I need help with an aggressive lovebird

[AshleyM142]

I have recently become the owner of an adorable peach-faced lovebird. She's my first lovebird. In the past, I have had budgies and all but one were very sweet. She's a slate pied and she is my pride and joy. She's about 5 months old now and I've had her for around 2 months. She hasn't been DNA tested but I'm pretty sure she's a female. My reasons to believe this are the shape and length of her tail and her attitude. I know these aren't 100% ways to tell but a few days ago I moved my hand towards her and she extended her wings and lifted her tail to the side. Anyways, she has become aggressive. She will be sitting with me and everything will be fine. She'll be happily running around, singing or gritting her beak...like happy lovebird things...and then she'll randomly charge at my hand and chomp down...hard. She has also charged at my face and throat but that's rare. When she's in her cage, she's fine. I can put my hand in and pick her up. People can stick their hands through the cage and she'll hop up to them and sit on their fingers. I have younger sisters and they're all terrified of her. She's also aggressive towards my dogs. The one protects her with his life and would never do anything to hurt her (I never leave them unsupervised though) and the other is terrified of her. He's a chihuahua so he's scared of pretty much everything though XD. If he comes within a 3ft radius of her she will charge at him and try to bite him. She is only bothered by the one that protects her if he starts smelling her...so around 2 inches and closer away. She will then open her mouth and slowly move it towards him. So it's just a warning but I don't want either of my dogs to get hurt. She has left bruises on me and broke the skin a few times. What confuses me about the biting is that she is very bonded to me...like for the little time I've had her, she has become extremely bonded to me. Her wings are clipped but she will walk around the house following me. She will also cuddle under my chin and fall asleep, preen my hair and she will call to me if she can't see me. I am just wondering if there is anything I can do about her aggression. I don't want her becoming cage-bound or for me to have to give her up.

 

[rocky'smom]

welcome can you put this in the lovebird area please.
MODS

 

[sunnysmom]

Welcome! I fostered a lovebird for awhile, and believe in general, lovies can be nippy. Trying to avoid the bite is sometimes the best you can do. Also, your little lovebird is growing up and hormones are probably kicking in. I would be very, very careful about having her near your dogs at all. I'm sure some of our lovebird owners will have some advice to offer.

@Ankou @fluffypoptarts @Happynme ?

 

[alicat]

Sounds like you're going from a sweet baby lovebird into the fiesty teenagers years
I'll let others better with lovebirds chime in though!

 

[WendyN]

Can you keep the dogs away from her to see if her defensiveness lessens?

 

[LunaLovebird]

Please keep the dogs separate. You should be more worried about your bird getting hurt by them. A dog will recover from a bird bite. A bird has a pretty high chance of dying. It does also sound to me like they're not welcome by her. It's possible that their presence is stressing her out and causing aggression.

Can you pin point anything else that is happening when she gets aggressive?

Lovebirds do also go through a phase around that age (though normally a bit older) where they are just more aggressive. It's unenjoyable, but it passes.

 

[Happynme]

I think your lovie is letting you know in no uncertian terms that the dogs precense is not to be tollerated. Its also possible shes biting your hands because they smell like your dog. My advice...do dogs n bird in seperate shifts. Never have the dogs in the same room as bird. Wash any area youve touched your dogs after your time with them before you handle your lovie. I have 3 dogs. .it can be done. Its a pain true but worth the safety and comfort of all my pets. Esp the most defenless one...my lovie

 

[Ankou]

Yeah, I agree step one is to keep the dogs away from her for her safety and comfort. She's making it as clear as she can she is not okay with the dogs, listen to her.
Even if you trust the dogs with her (which I always think is a mistake, it isn't personal towards you) she is telling you she does not. She relies on you to protect her, do not push her into feeling like she needs to protect herself from the dogs or it could end with her being extremely dead.

And, aside from that, try to pay attention to what is happening right before she bites you. Rarely do birds bite without warning though when they start adolescence it sure can seem like it. Usually they give some warning as their emotions escalate or something happened they do not like. It may not even be something you are doing but something else going on around you, like as a random example one of your sisters or dogs comes into the room. She might bite then to tell you "I don't like this, let's leave."
But sometimes the teenage phase is more about waiting for it to end then anything else and there isn't always something we can do aside from hope they mature more soon and avoid bites the best we can.

All I can say is try not to give up too quickly. Sometimes a new home is best because the bird wants something we cannot provide but that usually isn't the case, I don't think it's the case here unless you cannot/will not keep the dogs away from her.
They can be way more challenging than people expect such a small bird to be but it's so so worth it if you can weather their teenage and hormonal moody phases. My lovie hen went through a phase when she reached maturity where she decided every item in the known universe was hers and she needed to bite to defend her territory. It was hard, I wasn't good at reading her and she was very moody. Some days my hands looked like I'd punched through a window and was cut up by broken glass due to all the tiny bite marks. We'd be sitting together and then I'd look at something she was guarding too long and she'd bite. When she was nesting and hormonal twice a year she would refuse to come out of her cage for a couple weeks and generally be a teeny rage monster.
But it got better. Teenage phases pass, trust and respect grows as you learn to read and listen to her, and hormones usually aren't constant.

I hope you can stick it out and get your friend back, and protect her from your dogs.

 

[fluffypoptarts]

I agree with what the others said - keep the dogs away from her and separate from her for her comfort and safety. Also try to show her that she's safe by being patient, calm, and consistent with her.

 

[metalstitcher]

Totally agree with what everyone else is saying. She is letting you know she is not okay with the dogs being around and feels threatened by them being around. Do what you can to provide her with a safe and secure place.