Best way to pick up my bird?

[Maltee]

My pionus is flighted and sometimes when she's out of her cage she will just fly off onto the ground or the stair banister. When I go to step her up, I have two problems: 1) she treats it as a game and runs under the furniture so I can't get to her and have to chase her or 2) she acts aggressive, puffs up her feathers and tries to bite me. She has even flown at my face to attack me.

What do I do to address this problem? I'm not sure if the main problem is her flying off in the first place, or the problem of trying to retrieve her. I don't think she does it just to get attention. Sometimes she just seems in a weird spooky, panicky mood, like she saw something that scared her and is trying to get away (I have no idea what it could be that scares her though).

[Pajarita]

Target train her. Most likely the reason is that she is connecting stepping up for you with going back into the cage...

[Michael]

Yeah. It's not just a matter of working on step up, but also the relationship. You can't expect training to work without establishing a relationship or vice verse. I'd focus on target training, step up training, grab training, and going back into cage training as outlined in my book or throughout my blog.

[Maltee]

Thanks for your replies. I figured I should work on basic training first.

My next question is who should do the training? My bird loves my husband and tolerates me. Should he or I work on training her first? Or should we each do separate training sessions with her?

[Pajarita]

I would say both train her but separately.