Looking for advice
Posted: Tue Aug 03, 2010 3:24 am
Greetings, fellow bird-lovers.
I've got a bit of a situation on my hands. Last November my boyfriend and I purchased a gorgeous Alexandrine whom we christened Buzz. We've never had a bird before so is was a bit of a learn-as-we-go thing. We looked up tips and stuff on the internet and in books about how these birds have to have a lot of socialisation as well as toys and lots of space.
From the beginning, Buzz has had both his happy, curious moments and also his nippy, pinning moods where he just doesn't want to know you - the former being far more likely than the latter. Being a uni (college) student, I've had far more time on my hands to spend time with Buzz than my boyfriend has, who's got a full time job. And now it's rolled round to August of 2010 and basically the boyfriend is not happy with how Buzz behaves with him.
Just fifteen minutes ago this was displayed in amazing clarity: the boyfriend went over and tried to get Buzz to 'step up'. Buzz completely refused to, pinning and hissing with his beak open in warning, and held fast to the rope swing even when his chest was being stroked to 'step up'. I went over and held out a finger and Buzz calmed down and straight away hopped on.
Now, I'm pretty sure it's because Rob's nowhere near as much around as I am. He doesn't hold him and talk to him as much during the day (he's at work so not his fault or anything, just the truth). But Rob doesn't want to accept this as the reason why. I think the fact that the person who sold us Buzz in the first place spoke so highly of Alexandrines that he called them 'feathered, flying dogs'. Rob wants Buzz to basically act like a happy dog when he comes home. It hit home so badly just then that Rob threatened to get rid of him if he doesn't 'improve' by Christmas.
Obviously if it came down to that I'd take Buzz of my bf's hands (far too attached to him to let him go), but I'd rather it didn't come to that. Do you guys agree with me, that it's basically that Buzz isn't all that used to Rob so that's why he's very thingy about having Rob coming up to the (open) cage and getting him to step up onto his hand? I've seen other examples where all you really have to do is repeatedly treat the bird with things like fruit and veg (the bribery option) whenever you approach. Do you think if Rob did something like this every night he came home it would help?
Any opinions/comments would be greatly appreciated.
I've got a bit of a situation on my hands. Last November my boyfriend and I purchased a gorgeous Alexandrine whom we christened Buzz. We've never had a bird before so is was a bit of a learn-as-we-go thing. We looked up tips and stuff on the internet and in books about how these birds have to have a lot of socialisation as well as toys and lots of space.
From the beginning, Buzz has had both his happy, curious moments and also his nippy, pinning moods where he just doesn't want to know you - the former being far more likely than the latter. Being a uni (college) student, I've had far more time on my hands to spend time with Buzz than my boyfriend has, who's got a full time job. And now it's rolled round to August of 2010 and basically the boyfriend is not happy with how Buzz behaves with him.
Just fifteen minutes ago this was displayed in amazing clarity: the boyfriend went over and tried to get Buzz to 'step up'. Buzz completely refused to, pinning and hissing with his beak open in warning, and held fast to the rope swing even when his chest was being stroked to 'step up'. I went over and held out a finger and Buzz calmed down and straight away hopped on.
Now, I'm pretty sure it's because Rob's nowhere near as much around as I am. He doesn't hold him and talk to him as much during the day (he's at work so not his fault or anything, just the truth). But Rob doesn't want to accept this as the reason why. I think the fact that the person who sold us Buzz in the first place spoke so highly of Alexandrines that he called them 'feathered, flying dogs'. Rob wants Buzz to basically act like a happy dog when he comes home. It hit home so badly just then that Rob threatened to get rid of him if he doesn't 'improve' by Christmas.
Obviously if it came down to that I'd take Buzz of my bf's hands (far too attached to him to let him go), but I'd rather it didn't come to that. Do you guys agree with me, that it's basically that Buzz isn't all that used to Rob so that's why he's very thingy about having Rob coming up to the (open) cage and getting him to step up onto his hand? I've seen other examples where all you really have to do is repeatedly treat the bird with things like fruit and veg (the bribery option) whenever you approach. Do you think if Rob did something like this every night he came home it would help?
Any opinions/comments would be greatly appreciated.