Trust

[Tishrei]

I decided to start a new thread on trust because I did not want to change the flavor of the thread “Ways to increase trust.” But that thread got me thinking about my relationship with Ducky.

Ducky is my only bird and everybody here pretty much knows how Ducky came to live with me. In my case, I did not set out to gain his trust. In hindsight, it was Ducky that approached me and “gained my trust.” In thinking back on our first few weeks together, he would approach me and I would flee because I did not want to get bit. Without realizing it, it was Ducky that was attempting to gain my trust, not the other way around and boy do I still feel bad about that. Actually, I just got teary eyed thinking back on how Ducky would approach me and I would walk away because I did not want to get bit. He didn’t want to bite me, he wanted to play.

So finally when I allowed him to climb up my knee, he established a trust with me. He didn’t bite me but started preening me gently. That established a trust with me. I started to fall for him. Once he established a trust with me, then I started to approach him. I did not know that I was simply to put out my finger and say step up. I would reach in his cage with both hands and grab him, surprising the daylights out of him. He would let out this little scream in surprise, a little nip that did not break the skin, and allow me to do that. I guess he thought to himself, I must teach this human on how to handle birds. I remember once when I approached him, he lifted his leg for me so I put out my hand and he stepped up. Can you imagine, a bird teaching a human on proper bird handling. Thinking back, I am SHOCKED that things went so well.

Now, this is not to say that I was never bitten. But the first major bite did not occur until AFTER a bond had been established. Can you believe Ducky waited until I trusted him to finally bite me? I’m serious; Ducky did not bite me till long after he came to live with me. Oh, I got little nips but not a full fledged bite until well after he came to live with me. My last bite was in January of 2006 and that was on my finger and that was because he thought I was going to hand him over to someone to hold him (I wasn’t but he thought I was). Actually, in the five years since I’ve had him, I’ve only received a few full fledged bites from him – and when I say full fledged bites, I’m talking about drawing blood. I think I can count on one hand the bites I’ve received.

It’s weird, but it was Ducky who gained my trust, not the other way around. He seriously tried to gain my trust – he went out of his way to establish a relationship with me. Boy that brings me to my knees in awe of him.

That being said, if I ever decide to get another bird, I won’t expect the same but I have learned from this board how to gain the trust of a bird. I won’t expect the bird to gain my trust; I will have to gain the trust of the bird. I just lucked out with Ducky.

I have to go give him a kiss now – he’s taught me a lot.