Meghan2
New member
Hello friends! I did some research on forums and decided I liked this community the best; hopefully you guys can give me some good tips.
I'm sorry this may be long! I am the proud mommy (mate?) to my best friend, Jeep. He's an adult, 7 year old Senegal. He is fully flight capable (and he loves it!). I have no other birds. We do have other pets (three cats and two dogs - all petrified of the bird - we call him General Jeep because of how scared they are of him, it's kind of hilarious). I'm fortunate not to have a typical office job (I work from home), and Jeep spends a majority of his time out of his cage. For most of the day he's either perched on my leg or shoulder (like he is right now), or he's catching some z's on top of his cage. I wanted to say all of that because I've been reading a lot of responses on handling jealousy and I know a few of the questions that get asked are about flight, and normal routine.
So here's my problem: My husband and I were together before we got Jeep. Jeep decided pretty early on that he liked me more, and very quickly became turned off by my husband. But for about the last year, I can't even have Jeep out of his cage if my husband is home. If they are in the same room together, and Jeep is free, Jeep will attack him. And I don't mean that he'll fly at him or bluff bite - I mean full-on attack mode, going for my husband's face, hands, whatever he can get to. I had read before, when this whole thing started, that when Jeep tries to bite we're not supposed to retreat, because that reinforces the behavior. BUT, it happens so quickly and I literally have to save my husband when it happens because while he's not retreating, Jeep is full on biting him. Not nibbles either - it's like he views him as a predator. It seems like more than just jealousy. Jeep does not behave this way around our son, in fact, he doesn't pay him any mind at all. It's JUST my husband. So I need help, I've tried making it so that my husband is the only one that feeds Jeep, he's given him treats. Nothing works. And it makes me sad because while my husband would never ask me to give up Jeep (and I wouldn't, he's my best friend!), I would really like for them to be at least on civil terms because we're going to have Jeep for the next few decades. Thank you for reading all of that, and thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!
I'm sorry this may be long! I am the proud mommy (mate?) to my best friend, Jeep. He's an adult, 7 year old Senegal. He is fully flight capable (and he loves it!). I have no other birds. We do have other pets (three cats and two dogs - all petrified of the bird - we call him General Jeep because of how scared they are of him, it's kind of hilarious). I'm fortunate not to have a typical office job (I work from home), and Jeep spends a majority of his time out of his cage. For most of the day he's either perched on my leg or shoulder (like he is right now), or he's catching some z's on top of his cage. I wanted to say all of that because I've been reading a lot of responses on handling jealousy and I know a few of the questions that get asked are about flight, and normal routine.
So here's my problem: My husband and I were together before we got Jeep. Jeep decided pretty early on that he liked me more, and very quickly became turned off by my husband. But for about the last year, I can't even have Jeep out of his cage if my husband is home. If they are in the same room together, and Jeep is free, Jeep will attack him. And I don't mean that he'll fly at him or bluff bite - I mean full-on attack mode, going for my husband's face, hands, whatever he can get to. I had read before, when this whole thing started, that when Jeep tries to bite we're not supposed to retreat, because that reinforces the behavior. BUT, it happens so quickly and I literally have to save my husband when it happens because while he's not retreating, Jeep is full on biting him. Not nibbles either - it's like he views him as a predator. It seems like more than just jealousy. Jeep does not behave this way around our son, in fact, he doesn't pay him any mind at all. It's JUST my husband. So I need help, I've tried making it so that my husband is the only one that feeds Jeep, he's given him treats. Nothing works. And it makes me sad because while my husband would never ask me to give up Jeep (and I wouldn't, he's my best friend!), I would really like for them to be at least on civil terms because we're going to have Jeep for the next few decades. Thank you for reading all of that, and thanks in advance for any advice you can give me!
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