Harness removal techniques. Modification?

[entrancedbymyGCC]

So, Scotty had his Aviator harness on for the first time yesterday evening. My husband put the harness on with out too much trouble at all, and they went outside for a small adventure, but the harness removal didn't go very well at all, and I'm concerned that the overall experience was a negative. Scotty came with issues about men handling him around the head or in any way roughly, and I'm afraid the harness removal procedure pushed those buttons and he has regressed some in his relationship with my husband.

I understand how to do gradual prep training to put the thing on, but once it's on, it's a bit trickier because you have to get the whole job done the first time. The worst of it was actually getting the slide buckle loose enough, it's fairly difficult to adjust. Is there a particularly good technique for this? I expect we are going to have to start all over again with Scotty, but I'm waiting for Scooter's spring fever to die down a bit more before I actually put it on him -- he's gone a lot touchier about being handled, so I'm having to re-train some things that used be easy.

I also wonder if it would drastically reduce the integrity of the harness if I were to put a quick-release closure in-line next to the slide adjustment. We have plenty of play, so the 1/2" or so it would shorten it would not be a problem. We don't really intend to fly our birds on the harness, we just want to be able to take them outside without worrying about losing them if they become startled. What problems do y'all see with doing that? I was thinking this type of clip:

[Michael]

I think the main benefit of the aviator harness is that it doesn't require buckles. Also, it may not be something that you care about, but the design allows parrots to fly while wearing it which many other harnesses do not facilitates well.

For Kili, the #1 reward for cooperation for harness removal is freedom. Getting the darned thing off is negatively reinforcing in itself so generally once they are aware of the removal procedure, they do not mind as much.

Now I do have similar problems as you mentioned with Truman. I think the biggest problem is that they don't make a Cape Parrot size harness. You're forced to choose between one that is a tad too small or one that is a tad too big. Cape Parrot is just an odd size like that, kind of somewhere between the TAG/Galah size and the CAG/Amazon size.

While Truman was a baby, he didn't resist the harness much but after a winter hiatus and a little more maturity, he has been showing greater stress over the harness. Before I used to just stick it on him and that's it but now before the summer season hits in full bloom, I began practicing harness donning as my main training focus. I just followed the same exact steps that I outlined for Kili's harness article. In fact she has gotten rusty over the course of the winter and was a bit annoying about putting it on so I retrained her again as well. After about 2 treats for sticking her head in, she was as good as before so it was barely any work with her. For Truman on the other hand I practiced for several days (pretty much following the Kili 3 day plan exactly).

I started with the holding harness material closer and closer desensitization, then touching, then draping, then sticking on head (but with big area, not collar), and then finally with collar. He's not as good as Kili by any means but when he gets into the training he will stick his head in himself and help it slip onward. Then I put the harness on completely and give him an almond. With an almond he forgets about the harness entirely and I let him eat it to reinforce how great it is to be enharnessed. Now having used the technique on two parrots I am absolutely convinced that the method I outlined in the harness article works great! It doesn't even take that long to do. Three days is really a realistic span of time for an already tame bird (that might have gotten off on the wrong foot with the harness). After putting the collar on and off of Truman like this a couple dozen times in the course of 3 days, he got less upset about the difficulty of taking it off. He has also learned to remain more still when I pull it off rather than to fidget cause then I have less trouble taking it off and it comes off quicker.

Your husband just has to follow the harness taming program step by step (as long as it takes, gotta adjust timing to the bird). You gotta keep practicing, negatively, and positively reinforcing this process until the bird puts the harness on willingly. If the harness removal process is too unpleasant, it won't be long till the bird viciously prevents you from putting it on in the first place. This is why it is very important to make the proper harness training up front. But it should make you feel better that both of my parrots have at some point had a TERRIBLE experience with the harness but with my training method overcome the fear and don the harness willingly. The only way you can know the parrot is ok with wearing the harness and won't fight or hold it against you, is by letting it put the collar on itself.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

This is a dumb question, but how do you actually physically remove it? There are great instructions for putting it on, but none for taking it off. We found the slide hard to slide, and moreso when it was installed, especially since once he was back inside, he really didn't want that thing on. That's why a quick release snap seemed like a good idea -- easier to do with one hand and one move, it'd be off.

[coral]

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... Id=2751020
this is the type of harness i have and it works great since i dont want him flying outside its easy to get on and off

[Michael]

This is a dumb question, but how do you actually physically remove it? There are great instructions for putting it on, but none for taking it off. We found the slide hard to slide, and moreso when it was installed, especially since once he was back inside, he really didn't want that thing on. That's why a quick release snap seemed like a good idea -- easier to do with one hand and one move, it'd be off.

First off, the harness stuff gets a bit loser and more flexible with use. Removing the collar from the head is best achieved by grabbing the top and bottom and pulling while twisting a bit to get it to slide over the Cape's massive head. It kind of has to turn just right and then it slides through.

If by slide you mean the buckle thing, perhaps you are doing it wrong? It is made so that human can slide it tight/lose but so that the bird cannot inadvertently loosen it. Don't pull the slack through in one move. Instead you gotta feed it twice. First into the buckle and then out of it on the other side. By doing it in two moves, it slides quite freely. If you do it in just one, then it is made to lock and not go. If this is still confusing, look at my Kili harness videos or I can make another with Truman. This system takes a little getting used to but once the bird and human are trained in its use, it is actually very quick and easy to do with fewer possible points of failure.

BTW if those snaps you showed me are plastic, I laugh at thee. Cape Parrot, plastic buckle??? My Cape wrips through thicker plastic than that in seconds. The breeder told me she reinforces all (cat) carriers she ships Capes in with steel mesh cause she has had situations where they chewed through the hard plastic! The aviator is a wonderful harness. It just requires a bit of learning both on the part of the parrot and the human.

[idlepirate]

If the harness removal process is too unpleasant, it won't be long till the bird viciously prevents you from putting it on in the first place.

pointing at me hey??
Same problem over here It was going so well, got it on (couldnt tighten the buckle fully though...and i agree its very complicated that buckle...yours for a oddly sized bird in the harness and me for a bird too small), and then I wanted to take it off drama drama, had to sacrifice my hands to lorenzos killer beak and just get it off as quick as I could holding my breath through the pain of his biting just to get it off as he started freaking out in it and then i started panicing.
since then I can only get his head through with michaels method and he puts his head through himself willingly. but the moment i try to lift a wing he flips into agressive mode and even growls at me!

if i would ever be so lucky as to get it on him completely again im also mostly worried about how to get the thing off. fair enough once they know that they're free when its off but they need to get to that stage first.
even while Im getting the neckcollar on all thats going through my mind is "what if hell let me put it on and trusts me and then i mess it all up by not being able to get it off smoothly enough"

[Michael]

A first step is to make sure the bird is very hand tame. Check out some taming techniques on my blog as well as towel taming. Basically get the bird very used to all different kinds of things touching it whether it's your hands, a towel, or the harness. You can make a "practice harness" out of your hands if your bird trusts your hands. Follow the motions that the collar would make slipping around the neck but with your fingers. Basically make sure both you and the bird are very comfortable with advanced handling. Then and only then should you start harness training. The first few stages of harness training don't involve putting it on at all but just getting the bird used to getting treats and nothing bad from the harness being nearby and eventually just touching the body. Only after this point do you work on the collar on and off technique and let the bird learn to do the task. Once the bird is voluntarily putting its head through the collar and getting it removed easily, then the rest of the straps are a breeze and not so bad for it. After sooo much positive experience, a tiny bad experience taking it off shouldn't hurt THAT much. However, if you're like entranced and just jumped right into harness wearing off the first try without establishing a positive association with it first, then your shit outta luck cause a really bad thing happened with the harness (removal) and nothing good about it before hand. This is a formula for disaster where the bird will absolutely hate it and you will have to go through even more extensive training to remedy the fright of it first before you can even get the bird to the point of liking it.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

Yes, I'm now seeing the getting it off part as considerably harder to get comfort with than the getting it on part. With Scotty, the over the head part was easy, it was getting it loose enough to come over the wings without wrestling the wings that was difficult. Getting the strap started through the slide once it's snugged down is not easy, and even harder one-handed. With one person, there would have been bloodshed, I think. As it was, no one got injured, but the bird got somewhat POd.

Michael, I agree plastic is vulnerable and I understand why the harness wasn't designed that way. I thought the slide was molded plastic on Scotty's anyway... on second look, maybe its anodized aluminum... but one can get a spring buckle made out of metal if it came down to that. But as a sort of a training wheels version, the idea of quick release is appealing. Taking the harness off is NOT as simple as reversing the process of putting it on the first time. There are analogies with horses... a flight animal can panic once it realizes it's restricted, and the bird may not fully realize it is restricted until the thing is in place. I don't see a way to prevent that completely during the training-to-put-on process and it would be nice to have an "Abort" mechanism.

Actually, I'm sort of liking the idea of making a training mockup, that duplicates each piece, but which is really easy to pull off if you make a mistake and push things too far. You could start with just a length of strap, and then work up to a mockup that goes together with velcro or even tape and has a quick release or snap or elastic section or something like that on each piece. That way you could put it on and take it off rapidly without the taking it off part being a big deal. Presumably by the time you'd done all that, when it came time to put the actual secure version on, there wouldn't be as much predisposition to panic.

Am I nuts?

[Michael]

Getting the harness off is not one bit harder than getting it on. Seriously, it's the exact same procedure in reverse.

1) Loosen the strap back to slack
2) Pull right wing through the slack end
3) Pull the slack over to the other side
4) Pull left wing through the slack end
5) Pull collar over head and off

The only reason I find removal difficult is because you are working against the feathers pulling the collar off. Kili's is a bit loose so it's very easy. But for Truman, his head gets sort of stuck as I am removing it. This is the only thing upsets him about the harness really. If it weren't for the fact that once on, it fits him perfectly, I would be looking for a bigger one.

You just gotta practice the collar on and off part with the parrot a hundred times or so to get it used to the head going in and out and the concept of putting the harness on. Beyond that, the rest is very simple. I don't think your bird even has long primaries, so it should be even easier to fit the wings through the slot.

But you know what, if you are finding all of this constraining and want to invest in something for "harness training," I'd suggest buying a harness size up. It is quite possible that the bigger size will be usable too but even if it ends up being way too big, it will be much easier to slip it on and practice with it.Then you can forget about all the buckles, tape, and what not. Once he is used to that, going back to the tighter one will be less trouble.

PS Try to buy the bigger harness in the same color so that transfer of training between harnesses is simpler. I like the green one cause it blends in more with the bird.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I think a bigger harness would help if the problem had been with the collar, but the problem was with getting enough slack to get the wings released. It took two people because he was wiggling so much and two hands were needed to work the buckle. A bigger harness wouldn't help with that. A quick release would. I was thinking of something I could make that didn't need to be functional, just something to practice the manipulations with a prop.