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OK, Brett had told me a week or so ago to try this with Louie, my Umbrella 'Too. I have only had him for 4 months but he is 17 yrs old and was not treated well in his last home. He is afraid of just about everything. Me included. He will only occasionally let me touch him, but only for a second. Won't step up at all. Which was a concern, if he had to have emergency vet trip or God forbid the house caught on fire. I would not be able to get him out. I am so in awe of this bird, he wants to be loved but just can't trust us bad old humans. Well, after much consideration and going back and forth with, is it cruel, will he hate me, will it be worth it if it works, I finally decided to try it.
I was dreading the thought of him possibly screaming for 30 minutes, stressing too bad, everything that could go wrong was going through my mind. In fact, once I got him towelled, he never did scream. Wrapped him up good, went in the bathroom, sat on the toilet lid and started talking. After 10 minutes or so, he relaxed enough to let me pet his head, scratch his neck, even preen the pin feathers in his umbrella. 5 minutes of that, and I started slowly removing the towel, throwing it on the floor, told it Bad towel for being mean to my Louie! Louie is watching all this, and then he just snuggled against me and I sat for another 45 minutes or so just loving this bird. He let me pet him anywhere, even around his beak and eyes, which they love. When I knew it was past his bedtime, I said, Louie, you ready to go nite-nite? I put my other arm up and said, Step up, Louie. Ha, little turkey hopped right up and rode calmly all the way back to the top of his cage.
I will be curious to see how he is tomorrow, but I feel like we are on the road now to a good relationship and he will finally know what it feels like to be loved and played with before he is an old man.
Thanks, Brett. I owe ya (hugs)
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