Any Advice?

[greyturkey]

:confused:

 

 

There are still somethings we need some help with and i know that i shouldn't expect any changes over night (and i dont expect any) .. but some of the things just don't make any sense to me..

 

For instance - She is a BIG bully. She'll taunt my dogs alot during the day when she is inside her cage playing with her toys and swinging on her swing. Now this behavior does not happen when she is out of the cage.. only when inside the cage (i think she feels safe and knows they cannot hurt her when she picks on them and of course they are the dumb ones who keep going back thinking she wants to play) She'll do a whistle and then say "Come here" they'll go to the cage and before i notice they're there she'll bite them on the nose. I try to discourage this behavior as i know she could do some serious damage to them. I tell her no, and she just laughs. I'm wondering how i can correct this as i don't want her or the dogs to be hurt.

 

Also i have a VERY hard time with her when she comes out of the cage. She is extremely nosy and curious! She gets down off of the cage (the dogs are not in the room at this time) and she will wonder around the room, she will hide in areas that i didn't know she could fit in (i bird proofed my house before bringing her home) and i look for her.. once i find her she tries to bite me when i go to pick her up. I have even tried bribing her with her favorite fruit or a cracker. Of course, she will snatch the cracker or fruit from my hand and back up. She lunges at my hand and i think its possibly because she wasn't out enough at her previous owners? I am not exactly sure.. Tonight my husband had to come in the room and pick her up. Although she acted the same way towards him.

 

She has a toy in her cage which she came with - and she is getting to the point where she is holding onto it with her mouth shaking it on the side of the cage.. It sometimes looks as if she's going to rip it right off of the side. She makes this loud & very long kissing noise...But then slams it back against the cage. I was told not to take it out, and when i tried to she got really upset. I was just going to wash it and then put it right back in.

 

I know that were just starting out with her and that we should give her some more time to get used to us - we have alot of patience with her and talk to her alot, The only thing i dont understand is -- when i let her out of the cage, and try to give her her space... how do i pick her up when all she wants to do is attack our hands / perch.

 

She's 20, so she is set in her own ways and thinks she can do what she wants.

 

Any advice?

Edited February 1, 2012 by greyturkey

[Talon]

Boy, she is testing you, your limits, your dogs, and especially your reactions. She wants to see how this new life will be, so she is trying everything she can think of to figure it out.

 

The best thing to do is to talk softly and calmly to her when she is in er cage. When she is out and getting into trouble, have her step up, and praise her lots when she does. If she bites you, tell her sternly, no, no bites and don't give in to her attempts to get you to go away. If se won't step up onto your had, try a perch or stick and still praise her, or entice her up with a treat that you make a yummy big deal about.

 

Keep us posted, but for sure, discourage any interactions with the dogs, one day, they may retaliate .

[Greywings]

Well said.

[Malikah]

Hopefully your dogs will wise up to her tricks pretty quickly. I would ignore her and scold them when they go near. I would not let her roam so much, get a playstand and 2 or 3 or 4 or 5 (LOL) different things that she is allowed to perch on when out. Have things to play with or destroy or forage for on these perches. When she starts roaming, calmly return her to a perch and praise. It's going to be a battle of wills for a while. Encourage her when she beats the crap out of her toy in her cage. It's good for her to get her aggression out on that instead of everyone else.

[oblivion]

I, of course, am no expert, but as for rounding up the wandering bird, I'll outline what has mostly worked for me. Though he doesn't step up, Spencer is very 'secure' in his travel cage and is also VERY attracted to floor toys he can bat around. I have leveraged both of these things to get him around the house. I can either lure him into his main cage or his travel cage most of the time by getting him excited about one of his toys (empty heavy plastic bottles are a fave), and then flipping that into the cage while telling him, "Put yourself away!" If the travel cage, I can then carry him back to his main cage and he'll (sometimes after a small delay) climb into his big cage. This is about 95% reliable. VERY rarely, if in a hurry to get out of the house and him being stubborn, I resort to 'herding' him gently in the direction of his cage (also telling him to put himself away). He's not a lunger, so I feel this is acceptable. Were it to visibly upset him, I wouldn't do it.

 

So maybe find something (toy or food) irresistible and lure her with that. And of course praise her when she complies. Additionally, I often play 'fetch' with him when I'm NOT going to close him in a cage, so hopefully he doesn't associate the game strictly with being put away.

 

I don't know if those ideas will help, but again, it's what (mostly) works for me and a 14-year-old TAG.

 

As for the dogs, I'd work on training them to ignore/avoid her as opposed to trying to get her to stop calling them. In my experience, dogs are WAY easier to train. For banging the toy she 'loves' around, that sounds like normal play to me. Spencer is REALLY rough on the toys he likes. He's not much of a chewer/shredder, but he LOVES stuff he can bang around and make noise with.

 

Good luck.

[Dave007]

A 20 yr old bird is very different from a very young bird that can still be molded. As far as the dog thing, the only solution is to take the dogs away all the time or let them do what they're doing. The dog/bird thing is a very common habit. Loads of people are in that situation and they usually put up with it or take away that behavior. Yes, you're going very fast but don't expect that dog/bird behavior to change. As time passes the activity will lessen as soon as *the thrill is gone* but it'll still happen.

**** i have a VERY hard time with her when she comes out of the cage. She is extremely nosy and curious! She gets down off of the cage (the dogs are not in the room at this time) and she will wonder around the room, she will hide in areas that i didn't know she could fit in (i bird proofed my house before bringing her home) and i look for her.. once i find her she tries to bite me when i go to pick her up. ****

Again, it's absolutely normal for a parrot to do that. They're masters of hiding. They hide in the wild. They hide in a home. They feel comfortable and some parrots will bring items into their hiding spots and begin to chew on them.

So, you wanna stop this? Have the bird in an area where it can't hide or don't let the bird down to the floor As far as biting when hiding, that's totally normal because you're going into an area where the bird feels comfortable and secure. If that weren't so, the bird wouldn't go there in the first place.

******She has a toy in her cage which she came with - and she is getting to the point where she is holding onto it with her mouth shaking it on the side of the cage.. It sometimes looks as if she's going to rip it right off of the side. She makes this loud & very long kissing noise...But then slams it back against the cage. I was told not to take it out, and when i tried to she got really upset. I was just going to wash it and then put it right back in.******

That's a very normal thing for greys to do and no matter what you were told, the item should be left there.That type of habit should never be discouraged. They're playing with the items and at the end of playtime, that stops. Many people, especially me, encourage people to go out and purchase heavy duty cow bells and hang in the cage. A bird has mock fights, smashes it around, yells, screams and growls at it and is totally happy when they can do that. Loads of people here will tell you what happens with the bells.

As far as the biting----because the bird is 20 yrs old, you'll need to start off with a short perch which will temporarily act like your fingers. At first the birst won't like it but eventually it'll get used to it. As time goes on, shorten that perch about 2 inches and continue. As time goes on shorten 2 more inches. Get closer and closer and closer.As time goes on, finally use your fingers. That perch should start off at the 10 inch length.

 

Just remember that the bird is 20 yrs old and he doesn't intend to change many things that have made him happy in the past

 

 

 

 

 

[judygram]

I have to agree with Dave about the bell, get one of those heavy duty stainless steel ones that they cannot tear up or take the clanger out of and then sit back and watch, they will attack that bell sometimes like it was out to get them but they love it, every grey should have one hanging in their cage so their frustrations can be taken out on it. Josey has one and I never remove it from the cage.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

I know many frown on " timeout", but I believe in it. A five minute timeout, is not cruel. I have always done a " timeout"... in a cage, AWAY from their toys and cage. I always discussed the punishment with the bird, after the timeout. I have done this with my birds, for past decade. I know it is frowned upon, but it works for me and birds. We were consistent in timeout. Our consistency with " timeout", has led us to have birds that will stepup when asked. stepdown at bedtime. Noone chews their feathers, and when going to trimmer, birds are more than happy to settle in carrier cages, no matter how I put them. Nancy

[greyturkey]

THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH! I'll let you all know how it goes, but for right now she's starting to get a bit more comfortable with me.. she still doesnt trust me and doesnt want anything to do with my hands. She trusts my husband on the other hand.. and sits up by his head.. but during the day i am the only one here with her and she sings up a storm, whistles, and looks at me and the dogs and constantly says "hi bird"

 

I play her songs for her during the day, and spend time with her but i do not let her come too close to me as i don't trust her fully yet and she also shows that she doesnt fully trust me.

 

were working together though .. so sooner or later.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Establish trust. Without it, there can be no relationship. While I got Sophie at age two, she was ready in the next three months, to establish trust. I had no idea what I was doing in the beginning. Nancy