by Michael » Tue Feb 18, 2014 9:42 am
Well look at it this way... Kili used to bite people when I was screwing up with her in the beginning but since we worked on it, doesn't bite anymore. Truman, who I raised correctly from the beginning, has literally bit no one. Santina never bites me since I got her from the rescue. If I can transpose her stimulus not to bite me, toward others, then the problem would be solved. Granted I gotta be careful and work with people I know/trust to get us to that point, I don't think it's impossible.
I have ways to make birds get used to people without people getting hurt. First I have to build the maximum trust and relationship with the bird so that it would be entirely under my influence. Can't necessarily control other people (heck look at Ginger who went too quickly). Eventually when Santina gets used to wearing a harness, taking her out in public to watch (with no touching) is a good way to begin to establish on biting. If nobody touches, there's no need/opportunity to bite. Then I will begin to introduce touching where the bite is impossible by holding her beak shut with my own hand. If she'd try to bite anyway, she'd get me and not the stranger but using this technique I don't tend to get bit either cause my birds don't want to bite me. Thus I can begin to introduce treats and head scratches from myself and strangers in exchange for her tolerating others while also ensuring that she can't bite someone else. Also you'd be surprised how far much less propense a parrot is to bite someone else when you get it outside on a harness. Everything else is so much more scary, there are no territory issues, and strange people are still more familiar than many other things. If Santina can be as good with public as she was with me 1 week into having her, we'll never have a problem. All I gotta do is teach her that everyone else is just as good to her.
That said, I probably won't ever let anyone handle her without my direct control cause I just don't want to be liable for the offshot chance she bites someone. I take the chance that Kili and Truman won't bite anyone because if they did, a dozen sorries will probably do it cause the kid would stop crying by then and realize it was nothing. Truman's beak is a bit too big for what I'd be comfortable with chancing around others but with his absolutely perfect track record, it is a very reasonable chance to take. Kili is more likely to bite someone but she is small, doesn't bite hard, and frankly she too hasn't bit anyone in a very long time. Regardless of Santina's track record, it's just a chance I cannot take so I will make sure we only have controlled interactions.