Too much attention

[Robyn]

Hello ,
Its been a while since I have been in. Im just adding something that was sort of previously written in one of my previous messages. The topic of too much attention was asked about.
I have since seen the vet to just check on Jacks well being and making sure I was doing everything right with Jack by way of diet etc. All is good.
He is now about 6 1/2 months old and has started talking not long after we got him, but his words are very slowly increasing, but he isnt quite directly talking to us , but he is quite loud in his talking and also his giggling which is quite hilarious to watch.
But back to " too much attention " , the vet actually pulled me up on this when he saw me cuddling and patting him after the vet handled him, just to soothe him. The vet straight away said " You have to stop doing that" , by doing this all the time , Im creating a bird that will eventually have behaviourial problems if for any reasons Im away for long periods, he needs to be shared by the rest of the family. This sort of makes sense, being a mum of 3 kids very very close in age, now teens. Giving too much attention , when they eventually start school ( my kids ) , they are not able to socialize properly. So Im guessing I have a problem with jack not wanting to be too close or near people he doesnt know , but has seen go thru our house a few times , friends of my kids.
He is the most gorgeous little boy and I cant help but cuddle, but trying to stop lolol. I have posted some new funny photos that happened with Jack last night. I couldnt help muyself, I loaded it on my facebook too.
He likes his toys and hanging upside on swings throughout the house.
He did get out once last week and I was terrifed, he was in my huge tree for nearly 3 hours, me calling and begging for him to come back, after 3 hours he actually landed on a thin branch and he literally fell out of the tree lololol but he was quite happy to step up on my stick that he gets on and I ran him inside fast.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

While I also commented on the other thread I have to say the vets comment strikes me as odd.

There is quantity of interaction and quality... the way its told it sound like the vet objected to the latter. By all means cuddle and kiss, and whatnot - do not 'distance' yourself in any way. Just don't do that ALL the time. When its quality time with mom he gets quality time with mom just as before, just be sure he gets some quality time with other family members, and some time to play on his own or just nap.

 

[Robyn]

Hiya, he does get plenty of time on his own, when he wants to go to his cage , he does like to spend hours in there just swinging and chewing his toys. But unfortunately I do try to hug and cuddle him all the time when he is out. I think I do give too much , I havent distanced myself, I just could never do that , but I just try to let him be happy sitting near me watching and leaving him be, but I do tend to run over and hug and kiss every 5 minutes :-( So if he is happy to just sit and watch everything in the house, I try to leave him alone lolol.

 

[BlueToast]

My girls tells me that it is wrong to let our bird hang out on my shoulder or it will lead to some bad habits. Pepper is happy to stay on the perch but other times wants to hang out. So i just let hang on to my shoulder as i go about the house. she really seems to enjoy it. Always interested in what i am doing and it's fun for me too. But i do wonder if i am setting some trends or bad habbits.

 

[Auggie's Dad]

I think there is something to the shoulder concern, but not nearly as much as some people make of it.

In the bird world height makes right, if they regularly perch above you they might be inspired to try to be dominant. However most parrot-parront relationships are not so much about dominance. While the bond is forming and ground rules are forming I can see that shoulders could be bad, and in hormonal nipping stages it leaves a little too much easy access to vulnerable soft tissue. So my view is that shoulder access is an earned privilege, but as long as the relationship is good and the bird is behaving I see nothing wrong with it.

Auggie's had times in our getting to know each other where he had to be on lap restriction, but now he's on my shoulders quite regularly and it has had no negative effects.

 

[BlueToast]

Oh so hormones have somthing to do with the nipping. I've read that severe's are known for their nipping and Pepper does live up to that reputation. 99% of the time you can tell she is just being playfull, but then their are times when it seems that there is somthing else going on. I quess thats where the hormones kick in. she is about 6 months old at this point.

 

[dakisgirls]

I see what your vet was trying to say: In scary situations such as being at the vet, to baby them (which i believe isn't a bad thing at most times) will make them sometimes even more tense, as they might think something is wrong. when you said that the vet said there is such a thing is too much attention, I think not. just there is such a thing as too much cuddling. (don't think I don't ever cuddle with my bird!) I do not believe in bird "dominance". in the wild, one bird doesn't "rule the roost" as with wolves and such, so birds don't even relate to that! I wonder where all the people even get bird dominace from...(shoulders are fine, as long as you trust your bird won't bite you if he's scared.)

 

[Robyn]

Hello all ,

I had done a fair bit of reading before getting Jack and it seems there were so many different opinions about being on shoulders and bird dominance.
So although he loves to be on my shoulder and happy for me to go around the house with him perched there , I try not to make it as often as he would like, if I cant work out what is right or wrong here with shoulders or bird dominance , then Im going halfway with the shoulders, I only let him there sometimes, not to make a habit of it. It is very hard to work out what things can create bad habits, I guess it really comes down to how well do you know YOUR bird. As for the dominance , Im finding more people are actually saying there is no such thing compared to it existing. I did for a while have a problem with him going to the tops of my kitchen cabinets and sit there quite a lot. I was really worried and did put some messages on here a while back , concerned about him trying to become dominant. I got so fed up with trying to fetch him from the top that I gave up. What has happened now is, he still goes there and he is happy to watch everybody , even with his little parrot chatter. The way our house is designed , our Kitchen is a very central part of our house, it is open plan living and by sitting on the kitchen cabinets , he can view anybody in the kitchen, dining room or lounge room from that one spot. Althought not talking to us directly , he will talk from there if we are not in the room, but he is quite happy to sit there and I havent ( so far ) had any problem with any form of dominant behaviour. I think he just like to be able to view everybody from here at night he loves to sit there and have a quiet little spot whilst we watch telly before we put him to bed or he sits on his play gym in the lounge room with us. So far I havent any problem with him being on top of my kitchen cabinets, so now Im hoping this doesnt develop into anything bad in the future. But it really is hard to tell what to do for your bird when everybody has different experiences and opinions of their bird or of the same species of bird, just different personalities , upbringing and lifestyles maybe determines good or bad habits ?