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Meyer attacking feets

cm16600

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Hi i got a 12 yo Meyer, he has been with us for 8 month now. My wife has become his nr1 and he feel i am a competitor. When I am Alone with him he is fine and we can interact but when my wife is in the house, he will chase me, following me on every step, often he will fly on the floor and run to bite my feet.
Ignoring him is not an option as i do not want to be biten on the toes. His bites are really hard.when he is like that nothing helps even my wife cannot make stopping chasing my feets (In Sweden we do not wear shoes inside houses.) in order to make him stop I put a shoe that he hates in front of him he jumps on it and bite it. I then put the shoe in the cage with the bird.i know this wrong but we do not find an other way. He calms down and when he is out again he is fine for about 30 min and then it starts all over again. I appreciate any help. Thanks/Chris
 

sunnysmom

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Begone

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First stop doing things when you know it's wrong. It will take so long to repair that damage you made especially when you place the shoe in his cage. In a place that he should feel is his and that he feels safe in.

You must begin to treat him with respect.
You have create this "monster".
So now with that said let's go to the problem.
Begin to wear shoes inside and stop reaction to his attacks in a bad way, you will never win if you don't.
Every time he attacks be nice and never angry, and distract him with something you Know he likes. It can be a toy or something to eat.
Never put him in his cage for punishment.
If you know that you are having a bad day and know that you are going to be angry at him it's better that he stays in his cage.
And you can be in another room when your wife will interact with him. He will stop attacking you if you just are calm and never challenge him. (Or run away)

Where in Sweden do you live?
 

Fuzzy

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Sounds like he has bonded with your wife, which is fine since you can have your own special relationship with him when your wife isn't there. :) A lot of birds tend to bond with one person over another.

There are a few ways you could deal with the chasing feet.

Why don't you get your wife to put him back into his cage just before you enter the room. Make sure she reinforces his going into the cage nicely by giving him either a treat or new toy etc. Then when you have sat down (ie. not having to walk anywhere) have your wife bring him out again.

It sounds like you moving/walking is making him chase your feet. If your feet are still there is no need for him to chase them. Try hiding your feet when you are still with either slippers, socks or a cushion, then slowly over days or weeks slowly expose your feet to get him gradually used to your still feet.

Then you could try desensitizing him to you moving your feet, again gradually... in tiny steps or approximations. What you are aiming for is to get him out of this habit as soon as you can because the more he is allowed to practice it, the more ingrained the behaviour will become. So even if he has to go in and out of his cage to begin with, it is better than him chasing you when you move.

You could also experiment with freezing every time he begins to show interest in chasing. My Amazon, Chico, used to chase my hands as I cleaned out his cage. Removing him from the cage wasn't an option as he is disabled. What I used to do was get him to station at one end of the cage for head scratches since he LOVES them. Anytime he did chase, I froze so there was nothing to chase. Gradually he got out of the habit. I know chasing feet is a little different, but think about how you can remove the reinforcement for chasing the feet (might have to be a physical barrier to begin with like cage time or simply freezing so the feet aren't moving) and reinforce some other behaviour instead (with Chico I reinforced his stationing with head scratches).
 

cm16600

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Hi Thanks for the advices i will try these different approches you both mentioned I live near the Arctic circle.
 
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