Often when Peanut is eating a seedball (Nutriberry) from my hand (twice a day, every day), he'll give me a little love bite. Just a little nibble on my finger. I'm sure I taught him to do this, albeit without realizing it. He probably missed the seedball one day in his happy zeal to snack on something tasty, got my finger instead, and I thought it was funny so said something encouraging. "Am I tasty, too?" Or, "You missed, silly little seed head!"

How do I know I was being encouraging? Because he's started to bite me harder. He's learned that when he nibbles me while he's eating a seedball I say sweet things to him — so clearly, if he bites me harder, I'll say even sweeter things. Right?

Well, no. Because he's starting to hurt. Or at least, he's biting hard enough to startle me. So I've had to train him that this is a bad thing.

It's simple enough, as long as I'm consistent: When he bites me I pull my hand away, and I say, "no biting." Two seconds later, I bring my hand back into snacking position, and encourage him to eat breakkies or dins, whichever is appropriate. So far it's working. He's mostly stopped biting me so hard.

But some behaviors are harder to change. Like Bruce's habit of giving Peanut a sunflower seed every time he asks.

Or Peanut's unwavering love of granola.

Clearly, I didn't give him enough in his own dish, so he came over to help me eat mine.

I'll have to stop letting him eat from my bowl while Bruce gets the camera before I can train him to eat from his own dish. AND NOT MINE. There's milk in it, after all, and that's not good for him.