three steps forward, two steps back (harness)

[CSLFiero]

Loxley wore his harness for the first time yesterday. He was figetty, but didn't bite or run. Definitely helped working with him for a solid week on putting his head through and letting me manipulate his wings.

But when it was on, he was not pleased. He continuously poked at it and the moment he realized he couldn't fly, he was fully panicking. Very scared. Refused any and all reinforcement.

Through a dangerous series of letting him free fly with the harness on and gradually walking him out the door, we eventually got his courage up high enough to actually go outside and be clipped into us.

To prevent as much trauma as possible, we got the harness off of him in nearly the same ease as it went on. He wore it a sum total of an hour maybe. He wasn't accepting reinforcement and every instance of inhibited flight sent him into a maddening screeching tumble to the floor followed by heaving and picking the harness and surrounding feathers. I couldn't have him tangled up in his toys, so i took it off.

I must admit, i want sure any of it was progress. Maybe i waited to long to get it on him, but really i feel blameless because supposedly there's some voodoo health reasons for loxley to be outside and i worked damn hard to get him comfortable enough with the process of putting on and taking off the harness to be told the problem is me.

I struggled to justify the harness at all. Maybe it is healthy, who really knows without a government grant and some biochemist? But if the harness makes those health benefits unattainable, what's the point? If your bird reaches the end of your line and doesn't lose its mind, don't consider yourself special. Sometimes i find my choice to leave loxley flighted difficult to justify, but it's too late to change my mind. I guess when your friends say one night won't get you pregnant, the same applies to flight. I felt like if i had just thought about it enough, if realize how nothing comes without consequences.

But after all the drama, conflict, and lament, i think I've settled on this being a gross positive. Maybe i pooched the positive association of the deal, but i have to believe i made up for it in reduced fearfulness. In the end, we did spend 10 minutes in the real outside. And at least for me, that felt liberating. And neither of us got hurt. I didn't try to put the harness back on today, and it may take a while before he wears it again, but it's a start. Hope for it to get better.

Here's a short video of the build up to stepping outside for the first time: http://youtu.be/akVCme_wXkE

[Michael]

Nobody wants someone to force a funnel to pour chocolate syrup down their mouth. In other words "good things" have to be enjoyable to the parrot or what's the point of doing them?

There's nothing voodoo about the importance of direct natural sunlight for birds or for that matter people. It is needed for vitamin d production, calcium absorption, and for psychological well-being. Absence of sunlight is known to cause depression and high suicide rates in arctic human populations. Even prisoners are given outdoor time weekly.

But this has nothing to do with harness. Nor does clipping or not. You can just as well take the parrot outside in a travel cage to achieve the same health benefits. Even a clipped parrot should not be taken outside unharnessed, recall wolf's recent story with his grey he thought cant fly. The benefit of a harness is mobility, flight exercise, and socialization. Those can to a certain extent be achieved indoors but doing it outside is the ultimate.

If the bird is not taking treats because it is so freaked put by the harness, then how is this a valuable experience? The bird is getting no enjoyment out of it be it going outside or eating treats. I'm not bashing you for sharing. I just want you to think about what you are doing andy why and then orient your training to suit that.

[CSLFiero]

I know there are health reasons for humans, but i don't see how anecdotal evidence like that transfers to parrots. I don't think there's anywhere to go with the debate, if there is a debate, from there.

I know and agree about the harness when it relates to clipping, it's just that flight has been a positive and rewarding activity his whole life and the harness snatched that away for at least the time he was wearing it. I don't see how that is substantively different from clipping a fully fledged bird in terms of harm to the psyche. Is it so much less harmful just because it can be easily undone? Who would do that to someone the love, to make a practical joke that, if permanent, would be psychologically devastating? This was my thought process, I'm still for the harness and for flight. I'm just acknowledging the consequences of those two things coexisting with the respect it deserves because my choice to leave loxley flighted wasn't informed. I foolishly accepted it as a magic bullet of sorts.

It had to happen sometime. I had to have him on a harness and when i got him there, i had to reward it as much as possible. I couldn't reward his complaints by immediately taking it off, he was complaining before it got all the way on because he was figetting. It took nearly an hour before he let us stand only just outside the door with him, i don't think I'm putting chocolate down his throat, i think he tasted the chocolate and didn't fancy it from the first bite.

I get so many mixed messages when i hear advice, things like not acknowledging problem behavior, but acknowledge these complaints? And then rewards, if one can't reward with food, reward by removing the harness then? Sooner or later, loxley was going to reach the end of the rope and find it how unsavory that is. That can't be the reason i remove it, it's bound to happen outside, far from home, when something new and scary happens. For me, it might be hard, but i had to keep him in the harness until at least some amount of calm had been achieved so at least i could be rewarding the calm.

But i don't know for sure yet if the damage done outweighs the training we've gone through, since I've given him a day to not have to think about it. We'll be back to harness training later this week and I'll find out.

Anyways, thanks for your interest and comments, mike. And for your respectful suggestion.

[Pajarita]

Anecdotal evidence of the benefits of sunlight for birds?! You have been sorely misinformed, there are heaps and heaps of scientific studies and concrete evidence on this. From the fact that they are the most visually dependent vertebrate, that they can see UV light (not present indoors), to the production of vit D3 without which calcium cannot be absorbed, and calcium is not only for bones, it's for muscles (think heart!), prevents cancer and obesity, controls blood pressure and carries nutrients across cells, regulates sexual and mood hormones. Sunlight is, actually, a nutrient for birds without which, they would die. We can give them supplements but nothing beats nature.

As to the bad experience with the harness, I think it's because you rushed things a bit. You should have taken as long as it took to get the harness on him without him fidgeting and, when you achieved this for a few days in a row, you should have made him wear it for a little while each day indoors, gradually making it longer until he no longer minded at all, then have him fly with it indoors until he learned what his limits were and then and only then take him outside. And there are longer leashes that you can attach to it.

[Wolf]

I am finding myself agreeing with Pajarita on this. Your difficulties began when you insisted on getting the harness on despite your bird telling you that he was uncomfortable with proceeding further at that time. With birds it is always a matter of patience and trust as well as communication. Sometimes humans forget that communication is a two way street, especially when it involves animals. Some of us look at a parrot speaking as just mimicry, or an amusing trick and fail to realize and understand that the bird is learning to speak, just as a child does, for the purpose of communication. Parrots speak in context, and with understanding of what they are saying if that is the way that they are taught to begin with. This one sided viewpoint, that a talking parrot is a learned trick and only mimicry, leads to not listening to your bird when it tries to tell you something, using body language, attempting to avoid things or by actual speech.
I did not think that Kookooloo could not fly, rather that she had shown absolutely no inclination to even attempt to fly ever. I was not sure if she was aware that flight was an option. Although I am very please that she can fly and has blessed me with that knowledge, I do wish that she had chosen a different time and set of circumstances to share with me that she indeed knew how to fly. And she flies very well, I might add.

[marie83]

Evidence or not (and there is) nature did not give them brick houses to live in with artificial lights, the sun has benefits for other animals so it's ridiculous to think that it doesn't benefit them the same way. Animals that have evolved to live with less sun are crepuscular or nocturnal, I think it's logical that it doesn't benefit them much to go out at midday for example. Honestly I really do believe nature knows best.

Anyway that aside I think your little rant/vent or thought process on this is just sheer frustration that the harness training hasn't gone as well as it appeared to. I had this multiple times with Ollie, we would make amazing progress, first time I put the harness on him fully he panicked and went flapping round and landed on the floor screaming and attacking the harness. Eventually we tried again because he wouldn't entertain the idea of having it nearby so I gave him a little break to dull his memories of it. We took it much much slower the next time but the end result was that we could get it on him without him panicking but he chewed the harness relentlessly. I persevered with him for months but came to the conclusion if he was chewing at it so much that nothing could distract him it was doing him more harm than good from the stress.

I really really wanted Ollie harness trained as my bf lives in a block of flats so we cant just sit him out in the garden and keep a close eye, we have to lug his heavy travel cage up and down stairs and sit on the small grassy patch in front of the flats. We do it when we get chance but it really isn't practical at all and therefore doesn't happen as often as it would if we could just nip out with him.

Now I'm not saying we could never get Ollie harness trained with a lot of time and patience, I honestly do think we could. I just wasn't in a position where I could sit down and have regular, consistent time to train him and take things even slower by the time I stopped trying and I decided it was less stressful to both of us at that time. I will probably try again some day, I don't know when though.

If you want your parrot harness trained then don't give up, don't let yourself get frustrated. Do keep reminding yourself that you need to be patient (these are wild animals and im sure being harnessed must feel like being caught in a netted trap to start off with), do go right back to the start and take things much much slower. Be prepared for several setbacks- you might not get them if you take it slow enough but be prepared anyway. Working with Harlie (read harlies progress if you want to know more) has taught me a hell of a lot about the rewards of having good patience, however that doesn't mean it isn't frustrating. Just try to let it wash over or go away, deal with it and go back to the training later on.

[Michael]

Here's a better way of looking at this. Your parrot should want to wear that harness more than you want it to. Right now you want it a lot and the parrot doesn't want it at all. Your expectations are too high, the parrot's motivation too low. Work on reducing your own rush/desire and increasing your parrot's. Then you will succeed.

When I harness trained Santina, I didn't care how long it would take. I knew we'd get there sooner or later and just worked on getting her to want to wear it. I had no idea she'd learn it in under a week but this worked because I did not rush the progress because of self-imposed deadlines or desires. That's the attitude I recommend going in with.

As for hitting the end of the leash business, frankly when you do it right, the parrot shouldn't be so panicked that it takes off and hits the end of the leash the first few weeks you use the harness. It should just stay on you calmly. Eventually something somewhere will spook it, but by then the parrot knows the harness isn't bad, just flying off while wearing it is.

[CSLFiero]

I'd love to see those studies, i read practically everything i can get my hands on when it comes to parrots.

Maybe i did rush things, but to me that's hardly clear. I didn't force the harness on him, he sticks his head in voluntarily, he let's me hold his wings voluntarily, he just figets because he's done what he's got to do to get a treat and now that he got it, he wants the harness off.

Where would i be with his taming (not training) if i removed the harness just because he's insisting after he's put his head in, he's done? For that matter, if i remove my fingers when he snarls because he's chewing something he shouldn't? He'd fight me every time.

[Wolf]

It is difficult at times and you will have to deal with things as best you can at the time. You make a post and you tell us that he was fidgety when you were putting the harness on, we read what you say and how you say it, then we answer with the majority consensus being that based on what and how you said it that perhaps you were pushing a bit faster then you should have to get the desired results, then a couple of posts later you say that the fidgety behavior was after you had put the harness on, which is a different scenario totally.
It is difficult for us too to try and give you all the right information, because you maybe forgot to mention something that was important or you didn't mention it because you didn't think or know its importance or things just get put in the wrong order in the telling of it.
We do understand this happens because we see it a lot more often than not and so we try to work with it the best that we can to give you the best information that we can. Just try to remember that all we can do is make suggestions based on the information that you give us. We do draw on our own knowledge and experience but sometimes the right answer on what appears to be very similar circumstances are totally different. So you tell us a story or not and ask a question, we answer and it is entirely up to you on how you use that information and suggestions.

[KimberlyAnn]

Birds need sunlight in the same way their distant relatives (reptiles) do. For vitamin D. Look to nature to see the proof. Birds do sit in the sun, some with their wings open. It's common knowledge and with a quick Google search, you can find a huge amount of links. If the harness does not work for you, put a cage out. I cover my bird's outside cage halfway and I know she's done once she goes to the shady side. In fact, daily my bird flies over to the window about an hour before the sun sets and slowly moves her foot all over her face and head while sitting in the sunlight. She's not getting any benefits if the window is closed of course, but she knows to do this instinctively. Plus, it feels good to her to be outside in the sunlight.

Just remember, lack of vitamin D can make many animals and humans sick. Taking your parrot out at least once a week will keep them well.