posted 05-15-2003 09:56 AM           

This is what is happening now, after I took the mirror out of his cage as advised from a fellow bird owner I started letting him out of cage more and more and he is very use to it now so much so that when he wants to come out he will make so much noise no matter what I do I cannot hush him down and considering I live in an apartment that does not allow pets I get really nervous when he starts barking so loud my downstairs neighbor can hear him, Im afraid she will tell the landlord I have a bird and we will get evicted, so after awhile I let him out just so he will quiet down. I know this is wrong because he is winning in this manner but considering how loud he gets Im at my end of stand offs regarding the coming out of cage issue.

He will go in and out all day with no problems, but..... when I approach him to do our daily training of "step ups" he will lunge at me trying to bite and will continue to do so sometimes getting me good but I still take control over him showing him I am his boss and will grab him and tell him "No bad bird" then will talk to him softly petting his head since he always seems agitated.

After a few failed attempts and bites on my hand at this training I set him back into cage and everytime my husband or I walk past him or near his cage he bobs his head forward beak open ready to bite us like he wants to attack making a growl type of noise.

Sometimes I will happen past the cage while he is on the bottom of it in the back doing whatever he is doing and as soon as he sees me coming he literally charges to the front like he wants to attack me its un-believable because all I do is love this bird I do not understand why he is so mean, he does this all the time now no matter what we attempt to do be it give him fresh food, water or even to cover the cage at night.

The strangest thing happened a little while ago in fact that is associated with this behavior, the cage door was open and he was in the cage my husband came from work and was hugging me near the kitchen sink ( about 6 feet from the cage ) and playfully smacked my butt..

TO OUR SURPRISE this bird flew out of the cage at both of us circled us cawking loud then flew back into the cage!!! We were dumbfounded by this because he never has done that ever, I have posted awhile back at how jealous he seem to get when my husband gave me any hugs or kisses and at that time I didnt let the bird out alot and he would go nuts getting all agitated as he watched my husband kiss me and you all said he was protecting me.

That is ok if thats it but if the bird loves me enough to protect me why is he so mean?? All his other behavior point to signs of a happy content bird when I looked all of his actions up, but this guard dog personality is making it hard for me to keep him because he is making my husband angry and now he is telling me we need to give him away and get a baby bird and start fresh with training.

I have only had this bird 7 months and he was bad at the start but now he is worse instead of better behaved.

Please help me all Im at my witts end and really am attached to this bird I love him and dont want to place him into adoption especially because he has been passed on from home to home already.