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He's got you begging *smile* you made me smile. Putting feet through the bars is definite over excitement.

I hope you don't mind....A few things you might want to try in order to raise your personal value to him...in his eyes may be...every time you go by his cage, drop his favorite food in the food bowl (hopefully he has a favorite food?). Save that food for this purpose only and if its say almonds...then cut shelled almonds into small pieces and that's what you'll drop. Do it 20 times a day or as often as you can.

I can't see what you mean by begging and what actions he's taking that you're calling aggressive but the environment can usually be managed in a such a way to avoid bad situations. Right now you have the advantage of knowing how he reacts to certain situations...so you can plan different ways if need be to maybe keep things calmer.

If you're petting his head then you're ok but if you mean petting his body, beak, wings or tail ... they can be really stimulating and actual cause aggression. Also if your wife is interacting with him in the same way its not helping your situation. Games, chatting, training, and other activities can be really fun...or even him sitting on your knee getting head scritches just hanging out.

I admire what sounds like true dedication in your post..... your cockatoo is luckier than he knows.

Shauna