Parrot constantly flies off during training?

[clairekd13]

I have a rosella (an Australian parrot) and he has never had his wings clipped. I am sure he trusts me, he will step up straight away without biting at all and he knows many tricks such as wave, spin around, shake etc. However, during training he constantly flies off seemingly for no reason at all. Perhaps he is bored or maybe he doesn't trust me as much as I thought? He doesn't allow me to to touch him but I think this is simply because he hates it. Rosellas aren't known for being very cuddly birds.

He obviously sees flying away as positive reinforcement- if I fly away that human stops being near me. The odd thing is, as soon as I reach for him he'll actually run over to my hand.
What's going on? How should I discourage him from flying off during training? Wing clipping is not really an option, my mother is strongly against it.

[Michael]

Actually that's negative reinforcement. But not particularly important. The fact is you need being with you and cooperation in training to be MORE positively reinforcing than flying away may be negatively reinforcing (or doing other things as positively reinforcing). This comes down to motivation. Motivation is key to successful parrot training and probably the hardest part. With a motivated parrot you can do practically anything.

So here are some articles I did about motivation and improving it:
http://TrainedParrot.com/Weight_Management
http://TrainedParrot.com/Motivation
http://TrainedParrot.com/Tom_Sawyer
http://trainedparrot.com/index.php?bid= ... ted+Parrot

But I do not describe the complete approach or the details of a safe food management approach to incorporate in them. You can find more in depth information about food management and motivation (as well as a bunch of useful stuff from managing flight to teaching harness) in my book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots, also available on Amazon.

[marie83]

Rosellas do enjoy a good fly generally so flying away may bring a greater joy than the rewards from the training lol.
That or you've taught her that flying away is a good game because you then have to cross the room to retrieve him, this may go even further in time to him flying away right before you ask him to step up again, you follow him again only for him to take flight again, rinse and repeat... suddenly he has discovered an even better game lol.
Ok this might not happen but it is better you work on it before he does get the idea in his head, prevention is always better than the cure. Michael has already provided you with a lot of information about motivation, I would strongly recommend you give the articles a good read through and find a way to motivate your rosella before it becomes a big problem