Grabbing and lifting

[cml]

This is another reason I think food management is so important to training. It makes the food carry a much higher value so the worth of getting a piece of nut over the discomfort of being rolled back is more significant. So a not hungry parrot will say I'd rather not eat than let you do that to me. The medium hungry bird will say fine. The quite hungry bird will say come on let's get this show on the road. I have seen this exact sort of response with my guys as I've tried them at all kinds of weight configurations. They are great at doing tricks and will even give me freebies every now and then. However, the response, quality, and speed at which they learn is greatly impacted by their hunger level. I think you'd have greater success using positive reinforcement and convincing your parrot to go with what you are doing if it would be food/weight managed to a certain extent.

Actually, today I saw this with Leroy. I started using sunflower seeds for the grab-training rather than pieces of almond (which is their super-treat), and he started to fly away from me, showing distinct disintrest! When I offered almonds on the other hand, well, he still thought it a bother but stayed put!

Im gonna try and cut back a little on his breakfast ration, so he will be a tad hungrier when we try again tomorrow!

[cml]

I got an update to this thread; everything was progressing very nicely with Stitch until a few days ago.

Ive been able to lift Stitch for longer and longer period of times, up to 30-60s and move him about, between perches etc. He'd completely stopped reacting to me picking him up and there was no wriggling at any point. All in all good progress.

And then out of the blue about two days ago, he started jumping off the perch (and flying to a different place) when I started to lift him. He's totally calm, but then flies away at the grab. Sometimes he only tries to do this when he's already grabbed, but then immediatly calms down and then acts like everything's fine. No wriggling, no aggression, just looking happy.
Today he flew away multiple times when I approached with my hand looking as if he was going to be lifted . If he thinks I am just gonna put my hand on his back, he stays put.

I cant see whats happened and I feel quite blue about it, I thought everything was going so well with us being able to lift him for so long and him being so cool about it.

[janetafloat]

That's frustrating! Well done you for getting to where you were though and I'm sure you can get back there. Remember that Kili was harness trained and then decided she didn't like it & Michael had to retrain her? Try just backing up one step to putting your hand on his back for a day or two and then reintroducing the grab once every so often. You probably are far more experienced in this than I am so don't mind me if I'm off base. It's just how things go with animals & kids though, isn't it...not always according to plan...but you get there in the end!

[cml]

Thanks for your post Janet, thats indeed what I am doing atm, taking a short break from it and I intend to get going in a few days again. Hopefully that will work !

[marie83]

Sorry to hear of the regression, its something I'm very familiar with and its still disappointing even now. You will get there