Digby Has Come a Long Way

I know I've posted about her improvements before, but she really impressed me last night and today and I want to share how she's doing now. It's been exactly a month since that post (found here), and she has improved more since then.

When I got her in October, I was lucky to just be able to get Digby out of her cage. She would not step up and if you got too close, she would threaten to bite. She wanted very little to do with people. She would eat nothing but seed. And the moment you got within a couple feet of her cage if you had her out, she'd try to fly back to her cage.

Now, she will happily come out of her cage and will even let you know when she wants out. She'll sit by her cage door until you get her out. Last night, she was doing that and I decided to let her out. I opened the door and put her ladder in and asked her to step up. She did so without any hesitation and without being asked twice. Then, rather than just hold on for the ride while I took the ladder out of the cage like usual, she started to walk down the ladder to the outside of the cage.

Today, I got her out before she was acted like she wanted out. She hesitated a bit getting on the ladder, and I had to tell her to step up more than once, but once she was out, she didn't want to go back in. All I usually have to do to put her back in her cage is to have her next to the door and tell her to step up onto it. Today when I did that, she refused. Once in a while she does this and all I have to do is put her on her T-perch and lift that to the door and tell her to step up. So I did that. She refused and backed away from her cage. I asked her again. She turned around on the perch and flew back to my shoulder.

Normally, I don't let my pets get away with not doing what they're told to do, but that was just too cute and she obviously wanted to spend some time with me so I just let her be. After a little while, I tried to put her in her cage again. I had to use the T-perch, but she went, albeit reluctantly.

There are other improvements too. She still refuses to step up onto bare skin, but she no longer growls or tries to bite if you offer her your arm or hand. She will even sometimes sit on my neck (on bare skin) if she's been on my shoulder.

She's also now eating pellets on a regular basis and she'll at least taste anything I offer her. Her personality is starting to come out. I have finally figured out which toys she will play with and which she won't; she prefers shreddable toys.

She's currently singing very loudly in her cage, driving my little brother and nephew crazy.