Harness Training

[GingerBird]

It is very confusing though... The parrotuniversity.com (they invented that harness, or am I wrong?) shows on their website some photo's in the same column as the "petit harness" of those budgies wearing the harness... Well, at least I think they are budgies?

(source: http://theparrotuniversity.com/content/aviator-bird-harness)


They also advertise that the petite harness is for "small parakeets" I understand that it is not exactly the budgie they are referring to, but I would consider a budgie as a member of the set "small parakeet" . I do agree that the harness does not seem to fit as nice as it should, but I also understand the confusion from budgie owners who think this harness should work well enough for their bird.

[Wolf]

I was at their website this morning 12:36 am and read their product literature and it specified a minimum weight of 75 grams for the petite size harness. The weight range for budgie is 42 to 52 grams.

[GingerBird]

mmm yes, it is not really, really wrong but still I can imagine that people make a small mistake by not weighing their budgie and buy the harness because they show photo's of budgies wearing it.

And... If for example a lovebird has some overweight (yes, that is not healthy but we can't ignore that there are parrots with overweight and most owners do not even notice it) then they actually do tell you that the harness will fit but according to Michael it will not.

I know, it is a little vague but now they seem to advertise with their harness and budgies wearing it, which it not right if they agree that the harness doesn't fit!

[Wolf]

Part of the problem, as I pointed out to Michael last night is that to the majority of people the terms parakeet and budgie are one and the same, therefor this is misleading advertising, in my opinion. Michael is also right while the budgie is a parakeet, not all parakeets are budgies.

[GingerBird]

True, but the implication works the other way around:
Not all parakeets are budgies, is not the confusion but: Budgies are parakeets, and they advertise for small parakeets.

Within the set of small parakeets, lies the budgie species. They advertise for small parakeets and thus also for budgies.

And, maybe a small translation error for non-native speakers: In dutch the budgie is called: "Parkiet"
and the family parakeet is also called: "Parkiet" which is very confusing for our language. So, if it is not too rude:
Maybe someone is able to ask parrotuniversity to remove the budgie photos + harness, and maybe even specify that birds as small as budgies are not suited for the harnesses in order to avoid the confusion.

Now I categorize their advertisement just as plain wrong. I was not aware of the possible risks when you try the harness for budgies (or in my case: I was thinking about a harness for my lovebird but I won't try that after Michaels warning) and the current info on their website is somewhat misleading.

[AnarchoBoxer]

'Parakeet' has suffered from "words don't mean anything" syndrome, because to most people parakeet = budgerigar. Hell, most look at you with a blank stare when you refer to them as budgies.

[Michael]

First of all, when shopping with me, the sizes are more distinctly labeled:

Petite: 75-110g Cockatiels, Green Cheek Conures

But even elsewhere it says "75 - 110 grams Lg. Parakeets, Sm. Indian ringnecks, Cockatiels, Sm. Conures (Green cheek, Brown throat)." There is no mention of small parakeets. Only large parakeets that are 75g+. So I don't know who is going around making things up that they are suitable for budgies but they really aren't. Even on a 75g bird that's pushing it but minimally doable. I realize that some people are jealous and wish they could take their mini-parrot out on a leash but it really is just safest to stick to a carrier.

As for the pictures, those are user-submitted pictures of what they've done but doesn't necessarily mean that the size is meant for those birds. I love using the harness but I don't like the idea of putting an Amazon size harness on my Senegal or a Cockatiel size harness on a budgie!

[GingerBird]

I agree with you that the budgie is not suited for the harness, and the info provided from your store is much clearer.

I only got confused from http://theparrotuniversity.com/content/aviator-bird-harness, this is also the source of the photo's I posted and are definitely not user submitted. They have been sent to parrotuniversity.com by a user, but have been placed there intentionally by the owner of that website (looking at the sourcecode of that website, the photo's are not random generated from a db where random people may place photo's of their bird).
And, there they advise the harness for small sized parakeets, a set where the budgie fits in my opinion.

This is what frustrates me: You are right that the harness is not suited for a budgie, and that should be made very VERY clear for all budgie owners!

But, I am very disappointed in the quality of advertisement from the parrotuniversity.com themselves. Their way of advertising let people think that their budgie fits in the harness which is wrong!

[Wolf]

I also think that the advertising is misleading and think that just because of the common uses of the term parakeet that it should be made clear for the lay person and/ or new and inexperienced owner of budgies.
I don't think it would be a bad thing to write or email parrot university and ask them to make this more clear. It is in the best interests of these birds. I know I am going to.

[Elaihr]

I have a question regarding harness training that might be a bit off topic, considering the discussion you guys are already having here, but I figured it would be better to put my question in an already existing thread rather than making an entire new one for just one question...

So, here goes: In the video that comes with the aviator harness, why do they tell you to not watch the video in the presence of your parrot? I've heard the instructions in the video aren't the best, so I'm trying to follow Michael's advice instead, but I'm still curious about this... Could it seriously ruin your training if you do so?