afriad of target stick

[musskulls]

Alright, I got Kiwi about 3 days ago and I thought it was time to start target training. I've already started using the clicker before giving him a treat, and he seems to be alright when I'm near the cage. But as soon as I approached the cage with the target stick, he became terrified. He will try to fly around in his cage and gets as far away from me as possible. I'm assuming that he's showing this behavior because he's had a traumatic experience where someone tried to force him in or out of his cage by trying to use a perch. I just don't know what to do right now.

[javelin]

Try leaving the stick at viewing distance from the cage. Let your pet get used to it then gradually bring it closer to the cage.

You can also try to associate the stick with feeding time. Sunflower used to be scared silly of sticks too until one time I used chopsticks which I then used to feed him some sunflower seeds. That bridged well into target training.

[viki]

after u try a while of him seeing it in view i would also suggest dipping the tip of the stick into his favorite fruit so that if he does bite it he will like it and be more inclined to lick it rather then attack it