jgerardo Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Luna is a good bird overall. But he constantly changes his relationships with my family. By order of liking here is the breakdown. 1) Me 2) my mother 3) my sister and 4) he just hates my dad haha Even though he overall trusts my family he sometimes changes his mind about them. One moment he will be a total sweet heart with them stepping up nicely want to be scratched on the head. But other times he will lunge and bite them (not hard but leaves a mark). is he bipolar lol? He hardly acts like that with me but I need to correct that behavior. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 Greys for the most part have a favored person. That is you. They remain fairly consistent in all interactions with that person. All other people will receive different privileges based upon how well the grey likes them, if it feels like a scratch, wants to step up or interact with them at all that point in time. When people are visiting and interacting with you and your grey, there are many dynamics at play. The grey may feel happy at first to see them and wish to interact. Your grey may start feeling like a person is taking the majority of your attention and become jealous and display unfriendly behavior at that time. There are times a grey just does not wish to be bothered with interaction and wants to sit and chill. It is things like this that cause the different responses you see your guests getting from your grey at different times. It is completely normal in my opinion. If you have the opportunity and time, it is really a good idea to try and teach your family and friends a little about grey body language so they can recognize when your grey is accepting of and wanting up close interaction and when he is clearly showing through body language he is not interested at the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katana600 Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 As I read your last sentence, I smiled. You are right that you need to diminish that behavior but it is the humans that will be trained, as Dan said, to read Luna's body language and prevent the bites before they start. You will still need to let Luna know it is unacceptable, but the main advice given to us from the beginning of our relationship with Gil has been the best way to prevent bites is to learn the body language of our grey and not to push them. One thing that stuck with me is the explanation that a grey is very subtle. If their subtle communication (eye pinnning, moving away, trembling chest, puffed up feathers, or other posture) doesn't yield the result they want they will resort to a bite. Then, if a bite is effective, that will become the "goto" communication device. He may have chosen you as being the most easily trained and you are more tuned in to his subtle clues. Watch and keep track of the situations that lead to a nip and figure out if he is overstimulated by too many people in the room or if he is giving clues that are not being noticed by other family members. Our situation is opposite, "my" little Timneh is more likely to let others give her a scratch and she has decided I am generally not to be trusted with such closeness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Timbersmom Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 I totally agree with the previous posts. Timber's interaction with me are pretty stable (I'm the chosen one). With my hubby and son, they have to watch body language carefully to interact with him. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted January 5, 2014 Share Posted January 5, 2014 jgerardo... No, greys are NOT bipolarar, but they sure seem to be! LOL! They tend to if exposed to the entire family, get confused where their allegiance should be. That was my goal when we first got her. A decade later, Sophie loves all of us for different reasons. I think I got the " short straw"... I am the one who feeds her, keeps her safe. Kids are the " fun ones". Nancy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgerardo Posted January 6, 2014 Author Share Posted January 6, 2014 I think the fam sees how he I interact with thim and they try to do the same but that won't work haha gotta love greys Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kins2321@yahoo.com Posted January 8, 2014 Share Posted January 8, 2014 jgerardo... not sure what you mean? Nancy and Sophie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jgerardo Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 kins2321@yahoo.com What i meant is I can hold him, pet him, kiss his head, handle him without him getting mad. So my family tries to do the same but he doesnt like too much physical interaction from them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Acappella Posted February 3, 2014 Share Posted February 3, 2014 You're right on the money. You are his favourite, so you can get away with much others can't. Your next job is to train the other humans! Explain the favorite person thing to them, and give them a lesson on body language. There's a sticky in the training forum that explains it well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now