My Meyers Parrot Training Progress

[Pajarita]

Oh, poor, poor baby! I was actually quite surprised when you said that he was over his initial extreme anxiety/fright reactions because, in my personal experience (not with babies, mind you, I never buy baby birds, only adopt or rescue), birds that show that degree of anxiety don't get over it that easily. It usually takes years...

I think that you are going to have to change your methods with him (keep him from seeing/interacting with other people, keep his cage in a corner with a towel or something draped over half of it, not take him on trips, etc) because if one goes by studies done with birds, babies that suffer stress remain high-strung for the rest of their lives (and, most likely, that is the reason why the breeder sold him, because she knows he will get better but could not count on him ever been really normal so shows were completely out of the question).

[seagoatdeb]

I experience things just the same way wolf. I felt it was a person wearing an orange shirt and got shivers all through my body and I was sure deep inside that this person terrified Sunny some how. It was a quite the experience. Sunnys level of fear affected Gaugan too. She was upset. My poor daughter felt very bad too. I started with Sunny, calming him down untill he felt okay, then over to Gaugan to comfort and then over to my daughter to cheer her up. I made the foot toys because Gugan loves when I make her toys, she is all over me while I work, peppering me with kisses and Sunny loves to watch it too, and makes happy little sounds. Then when I gave them each one of the foot toys they chewed very happily and Sunny looked so happy and secure again.

[seagoatdeb]

I dont think I need to change my methods, I would never deliberately expose him to anything fearfull, its more like I will see the story of what happened to him and what affects him and work through it with him. Birds are really not that different from people or from other animals, they all respond to gentle caring and nurturing. When I take Gaugan to the vet for a check, she is scared of the vet exam. so I am there as he exams telling her he is nice and everything is okay, and she relaxes and waits patiently for the exam to be over. it keeps the exam from being tramatic for her. it will take a long time to get Sunny to that level of trust but my consistency will show him. I have found that in any interaction it is ususally the strongest emotion that affects everyone and I am a very strong willed person. Sunny feels safeness and security with me, he just needs to learn that he can have faith in me to keep him safe. it will come.

[Wolf]

I don't know if I agree or not with your assessment of this birds situation, but as long as you listen to him and allow him the freedom to set the pace and to say that he is not ready for your next step, then what I do or don't think is pretty much a moot point at this time. Sometimes it works and other times it doesn't.

[seagoatdeb]

He doesnt take another step untill he asks for it. I do what I think the next step should be, by doing it with Gaugan and with Sunny watching he will lean forward and do a chirp if he wants to do it. So, it is always him asking first. I am in a very ideal position to help him get through this. He is a baby still, so can overcome quicker than an adult and he wants to do what the older bird does and I have a very fearless Female Poi. ( At least she is fearless for a Poi) so she is a great role model for him. He also asks me for pets, or to get picked up on his own already. He shoots out of the cage in the morning when I open the door. lol....He chirps at the birds outside, and flys from hanging toy to hanging toy, hangs upside down, and other acrobtics, then goes over to the top of his playground and chirps on his wet food dish to tell me he wants breadkfast. (I put the wet foods outside the cages) Poor Gaugan is not ready for so much activity yet, she stays up later...lol... Gaugan is having a bit of a hard time right now, because Sunny will fly over to me, and she feels like her realtionship with her mate is in danger. As soon as I put Sunny somewhere else, I reasure Gauagan and I take her out once a day for a car ride or a play date next door with my daughters birds. I dont want her to build up too much of a grudge against Sunny.

[seagoatdeb]

Oh and i forgot to mention, Kara came over with some Califlower and a piece of raw pecan for a treat, and Sunny was very excited to see Kara and ran over to get his pecan from her. Kara was wearing a green shirt today.

[Pajarita]

I am afraid that you are basing your opinion on the wrong premise. Extreme or prolonged emotional trauma sustained during infancy is not something that people or animals 'get over'. The psychological consequences are carried throughout their entire lives... We would like to believe this is not the case but, unfortunately, myriad studies tell us it is so. So, please, go extra slow and observe him carefully because although you might have the best of intentions, there are things that we simply cannot 'fix' and the best thing we can do for them is to accept this fact and make their lives as easy and stress-free as possible.

[seagoatdeb]

While I can agree with you, we never completely get over anything human or parrot , it shapes us throughout our lives, there is no one rule that works for everyone. You have the wrong idea here, about how Sunnys damage is so I will try to communicate it better. Sunny is a very happy bird even though he had a four fear episodes. once to being brought home, once to being outside, once to having a open patio that was screened when he was inside and once to an orange shirt. Everyday he does more exploring on his own, becomes more interactive and is learning to communicate on his own. If I had not seen those fear episodes I would think he was completely normal from his behavior and his fast learning. Yesterday Gaugan had a bad fright. She was playing on a hanging toy in the dining room when a seagull crashed into the window and then fell under a patio chair and started flapping trying to get out. Gaugan went flying in panic, and I found her and quieted her. when I went to check on Sunny he was doing sumersaults on his atom. None of the drama around the corner from him even phased him!!! I think it would have upset most birds. He put his head down for a pet and made sweet little sounds to me. This morning, after greeting each bird and taking them out of their cage and putting breakfast out I was catching up on my emails. When my laptop is in front of me, Gaugan will not fly to me she will climb up the chair and then go around the computer. This morning I felt a bird climbing up the chair, and waited for a head to appear but it was Sunnys head! So what I am seeing here is a bird who was not well socialized making such fast progress with a few episodes that show he had trauma experience.
Also, you dont know me well, but I am a animal whisperer. Throughout my life I have had people call me over to help their animals, I dont know how to explain it very well, so will just tell you about one of those experiences. My friend who was an university professor was staying at the house of a couple who were professors and on a sebatical together. My friend was taking care of their cat. This cat meowed and acted strange and had sores on its body. My friend told me that the cat had been to the vet but was chewing itself and that is what caused the sores and the owners could not get the cat to stop. I telepathically asked the cat what the problem was and the cat showed me images of the female professor owner changing moods, and the cat felt the instability intensely. I sent the cat images of stable things. Food and water always there. Warm house. nibbling on green grass in the summer....those kind of things until I "felt" the cat feel balanced. My friend phoned me the next day to tell me the cat was changed and calm. By the time the owners got back the cat was completely healed up with a beautiful furry coat. When I sit in my backyard some of the wild birds will come close to me. Last summer I had a robin who would come and chirp at me to tell me it was time to water my garden with the sprinkler and then he would run over to the sprinkler and eat the worms that came to the surface. I dont often talk about the way I experience things, but I dont want you to be worried about my parrots, I am a very practical person and even though I have some abilities that are not that common, I use common sense.

[Wolf]

There are areas of your story with animals that I just won't go into. This is not because of whether or not I believe them, as I have seen a lot and even stranger things than you describe, heck, I even have my own means of understanding animals that most would neither believe nor accept as real. I am pretty sure that most of the people that have a deep abiding bond with animals understand because they have ways of understanding these animals too, even if they never talk about them. It is because of this that I won't go into certain areas. This by no means stops me from discussing things on a more practical and mundane level.
As to what is going on in Sunny's mind when he reacts so fearful, I can't honestly say yet, but I am sure that if you listen to him that it will eventually become clear enough although it does sound like a trauma related thing, it could also just be a personality related fear. I will reserve my opinion on that until I have enough information for it to speak to me. The only bird expert here are the birds themselves and eventually they will find how to tell us what they need if we will listen for it.

[seagoatdeb]

A lot of things we experience as animal lovers can never really be explained easily. I am not sure I will ever know what goes on exactly in Sunnys mind. I only need enough understanding that we relate and communicate in a comfortable way for both of us right now. Sunny is doing really well, and I am actually more concerned about Gaugan. She has such hurt looking eyes at times and needs a lot of reassurance right now. Its a day at a time right now its a big change for both of them.