My bird doesn't like me anymore :(

[stuffandthat]

I've had my bird for about 8 months now which would make him around 1 year old. He used to always get up on my finger and come out of his cage and would love to be around me. In the last two months he hates me going anywhere near him and if I put my hand in the cage he does all he can to get away from me. Once I get him out of the cage he is the same. He will walk all over me but won't take treats off me or let me touch him.
He is completely different with my girlfriend though. He never really liked her too much and she never spent any time with him as she was afraid of birds, but now he will go to her at any time, get up on her finger and take food from her. I try every day to handle him and play with him to make me like me again but I don't seem to be getting anywhere. Can someone please give me some help or ideas on what I can do?

[stuffandthat]

Can anyone give me any advice or help at all?

[ellieelectrons]

Hi

Your bird is growing from being a baby to being an adult and is probably bonding to your girlfriend. If the behavior gets bad your girlfriend may need to withdraw from interactions with your bird until he gets more used to interacting with you again.

Our girl Janey is more strongly bonded to my husband. She gets really agitated when he is around but because I spend most time with her, I'm able to fully interact with her too.

Also, try to get to know your bird's body language & get to know when he wants to interact. Do you do trick training? That's a good way to build a bond. I would also recommend increasing foraging for food so that your bird will be more receptive to receiving treats from you.

Good luck.

Ellie

[stuffandthat]

Thanks for the info. But what do I look for to know if he wants to interact?
What do you mean by trick training?

[ellieelectrons]

Try to interact with your bird when he's calm - not excited or aggressive.

I can recommend the videos on www.goodbirdinc.com. There is one on understanding your bird's body language.

By trick training i mean teaching them to do turn arounds, waving, etc. I will try to post some links soon.

Ellie.

[stuffandthat]

I will check out the videos.
No, we don't do any trick training. He doesn't even get up on my finger anymore, and he barely takes treats from my hands either.

[ellieelectrons]

Here is what I recommend:

If you don't already know find out what your bird's fav foods are by giving it a bowl of a variety of foods and watch which ones he goes for first. Withdraw the fav food/s from your bird's regular diet and make sure that you are the only person offering them to your bird. Don't let your girlfriend offer these fav foods to your bird. We need to give your bird good associations with you.

Increase the amount of foraging that your bird needs to do for food. They should forage for most of their food - don't have it easily available in coop cups. If your bird has to work for its food more it does two things: (1) keeps it brain active during the day (birds were made to forage) and (2) it makes taking treats from you the easy way to get food. Here are some links for some more information on foraging:
http://www.indianringneck.com/forum/vie ... 01&p=69400
http://www.indianrinhttp://www.indianri ... =4&t=13466
http://www.parrotenrichment.com/ - this site has some free ebooks to download

If you are interested in doing trick training, I really recommend it. It does bond you to your bird. Starting with something like the turnaround is an excellent place to start because it doesn't require your bird to step or for you to touch your bird. You can see vids of the sorts of tricks I train my guys to do here:
http://www.youtube.com/user/ellieelectrons

This one shows Janey doing turnarounds:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4l0kpUjzSVA

There are threads on here talking about how to teach your bird to do turnarounds, so try doing a search of this forum. If you want to trick train your bird you do need somewhere to interact with your bird - a T-perch or a birdy play gym are probably most commonly what people use.

If you are wanting to get some more tips on understanding and getting along with your parrot, I can recommend the Barbara Heidenreich series of DVDs. I own:
Parrot Behavior and Training #1, Training for the Veterinary Exam #2 & Understanding Parrot Body Language. I like them all but if you decide to get just one of them, Parrot Behaviour and Training #1 had the biggest impact one me.

Good luck and best wishes. I hope that helps. It is a lot of work and takes patience, time and some smart thinking. We've all got a lot to learn! My Janey bit me hard twice today... and it's been some time since she did that... so I've got a lot to learn too.

Ellie.