African Grey and Terriers?

I have a Congo African Grey named Wiggles ("Wiggie-Woo", a name he made for himself), that's been in the family since '97 or so.. was given to us by my uncle. Hes about 15 years old now. He is a very talkative bird.. but most talkative when we are out of the room. His cage is in the kitchen where he observes everything; people talking on the phone, cooking, eating, tv noises, my dogs, cat, etc. Unfortunately, he rarely comes out of his cage because we are very weary of our boston terrier, Maggie, whom, like most terriers is very aggressive and dominant. When we do bring him out of the cage, we usually put Maggie away. We are planning to get his wings clipped so that he is able to play on top of his cage more, without worrying about him getting spooked and flying away. We would like to somehow try to help build his confidence in talking more in front of people, as well as not being so frightened of our terrier. Does anyone have any suggestions?

Thanks a lot!
-Sam

Do you think that it would be an idea to try to get him comfortable around just one or two people for a start?

he is comfortable around people. theres 4 people in the house. its the dog that we are weary of because shes aggressive.

It's the dog you'll have train, but terriers are not real good around birds so you might not be successful. As far as getting your Grey to talk in front of other people, that won't be easy either. My Grey is 14 and rarely if ever talks in front of strangers. Funny thing, he'll do all his sound effects in front of anyone, but hardly ever a word. He goes with me to visit my parents on Sundays and will do his telephone, his dog bark, sometimes he'll even dance but only once in a very great while will he say anything.