Help - He just keeps attacking me!

[harvey]

Hi Guys,

 

I am hoping you can help as Harvey keeps attacking me and we are not sure how to solve the problem.

 

Harvey has bonded really well with Gavin, and did so within the first few days of us getting him. We did everything with Harvey together as we were worried he would end up liking one more than the other. Then Gavin had to spend the day at home with him on the 3 day of us having him (I had to work) and ever since then Gavin is his preferred human and he has disliked me more and more.

 

Harvey bites me (breaking the skin), lunges at me, if I sit close to him and Gavin he will fly at me (not in a I want to be with you way...it is attacking). If I touch his cage to give him a different toy he will fly at me and bite my hand. When Gavin is not there, I talk to him, give him treats, he will take treats from me, but I have to do it at just reaching distance as sometime he lunges. He will take foot toys from me, when he is in the cage, but again I have to do it at arms length as sometimes he lunges.

 

If I have to remove him from anywhere I now do it with a perch, but he still tries to go for my hands

 

This has happened so much I have become afraid if going near him on my own and petting him when Gavin is not around. How can we solve this? I am sure it is my fault for being nervous now, or I have done something wrong, but he has hurt me so may times now it is hard to go back. I want to have a loving relationship with him as well so at the very least I can take care of him when Gavin is not around, but at the minute all that is happening is I am becoming more and more afraid

 

Any tips would be great! He is such a lovely bird and I am so glad I found him and bought him home to be with Gavin, I just hope I can have a relationship with him as well.

 

Please help!

 

Clare

[siobha9]

Hi Clare,

 

I really sympathise with you on what has happened with Harvey It is so upsetting when the grey you love so much chooses someone else as their favourite. I am sure you have read how greys can have a preferred human, but this doesnt mean he will always bite and lunge at you.

 

You have hit the nail on the head when you say you are nervous of him now, Harvey knows this. You will need to work much harder than Gavin to gain his trust, this starts with not reacting when he bites and not letting him know you are nervous of him. Don't let Gavin give Harvey any of his favourite treats, and he will soon learn that you are the source of all things yummy.Only give him the treat if he is being nice to you and he will learn that in order to get the treat he cant lunge at you;)

[Debbieknd]

I have cockatoo just like your grey..loves my husband and hates me. I have gotten bitten really bad from him

We had to clip his wings because he was so mean..

He has calmed some..since we did this..I can now at least place my hand in the cage to change his water and food. but I do not trust him..he has been my toughest bird to handle

I am hoping time will tame his tail down some.

Sorry I could not help But I feel your pain:(<br><br>Post edited by: Debbieknd, at: 2008/10/18 04:23

[danmcq]

Siobha gave good advice.

 

Somethings to consider also:

 

1) You are presently injured and apprehensive when approaching your Grey now. They as all critters can detect that instantly. This then transfers to them being nervous and protective of themselves. So, unless you are not apprehensive or nervous when you decide to give him a treat, don't do it.

 

2) If you do approach with a treat and he lunges, turn around and walk away with the treat. Do not reward him for bad behaviour.

 

3) When your with Gavin and Harvey attempts to bite or in fact does bite , Gavin needs be the one that disciplines Him sternly. Harvey does not care if You dislike Him, but he does want to please Gavin. So if Gavin enforces his dislike of aggression towards you and maybe even tells him sternly NO, then returns him to his cage, Harvey will get the message rather quickly that if he tries to bite or attack you, Gavin will take away his time by returning him to the cage.

 

4) If you do use a stick to pick him up, block the path he will take to bite you with you Other hand balled into a fist with the back of your hand to him. he will not be able to get a good bite on it. Using sticks is not really a preferred method to get you Parrot accustomed to hands or not biting them. But, if you must, then so be it.

 

5) If he can physically fly to try and attack you, then the only way to resolve that is to place your Arm in his path so he must land on it. Then Block him from traveling up your Arm with your Other Hand as described above.

 

This is going to take some time to get resolved, but it can be. :-) Also, Gavin must be the one to start teaching Harvey that he is not allowed above the elbow for now. At Least until he learns to be well behaved. he needs to get used to being handled. Have Gavin to repetitive steps ups with Harvey making him step up from hand to hand several time in a row. Give a fun break and do it again on a daily basis so he just learns to comply.

 

I hope at least some little tidbit in this response helps you in some way.

[harvey]

Wow! Thanks so much guys! I feel so much better now I know what to do. We are going to try in short sessions tomorrow and will let you know how I get on.

 

Thanks agin! You have been brilliant!

 

[judygram]

"""I hope at least some little tidbit in this response helps you in some way."""

 

You gave some excellent advice Dan and it just takes it a step further than what Siobhan offered, I am sure if Gavin and Clare use these suggestions they will have good success with their problems with Harvey.

[harvey]

We're trying clicker training but he seems to be scared of it when Clare clicks and not when I do.

[harvey]

We had a much better weekend with him! Well I did anyway

 

He took treats from me while he was in the cage and then gently took them from me while he was out as well. Both with and without Gavin in the room so as far as I am concerned that’s a huge success!

 

I was brave and picked him up with a perch and moved him around. He did not go for my hand this time, but then I was trying to be less scared. He also flew to the perch when I asked him to!! That for me was huge!

 

We had an incident where he lunged for a toy and pecked me. So I did as suggest and walked out of the room with the toy and ignored him. Worked a treat!

 

Gavin is also letting me do more things with him on my own. I will get him up out of his sleep cage every day so that he can see me doing more nice things for him.

 

So give it a few more months and I am sure we will be a happy little family.

 

Thank you so much, you really can’t image how much this has helped me! I feel so much better and much more confident that all will be ok.

[Laurie]

I will throw in an extra 2 cents or so here...

Make sure when you are approaching the bird, approach from the side or the back. When you come at them from the front, or from above, they can get defensive. Turn your face so that you are looking at the bird sideways, narrow your eyes and lower your head a little. This makes you appear friendly.

Also, Klaus fell in love with me in the first place because I ignored him (he was not supposed to be my bird). So it might be worth playing hard-to-get...greys love a challenge!

Good luck!

[Ajilon]

I have a harlequin macaw that belongs to my husband. This bird totally hates me and because of his attitude, the feeling has become mutual lately. I can't walk by him without him lunging. I try to feed him and he's biting through the cage. Whatever it takes to get to me. Lately, I've taken to just pretending he doesn't exist. If he lunges, he doesn't eat until my husband comes home. PERIOD. He's too big a bird with too harsh an attitude to make me want to take that risk.

[shanlung]

Good advice from Danmcq.

 

Greys are empaths. Think good thoughts, and be firm mentally that you take no nonsense, and you have to take no nonsense.

 

Remember you are equal.

 

Thats the same for you too, Ajilon.