# Question about Diamond Dove



## Godsend (Mar 5, 2014)

Hi everyone,
I just got my first Diamond dove 3 days ago and he/she is doing better than great! Cooing, eating, drinking, and will set on my arm if I put it in the cage - here are my two questions (for now, ha ha).

1st. He/she is doing so well I hate to take he/she to the vet to have her wings clipped so I can hand train - any suggestions on how or when I should do that? I have no problem with (let's call he/she him for now) him flying around the room once he is trained, but afraid he will hurt himself right now. 

2nd. Most important I have researched and cannot find out when he bonds with me what about other family members - will they be able to hold him, like my husband, granddaughter, I am very worried about this. How does it work?? My son will have to take care of him when we are gone and he does not live with us so the bird will not know him.


----------



## Lefty07 (Dec 30, 2009)

I recommend against wing-clipping your dove. Doves are completely helpless if they cannot fly. They cannot climb like a parrot and do not have powerful beaks to protect themselves. Also, they will run away from you if scared so clipping doesn't help much - and they may hurt themselves jumping off your hand. Also, a wing clipped dove can easily get stepped on. As you have observed, you can tame him/her without wing-clipping. Wing clipping doves is unnecessary and I urge you not to do it.

If your dove will go on your hand in the cage, you should repeat that for a few weeks and eventually, you can let it out in a small safe room with no dogs or cats or small children (and with windows and mirrors partially covered so your dove won't fly into them). Get it used to being free. Do not chase it. You should be very calm. And never ever grab it with your hands. Just get it to perch on the top of your hands or your arm or your finger. To get it back in the cage, bring the cage over to the dove with the door open and it will probably just go in. The whole key to taming outside the cage is YOU being calm and the room you work in being quiet, especially for the first few weeks. It would be good, for example, to just open the cage door while you are doing something quiet like reading, watching TV, working on the computer - let the dove come out on it's own - and never chase or follow it - let it just come to you - plan on 30 to 60 minutes time - and don't panic over every poop (they clean up easy). But again, do this in a small room with a door that you can keep closed so he doesn't wander all over the house. And do this in late afternoon so he will want to return to his cage as it gets dark.

As for other people, you or your husband should work with the dove first. If your grand daughter is a small child, you need to be there when she is handling the dove. And if she is not calm, it will scare the dove. Also resist the temptation to "pet" or stroke your dove. Most birds don't like that kind of handling - it's not natural for a bird - petting is a "mammal" thing. So just be content to have your dove perch freely on your arm or hand and leave it at that. People can un-do all their taming progress by insisting on petting or grabbing their birds.

Here is a Diamond Dove I had back in the 1980s and 90s that lived to be 15 years old. He was never wing-clipped and was so tame he would fly to me when I called him:


and here are more recent photos of Ringneck Doves I have, which have never been clipped, but are obviously very tame.


----------



## Godsend (Mar 5, 2014)

Thank you!


----------

