Perseus is stepping up!

[guybo]

He's always let me pet him and feed him and rub his cheeks and head, but he has never let me hold him very much. Of course I've only had him for less than a month. Today he stepped up out of his cage for me!!

He was very cage bound when I got him (the last owner really didn't know what she was doing with birds) but well socialized. I started out by hanging out next to his cage and he was comfortable with me reaching in the cage and petting him. Then I moved to rubbing his cheeks and head and billing with him using my hand. Then he started preening my hand. Then I started to give him treats and we leave his cage open on the top all the time which encourages him to come out and he started hanging out on top of his cage all the time. He's clipped so he's not flying away.

The big breaks happened when I moved his cage out of the living area into the boys' bedroom where the kids' cages are. He was over-stimulated in the living area and needs a place to calm down. And then I started (using Michael's advice in one of his many articles) grabbing Perseus and forcing him to get him out of his cage. To do this went against everything I thought I knew about parrots! But I made the trip out of the cage so rewarding that the problems created by grabbing him were outweighed by the trip itself.

So I'd grab him, bring him out in the living area (where the cool perch, Hades, Cass and Plato and the dogs and humans too are at) and lavish him with treats and praise and it is working! I still have work to do with him but Perseus stepping up from his cage today is huge!

I hope this helps out others who may be having a hard time with a cagey bird.

[captwest]

Congrats!!! I know Quakers can be hard headed, independant little cusses, good work on not giving up and trying new things.