nofearengineer
New member
- Sep 8, 2010
- 575
- 1
- Parrots
- Gandalf - CAG (1997-2010) R.I.P. my baby boy.
Bitty - CAG (2 yrs old? and working on spoiling her rotten)
I have been rewarded again for being patient with my Bitty.
Two nights ago, while hanging upside down on her cage "wrestling" with me, Bitty just decided to let go and hang completely from my hand. She didn't panic as I feared; rather she simply seemed to be thinking "hmmmm...this doesn't seem too bad." I wanted to see what she would do so I lifted her a few feet away from her cage, and still no fearful chomp. I manged to flip her upright, and received a happy tail shake. I had a feeling something was up after she did this a couple more times that night.
Last night, I was again sitting beside her cage playing with her, and got kind of distracted by the TV. When I looked back to her, she had stopped chewing on my thumb and was sitting on the side of my hand. Both feet, instead of one foot death-gripping the cage bars. I figured she would lunge back to the cage, but no...she seemed to be where she wanted to be. Again I lifted her away, all the while telling her what a good girl she was and softly blowing on her face (she actually likes this...it is a game we play).
After some treadmilling between hands, I put her back, wondering if she would remember. YES! She did this again 4 or 5 more times last night. This morning, she climbed on my hand from the top of her cage (it is the most precarious location, so if she do it there, she'll do it anywhere).
Long story short...10 months of patiently letting her get over her fear of being taken away from her cage have finally paid off. The next thing will be to get her to do it on command. But guess what...I'm not going to rush that either. My little girl is figuring it out at her own pace.
The lesson is....well, read the title of the thread again!!!
Two nights ago, while hanging upside down on her cage "wrestling" with me, Bitty just decided to let go and hang completely from my hand. She didn't panic as I feared; rather she simply seemed to be thinking "hmmmm...this doesn't seem too bad." I wanted to see what she would do so I lifted her a few feet away from her cage, and still no fearful chomp. I manged to flip her upright, and received a happy tail shake. I had a feeling something was up after she did this a couple more times that night.
Last night, I was again sitting beside her cage playing with her, and got kind of distracted by the TV. When I looked back to her, she had stopped chewing on my thumb and was sitting on the side of my hand. Both feet, instead of one foot death-gripping the cage bars. I figured she would lunge back to the cage, but no...she seemed to be where she wanted to be. Again I lifted her away, all the while telling her what a good girl she was and softly blowing on her face (she actually likes this...it is a game we play).
After some treadmilling between hands, I put her back, wondering if she would remember. YES! She did this again 4 or 5 more times last night. This morning, she climbed on my hand from the top of her cage (it is the most precarious location, so if she do it there, she'll do it anywhere).
Long story short...10 months of patiently letting her get over her fear of being taken away from her cage have finally paid off. The next thing will be to get her to do it on command. But guess what...I'm not going to rush that either. My little girl is figuring it out at her own pace.
The lesson is....well, read the title of the thread again!!!
