Gimme a kiss!!!

Mikaela · Post by **Mikaela** » Thu Sep 29, 2005 6:02 am

Good Morning Momma, what happened to your hair Dont worry, I still love you. Gimme a kiss!

[b]That was nice! May I have another? I missed you aaaaall night. So I have been chewing on my treat log passing the time.

[b]Your kisses are the best Ma, how 'bout oooone more!

Happy girl! My Mommie loves me so much. She even loves me although I am doing something she calls moulting. I dont know what that means but I do know my feathers feel weird lately. Im not worried though because Mommie always looks out for me and my big sis so if she isnt worried, we know not to be.

Melika · Post by **Melika** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:04 am

Too cute. ^_^ That's one big honkin' treat she's holding there. Strong little feet, lol.

Mikaela · Post by **Mikaela** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 3:29 am

That girl is such a pig girl. I swear most of the time when she opens her mouth to tweet or try to talk something falls out, I am not kidding. FUNNY!

That is one of those treat logs I tied there the night before, not much left the next morning. Oink Oink

jen5239 · Post by **jen5239** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 8:41 am

Mikaela,
I am sooooooooooooooooo JEALOUS of those pics. I think if I got my face that close to my Byndi I'd come back missing something. He's still not too keen on me and letting me handle him. :cry:

I know slowly, but I sure would love to hold him. Hopefully one day. But your Baby is so dang cute.

Jen

Mikaela · Post by **Mikaela** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 9:08 am

Have you tired carrying the little fella around on a perch stick like I suggested? That way, he will walk up and down it, thereby getting closer to you. That is how I trained my baby. She was MEAN and I even hand-raised her! Talk about biting the hand that feeds you :!:

With the perch stick, you can spend so much more time 'near' him because he will be far enough away to be comfy. Plus, some birds just dont like the feeling of skin. If I have a 'wifebeater' on my Boo wont step up on my shoulder, otherwise she literally kills herself trying to get there as fast as she can. You have clipped his wings, right? If he flees from the stick put him back and back and back. Talk to him like a baby and remember... dont hold constant eye contact for more than a few seconds. Try glancing to his eyes then chest then eyes, like that.

Sweetheart, I promise you if you continue to be a devoted parront the day will come when you too can kiss your baby. I am beginning to think you may not be forceful enough with your baby out of fear of being too forceful. Keep this rule of thumb in mind... you are the boss. You must keep him safe. To do that, he must know what is expected and know that you will not stop until he listens. It takes a sick amount of patience. Before these girls, I had none. Now, that has changed and I have improved as an individual as a result.

Anyone that is afraid of bites, not that you are, will NEVER get anywhere with their bird. It takes a million nips to get the slightest bit of progress but once the progress is acheived it is like riding a bike, they never forget.

Baby was so mean I couldnt handle her until I literally offered myself to her to bite. All the sudden, it wasnt so much fun for her. This was reverse psychology on mine and her part. I would put my hand in her cage and tell her "bite me, I dont care, but you are coming out and we are going to have fun". She was big on lunging :roll:

He will lunge and bite you a few times but DONT move. After only a few times of that he will see YOU ARE THE BOSS and his bites get him nowhere. If you ignore him when he lunges, he is going to continue because he doesnt want to interact. He wins.

Irns mistake kindness for weakness and take full advantage of it. They are stubborn as mules and we must be too or hang it up.

jen5239 · Post by **jen5239** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 12:11 pm

You are sooooooooo right! I do think I am afraid of being too forceful with Byndi! And so I back off and he gets his way. So I just need to go full force and get him out? I had my arm in the cage two nights in a row and he freaked. All over the cage and climbing and throwing himself around. But no attempts to bite me. But when I would try to get near him, when he was on the floor of the cage he screamed. Then I backed off. Took my arm out of the cage. Should I not do this? Should I just go ahead and try to pick him up?? We moved his cage so now it's only arms length away from the chair I sit in during the evenings. Which I don't know why we didn't put it there in the first place. But we didn't. Live and learn. I'm hoping this will help. So he's constantly close to me. He freaks too if you put a perch in front of him. I need to be a little more aggressive it sounds like. So I will try this tonight or tomorrow. I've got to thoroughly clean his cage this weekend. So... Thank you sooooooo very much for all of your help! I do appreciate it. Have you been getting my emails? I've sent you two and I've not heard anything back. Thought maybe you were angry with me for something. ????? Anyway, thanks again.

Jen & Byndi

Mikaela · Post by **Mikaela** » Fri Sep 30, 2005 2:52 pm

Yes, you need to teach him 'Step up' by gently laying your finger against his chest and giving the command to step up. Touching here gives him the natural response to step. Do this until he steps up or you get tired. Always end on a good note with praise or a treat. And lacking frustration. Keep in mind, these are some smart birds. My girls know when they can and cannot mess with me. If Im in a good mood they may be a little sinister just to get a chuckle. If Im in a bad mood they know it isnt time to play. They read us like a book and put us back on the shelf. Keep the vocab short... use your own but an example would be c'mon baby, step up... step up for momma. Keep it short and sweet but assertive in letting him know you need him to do this.

This is the untimate test. Are you willing to go hands on? Willing to take the bites and stay still with only a No Bite... step up. If you see him open his beak say nooooo bite baby. He will close his mouth.

Lay your finger or forearm if you think he may get you against his chest and in a baby voice say step up and he will and you will probably cry then come hug me. Lots of praise and treats.

HE MUST LEARN THIS LIKE TODAY, seriously, by the end of the week. It is crutial to keeping him safe and you sane.

Post by **ringneck** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 12:23 am

Mikaela is right.

You need to be forceful, yet not too forceful. I think you went too far by trying to make him step on your hand. Back off a bit and start by talking to him gently though the bars. Offer him food. And although he might not take it for the first few weeks/months, just place it on the bottom of the cage. This will help your ringneck to associate you with food.

Daily open the door of the cage and offer him treats. Try to entice him to your hand. Do it daily and always end each session on a positive note. Mikaela nailed it again too, clip the wings. It will make your ringneck very dependant on you too.

That’s how to be forceful— forceful with training and winning his friendship. I know you might feel eager to get him on you with interaction etc, but keep in mind, if properly cared for you two at least have 30 years together. Take it slow and each day will be progress.

Pretty soon you’ll be posting here when you make progress and that we look forward too!

Also, confidence is the key too! If you can’t build up confidence you’ll get no where with your ringneck.

Hope this helps and keep us updated! :wink:

Best wishes,

Imran Chaudhry

jen5239 · Post by **jen5239** » Sat Oct 01, 2005 11:18 am

Thanks for the advice again. I managed to get him out of the cage today and he bit the crap out of me. AGAIN. But only twice and drew blood both times. But I didn't let that sway me. In the end I HAD to get a couple hand towels and round him up with those. (I AM SOOOO SORRY IF THAT OFFENDS ANY OF YOU! BUT I HAD TO DO WHAT I HAD TO DO. DON'T HATE ME! :cry:

) I couldn't catch him and I'm here alone. So while I had him in the towels I uncovered his face and just sat and held him and talked to him. And rubbed his beak and when he would open it I would gently push down on it and say, "Byndi no bite." and let up on it. His eyes were pinning big time and he looked like he wanted to rip me to shreds. But he didn't fight to get out of the towels and he didn't bite me but once when I had him in the towels. And it wasn't hard and I corrected him with pushing genlty on the beak and repeating above. He didn't scream at all and even let me rub the top of his head AND I kissed his beak three times! STUPID, I KNOW!!! Cuz he could've very easily ripped my lips off. But I'm just DYING to befriend this little guy. So we'll see what happens later today and tomorrow. He's not too much interested in food. So I 'll keep plugging away. Thanks again.

Jen & Byndi