Tinker and her behavior...

[dulphinz]

So Tinker will have been with us 2 weeks tomorrow and she is adjusting pretty well, I think. She's always eager to step up for me and come hang out outside of her cage. She's been eating extremely well.

The only thing that I'm a little concerned about is that when my husband goes to get her out of her cage and interact with her, she's not always willing. She'll squawk and "lunge" at him...not a full lunge and she doesn't bite hard, but she'll open her mouth and target him She sometimes does it with the kiddos as well, if they come over and try to touch her. I totally understand that she's only been here 2 weeks and that she has a lot of adjusting to do. I just wouldn't want her to get in the habit of doing that. I want her to be good with everyone in our family, not just me. I am trying to socialize her with everyone early on so that we don't have issues down the road.

When she's on me, I always warn her to be gentle when someone comes over to her and she listens pretty well when I tell her that... If she does the open mouth targeting, I'll say no in a stern voice and tell her to be gentle. That seems to work pretty well...so far. Is there anything else I should be doing to help her? I do have her step up on my children when they are sitting next to me and I keep a hand VERY close to her to avoid anything, but I feel that if she interacts with us all things will get easier.

Any tips that you may have will be appreciated. Again, I know it has been an extremely big change for her to fly up here, be in a new cage, new home and have to share that home with 3 kids, an Ekkie and a golden retriever

 

[TheKomoman]

I'm sure others with far more experience will chime in, but we're about a month into a B&G re-home of our own and we've been pretty successful following Barbara Heidenreich's methods. Positive reinforcement through treats with good behaviors and removal of positive things for unwanted behaviors. Saying no to her can be a form of positive reinforcement as she's getting attention, so it can actually reward the poor behavior. Instead what is recommended is to remove your attention from her if she lunges. Step away, even turn your back for a few moments, then try again. They're darned smart critters and it doesn't take them long to figure out if they do A and the result is B and I don't like B, then I better not do that.

Congrats and best of luck!

 

[dulphinz]

Thanks for the input. I'll try that and try to have my husband and kiddos follow along. She doesn't do it to me...well yet . She really is a sweet girl!

 

[JerseyWendy]

I would think THE most important thing is not to let Tinker scare off your husband and/or children.

I'm fairly sure at her tender age, she is mostly bluffing, but if she realizes her bluffing is working, she will continue until your kids and/or husband no longer want to handle her.

Granted, they have an intimidating beak, but I seriously doubt Tinker would inflict an injury at this point in her life, unless she felt threatened.

LOTS of praise, LOTS of handling (everybody) and regularly, LOTS of socialization, and all should be fine.

Just as you are still getting to know Tinker, she's still getting to know your family, too.

 

[dulphinz]

Thanks JerseyWendy! I keep telling them to not back away when she does that and that they need to still go forward. We have get out as much as we can and I always try to have her step up for the kids so she gets used to them. I don't think she'll bite hard either but she's intimidating for my munchkins! Just needed to make sure I wasn't totally on the wrong track here