aggressive pigeon

Question
Hi, I have hand raised a baby pigeon given to me by a friend who found it.  When I got the pigeon he was featherless.  He now can fly around the back yard, he is about 3 months old.  I say "he" but I don't really know what the sex is anyway  he lives in the house, has his own cage and is let out daily into the back yard where he flies until he's ready to come in and then he waits by the back door. He doesn't like us humans but seems to have taken a liking to our Doberman pincer (We always let the dog out with the bird to keep the cats out of the yard). He will land on the dog's back and the dog will walk around with the bird on his back.  The problem is when we come into the room where the cage is he makes this who-ing noise that gets louder and louder and louder, ruffles his feathers and walks in circles. God forbid if we try to put our hands in his cage, he will charge us and attack! He has gotten pretty good at this and now his attacks are starting to hurt.  Is there a reason for this?  We only attempt to hold him to put him outside or to put him back in his cage. Will he ever stop biting us?  We have cockatiels I was hoping they would be good as companions but he hates them too, any suggestions?

Answer
Hi, Melanie,

I'm sorry I'm late answering your question.  I was in the hospital and was released yesterday.

Sounds like this could be a male pigeon.  Your pigeon's behavior is indicative of his attempts to protect his cage and surrounding area.  He may not have a real reason to do this, but it's instinctive.  Whether he'll ever stop doing this is yet to be seen.  Just keep doing what you do without trying to let him know his pecking is troublesome, i.e., try to ignore his bad behavior as a way of letting him know it has no affect on you.  Your reaction(s) to his behavior could actually be fueling the bad behavior.  

Your pigeon will likely never be a good companion with your tiels.  I wouldn't allow them to be together as either could hurt the other(s).  They are just too different of species of birds to be together.

Chrys