*Progress Log* Untamed baby Budgie, untrained bird owner.

[cham87]

. Thanks for showing interest. I wasn't sure if anyone really cared about the thread hehe.

Well. He apparently was fine while at my Dad's. The day I came home which was yesterday Tuesday I walked up stairs in excitement with my girlfriend to see Fleury. What I saw was my room door open. There are signs on it that say keep door closed (front/back). Fleury's cage sitting sideways with food water and poop everywhere. My dad dropped Fleury of where I told him to on Sunday night. He didn't close the door obviously. Lets just say it was very stressful and I was very angry. Fleury is okay though, but now I know my cats will try and kill him which is awful. They do not do that with my African Grey, I guess that is why my Dad didn't think he needed to close my door. WAAH!

I cleaned up the mess cleaned out Fleury's cage; it is spotless. Gave him fresh food and water last night. Grabbed him out of his cage- he still runs away from my hand but does not try to bite me or anything like that he just doesn't want to leave his cage I guess. Then I put him on his training perch. It is about 5 feet away from his cage. Fleury would jump off the perch onto the floor and I would tell him to step up and he would then I'd put him on his perch. Then sometimes during handling him he would jump off my finger towards his cage which is about 3 Feet away from his cage. So he does a lot of jumping- maybe he is bored with sitting on the cage or on my finger, but I feel like since I have been gone for a few days that maybe it will just take a little time for him to calm down. He is still where I normally keep him in my room. His cage is near my laptop here as I write it. About 1 foot away from me. He is actually eating right now hehe. When I left he would not really eat in front of me. He also is eating his pellets. This is a first that I have seen.

Here are some pictures of Fleury I took last night!
http://i41.tinypic.com/3d9v8.jpg

[GlassOnion]

Have you started clicker training? The biggest thing I noticed is that when clipped untamed birds seem tame, they go wild as soon as they get their wings back. This happens because they aren't really tame, it's just the lack of flight that makes them helpless. It's important to actually 'tame' him and clicker training helps immensely.

[cham87]

Hey GlassOnion thanks for the response. I have not started clicker training because I am under the impression that I cannot start that until Fleury eats treats from my hand which he has not started.

[Michael]

Yeah, you have to step over a minimal boundary of trust first and this can take a while. But once you get the clicker training going, things really take off. It could take 3 weeks to get the bird to take treats from your hand, 3 days to target train, and 3 hours to be stepping up once it all comes together.

[cham87]

Micheal what do you think about my relationship with Fleury as of current. I am next to him while he is in his cage for a couple hours everyday. I bring him with me via his cage when I can. But when I try to take him out of his cage he hesitates and try to not be taken out. I can make him step up while my finger is in his cage but when he realizes I'm taking him out he will jump on a perch so I grab him how you say, the ok sign around the neck I put him on a perch and he sits there. I'll say step up and he will then I sayperch and put him down. Sometimes he will jump off the perch and step up on my finger and be put back on perch. Sometimes I need to grab him using the ok sign around the neck then put him on perch. He likes to jump towards his cage and try to get back into it but I let him try then step up and back on perch.

[Michael]

He just needs to learn that being out of the cage is good. This will take some time and training. Not a big deal. Just do training out of cage sight/reach.

[brfussne]

:). Thanks for showing interest. I wasn't sure if anyone really cared about the thread hehe.

Well. He apparently was fine while at my Dad's. The day I came home which was yesterday Tuesday I walked up stairs in excitement with my girlfriend to see Fleury. What I saw was my room door open. There are signs on it that say keep door closed (front/back). Fleury's cage sitting sideways with food water and poop everywhere. My dad dropped Fleury of where I told him to on Sunday night. He didn't close the door obviously. Lets just say it was very stressful and I was very angry. Fleury is okay though, but now I know my cats will try and kill him which is awful. They do not do that with my African Grey, I guess that is why my Dad didn't think he needed to close my door. WAAH!

I cleaned up the mess cleaned out Fleury's cage; it is spotless. Gave him fresh food and water last night. Grabbed him out of his cage- he still runs away from my hand but does not try to bite me or anything like that he just doesn't want to leave his cage I guess. Then I put him on his training perch. It is about 5 feet away from his cage. Fleury would jump off the perch onto the floor and I would tell him to step up and he would then I'd put him on his perch. Then sometimes during handling him he would jump off my finger towards his cage which is about 3 Feet away from his cage. So he does a lot of jumping- maybe he is bored with sitting on the cage or on my finger, but I feel like since I have been gone for a few days that maybe it will just take a little time for him to calm down. He is still where I normally keep him in my room. His cage is near my laptop here as I write it. About 1 foot away from me. He is actually eating right now hehe. When I left he would not really eat in front of me. He also is eating his pellets. This is a first that I have seen.

Here are some pictures of Fleury I took last night!
http://i41.tinypic.com/3d9v8.jpg

Of course we care about you & Fleury!!! I'm glad that Fleury is okay & that your cat did not make a meal out of Fleury!! Cats & dogs cannot be trusted around small animals no matter how well you think they may be "trained." My two dogs love being with my husband and I, so we trained they to lay down on our bed & not leave the bed when we let our two chinchillas out so the dogs could see them and still be with us. That went well for about two months. One night we had our two Chinchillas out running around our bedroom when our Siberian Husky got too excited and he jumped off the bed to sniff one of the Chins. His tail was wagging and he had never shown any signs of agression towards small animals so we allowed him to sniff the Chinchilla. Then all the sudden he nipped it!! Thank goodness all he got was hair and did not hurt our Chinchilla. They are never allowed near our Chins again. Even though the other dog did no wrong, we are not taking any chances. Both dogs are not to be near the Chins. Just because your cat does not bother your Grey now, it may later on. Be careful and always supervise other pets around Fleury & your Grey. Be sure to watch your two parrots together as well if your Grey ever meets Fleury.

[cham87]

So as of now I am living at my girlfriends apartment. I got to a point where Fleury would sleep on my finger, which was great. But unfortunately I have went backwards in progress because I attempted to further the taming by doing the finger around the neck and holding him on his back side. This ended up getting him mad where now he will bite AND doesn't want to jump onto my finger from his perch. So I started just how I did when I first got him by getting him to stepup saying stepup and then telling him to go to perch. Just repeating this. The taming on the back is usesless if he does not get a treat for laying still and calm. He still does not take treats from me-- he is probably going to take a little longer now . Oh well.

[brfussne]

You haven't went back in progress, you just jumped the gun to say. You did something that Fleury was uncomfortable with. If Fleury isn't comfortable with you touching his/her back side, then simply touch it for a split second, click, and reward with millet. Soon Fluery will tolerate you touching it because it gets a reward. After Fleury gets used to you touching, you can move to petting on the back, then to holding onto it's back.

[GlassOnion]

I can hold my Budgie on her back, but I'll do it maybe once or twice every few days with a treat so that she doesn't become to hate it.