Yesterday's events...help!

[Guest ilovemygrey]

Ok first off I know we are in big trouble! We shouldn't have...but we did.

 

Jaq'o was in the bottom of his cage today over in the corner just kinda hanging out. I thought ok maybe hes depressed. So I decided to open his cage door and let him climb about the cage and my goal was for him to get on top and be happy and I would try and lure him back into his cage later with cooked frozen veggies. As he was on top of the cage for about an hour I approached him and gave him a few treats. Time passed and I went ahead and made the veggies for him to go back in his cage gave him one and showed him I put the veggies in his bowl and placed it back inside his cage.

 

We went on with our business and tried to ignore him thinking maybe he would go into the cage. During this time I went and sat on the other side of the couch (his cage butts up against the other side) and started loving on our 2 chihuahuas. I knew from past experiences he would be insterested in this because anytime hes in the cage and I love on the dogs on the couch he always comes over to check it out. Well that he did. As I was loving on the dogs I notice him making his way towards the arm of the couch, keep loving on the dogs and look over and BAM hes there staring at me on the couch arm. He then made his way along the back of the couch and was starting to approach me when the dogs got way too curious and I tried to contain them as they are very mindful. Well curiosity got the best of them and they went at him. He flapped his wings and flew down to the floor and 1 dog gave chase. We yelled no and it quickly ran back to us leaving jaq'o alone (never touched him). Jaq'o then calmly just struts about the floor walking into the kitchen and I tell Mandy to get the dogs out of here. She takes the dogs into the bedroom and closes the door.

 

I couldn't help but think that he was approaching me on the couch to make what I would call first contact. So I quickly got on the floor and layed there and gave him the opportunity to approach me again. He starts making his way over to me I'm thinking ok this is gonna work out hes coming to me. WRONG as soon as he got within striking range he tore into my arm and just kept jabbing and pinching. I brushed him off with a swift back hand as I was telling "no jaqo, no, bad bird" He regathered himself and I thought ok maybe he learned what 'no' means. Wrong again, I lay my hand on the floor and say "come'ere" after I say he repeats it and I laugh. He makes his way towards my hand laying on the floor and attacks once again this time on my middle finger jabbing and prying. I again said "no jaqo bad bird" and brushed him off. Rinsed my bloody finger off and as I come back hes trying to eat dog food and so I took the paper towel I had in my hand and kinda brushed it at his beak to stop him from eating the dog food. He drops it and I pick up the bowls and head straight to get a towel, cover him up and return him to his cage.

 

Wow if you read all that thank you! lol

 

Now I'm not concerned as much about the pain of the bites as I am what his original intentions were the first time he was approaching me as I sat on the couch. Was he coming to bite me then or did the dogs ruin the situation and make him bite me on the floor?

 

Also what blows my mind is he actually made at least 10 steps to bite me both times on the floor I didn't approach him in any way. Is that common for them to actually come at you to bite you when in a neutral stance?

[Mistyparrot]

Quite clearly he was freaked out by the dogs. My guess is that he was simply curious about the dogs. Your behaviour with them might have suggested to him that they are not a threat but when the dogs got too exited and curious that would have sacred him. A normal reaction for a frightened Grey is to fly up and out of danger but I am guessing that Jaq'O is clipped and cannot fly well. His then being chased by the dog would have added to his sense of fear. Your yelling at the dog to call him off would have added drama to the event. I am not criticising you for yelling . Anyone would have done the same. After all that he would have associated you with the dogs and the scary moments so his going for you is a natural defensive reaction. He was angry with you but I don't think he will bear any lasting grudge. He will be wary for a while. Remember he was not at fault. In his mind he was defending himself. The dog food won't hurt him at all. The fact that he was eating so soon after suggests that there is no lasting trauma.

I believe you should let his flights come back and don't clip him. It will take a while but a flighted Grey is much more confident. I hope he will be more respectful of the dogs but I would not have him out when the dogs are in the room and the dogs need to learn to accept Jaq'O as a family member. I am sure you already realise that. I used to have a cat that Misty got on with but although they could share my lap in peace I would never let them be together unsupervised. Cats, dogs and parrots can be too unpredictable!

 

Steve n Misty

[Acappella]

My first instinct is to make sure this is behavioural, not medical. Between him choosing to sleep at the bottom of the cage and this aggression, I'd want to make sure he's OK physically. Their cues that they're sick are not ever clear, but aggression can mean they're actually in pain. Considering the awful situation he came from, and the way he was delivered to you, a vet check could be a really good idea. After all, best to get all the traumatic stuff out of the way so that the relationship building can really begin. Make sure the vet is an actual avian vet, not just a small animal vet who sees birds. It is such a specialty.

 

If you do have to towel him try to do it from behind so that he doesn't see who is doing it. (hard I know with a bird that doesn't trust, maybe having two people would help.) If you can't manage it, don't sweat it, I'm just giving you something to think about. Anyway, that way when you take the towel off (and you'll feel like a pratt doing this) you can throw the towel down, make angry faces at it, tell it "bad towel" etc... You're trying to dissociate the unpleasentness of the towel from you and your hands. Since in Jaq'os life up to now he has only had bad experiences with towels it will be much harder to make him comfortable with one, so just work with where you are right now. You have years and years and years and years to work on a towel anxiety. In my Dorians' first 3 1/2 years the only time he was ever out of his cage was to be towelled and torn out to have his wings clipped, so he hated towels (and hands, and he was extremely cage aggressive and trusted no one). It took more than three years with me before he would step onto my hand and come into another room of the house with me, and almost 5 years before he would step up from inside his cage. Now I'm taking him into the bathroom with me when I shower and working on getting a towel closer and closer to him. I can get just about a foot away from him with a towel in my hands before he starts to get nervous. It might be another year before he'll let a towel touch him voluntarily.

 

I'm not telling you this to depress you. I just want you to know what a timeline can be with a grey. To give you some hope, check out my video in the homemade toys forum room titled 'Playstand I made for Dorian'. You'll see how gentle and trusting he's become. All my time and patience has been more than worth it.

[Jayd]

Thank you Acappella......

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

I stick to my guns... NEVER towel a bird. Your baby took a chance. Didn't workout! Nancy

[Jayd]

No disrespect, but there are times a parront might need to towel a parrot. Acappella's descripction is the proper technique to use.

[danmcq]

Whats wrong with Toweling?

 

My grey plays with towels and does not fear them whatsoever. He has gotten toweled from 16 weeks and onward. It is used for nail trimming primarily when needed. Vets visits require a towel as well if they need to draw blood, handle them etc. It does not harm the bird and is the safest way for both the person and the bird to get necessary things done without harm to either. Toweling has been an excepted standard way of performing safe and gentle as possible restraint for eons.

[Luvparrots]

I make sure my parrots are use to towels. I have one on the back of my office desk chair and one on my sofa for possible poop accidents. You can never know when it becomes necessary for me or others not use to my parrots to quickly move them out of harms way. i.e. fires or other emergencies. Vets use towels all the time and I want my parrots to not be stressed out if they need to go to the vet for a check up.