My african grey won't step up to my hand :(

[donald1954]

Hi,

with Toto I had to do quite a bit of work until he stepped up in the end. We have done our training on the play stand. What I did was target training. For Toto, to get used to it, I left my arm always laying there, just as if it was always there. It is easy for me, because I do not use a Target Stick, I use my finger. He always had to tip my finger, than when he did, immediately " Good" and a reward. In the process he came nearer and nearer towards my Arm, and as I did many repetitions very quickly, he forgot that the arm was there, jumped all over it. LOL He ended up sitting on my arm, I did not move it first, than he walked all along to my hand, in which I had a treat. That was it. When you have the chance to do so, it could be quite helping. My 4 birds are used to it, they tip my finger just as a target stick. No biting, they tried first, but than I just took my finger away, behind my back for a couple of seconds, tried again, and than - no problem. It has the advantage, that I have my hands for myself, at least one of them! Works fine with us. The word "Good" is the same as the clicker, here the advantage, I have it always with me, and can reinforce the bird too, when he does something postive during the normal daily routine, and when I see it " Good" and a reward, which I always keep in my pocket. Clicker is the same really, works just as good.
rgds, Don + Karin

[Polarn]

just got a question for you about using your finger as the target stick... my lil fella flyes and gets the targetstick is i don't put it into the locker when we are not training, you see him first touching it over and over, as he does when training (except he doesnt have to touch it over and over when training couse he gets a treat the first time) then after a while he picks it up with his foot and fly to me with it, when this has happened I can't do anything but train with him for a while and then put the stick in the locker... so sometimes he gets a huge amount of training in a day, but he seems focused and if he is fetching what he wanna train with I can't say I'm forcing him to train... however, does your birds ever try nip your finger for a treat even when your not targeting? and about having one free hand... I hold the stick, clicker and the treat in the same hand.... so still 1 hand free took a little while tho before i got the hang of holding the clicker between the pinky finger and the palm and actually press the little button with the pinky... but it works

[donald1954]

No, the do not nip my finger. When I point by example at the playstand, they all go and than they are reinforced. Right at the very start, first few days, they tried to nip, as I said, for a short time I put my hand on the back, gave them a time out, but gave them straight after the opportunity to do better. and it always worked. No nipping at all during training time. I sometimes have 2 birds on my left arm, and I use my right hand/ finger as a target stick, have the treats in the same one. Because we do recall training, it is much easier. Recall training is fun! At least it is for me!

Rgds Karin + Don

[Polarn]

yeah i like the recalling as well, love to see him fly towards me todo that little flick with his wings to slow down right before he reaches the hand

[f_ammari]

You guys rock!

I feel much more confident reading your comments.

@gabbagabbawill yes I tried this today but he would lean as much as possible to get the treat without stepping. When I put the treat a bit further for him not be able reach unless stepping up.. he loses interest.. stubborn bird

Anyway.. I feel we're more and more connected every day.. for now I'm enjoying that.

[Polarn]

what happens if you dont train him like all day or for a few hours later than you normally treat him and stuffs, and then start pulling out treats etc, then move away like 5feet or something and try recalling? thats how i got polarn to start stepping up, only took a day after i figured he didnt mind flying to me. But then i already had started doing targetting where he had to fly but never to actually land on me.

[donald1954]

I started at a short distance, now 2 of my birds do it very well. The boys still take a while, at the moment it works for about 2 metres distance. We train it every day, when they are on free flight, not a regular training session. The females come to another room now, mainly the hall or the kitchen.
Unfortunately they dont like the bathroom, maybe because there is water? LOL

rgds Karin + Don

[Polarn]

I kind of ment for f_ammari to get started on the stepping up, if his grey feels more secure flying a little bit to the hand than to step up on the hand coming close to him, I just know Polarn did that before he stepped up, now he does both. Unfortunitly were still building here so dont have a lot of space to practise the recalls, well I got plenty of space in the ridinghouse that I am planning on using once there is warmer, but for now we only got one room that is not affected at all by the construction so thats where we stay.... So I got no idea if he comes to me if im in another room yet, however I can hide around the corner (the room is L-shaped) and he will fly around the corner to come to me. So far polarn has a quite limited amount of "tricks" we can do when training, its wave, shake hands, step up, step down, come here(recall), fly home (he wont fly into the cage but he lands on the cage door), and we have begun with nodding yes... but so far the recall is my favorite, mostly because i like to see birds fly, cant wait until the weather is better so the temp in the ridinghosue is higher so we can do longer recalls, just need to go through all the mesh first, we havn't had any small birds in there since the nets were installed but that was 2 years ao so might be worth going through it all before using it to freefly my little friend hehe.

now to the topic How's your Grey coming along f_ammari?

[f_ammari]

Hey Polarn and everyone,

Thanks for the tips. However, Fluffy doesn't seem to be interested in coming to me, even when I have his food. Not even when I set next to him, he doesn't by nature come closer. Hmmm... that hurts

On the other hands, while training him last Saturday (the day I spend more time doing training), I noticed one thing; once he's standing at the window, I offered my hand to him and he stepped up with no hesitation
I was so happy. I got him back to where he was at the window, offered my hand again, and he stepped up without forcing him. Just did it willingly.

Then I tried something, I put him back to his perch, offered my hand, but he refused to come. He even bit me and bit my brother who was passing by and tried to get him to step up
I got him back to the window, offered my hand, he stepped up.

That was confusing.

All in all, there was some progress. Whenever I want him to step up, I put him near the window and he would step up. He wouldn't step up unless he is there.

Any ideas why he might be doing that???

[Michael]

First of all, make sure that if/when you do hold you parrot, you hold him the right way. Then for transitioning targeting to stepping up, a good intermediate step is using a handheld perch. First hold the perch as far from bird as possible and target on/off of it. But over time hold your hand closer and closer. Eventually hold it so your pointer finger sticks out parallel and on the perch so the parrot is stepping both onto perch/finger together. Eventually phase out the perch. Remember to keep targeting onto hand brief at first. Don't expect to go off and hold him the rest of the day after doing it the first time. Instead, target on, give treat, allow to step off onto training perch or cage. Eventually work it to the point where he eats the treat on your hand before targeting off and more and more. When you are attempting the early targets onto hand, try to build up a targeting routine first (3-5 times onto a handheld perch) and then go for hand. Keep his focus on the target stick and not the hand. Make him stretch for it so he has to take that extra step to get it. Just don't use too much food management on such a young parrot. 3-6 hours without food tops. Mornings can be a good time cause he hasn't eaten all night.