by Pajarita » Wed May 17, 2017 11:08 am
Pull it off before he has a chance to do it himself - meaning, target, allow him to put his head through it, praise and reward and immediately take it off - and repeat - and repeat -and repeat and wait until the following day when you will start again doing exactly the same time: target, put head through, praise/reward and remove. And, as time goes by and he starts getting used to having it around his neck, delay the removal of the harness from his neck just a tiny bit (and I am taking seconds, mind you!) at a time until you see that he will leave it alone for, say, 5 minutes or so. Then start (very gently and very slowly) to put one wing in and remove the whole thing - and again, and again with the same praise/reward and immediately remove until he leaves one wing in. Then you go for the other wing and so on and so forth.
The trick is to take as long as it takes for the bird to feel comfortable with each step of the procedure and always take it off before he starts struggling so he doesn't feel as if this is something that is being forced on him.