Hi all,
I have a blue-headed pionus named Eva that I got from a rescue about a month ago. She's a really sweet girl, but refuses to step up. When I target her to step on my hand (stepping near my hand is fine), she starts whimpering and grabs onto the cage bars with her feet and beak as hard as she can. Sometimes she'll ask for head scratches instead. She does the same when I offer a perch. I imagine that she learned this because her previous owner grabbed her when he or she wanted her to come out. I can't get her out of the cage without grabbing her and prying her little toes off the bars one by one while she screams. Obviously, I try to do this as little as possible, but it's the only way I can transport her until she learns to step up.
In addition to clicker training Eva and targeting her to my hand, I have been praising and treating my other parrot for stepping up in the hopes that Eva will see the type of interaction I would like to have with her. Maybe eventually she'll get it, but I sure don't see any signs yet.
I'm willing to be patient, but not stepping up makes everything more traumatic than it needs to be--for instance, when she was startled off the cage, she started climbing up on Max's cage, and I saw his face fluff and the beak open, so I had to do the ol' grab 'n' pry with poor Eva before she got her feet chomped. Also, I had to grab her to take her to the vet for a wellness exam.
Eva and I would really appreciate some advice on this situation. Can you think of anything else I could do to help her?
Thank you,
FF