Not giving up

[sophiajp123]

Hey guys
I have a young parrotlet named blu. I have only had him for a short Period of time and he is slowly learning step up. If I put him on my finger and mOve him closer to my shoulder and give him a command he will flutter to my shoulder. My friend came over to help me target train because she has a gcc. No matter how long we tried and we even tried the next day he would not budge. I really so not want to give up on him but also want to give him time. Anybody has suggestions?

[Eurycerus]

Make sure that he's actually hungry when you target train ^_^ and that it's a special treat.

[marie83]

Agree with the post above. Find out his favorite food and remove it from his diet completely to be used only as rewards for good behaviour. Remove food from his cage a couple of hours before a training session.
When you say he won't budge what exactly do you mean?
Ensure he isn't scared of the target stick by slowly moving it closer and closer to him. If he shows any response at all which may indicate he isn't happy with the stick being close then you need to work on desensitizing him to the stick first and foremost.
If he doesnt care how close you take it try touching his beak gently with it then rewarding him straight away. After you've done this several times he should start realising he gets a treat when his beak touches the stick and hopefully moving his head a bit to meet the stick. When you get to thast point you can gradually move the stick further and further away.

[hooligan]

I did exactly what marie just said.

When I first started training Scrubby, she would do the same thing your parrotlet is doing. She's very clingy and it was becoming impossible to teach her basic things because if she wasn't on me, then all she wanted to do was try and find a way of getting back on my shoulder. I managed to teach her how to step up, but she would not get down and she would not step up onto a finger if she was on my shoulder.

I took a break from step up/step down and switched to Michael's guide for target training. Only, I did it while she was on my shoulder, hahaha. Once she figured out that touching the stick earned her a treat, I worked on getting her to move farther and farther down my arm to touch it. Once I could lure her down onto my finger, I taught her to step down. After that, she didn't have a problem stepping up if she was already perched on me.