I give up. he wont step up.

[izmail1215]

Ok I read the sticky on this page researched this like a week bought a birdtricks.com DVD for $50.00 did everything watched every video in the internet nothing seems to be working. It's been 3 weeks not 1% progress. My 5 month old yellow naped amazon wont step up on to anything but a broken babys chair which i use to put him back in to his cage.

He get about 8 hours a day out his cage comes out by himself. Plays, talk,s flys, and sleeps.
He is target trainned and will follwo the stick to get penuts or sunflowers. he will let me pet his head he happily puffs up his head feathers for me. the only problme is hm stepping up he will attack the wooden perch which i use to get him to step up he wont even do it for a treat. all I need is detail explaintion of what to do. I need him to step up with out biting me. his bites arnt a simple nip he will hold on so hard as he did with the wooden dowl perch.

[Kathleen]

If I were you, I'd stop letting the bird out of the cage for such a long time, but that's your personal decision.

Here's other places/topics where I explain how to condition your bird to accept handling:

http://www.theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=3207
http://www.theparrotforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=11&t=1528


By the way, invest in a pair of gloves if that would make you feel more comfortable.

[Michael]

He get about 8 hours a day out his cage comes out by himself. Plays, talk,s flys, and sleeps.

Why should he step up for you? My parrot doesn't come in or out of the cage without stepping up (or flying to me on command) first. Your bird gets everything it wants without you, you just get in the way. You need to change some of that around. Also it sounds quite young, you gotta stop being so scared of the bite.

[HyperD]

Also I would be wary of birdtricks.com... I haven't bought any of their DVDs but people do not speak highly of them. They seem to be scammers more after money than the actual parrots.

[kim]

I haven't heard great things about birdtricks so I am not too keen on them.

He's 5 months old & you've only been at this for 3 weeks. That isn't very long. Give him the time he needs to learn properly & don't expect him to do big things instantly because you're just going to be disappointed.

What my birds have taught me is that if they don't want to do something, don't force them to. They're no different to you & I, you don't do things you don't want to do, neither do they.

Everything you want to train your bird in needs to be made into something your bird will want or a fun game for him to step up on you. You need to convince him it's a good thing to do, not try & 'make' him do it. They love human companionship & are usually very eager to please, if you do it the right way.

You also need to look at why he only steps up on a broken baby chair. This may be something you're taught him to do, so he is expecting to step up on the chair & nothing else. We teach our birds everything in life, including how to behave & if it's an undesirable behaviour or action you need to look at yourself & what you're doing to teach the bird this action. We all do it & it is a very honest mistake to make & need to learn from.

Try to look at different techniques to train him to step up on you. Move away from birdtricks & look into other things. Also take baby steps with training & never try & make him do something. It will set you back.

He sounds like he's really smart & you're on the right track with what he can already do so their is nothing wrong with his ability to do anything on command. Find out why he's stepping up on the chair, not you & reverse it.

My birds are out 6 to 8 hours per day on most days. They have their own play gyms they can entertain themselves on. They only go into their cages if we're not here, at lunch time & bed time. I have never had a problem with my birds with this routine or for training.