neoow Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Hello all, I'm mostly a lurker around these forums, just gleaning as much information as I can and posting occasionally. However, I am really happy today and wanted to share it. Some of you may remember my introductory post where I explained how I have had Alfie for 10 years, since he was about 11 weeks old. We've been through a lot together over the years and in my introduction post I explained how I haven't been the best owner I could have been (mostly due to changes in lifestyle and lack of time) and how I had thought about rehoming him to try and give him a better lifestyle. However, I didn't want to just give up and accept defeat so promised him that I would improve things and spend more time with him, which is what I have been trying to do. As always with greys it's been a slow process of getting him to trust me properly again and there have been several grumps and warning shots along the way when he isn't happy with me. Anyway... fast track to today and Alfie has been out of his cage for the entire afternoon/evening whilst I cleaned and tidied, watched some TV, cleaned his cage out and chatted away to him. He has been an absolute gem the whole afternoon and I think we've both really enjoyed ourselves. Normally he would end up getting in a grump about something (he has always been very quick to get in a bad mood) but I haven't had ANY of that this afternoon. He entertained himself on top of, in and and around his cage whilst I cleaned it out and pottered around the room. We did have a bit of an incident where the cats tried to let themselves in (one of them can open doors so I have to barricade the door with something heavy) and Alfie got spooked and flew of his cage to the floor. He was fine though and had a little explore around the room before hopping up on to the chair and hopping back on to his cage. I went and sat and watched some TV and invited Alfie to join me. He decided to sit on his cage for a while longer before flying to me. He landed on my arm and then sat on my leg for a while, watching TV with me and having some head scratches when he wanted them. After about an hour or so I wanted to put him on his perch in front of the window so I could continue tidying- this is normally met with some resistance but he stepped up first time and stepped straight on his perch and was happy watching the rain and some people go past. Once he'd had enough he flew back to his cage to see what I was up to. Then when I watched some more TV he decided to join me again for some more head scratches. He's been stepping up every time I have asked (though I haven't asked him to step up from his cage yet) and I even got a few whistles and kiss noises from him. (as well as the occasional burp... which he DIDN'T learn from me!!! haha) All in all this afternoon/evening has been an absolute blast. I've felt so comfortable around him and he with me and I feel I've finally cracked it with him. I haven't had a single warning shot from him and he hasn't gotten annoyed with me/anything which is a rarity. I'm so glad that I made the decision to try and work things out for him as I know it would have been heartbreaking to give him up. He's my bird and my commitment and I'm so happy to see the progress I have been seeing over the last few months- but absolutely ecstatic that we have had such a great time today which is why I wanted to share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kizzybird Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Happy for you and for Alfie! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray P Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Good for you and Alfie, and I hope you have a lot more days like today. You are his flock weather you know it, or not. Great post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 That is wonderful Katrina, I am so glad you stuck it out and now you are reaping the rewards of your hard work and he is worth it, it may not be like this every day but then we all have our bad days even Alfie so continue the good work and stop in more often with updates and maybe a picture or two as we would love to see some of him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 Thanks for your comments. I have attached (hopefully) a photo of Alfie- he's currently doing his bit for Neighbourhood Watch! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 No one is going to mess with you for you have a greyt watch bird, he looks so handsome there keeping a watch out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neoow Posted June 23, 2013 Author Share Posted June 23, 2013 No one is going to mess with you for you have a greyt watch bird, he looks so handsome there keeping a watch out. I imagine my neighbours are quite amused when they walk past my house. They either see two nosey and vocal cats watching their every move or Alfie, whistling and clicking etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JeffNOK Posted June 23, 2013 Share Posted June 23, 2013 Thank you for sharing your wonderful day with Alfie with us. Made me smile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbersmom Posted June 24, 2013 Share Posted June 24, 2013 Great to hear things are working out for you. I love a happy ending! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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