Ripley causing problems

[featheryfriends]

THis is not the post i hoped to never have to make..
But Ripley is causing problems.. Course i love keeping my birds loose out their cage.. He loves being with me or doing silly things on top of his cage.. But he wont stay on the cage as a normal Too is about.. He will play with something long enough but shorley in time he climbes down the side of it and off he goes.. Not a problem in that matter but i have 2 small maltese.. One is only 3 pounds full grown.. Very small.. Courtney She is my girl.. Then theirs JaLynn who is 4 pounds and that one is pregnate im sure.. They are my baby's as well as my birds.. Neather one of those girls are enterested in the birds.. Just the droppings of crumbs they might hope to find..
The problem is, Ripley likes to chase after them and i know that little beak hurts them.. They yalp after bitten or niped.. And Courtney is a daddy's girl and will run to me after she's hurt or somthing wrong.. So i got her running to me then Ripley to follow.. To him its a game but to the dogs it's tortcher..
What should i do?
I love Ripley to death but of course the dogs are my baby's too..
I remember in a post that Dr. Cook made a comment that Too's come with alot of baggage and im also finding that is true also..
Course his clownish ways i absolutly love and i new their was some myscheve that would come along with it..
He also tries to irritate Sadie.. Course she don't take any mess from him.
But also Ripley is mean to her.. I keep them in different parts of the room but every move he makes off the cage i got to be on it..
The only way i can keep this from happening is to keep him locked in his cage and i don't want to do that.. He's soo use to being out and enjoys his freedom.. He's got plenty inside to play and tear up but if im in sight then forget the toys, he' wants out.
:help: Is thier anything else i should try before i consider Re-homing him??
I don't want to let him down.. But i dont want my dogs to get hurt..

[Nolan's Mom]

Bill, is there a way you could prevent Ripley from climbing down, like putting something he can't get across over where he gets down? Jim did something like that for Nino and Teo on his hutch...I can't remember which thread that was in Jim, you had a picture too....:doh: My memory is so crappy lately!


I found that post! http://thebirdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8090

[tropiclegirl]

I also have a thread about keeping Roxy on her playstand. So far it has been heaven!!!! She has not come down off of it, atleast not for now :funny:

http://www.thebirdforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=8103

[Shirley]

Both of our African Greys will try to bite our Schnauzer, who is nearly 13, and not at all interested in the birds. We PREVENT this - the birds are either with us when they are out, or they are caged. They are not out on a playstand where they can get to the dog, the cats, the other birds, etc. If we have them flying about, then the dog is in our bedroom or crated.

Set your environment up for success - and with the help of the others, you'll do very well for all the animals. Meanwhile, set your household up so there are no more chances for anyone, pet or human, getting bitten. :wub:

[SummerJ]

I think I have heard before that G2's are famous for chasing. I know Sydney sure is, especially when my parents are here.:eek: They are very high energy little birds and at least in my experience they are hard to keep in one spot. Is Ripley flighted? We have a play stand that he can not easily get off of, if he is not flighted. I hang various toys on it and the sometimes keeps him occupied. (Sydney thinks he needs to be with me so the stand is not his idea of where he should be.)The stand itself is made of a broadbrush I think. He really likes to chew on that alot. I think the key to keeping them there is part in using the positive reinforcement (we have alot of work to do in that area here!) to teach them to stay there and part finding something to do so they like being there. You might use the dog coming to you to your advantage when Ripley is not behaving. Ignore him and pay attention to the dogs. The drama created with the whole biting situation may be a reward for him. G2's love drama!! You also might work with Ripley to get him to come to you on command, so when he goes after the dogs you can call him to you instead. I know it is tiring and frustrating. Here is it my cockatiel I have to protect. When Syd gets it in his mind to head that direction, he is not easily convinced to do something else at that stage. I am working on an idea to move Simon to a place where Sydney can not get to him - one problem here will be solved!! Is there a place the dogs can go to get away from the birds?
Good luck. I will try to think of some other things I do to help here, that might help you. I will also look to see if I can find a picture of my playstand.

[CocosMomma]

Janet - you bring up a good point - the chasing thing - if this is a rather natural g2 behavior/response... in addition to working on the 'come' command I was wondering about parlaying the chasing thing into chasing after a ball or something to distract away from the dogs and if the reward was high enough for retrieving/chasing the ball, he would get more reinforcement/fun from that rather than terrorizing the dogs?:shrug2: That has got to be so frustrating for both you and the littl' dogs!:foot-tap:

[Jim]

You've gotten good suggestions. When we have multi animals usually plan A is to have them get along and be out as much as possible. Plan A is great but doesn't always work in all situations. I call what has been suggest, Plan B. Set them up for success. If that isn't possible we move to plan C. One out at a time with a HIGH quality of interaction. Actually plan C isn't bad. Quality vs quantity.:)