Rough play

[nickis715]

Ok... I've been told that I shouldn't play "rough" with my GW girl but... I do. Has anyone had any pleasant experiences with rough housing a macaw? Or are they all negative?

Our rough housing consists of her standing on my left arm facing and I "tickle" her feet with my right hand. She will then lean back on my chest and swat at me with her feet and try to grab my hands (with her feet). When I let her get ahold of my hand she will bring her mouth down and mouth it. She doesn't bite it, and she may put a little bit of pressure on it but is normally very good about it. Occasionally she will get a little rough and I scold her by saying "gentle" in a deep voice n she corrects herself.

She loves to play like this and gets very excited and talks her mumbo jumbo the entire time, when she's had enough she tries to climb up on my shoulder signaling the end of our fun.

Am I asking for it? Or can some birds do this and not strike out and get nasty as adults (which is the warning I received). I'm not a touchy person, so if I'm being naughty by allowing this please scold me!

 

[JerseyWendy]

The only thing you're asking for is a whole lotta fun.

I've played rough with Niko, my B&G ever since I got him, and we STILL do it - NO ill effects. I brought him home when he was 4 months and he is now 3.5.

Ripley, my GW, plays rough on his own. He will take GIANT leaps toward me, land on my arm, shoulder or even neck and head and flap as if he wants to swoop me off my feet. He's started throwing himself backwards, so if I don't catch him, he'd fall.

We LOVE those games....by "we" I mean the fids and I.

 

[Grinder]

Honestly, that doesn't even seem like rough play to me. We have a GW coming home in mid July so your post really interested me. Our old Amazon used to really play rough. He would signal his time to play by holding onto our arm or hand and swing upside down. This was the start of his wrestling. He never hurt us, but wow - sometimes his biting could get painful and we had to do the same thing and let him calm down or give him a foot toy. But the play never translated to other behavior. He never bit or lunged when not in play mode. We could trust him close to our face and such. Your game sounds fun and I really hope I can introduce that to Confetti our GW when he finally comes home. You should take a video!

 

[Cami]

It doesnt sound rough at all..I play with my B&G on the bed, he crawls under or I'll cover him with a large thin sheet and play the 'where's Spencer' game, he fights his way out, I cover him again, he laughs and makes 'ooh ooh' sounds. He'll come running at me and i'll flip him over and rolls back over on his feet...may sound crazy, but he seems to love it.

 

[nickis715]

Thank you all! I was told anything that encourages mouthing should be discouraged so I was just checking on some other opinions

 

[nickis715]

Honestly, that doesn't even seem like rough play to me. We have a GW coming home in mid July so your post really interested me. Our old Amazon used to really play rough. He would signal his time to play by holding onto our arm or hand and swing upside down. This was the start of his wrestling. He never hurt us, but wow - sometimes his biting could get painful and we had to do the same thing and let him calm down or give him a foot toy. But the play never translated to other behavior. He never bit or lunged when not in play mode. We could trust him close to our face and such. Your game sounds fun and I really hope I can introduce that to Confetti our GW when he finally comes home. You should take a video!

Confetti is such a cute name! I would love to get it on video BUT whenever I break the iphone out, Khaleesi gets shy! She is not a fan of my boyfriend even watching us play, she never gets as crazy with it as she does when we are solo.

 

[nickis715]

The only thing you're asking for is a whole lotta fun.

I've played rough with Niko, my B&G ever since I got him, and we STILL do it - NO ill effects. I brought him home when he was 4 months and he is now 3.5.

Ripley, my GW, plays rough on his own. He will take GIANT leaps toward me, land on my arm, shoulder or even neck and head and flap as if he wants to swoop me off my feet. He's started throwing himself backwards, so if I don't catch him, he'd fall.

We LOVE those games....by "we" I mean the fids and I.

Khaleesi throws herself backwards too! Its at two different instances. When she plays she will throw herself backwards then hang off my hand, and the other time I call "abandon ship" because I will have her step up on someone new, and she will just throw herself backwards! it's the craziest thing but it cracks me up lol

 

[JerseyWendy]

Gosh - I just love your GW's name Khaleesi!!!

I forgot to say that Niko and I play REALLY rough on the couch together, too. He will literally throw himself on his back, and then I pick him up by one foot and play crash landing (while he remains upside down).

 

[nickis715]

Gosh - I just love your GW's name Khaleesi!!!

I forgot to say that Niko and I play REALLY rough on the couch together, too. He will literally throw himself on his back, and then I pick him up by one foot and play crash landing (while he remains upside down).

CUTE! And thank you, are you a Game of Thrones fan? (If not that's where her name came from hehehe) I will do a little of the same play with Khaleesi but I call it "Bounce a birdie" lol and that's what I say that over and over as a bop her up and down on her back. She doesn't object...much :21:

 

[JerseyWendy]

And thank you, are you a Game of Thrones fan? (If not that's where her name came from hehehe) ...

OOOOOHHHHH yes!!! LOVE that show!!!

 

[Jtbirds]

Whoever told you, you wouldn't play rough is a joker, I play rough with many of my macaws and all my birds. Just the other day I was out with someone's cockatoo and she kept bugging me I mean literally jumping threw the air to get to me and bug me so I took her, held her like a chicken and rolled her over on the ground and couple times, pushed her away from me on the floor which she slide on and she thought it was amazing. I take baby girl my harlequin and cup her head in my hand and shake it gently back and fourth and she goes rraaaawr, they enjoy rough play IMO. Parrots are not very gentle creatures in the wild with there mates or flocks when they play so why should we not participate in there type of play. I take my blue throat and hang him by a leg and swing him around he loves it and goes ahhhhh! And many many more stories of rough like play. Rough could be a bad word for some though but I believe like Wendy said why not it is so much fun for us both!

Now I will say if it gets them over excited and biting then it probably isn't a good idea, it is a bird to bird case but most love to play rough.