Charlie and the flight harness

So now that I have been forgiven for my indescrections with Paulie Charlie loves me again. He is still jealous but not in a "bite your face off" way. Today during our afternoon play romp , my daughter suggested that we try his aviator harness. She had him laying upside down on her lap so we could love his tummy feathers and we just draped it across his body and let him hold it with his feet and beak. He is used to us playing with him this way because we put plastic clothes hangers and wash cloths across him when he is laying on his back. He juggles them with his feet and grabs them with his beak to chew on all the time while I'm doing laundry. We think he is hilarious wrestling with it all. Any way, I figured he'd freak out a little or move away from it but instead he just started playing with it. So we took the next step and slipped it over his head. He just kept playing with us and the cord, so we kept going. We got it over both wings and tightened it up and he was FINE!! He let Tessa put him on the floor (he hates being on the floor, btw) and he just stood there and looked at her. We only left him there for about 90 seconds and then picked him back up. We kept playing with him and loving him and "roughing up " his feathers for a few more minutes. Then we took the harness off. He never minded at all. I wonder if he even really noticed! First experience with flight harness was positive!!! Yeah!!! Happy birdie, happy mommy, happy daughter!!

Congrats!

Whether well played or just plain luck - it worked!

I will have to try that approach with my RLA. The aviator harness I bought for my YNA is too small but it might fit my RLA.
texsize

Wow, some folks have all the luck. Salty is going VERY slowly in accepting the harness.

Now how cool was that? Maybe coz you had Chaz's mind on playing and getting loveys,he didn't notice <or care > At any rate,thats awesome!


Jim

That is great. I wish BB was that easy. Will keep trying but doubt he will accept. Can't wait to see pictures of Charlie outside with it on

this is Charlie when we put his harness on again today. He only wore it for about ten minutes and then It took it off before he got upset about it. The lovely birdie assistant is my daughter Tessa.View attachment 16952

That's great! Next time you get it on him, I would run outside and make sure he has a good time exploring. You want him to associate the harness with going out and most birds LOVE going out In the future, when he sees the harness he may even get excited! My little brat has been harness training for >1 year!

Kalel said:

That's great! Next time you get it on him, I would run outside and make sure he has a good time exploring. You want him to associate the harness with going out and most birds LOVE going out In the future, when he sees the harness he may even get excited! My little brat has been harness training for >1 year!

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Charlie generally goes outside without the harness but lately I worry that he might take flight so I ordered the harness. He has always been really good about staying on my arm, shoulder, or the back of my chair. I just got an outside cage for him but he is used to just hanging out with me. Charlie once spent an entire afternoon on the back of my chair keeping me company while I changed the water pump on my car. He liked the wind and the sunshine but didn't like the greasy hands I had at the end. Charlie has had a scare and taken flight twice and I had to fish him out of a couple of trees before. That scares me too much so I was limiting his outdoor time. And with him feeling hormonal I worry about him getting away. I couldn't stand to lose him! I don't want him to miss his outdoor time either so a harness and an outdoor cage seem like a good compromise. The harness will be for when we leave our house/yard and go into the public. It is part of Charlie's socialization training to meet new people and be in new places but still be safe and okay. We take things very slowly because it is new to both me and Charlie (he is my first birdie, and i know that his trust is precious )