Decolor
01-25-2011, 02:20 PM
It's been a while since I posted, Kiki's been doing well, but her behavior has gotten a LOT more clingy in the past week or so, and I can't tell if she's being needy or trying to be dominant.
If the cage door is ever open, she is on me. She used to do pretty well at staying on her play gym, and I'd come by every now and then and we'd go over a few tricks, and then I'd go back to working/cleaning and she'd just play. Now, she needs to be on me, and throws a fit or comes looking for me if I leave her sight (Even if she's in her cage).
She rubs her beak on my arm and tries to nibble/preen my hair, fingers and ears constantly, and despite having previously had no interest in my shoulder, it's now hard to keep her off it. She never bites, just seems to be trying to "zip" my hair and clean my ears/pull out my earplugs.
She's still territorial with her cage and toys, I have to rotate between her favorites or she gets very difficult to work with in-cage. But, she's improved over how she used to be, I don't need gloves to clean her cage anymore.
The only thing that makes me unsure if her behavior is dominant is she still listens to me, very well actually. I started trick-training with her when she was initially being difficult and it did wonders, she stopped biting and got very friendly, and shifted to being more people oriented. She seems to enjoy it, it gives us something to bond over, and has picked up quite the little "act" of nine commands and counting.
But I digress, is this behavior a sign of her being territorial and dominant, or is she just being demanding when it comes to social time? Any tips? Thoughts? Pointers?
If the cage door is ever open, she is on me. She used to do pretty well at staying on her play gym, and I'd come by every now and then and we'd go over a few tricks, and then I'd go back to working/cleaning and she'd just play. Now, she needs to be on me, and throws a fit or comes looking for me if I leave her sight (Even if she's in her cage).
She rubs her beak on my arm and tries to nibble/preen my hair, fingers and ears constantly, and despite having previously had no interest in my shoulder, it's now hard to keep her off it. She never bites, just seems to be trying to "zip" my hair and clean my ears/pull out my earplugs.
She's still territorial with her cage and toys, I have to rotate between her favorites or she gets very difficult to work with in-cage. But, she's improved over how she used to be, I don't need gloves to clean her cage anymore.
The only thing that makes me unsure if her behavior is dominant is she still listens to me, very well actually. I started trick-training with her when she was initially being difficult and it did wonders, she stopped biting and got very friendly, and shifted to being more people oriented. She seems to enjoy it, it gives us something to bond over, and has picked up quite the little "act" of nine commands and counting.
But I digress, is this behavior a sign of her being territorial and dominant, or is she just being demanding when it comes to social time? Any tips? Thoughts? Pointers?