When is "a lot" too much

[Nychsa]

Hi Dan,

 

Thank you for your response. And also thank you for your service in helping the Dobbie's - beautiful animals!

 

Rescue organizations can work well if remains about the welfare of the animals.

 

As for my poor partner - it's almost ironic, he was the one who introduced me to the idea of inviting birds into my life. That was a couple of years ago. He's always been a big bird fan. Then I started corresponding frequently with a rescue Aviary that was part of the Buddhist temple I often visit. That's when I became aware of the plight of these fabulous animals.

 

Finally, one day my hounds and I were at a pet store, and Jiggy, my conure was doing everything in his power to get my attention, and he did, I simply couldn't leave him there, and so plunked down a grand to get him and everything he needed to get out of there and move in with me LOL

 

It's actually too bad my partner didn't meet Bella before he met Jiggy, becuase Jiggy is a little devil - he is fearless, bold and believes the world is his to conquer and he bites (including me sometimes!). So, my poor partner actually got beyond his fears and tried to offer Jiggy a lift on his finger one day (Jiggy was on the floor chirping around like a mad-man) and Jiggy promptly took a chunk out of his finger! My parnter did not see that coming and he's now worried if Bella did that, he'd be missing a finger - well, it may end up being a situation where he won't become part of their flock, and will just be an amusing visitor. He does talk to the birds all the time, and he does give them treats and runs LOL!. Jiggy thinks he's a taxi and dive bombs him every now and then, landing on his shoulder (and of course my partner then yelps for me to get him off).

 

Never a dull moment!!!

 

Cheers!

Terri

[danmcq]

Hi Terri,

 

It does sound as if Jiggy did indeed put the fear of bites into your partner.

 

It is good though, that He does give treats to your Parrots and just enjoys interacting with them at the level they allow.

 

My Peach Front Conure is Jiggy on Steroids. :evil: I got him from a Breeder in San Jose that lied. It turns out that "Jake" was either a breeder or wild captured. It took me 9 Months of sitting near his Cage, offering treats etc. then finally toweling him and clipping his Wings, before He would step-up.

 

Now, 6 months later, he is fully flighted and still afraid of hands and bites often including flying at me, landing on my Ear and biting it. But, I love the little guy and enjoy his attention any way I can get it he has a larger than life personality and I enjoy it immensely.

 

So, perhaps you can be happy for for relationship your partner has with your Parrots and ask him to accept it as-is, with unconditional love. :-)

 

Then all he needs to do is watch his back!! :laugh:

[Nychsa]

Hi there Dan!

 

Wow!!!!! Now that is a feisty conure you've got there!!! No, Jiggy isn't like that - he does have a personality bigger then life and he is the life of any party I have here at the house. He dances (we call it the "Jiggy Dance"), he dances dangling from one talon upside down, when he gives me kisses it is SO LOUD! He thinks the Greyhounds are his personal carriers, dive bombing them and riding them around. My male lets him, in fact, he waits for Jiggy to adjust himself, but my female runs - and guess what, friggin Jiggy hangs on as long as he can! What is up with these conures LOL! they are somthing else!

 

But as far as my poor partner goes - yes, I think at least for now the status quo will be that he will dodge Jiggy, and will give them treats and runs. It's funny though that he's always looking out the Jiggy gets his fair share of things. Bella tends to monopolize my bowl, glass or plate when I'm eating and my partner always says "hey, don't forget the little guy!" - how could I!!!<br><br>Post edited by: Nychsa, at: 2007/12/16 22:50

[danmcq]

Hi Terri,

 

LOL - I would love to see a video of Jiggy's escapades...especially riding your Hounds!! :-)

 

Unfortunately, my Dobermans both think Jake is just "snack size" and snap at him when they think he has finally gotten close enough for them to get him.

 

Now Dayo evidently is large enough that they duck when he comes flying in like a B-52 bomber or decides to hop skip and jump across them to get to me across the couch from my Wife

[Nychsa]

Yes, we're going to be getting a better video cam here soon (maybe for Xmas??) My partner wants to video me doing the "Tuditat" with the birds LOL. Bella bobs her head doing the Tuditat, but Jiggy gets down!

 

And of course we want to film Jiggy on Doc (my male hound). I took Jiggy to Florida with me to visit my daughter (before we had Bella) and her family and they have a beagle - a lovely, rolly, polly beagle. And that poor critter was in the living room when my grand daughter taught Jiggy how to do the Tuditat, as five year olds go, my grand daughter had enough after a while and walked away and Jiggy thought - "no, hey, wait, I'm not done!" and he tried to fly after her, but since his wings were trimmed he had to find a ride, so he landed on the sleeping beagle thinking that was the ride! That poor beagle - all four paws in the air at once yelping as if the devil himself were after her! Jiggy went flying off her back and landed with a thud as she raced away as fast as possible. He stomped up, shaking himself off, and then strutted back to his travel cage. Unbelievable those little conures!

[ziggy]

First of all I was simply trying to help YOU in YOUR delema. If you reread the post I said NOT TO YOU BUT IN GENERAL didnt I. You can take it any way you want. I am also involved in 4 rescues here in Florida. One is the Greyhound rescue for the largest group in the country so dont tell me about greyhound stats. The oldest track in the country is right here in St. Pete. I have worked very hard to have all tracks closed forever. I went to rescue 2 greyhounds about 4 years ago and since I have other dogs I was turned down. You are taking this to the next level so now you opened the door and I am going to close it for you. I was only giving you advise on how your partner can reach out to your birds. You can call it anything you want I dont care in the least. I have more exreriance then you will ever have. So if you think you have any advise for me you are very mistaken. I have been around birds for 25 years and I was trying to help you figure out to make peace with your partner and yor birds. I can care less if you take it or not. I have been active with bird rescues for many years and I tell you what I see in a week you would not see in a life time. If you like I will send you pictures of the kind of enviroments that these poor birds have to deal with. You would be flabergasted. I was not refuring to you in the post. You need to reread it again and see that I said it more then once that it was in generally speaking and not directed to you. If you think that then go right ahead. I know what I was saying. You can ask anyone in this forum I am always direct and upfront. There is no reason to beet around the bush. What you see is what you get. You dont like or anybody else oh well. I am not going to change to please anybody.

 

To Dan and Judy thank you for the support. You know that I am not trying to pick a fight with Nychsa if Nychsa wants to think that then I could care less about how they take it. I was trying to make a point in general not toward Nychsa. Again thank you for the support.

[danmcq]

Hi Ziggy,

 

I believe if you would go and read Nychsa's second post to you. You will find she apologetically explained why her "First Reaction" had the tone it did. :-)

 

I think we are all on the same page now and Nyscha took your advice and all others in trying to give possible solutions to her Partners relationship with her Parrots. :-)

[Nychsa]

Well, Ziggy - I wasn't going to jump to conclusions about what kind of person you are, but apparently all these rescue efforts do seem to have a good deal to do with you and your ego - when ever someone goes off on a tangent about how much they've done etc.. and how much more they've done then anyone else, that tells me it is an ego trip. I just hope you aren't turning families away who would adopt greyhounds with your attitude. I know if I were a family looking to adopt a hound and you were approaching me like that I'd run for the hills too. Just remember every time you turn a family off, you kill another dog.

 

I have nothing else to say to you Ziggy. I've made my decision about who you are.

[ziggy]

Thank you Dan for the support I really thank you truely.

I get hot under the collar about people taking what I said and flipping it around. I was only trying to help not start an argument at all. You know me I want to help people not get into debates over what I posted.

[ziggy]

I dont have an ego at all. Ask anyone I deal with I am a persom that cares for animals with eveything I have inside. You dont know me so dont judge me until you do know what type of person I really am. I am very active in my time to make sure that people dont make mistakes in getting a pet. The worse thing to do is to get a pet and not forfill your end of the bargin.( again NOT DIRECTED TO YOU) just want to make that clear. When I say you or your it is in GENERAL not directed to anyone in the post.

[Nychsa]

Ziggy if you don't want to turn people off then I would recommend not being so condenscending and potificating. Don't asssume you know anything about how my partner is interacting here, don't assume you know anything about me. If you think it's ok to act like that towards people, then the good in your message will be lost.

[Nychsa]

Any time someone goes on a rant that they have all this experience and they are going to show someone else up yadi yadi yadi - that is an ego trip. Period.

 

I am a new bird person - SO WHAT. I am here to get advice - isn't that a good thing? Does that mean I have to tolerate being talked to as if I were some imbicile? NO! Of course you will have more experience with birds then I do - SO WHAT? I came here to meet people who have experience - that's the point!!!

 

Ok - here, let me do this for you:

 

"wow Ziggy you have all this experience - you are THE MAN!!" You are definately bigger then my conure, I'll give you that!"

 

Better? All good? Did you "close the door for me" now???

[birdmom]

Teri,

 

Welcome! I just read your post on 12/15 about your partner feeling like he's not in the 'flock'. It sounds like your birdies love you soo much!

This one may just take some patience since the little birdies are probably feeling a bit jealous of him if he's not there consistently; he may swoop in and get all your attention and they've had you to themselves, they may feel like, what did we do wrong, it was going so well until he showed up!!?

 

Of course(chuckling) your partner is just a nuisance to them at this point, they don't have any reason to trust him yet, he just comes and goes... Do u think they are both jealous of him? Do you by any chance, display affection to your man, in front of your birds?

 

Well maybe... next time he arrives you could have him prepared to say hi to the birds first, b4 he greets you-- and be really happy to see them, like over the top happy? Why not try that? Maybe they won't react negatively if they perceive that he has come to see them this time. Of course, the two of you will need to refrain from affection in front of the birds, or the gig is up:blink: (There are some people who handle it that way.)

 

I have learned that birds have a special heirarchy that is very strong...as do dogs, but I think due to the survival threats to wild birds it must be a bigger deal in the bird world (pecking order?) not too sure....anyway they surely love you and are bonding so well with you! They do it to survive in the wild ...so you are doing the right things. This is a natural learning curve with your birds I think. They will go thru phases, too!

 

ps: I think maybe our Ziggy is just very passionate about the birdies he rescues alot, he may have initially reacted that way becuz, you will notice after a couple years with birds, an amazing number of people that get them, dump them within a year or two due to the very problems you describe, rejection of a partner. So, it is a sensitive issue in the bird rescue community. Not that we think you would do that, but we hope not and I think Ziggy's passion was temporarily misdirected at you becuz he has alot of birds right now, that were dumped by some people that were for lack of a better word, ignorant about birds in particular. For example, I have a second grey, Charlie. I got Charlie from a family, he was in love with the wife, but hated the husband who Charlie viewed as his main rival for Karen. The husband just didn't want to take the time it needed to work it out, and things can settle down a bit after they go thru puberty at around four years. And, they had two dogs, and then got a third, and Charlie the CAG was odd man out at that point, nobody wanted to deal with him, and he had become a biter, attacking anyone who came near his cage, bcuz it was the only area he could control, and he was angry. He got no respect and was approaching the age of four.

 

I hope that may help you to understand Zig's reaction. You will come to understand he is very passionate about the birdies. xo, joanne ps Welcome!

 

 

Post edited by: birdmom, at: 2007/12/17 00:08

 

Post edited by: birdmom, at: 2007/12/17 00:11

 

Post edited by: birdmom, at: 2007/12/17 00:27<br><br>Post edited by: birdmom, at: 2007/12/17 01:18

[Nychsa]

Hi there Birdmom!

 

I think I'm guilty - I think the birds and the dogs get all the attention! LOL!

 

Now that's an idea - have him come say 'hi' to the birds when he comes in for the first time. When he comes the dogs nab him first and that is usually a big to-do. He then gets around to me, and then he says 'hi' to the birds. So, maybe he needs to do dogs first, birds and then me LOL!

 

I think you might be on to something - that the birds might be jealous of him as they don't see him as part of the flock. When I took Jiggy for his vet visit, he was sitting on my shoulder and when the vet reached for him, Jiggy went ballistic. I thought Jiggy just didn't want to be touched, but the Vet said Jiggy was protecting me!

 

But you're right - this is going to take a while. And you know something - it might stay as it is - he may never hold them!

 

Cheers!

Terri

[danmcq]

Nychsa wrote:

So, maybe he needs to do dogs first, birds and then me LOL!

 

That's the order of greeting I use, when I come home after being out of town a few days a week. Jake, my Dinosaur sized Conure (in his mind) always greets me by slamming into my head and attacking my hair. He loves me so much ;-)

 

It is also the order when my Wife comes home from work. :-)

 

That idea just might make a difference Terri!

[Nychsa]

Dan,

 

I'm going to suggest that is what we should do re: the order of greeting - you know, having sight hounds, you'd think understanding that birds are visually oriented as well would come easy to me, but it is not that intuitive for me!

 

Do you have pictures of Jake as well? I've never seen a peached fronted Conure before. Jiggy is a Dusky headed conure.

 

Cheers!

Terri

[danmcq]

Hi Terri - LOL, we always need to get the chain of command in order :-)

 

Yes - Here is a photo of Jake.

 

<br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2007/12/17 01:21

[Nychsa]

Hmm, I can't seem to view the picture I tried to right click and select 'show picture', but it still won't show.

[danmcq]

Hi Terri - The initial upload through the forums website didn't work. It seems we have a problem with image uploading here.

 

So, I uploaded my photo to photobucket and placeed the link manually instead. You should be able to view it now, I can. :-)

[birdmom]

Aren't the birds in charge of us? wiseguy..

[Nychsa]

Oh - I selected 'show picture' and then did a refresh and the image turned up. What a cutie!!!! No wonder you love him and put up with his nip - I would too LOL!

[Nychsa]

LOL yes Birdmom, I think I'm 'owned' by the critters that live here. I thought about that this morning - I got some tea before I fed everyone else and I felt guilty! LOL! I mean the birds have a foraging environment and they happily forage until I have breakfast ready, and my male hound doesn't get up until 9 am anyway, but my girlie hound is hungry and waiting - I'm always the last one to get anything LOL!

[danmcq]

LOL Birdmom - Your right! When I roll up, remotely open the garage door, pull in and get out. I hear the dogs barking and whining at the door and both Dayo and Jake whistling, chirping and screaming. They all know Daddy is home, just like when my children were little tykes :-) sniff .....

 

Yes Terri, I love the little guy with all my heart :-)

 

Signing off now - I need to get ready to head back to San Jose at O' Dark Thirty in the morning... 3 hour drive. I'll be back online around 6am once I login at work. :-)

[Nychsa]

Hmmm Dan - "O'Dark thirty" , "chain of command" - those all seem like terms I used when I was a member of Uncle Sam's Canoe club! Were you a member as well??

[judygram]

Yeah when I pull up I can hear Josey and Sunny calling for me before I can even get in the house, they know the sound of my vehicle, but you gotta love em.