldn't read her body language from her eyes pinning, but that is the kind of girl she is. She would be a tough opponent in a poker match.

 

Finally.... the best part? Today when she sat next to me and when she let me briefly touch her head, she was blushing. A couple of times in the past week, after a nice morning head scratch session, I thought her face looked slightly blushed. I couldn't be sure. Today, I am sure. She blushed the way my baby Juno would blush first thing in the morning when he was happy to see me. I do believe I have seen a crack in the poker face. I do believe I have seen the first real sign that maybe, just maybe she likes me.... just a little... not too much. It is progress and I will take anything she is willing to give.

[birdhouse]

" I can see in each pupil a "comma" shape. Her vet said that is a sign of trauma, a head or eye injury. "

 

I wondered about that. So is there any potential for impaired sight?

 

I met a Macaw who had gradually gone blind from head trauma once. But she'd finally come to live in a bird sanctuary. The woman who ran the place was pretty amazing. However she managed it, she eventually figured out the best quality of life for this sad beauty was to hook her up w/a side kick who acted as her seeing eye dog. The sighted Macaw also seemed to translate & filter surrounding activities. There was a huge change in the injured bird after that. It was a pretty awesome end to an extremely %$#X!* story.

 

Have you tried singing, whistling or humming with, to or around Miss G? One of those crazy ideas I get sometimes is that some rescues got used to bad things happening whenever humans a-look directly at them or b-talk to or more likely yell at them. So, I sing-song a lot for a while. I made up a "Good Morning" song for Phenix & Kura so I could do the food & water w/a minimum of drama. Although, it worked much better w/Kura. But then almost everything does. She's my "easy child". lol

[katana600]

There may be something "different" about her vision because she is much more tuned in to sounds. She definitely can see because she stops often when I am stroking her head to check whether my finger is through the bars of her cage or through the open door. She also can go straight to the favored kidney beans in her bean mix without "sorting" and she can tell if I am glancing sideways at her when I am at my computer. This morning I am especially delighted with her. For a couple of weeks now, she has been much more interested in close contact even above getting her first Nutriberry of the morning. As I suspected with her head bobbing and gurging, she is being very "luvvy". She is doing the wing droop and making the clucking and cooing sounds. At the table, she bowed her head and I gently touched her. As usual, she pulls back to look at my hand. I am careful not to look directly at her. She lifted her foot and held my finger. I rubbed her toes and she sat very still enjoying the moment. She has allowed me to touch her foot through the bars but she has never permitted me to hold a toe this way. She also is staying longer and longer at the table. I put a few pieces of paper on her side and she is exploring and gingerly touching things. The best part of all is when I ask if she wants to go back. Usually she is so nervous that the first offer I give her she sticks her foot up to signal she wants to step up. Lately she is refusing my offer to go back and has even stepped into her cage and turned right back around asking to come out again. She doesn't persist with the love dance or head bobs so I don't think its all hormonal or anything. She seems to have turned a corner in trust. I am crossing my fingers that we move ten steps forward before the next step back.

[katana600]

This has been such a good day for Miss Gilbert. She stayed with me in the kitchen for a Gil's World Record, more than an hour. She gingerly agreed to go from the back of a chair to the table top. She bowed her head and let me rub her head, for real, no bars - no bite. She went to the garage with me and met a neighbor when he borrowed tools. They have lived next door and have been over but she was a recluse and wouldn't come out of her cage. She started trembling about then and asked "Wanna go back?", which means back to her comfort zone. She spent the next hour in her cage plaintively trying to convince herself "Gilbert's okay". I thought we had gone a step too far because she got in her cage and threw water everywhere. Previously that has been a reaction to scary things. Imagine my surprise when I was cleaning and walked past her cage when she said in a demanding tone "C'mon over here!". That's what she usually says to the dog when she is bossing him around. I went to her and she stood on her perch for what I thought was going to be a head scratch. She lifted her foot to step up and urged me "C'mon c'mon". My mind was just incredulous. Is this the same parrot? She came right to me and back to the kitchen we went. Since she is feeling so adventurous I wrapped an almond in a piece of paper and twisted the ends. Previously, I have tried a thousand times to offer her foraging treats. She was sure they were poison, nothing doing. Would you believe she has gone through four almonds in the time I typed this post? She drank water from my glass and she is acting like we have been like this forever. I am under her spell, she is eating almond number five. This seems like a dream. I have kept a poker face, watched my computer screen and only look at her to hand her another gift wrapped almond. I tried to speak to her and she dropped the almond and went rigid. What a glorious mess she is making! I love it. I will try to post a picture.

[katana600]

This is her fifth almond in one sitting.

Edited July 14, 2016 by katana600
orient photo

[SRSeedBurners]

Good thing she has reading material. That's a lot of almonds in one sitting. Such a happy looking birdy.

[katana600]

Hahaha. Yes that was a lot of almonds. To be fair, 90 percent was the ripping and tearing and there are more almonds on the table, chair and floor than ingested. Right about now, I am in the overindulgent grandma mode. That would be like giving my grandson a gallon of ice cream at one sitting. The funny part is that she asked to go back to her cage and promptly asked in a really sweet voice for a treat. I let that one slide.

[Ray P]

OK Dee, Now that you have gone this far. What`s the next step a pony ride in the park ??!!

[katana600]

I am working up to a ride in the Pak-O-Bird on the front of my motorcycle, tucked in behind the windscreen so she can see what I see. That is as close to flying as she is going to get. But I am guessing if she is afraid of the vacuum cleaner, the Suzuki isn't going to win me any parrot mom of the year gift mug from her. Hahahaha.

[katana600]

It was magical while it lasted. Saturday morning I approached her cage with fresh food and water. She scurried to the front of her cage and to her favorite scratching perch for a little loving before breakfast as she has been doing. But not. This time she attacked the bars with a vengeance. The food dish is out of reach so I just kept talking to her, filled her dishes and waited for her to calm down. She tucked her head for a scratch, grasping the bars which is her "tell" that all is well and we are friends again. And that was a ploy. She came through the open door and her intent was to bite me. I thought for sure it was because we went too far during our kitchen bonding and she was letting me know she wasn't going to do that again. She had a tantrum, threw food and water, rang her bell while making all the danger sounds, foghorns and sirens. It didn't last long and she never reached the cussing phase, nor did she resort to self harm. Within ten minutes, I approached again, she tucked her head and enjoyed ten minutes of head scratches but she kept pulling back to look askance at me. That is when I realized I had made a rookie mistake, this wasn't about her taking a step backward. Would you believe, it has been five years since I have had my hair cut? I had been pulling it up into a bun, keeping it off my face and enjoying a fuss free "style". Friday afternoon I got a hair cut and I never gave it a thought when I approached her. Duh! Today we are back in the kitchen and she is making a mess again! That's progress.

[birdhouse]

It's really true you know. Us hoomans are so very slow witted & hard to train that we're luck our all wonderful fids even grace us w/the time it takes to "correct" us. Let alone anything else! lol

[katana600]

As expected, Gil girl took a step back. She barbered off feathers and is tattered again. The good news is it lasted only for a day or two and then she was right back asking for head scratches and after a day or so, I could leave the door open and scratch her head through the open door. She came back to the floor stand to sit next to me at the table again and now when I ask if she wants to go back, instead of eagerly lifting her foot, she will turn her back to let me know she isn't ready just yet. She has been wanting contact and will request a head scratch when I am bringing fresh food, really every time she sees me walk through the room. The funniest thing has been today. When I leave the room after a particularly satisfying head rub, she is calling me back like she calls the dog. "Hey, come over here!" "C'mere!" along with the whistles and laughing when she gets her way. She has been talking a lot lately, even when she is away from her cage. Long ago when she first came home, she met a man named Walter in our travels. She liked Walter and says his name a lot and says he is a good boy. Now she has started saying "Mildred". I have no idea where that came from. She was whistling Dixie last week and this week it is Christmas songs she is whistling. All in all, she has been happy and good natured with only a mild cuss word every now and then to remind me that she isn't quite ready to go public yet.

[Ray P]

I do not believe Miss. G is taking a step back, rather she is taking a deep breath and contemplating how well you are coming along with your training.

[katana600]

You are absolutely right Ray. She seems to take a deep breath, wondering if she is going to be successful in my training. Hahahaha. No matter how long we have been together and what she has taught me, I am still amazed with her on a daily basis. In the past two weeks she has really been entertaining. She has gotten serious about paper shredding and the delights of a simple paper wrapped "gift". Yesterday, I stopped for a sweet moment when she rushed to her "spot" for a head rub. Instead, she went to the bottom of her cage and handed me one of the paper discards and asked me for a treat. She is also doing a lot of mumbling lately punctuated with a new name "Mildred". I have no idea where that comes from but she is very clear about it. She is still calling me "LuLu little lady" so I don't think she has decided to rename me. It would serve me right since I tried to rename her Gilda once upon a time. There just aren't enough words to express the joy she brings us and she is on a rapid pace to change a few things in our daily interactions.

Edited August 2, 2016 by katana600
typo

[Greywings]

Such great joy to hear she is just opening up her life to fun and treats. The journey no matter how difficult it was at the beginning is becoming an awesome experience, good on you.

[katana600]

It has taken an incredible amount of encouragement from our forum members to help Gil girl get to the beginning of her potential. It makes me giggle a little that she wants lots and lots of head scratching now. While there are still days when she is out of sorts, they are fading away as she gets just a little more courage every day. Her vocabulary is leaning toward all the sweet things she knows. It is delightful the way she calls to me and whistles like she does for the dog. "C'mere, c'mon over here" and "Wanna treat?" What impresses me most is the mess she makes every day now. Sometimes I think "be careful what you wish for". The truth is, her happiness and play make all the mess worthwhile. She is really working to embrace life lately.

[birdhouse]

They all have bad days & bad sprees. For a long time I've said that Phenix "passes" as a normal Grey now because they're usually a rather moody lot anyway. People just can't tell his 'tude is coming from a slightly darker place.

 

 

Something I never saw coming was how, in some ways I actually handle it less well now though. Not badly or anything. But when grumpy was the norm, I was normally prepared to let it roll off my back. Now that it's more of a surprise & disappointment it just stings a little more when I'm ...out of favor. And of course, I just want everything to be sunshine & lollipops all the time anyway. lol

[katana600]

It has been said that a mother is only as happy as her unhappiest child. It holds true for our much loved parrots as well. It is a much happier place when Miss Gilbert is finding her way too. Ever so slowly she is breaking down the boundaries. On a good day, I can reach through her open door and rub her head. She will stop, raise her head and then agree that it is okay for me to reach in again. Even on a less good day she will just slowly back away from the cage front rather than to charge the bars with focus and fury. She is learning that when she gives the subtle nuance of "stop" we can stop before she has to teach me a lesson. I offer her the floor stand very judiciously when I know she is already in a state of cooperation. This week she started asking "wanna go outside?" and while that has always been her reminder to me that the dogs want out, I am taking advantage and when she says it, I offer her to come out. It only took a few times of that until when she says it, she really means it and she consistently asks and takes me up on the offer. Of course, I make sure she sees me preparing her gift wrapped almonds and placing them on her floor stand. Also, I created a step from the floor stand to the table. I will wrap an almond and "forget" to hand it to her. The first couple of times, I would put it on the table and leave the room. She would look around furtively, make her way to the treat and scurry back to the floor stand to enjoy it. Then I started playing a game on my computer and leaving the almond just out of reach where she would have to come onto the table while I was "occupied" but close. Now I keep the almonds to my right while she is on my left. She will come to the table and nudge my arm and I hand her a treat. Our next step will be for me to hide the almond behind my laptop so she will extend her comfort zone to the entire table top. Life is much more exciting when we have these little moments.

[Ray P]

Miss. G will always be a never ending adventure. In that way you will always be lucky.

Edited August 6, 2016 by Ray P

[katana600]

It is a never ending chess game with her. Neither of us are willing to concede and in the end, we will both be winners. I have a few surprise moves in my game. One is a super special elixir Val (birdhouse) used with Phenix, Limeade. I use those favorite things at just the right time to get her to go the extra step for me. I started by letting her have the first sip from my glass on rare occasions. Then I got a smaller glass so she can see my fingers and decide "Do I want Limeade or do I want to bite a finger?" Now I am giving it to her in a small clear shot glass so she can see and reach my finger. Next it will be on the other side of the kitchen table to see if she is brave enough to cross the forbidden land to have a sip. She doesn't overdo it, just a few swallows but it sounds like she is slurping and making a big deal of it. For six weeks we have had a really good forward push this time. She has not come close to biting me and she has the opportunity about thirty times a day. Another unexpected treasure of a second (? or fifth) hand parrot are the little gems she comes up with when least expected. Recently when I approached her she started to shy away. I pulled one out of her little hobo sack of baggage and used a slow southern drawl to speak as she did when she first came here "Come on over here buuuuudddy!" To my astonishment she came right out of her retreat position for a step up from inside the cage. I'll tuck that away with the Limeade for just the right time. I don't think her adventure will ever end.

[Inara]

It just always warms my heart when I come to this little corner of our big nest, with my morning coffee. Your love and unflagging patience in showing little Miss GG that her world is safe, and filled with wonderful things -- consistently -- has forever changed her little life. You two remind me much of Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, albeit you are a much more gentle, patient, and loving Higgins

 

I can't imagine Miss GG with any other human companion, it makes my heart clutch to think about if she would have landed with someone less understanding. Like Miss Doolittle, she now is wearing those delicately wrought pearls, but can still pop out with a few choice words from the old days from time to time! Makes me giggle. xoxo

[katana600]

Thanks for your kind words. When I suffered such a loss as two baby greys in less than a year, I thought my dream was ended. My house had the specter of disease and there is so little known about PDD even after more than forty years, I couldn't bear think we could be harboring it and accidentally infect a healthy parrot. Then along came Miss Gilbert. Her circumstances were unique, she has been around the block a time or two and the risk/benefit balanced out. We were meant for each other. Each broken in our own kind of way. But maybe that understanding has been just what we needed to grow together. In just a few weeks she has really started to blossom. She wants me to rub her head every time she sees me and she even will call to me to come to her. That is amazing to me. But, we have our kids coming home for Labor Day, and I have been a working fool making ready for outdoor activities. Gil has been a little miffed with me. When I come in exhausted and sit at the table where she can't see me from her perch, she whistles to me to come. I answer and tell her "just a minute" and she cusses. When she can't see me, I have to admit, I smile to myself. I don't reply to her or say a word, I just stay real quiet and when she says something nice, I get up and go to her. Her favorites lately to show her displeasure at my change in routine is sh!t. If that doesn't light a fire under me, she says wh0r@#! sometimes fifty times in a row. I am deaf, I hear nothing. But it does tell me that I need to get up bright and early and spend a couple of hours with her before I start my other work. For all her salty side, and all we have worked to attain with her, the sweetest moment is when she asks me "gotta treat?" and when I bring her a grape or something, she wants me to rub her head rather than for her to go right to her snack. Now that is progress!!!

[katana600]

Oh, and funny you should mention pearls. I was just lying in bed thinking how long it has been since I put on a linen dress and pearls. Hubby travels extensively and when he gets home for a weekend, I would rather build a fire outside and have a night in. But on those occasions when I do make that special effort.... it might be just as likely that I will delicately finger my pearls in my lovely floral linen and say some of the same words that Gilbert says if the shock value is worth it to me. Bwahahaha.