New here from Northern New Jersey

[Wolf]

Not quite the way that I meant it, but ok. I just care about your birds the same as I care about my own birds. I read the questions or comments and answer based on how I would go about it if it were my bird.

[Maryellen]

Oh don't worry wolf I didnt take it the wrong way!!:):):)

I totally understand what you mean:)
I know that little birds are not like the chickens, and my two that guard the hens are good with all livestock, but i know something like a small bird could cause prey drive to kick in, so i make sure the dogs are either all outside or i take pumpkin or Angel to a closed room.. To me baby gates are not safe at all cause dogs can jump over/knock them down and birds can fly even when clipped...

[Wolf]

Well at least until we get to know each other well enough for me to be fairly sure that we understand how things are meant, I reserve the right to apologise if I am in doubt.

[Maryellen]

Oh you dont have to do that, i didnt take your post in any wrong way so no need to feel you had to apologize:)

[Wolf]

Yeah I do! It is not my favorite thing in the world to do, in fact, I don't like it at all. But I would rather do that then for them to take offense and leave, I can't help their birds if they go away.

[Pajarita]

Oh don't worry wolf I didnt take it the wrong way!!:):):)

I totally understand what you mean:)
I know that little birds are not like the chickens, and my two that guard the hens are good with all livestock, but i know something like a small bird could cause prey drive to kick in, so i make sure the dogs are either all outside or i take pumpkin or Angel to a closed room.. To me baby gates are not safe at all cause dogs can jump over/knock them down and birds can fly even when clipped...

I did not mean to use just a baby gate, I meant use the baby gate AND the closed door so the dogs cannot squeeze by your legs into the room where the birds will be loose. I have 7 dogs and the only one that took months and months to learn not to jump the baby gate (they can't knock down the good ones) is the idiot golden retriever we adopted precisely because he had been so 'damaged' by the people who raised him and never taught him to behave. And you should never have clipped birds in a household that had dogs or cats in it no matter how careful you are about them not been in the same room together. Not that I believe there is any reason for clipping a bird...

[Maryellen]

My one dog had a baby gate fall on him as a pup so he is terrified of them. The other two respect the gate and know not to go past it, i put the dogsoutside then move the birds into a closed room then if dogs want to come back in house i let them in, if they want to hang in the fenced in yard they stay outside. We have security cameras up so i can monitor the entire property from my iPhone while i am with the birds.

[Maryellen]

Parajita and wolf, i was reading your advise to mikella and it is amazing.. I wonder if my new poi went thru something too as he bites me every chance he gets, so now i take him out but i am nit letting him on me yet as his bites are harder and are drawing blood.. I bet the previous owners lied about why they gave him up.. I'm giving him a strict schedule too, he is tossing out 90% of his food ( same as he ate at the rescue) .i know its stress from going from a home for 23 years then a shelter for a year then me...
What other advise can i get from both of you or shoukd i just keep following mikella's threead?

I have videos of pumpkin too on YouTube

[liz]

Oh don't worry wolf I didnt take it the wrong way!!:):):)

I totally understand what you mean:)
I know that little birds are not like the chickens, and my two that guard the hens are good with all livestock, but i know something like a small bird could cause prey drive to kick in, so i make sure the dogs are either all outside or i take pumpkin or Angel to a closed room.. To me baby gates are not safe at all cause dogs can jump over/knock them down and birds can fly even when clipped...

A clipped bird can't fly good enough to get away. That is why the clipped ones are so scared. Myrtle was in a scary situation until her feathers grew. With all her feathers she even did an air assault on a puppy that was following Rambo too close.

[Pajarita]

Parajita and wolf, i was reading your advise to mikella and it is amazing.. I wonder if my new poi went thru something too as he bites me every chance he gets, so now i take him out but i am nit letting him on me yet as his bites are harder and are drawing blood.. I bet the previous owners lied about why they gave him up.. I'm giving him a strict schedule too, he is tossing out 90% of his food ( same as he ate at the rescue) .i know its stress from going from a home for 23 years then a shelter for a year then me...
What other advise can i get from both of you or shoukd i just keep following mikella's threead?

I have videos of pumpkin too on YouTube

I've done full time dog and cat rescue with a group and ran my own bird rescue for 6 years and the one thing I have learned is never to believe what people tell you about the reason why they are giving the animal up. People, plainly put, lie through their teeth when they give up an animal. It's always that they 'cannot' give it the attention it deserves ALWAYS due to reasons beyond their control when, in reality, although this might be true in 1 case, the other 99 are lies or an 'adornment' of the truth. So, it's either that the 'attention' stopped years and years before they finally gave the poor animal up or they screwed up somehow (not necessarily on purpose, mind you) and the bird is now aggressive/bitey or the initial enthusiasm faded and are no longer interested.

Personally, I think that as the bird lost most of its sight, it got bitey (severely vision-impaired animals require special handling) and, eventually, they got tired of cleaning its cage.

Don't let him bite you and that means don't give him a chance to do it. I have VERY little experience with ARBs because I only have one, a 5 or 6 year old female, and only for 10 months and that's nothing (you can't really say you know much about a species from a single individual or even several if you only had them for a short period of time). My female ended up here by mistake, actually, because she is a young, healthy, eminently adoptable bird -she doesn't scream, pluck or bite, not even nip!- and I hardly ever take birds that are adoptable. The short story is that the previous owner wanted her to go to a home where they had another ARB and, as a friend of mine had recently adopted a completely hands-off male (there seems to be a number of them out there), I thought to put them in touch with one another and do both birds a favor, so to speak. But, upon corresponding with the guy back and forth on diet and such, he wanted to come to meet me and see my birdroom and, when he did, he showed up with Isis and told me he did not want to give her to anybody but me. This put me in a bind because he was going back to his country for the summer in a matter of a couple of weeks and there really wasn't enough time for me to find her another home so I took her in 'for the summer' and the rest, as they say, it's history It took a while for her to bond with me because, having been raised by a guy, she initially preferred my husband but she is fine now and even flies to my shoulder of her own initiative when loose, gives me kisses and seems to be quite content with her new life and home.

Now, a word of caution, vision-impaired animals, especially birds which are, by far, the most vision-dependent species of all the vertebrates, take longer than 'normal' to become comfortable so don't worry if poor Pumpkin takes longer than other adopted birds to accept you.