Flooding for harness training?

[Nir]

whats everyone thoughts on "flooding " for harness training. michael said that its okay to flood as long as your bird is already tame. mango has not learned harness training yet with the original methods so i am thinking about trying flooding. so basically put a bit more force into getting him to wear a harness but then rewarding him right away by taking him outside for walks. and maybe slowly he will start associating the harness with going outside and like it more. thoughts?

[Wayne361]

I think any sort of flooding isnt a good idea personally. You might have taken Micheal a bit out of context here or maybe the degree of flooding?? Flooding might be ok if the bird is 95 percent there in harness training. I personally think it is a bad idea if you are a ways off in the training process. There is a lot at risk with flooding and I am sure you know the risks.

For what it is worth I have also thought about flooding with harness training. But prefer to do it slowly with positive reenforcement. I would say Im 80 percent there. Bout a month ago I would have said 60 percent. So making progress slowly. I do believe slow wins the race here....but that is my opinion. How far are you in the training process?

Wayne

[Raa]

Why not try recal training? I had an IRN (who had her wings but was mostly flightless due to an abusive first home) who I used to take outside all the time. She never once tried to fly away from me so I never bothered with a harness.

[Nir]

yikes... i dont think i would ever risk taking him outside without a harness. he does recall decently well but still. something might frighten him and he might fly of and get lost.



think i made some progress?? i got a tip from someone to try touching his head the way the head loop would go over and over so he gets used to it. so i did and when i put the loop on he let me. but he was frozen. i knew he was distressed so i took it off and gave him a treat. so whenever he wants a treat now on (other then when i tell him to do something) i just make him wear the head part and then give him a treat. he also lets me put on 1 wing without moving. i have 1 hand on his back but not forcefully and he stands there like a statue and i put it on. but not sure if this is good since he is not 100% willingly doing it on his own. sure he lets me put it on but he isnt happy about it. so what do you guys think? is this progress? i will try to take a video of this when i can.

[cml]

yikes... i dont think i would ever risk taking him outside without a harness. he does recall decently well but still. something might frighten him and he might fly of and get lost.

Which is absolutely the right way to go about it. Even a clipped bird can fly away outside, getting caught by a gust of wind etc, if frightened.

[Raa]

I don't think there is any 'absolute' way to do anything. Different things work for different people. I never had an issue, Krystal never spooked. And she was unable to fly anyway.

[Nir]

he is now eating while the colar is on!!!

[hannah50942]

if you put the harness on every day and reward him/her he will get use to it adn will love it like my bird