What to work on first.

[meowingaround]

Ok so Windy is doing better with biting in general, much thanks to everyone who gave advice on that. No blood for months now, except for one nail trimming where he sneaked his head out of the towel

Anyway he knows step up and flies to both his cage and me willingly, but he will still nip at my hands if I'm not watchful.

I have my clicker, and his favorite treat which is popcorn rather than millet.

I have a new harness for him but there's much to do before we get there.

I'm not sure what to work on first though, handling without biting or dominance. He is a shoulder percher which from what I've read is a no no for a bird who likes to boss.

[Michael]

It's ok for the bird to go on the shoulder if it is well behaved (doesn't bite, steps off shoulder). If the bird isn't target trained, that is always a good first step to establish a training method and as a tool for further training.

[meowingaround]

Ok target training it is then.

Oh I'm glad to hear there are other views of the shoulder. He can bite but is pretty much over that due to advice you gave me Michael. lol I was always pulling my hand away, well it hurt but once I stopped doing it (with gloves on o_0). He seemed to learn that that was not acceptable anymore. I trust him up near my face again so we've definitely made huge progress with that.

We had construction going on here so we've not been able to train much beyond the not biting.

[Michael]

Target training is indirectly training not to bite. The bird gets focused on the stick, learns to bite the stick, and is busy getting treats. A bird with treats in its beak can't bite. And as the holder of this magical food target stick, the bird learns to trust you more rather than bite. It's a win win win method of training.

[meowingaround]

I'm learning quite a bit about Windy from our work.

He's really much more nervous about things than I ever thought.
But he's making progress and not terrified of the clicker anymore.



By next week we might be able to actually work on the targeting.. Although I am making him move towards the popcorn now, instead of just putting it in front of his face.

[meowingaround]

Update:

Yesterday we introduced a chopstick..

Today he touched it with his beak.

Repeatedly.

Yay