Howdy y'all, left for a bit, found myself back here, so here it goes.
Our bird Mango is a velcro bird. Mostly with my husband which was becoming a huge issue because husband couldn't get anything done. Mango won't just stay on your shoulder, he wants to be doing whatever you're doing. It goes from flattering to REALLY annoying pretty quick. And to be honest, it was ticking me off a bit because I'm the one that puts all the effort in to the bird, and he seemed to bond to my husband.
Well what seemed to be a bond really turned out to be a total lack of boundaries on the part of my husband and lack of confidence/independence on the part of the bird. I'm 95% sure Mango just knows he can get whatever he wants if he's annoying enough to my husband, where I can actually communicate for some reason. Here's what I did personally to establish boundaries and encourage Mango to think for himself. Note: bird has to be able to fly for these to work.
1) Husband had to go on a business trip so for the last 2 weeks there has been nobody here to spoil and ruin progress. (See I said I'd evict the husband... sort of
)
2) Give your bird plenty of places to perch other than you. I have a bird perch in almost every room in my house that I spend time in. Give him toys there, sometimes spend time near the perch with him so its "shared" and a positive thing. That becomes a safe spot in the room.
3) Don't let him land on you if you don't want him there. Mango will fly to me and if I'm busy I can hold up a hand to block him and he will turn around and fly back to a perch. After trying 2-3 times he gets the hint and entertains himself. Cheer for that, they can tell they did something good. If he does sneak up on you, put him on your hand and gently send him in to flight towards his perch. Cheer a lot for this too. (If this scares or offends your bird, don't do it. Mine happens to enjoy it, thinks its a game.)
4) Stop solving all of your bird's problems. Slowly but surely encourage him to be a bit independent. I don't pick Mango up when I leave a room anymore. I started by inviting him to fly to my shoulder as I leave the room - tapping my shoulder as I walk out, he flew to it cause he didn't want to be left, then I cheer for him. I don't even do that anymore. Sometimes he'll come to my shoulder as I leave, sometimes he flies right past me to one of his perches because he knows where I'm going. If he lost sight of me he'll call for me, I answer, and he flies around to find me, or decides he'd rather go to his cage.
5) Talk to your bird a lot when he's on his perch. Then he's getting your attention but doesn't have to be right on you.
These are just a few things, but the bottom line is to encourage the bird to be less dependent. This has made Mango a MUCH more awesome bird to have in the house. He has the tools to solve his own problems and doesn't have to be on me all the time. He's learned that I'm out there and he can find me if he needs to. He still wants to be on me a lot, which is normal, but there's a different "tone" to it now. Its a choice, not a need, and there's no real drama when you say no.
I swear to the heavens above if my husband comes back on Friday from his trip and ruins it by spoiling him again... :18:
