Our IRN loves me to death, but hates my boyfriend. Help!

Let us know a little about yourself! Tell us about your birds and why you are here.

Moderator: Mods

Post Reply
cassurinajoan
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:36 pm

Our IRN loves me to death, but hates my boyfriend. Help!

Post by cassurinajoan »

Hi all! I'm loving reading about your IRN's, and their quirky behaviour. My name is Cassie, and I live in Townsville, North Queensland Australia. I have a green IRN named Chipper. He is an absolute delight, he loves food, getting swung on his rope and playing with balls (tossing them around and such). The thing about Chipper is that, he is not really my bird. When I met my boyfriend, he had owned Chipper for about a year already and was a little concerned about how he would bond with women, as he had previously hated (and I mean HATED) Rob's ex girlfriend. After a couple of weeks of spending time at Rob's place, it was clear that Chipper and I were birdie soul mates (and was possibly the seal of approval that we needed to make things official). Chipper is attached to me and has rejected Rob. I'm surprised at how quickly things have changed, and I kind of feel bad for Rob, because now that Chipper has decided that I'M his best friend, he has become quite hostile to Rob like he sees him as a huge threat. Is this normal behaviour for IRN's to be protective over one human? I do baby him and sing to him, he lets me pat him and he is never purposefully nasty to me. I want us to be a family, and I don't want Rob to be continually rejected by his very own bird!

Are there any tips I can pass on to him to gain trust from his bird again?

Thanks in advance and I'll try and post some pics soon.

Cassie, Rob and Chipper
cassurinajoan
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:36 pm

Re: Our IRN loves me to death, but hates my boyfriend. Help!

Post by cassurinajoan »

A few pictures of my boy :D
Attachments
1609680_10152214283614610_604199898_n.jpg
10171708_10152354301794610_5108876193869622742_n.jpg
chipper.jpg
chipper.jpg (92.78 KiB) Viewed 1264 times
Donovan
Posts: 833
Joined: Tue Oct 08, 2013 4:18 pm
Location: North Carolina

Re: Our IRN loves me to death, but hates my boyfriend. Help!

Post by Donovan »

lol loving the picture of him doing the splits... my own bird gets in the window and does the splits to hold himself in the window to look outside... and sometimes gets in the corner of his cage to sleep doing the splits

Your (his) bird is probably sweet and friendly when you're not around. My own bird is pretty easy to get along with until i show him a cell phone. In his mind he is bonded to the youtube birds i've shown him on my phone. So now, sometimes when a certain video plays, he'll come down and bite me for no reason, through no fault of my own.

Your bf needs to work with the bird more when he's alone.. and needs to become more awesome than you are in that bird's mind. Maybe you should show the bird a little less attention. It's okay, they can handle it.
cassurinajoan
Posts: 10
Joined: Thu Jun 05, 2014 5:36 pm

Re: Our IRN loves me to death, but hates my boyfriend. Help!

Post by cassurinajoan »

So it has been raining and cold here recently (strange for North QLD) and we have been spending a little bit more time at home. Chipper hasn't shown any aggression towards Rob, and when he sits on the couch with me he will happily accept pats and kisses from Rob. Of late, because it is exam time and I have been spending a lot of time at home, Chipper has become even more calm around new environments, he even walked on the dining room table today, and he hates flat surfaces.

He got some new toys on Saturday, and has thoroughly enjoyed ripping them apart.

Cassie
clawnz
Posts: 148
Joined: Sun Dec 23, 2012 9:59 pm
Location: Auckland NZ

Re: Our IRN loves me to death, but hates my boyfriend. Help!

Post by clawnz »

Your problem is fairly common.
To me it does sound like he has bonded to you. (Decided you are his mate) and he is protecting you from Rob. It may of also been a hormonal thing going on and as the season passes he may settle down on his own.
What ever is going on you need to be careful to not reinforce the bad things going on.
I cannot remember the correct way to do things. I would point you to Barbara Heidenreich for help. Join Goodbirdgroup and ask for help. You may get help or pointed to what book or DVD to look at getting.
I will have a look at some of the links she gave me and see if there is anything there.
I think we talked about role reversal being the key, which I guess you will have to step back a bit.
It is not or should not be too difficult to change this, even more so as he is Robs bird and was used to having Rob look after him.
By the way he is a great looking Fid.
Post Reply