Some advice please for my lovie and I.

[Mellie]

Hi, I'd like some advice on how to help my lovebird Kisu to not be afraid of my hands. I've had her for almost 2 years now and i was able to pet her a bit at the start. Now she's been very territorial with her cage, she started acting strange (tries to bite me when my hand is in the cage) after i had to move out for 8 months for university. There were no pets allowed. :( She hasn't been taken out of her cage as often (My mom would let her out when she had time) as before I had to go but now that I'm back and I'm going to school locally now, is it possible that she will go back to before now that I'm back to letting her out everyday? As for the fear of hands, she isn't scared of my arms or anything else, she would climb onto my arm and go straight to my shoulder and just hang out there all quiet and observant. Any advice please? :)

[shadnamber]

Hello and some advice for you.:)
Our family has had great success with clicker training our pets. If this is something you are interested in there are some great threads on this website that go into that in more detail.
It's a great way to play with your bird and once they "get it" they never forget it, so even if something happens where you have to leave for a while again, your mom can play the clicker game with your bird and interact that way. Animals seem to really respond to this type of positive reinforcement and it's fun for you too! I hope this helps.:)

[Mellie]

That's actually really cool, I never heard of clicker training before! :o I'm gonna try it out, thanks for the advice! :)

[Mellie]

As an update, I went to see this girl I heard about that owns an aviary and helps train birds. In an hour, she was able to help my bird sooo much omg my bird actually lets me hold him again and pet him!!! And I found out he's a guy! Lol I'm so happy, the money was well worth it cause now I could bond much better with my lovie! :) I'll be trying clicker training once he gets more comfortable with me petting him and learning the step up command. Kisu<3

[shadnamber]

That's so encouraging and awesome! Thanks for the update!

[Lawrence]

My suggestion is to do the training or to play in a separate area from the cage, lovebirds are quite territorial. You will see good result very quickly this way.

Lawrence

[Mellie]

Ouu great advice, thanks! I'll try that out! :)