Soo it's been a while and I've posted updates in other threads but not here.
Since my last post on this thread, I finally have felt the rage inside Gunny in the form of several bites to my hand. She was going after my coworker Katrina and I stepped between them so she wouldn't be hurt. Gunny bit my shoes and I decided to get a stick to have her step up so I could take her into her room. I had her step up and she immediately slid towards my hand and started biting it.
In hindsight, I shouldn't have had her step up but I was overconfident from having had her step up a few times before with no issues, and I should have used a T-stick. Gunny was in attack mode towards Katrina and I made myself the target, I don't blame her. The wounds were just on the surface but I think I'm lucky seeing as how the bite on the top left was right on top of a vein. My hand is fine and it's not infected. Gunny also doesn't seem to have anything wrong with her either.
Other than this incident, she has become increasingly tolerant of me. She still goes after me if Sam is around.. but when he's not, she doesn't hunt me down anymore. On a few occasions she's actually sat on the back of the same chair that I was sitting in and didn't bother me. I would sit on the edge of the seat and move slowly just in case, but I was even able to turn my head and look at her/talk to her without issues. I'm able to remove/replace her food and water bowls while she is on her perch (right in front of her) and she doesn't go for me. She likes to stick her head in the water jug while I'm pouring water into her bowl, so I let her do that every night and talk to her while she does that to hopefully associate me with good things. She's accepted my offers of pizza crust and lets me offer her fruit out of my hand without issues. When she bites my shoes now, her attack only lasts a few seconds rather than going on and on, I stand my ground instead of recoiling and talk to her calmly. When she puffs up or pins at me, I tell her in a sweet/playful voice that I'm not afraid of her anymore. She even tolerates me reaching out to pet her (I still can't touch her) and I make scratching gestures to try to get her to see what I want to do.
I'd say that's progress
Sam is leaving the country for a week or so sometime in August so hopefully I become the one the macaws go to in his absence. Any advice on what I should do while he's gone, or anything I can do to keep working on Gunny, is always appreciated. Thanks for reading, pals!