Progress on the harness front!

Kiwibird · Jan 14, 2018

Who says you can't teach an old bird new tricks? I am so proud of Mr. Kiwi

He is doing MUCH better with his harness these days. No longer does he react as though he's been set on fire when it goes on and he is even starting to walk around/explore with it on. Kiwi has a feather tether, which buckles on, unlike the aviator that pulls on. I color-coded where the buckles hook to, which has made it a much quicker process to get on and I think that has helped a lot. I've also found he seems to prefer it being buckled in the direction the leash would clip to the back instead of the belly (it can go on either way). Speaking of, I hope he'll soon be at a point where we can start practicing with the leash on. We haven't gotten there yet, but soon (I think). Hopefully by summer, he'll be ready to head outdoors again

wrench13 · Jan 14, 2018

WONDERFUL news!!! We know how hard you both have been working on this.

Kiwibird · Jan 14, 2018

Look at meeeeee! Scuttling around on the couch with my harness on and not trying to chew it off.

SailBoat · Jan 14, 2018

At this rate he is likely to have a sports jacket on by the time he turns 21!

Kiwibird · Jan 14, 2018

A sport jacket would be a nice upgrade. As is, he looks like he's running around half-naked

Then again, he'd still be half dressed even in a sport jacket, as no one has yet to invent pants for birds:33:

AmyMyBlueFront · Jan 14, 2018

Nice job Kiwi (AND MOM

)
What type of harness is that? Looks like it fits perfectly on him!
Ohhhhh Aaaammmmyyyyy...I have something to show youuuuu...

Jim

MooshieBird · Jan 14, 2018

Awesome! Another year or two maybe Mushka can join ya'll. Currently her harness is evil incarnate in her opinion.

Sunnyclover · Jan 14, 2018

That's amazing! I'm just ordered Finley a harness, I'm starting early.

CKP · Jan 14, 2018

Yay Kiwi!

I'm not jealous, nope, not at all... Congrats on the progess!!

Kiwibird · Jan 14, 2018

AmyMyBlueFront said:
Nice job Kiwi (AND MOM )
What type of harness is that? Looks like it fits perfectly on him!
Ohhhhh Aaaammmmyyyyy...I have something to show youuuuu...

Jim

It's a feather tether. Medium size, and it has adjustments so you can size it to your bird. It took a few tries and making little adjustments each time to get it adjusted perfectly. It buckles on, which is the #1 reason I bought it. The other "Aviator" style ones require one's bird to voluntarily be willing to stick it's head through a loop of nylon webbing. That level of obedient behavior simply does not apply to my bird

https://www.amazon.com/Premier-Feather-Tether-Harness-Leash/dp/B00OZBZ8T8

P.S. Kiwi tells Amy to RUN before she too suffers the shame and indignity of wearing a harness

AmyMyBlueFront · Jan 14, 2018

Kiwibird said:
AmyMyBlueFront said:

Nice job Kiwi (AND MOM )
What type of harness is that? Looks like it fits perfectly on him!
Ohhhhh Aaaammmmyyyyy...I have something to show youuuuu...

Jim

Click to expand...

It's a feather tether. Medium size, and it has adjustments so you can size it to your bird. It took a few tries and making little adjustments each time to get it adjusted perfectly. It buckles on, which is the #1 reason I bought it. The other "Aviator" style ones require one's bird to voluntarily be willing to stick it's head through a loop of nylon webbing. That level of obedient behavior simply does not apply to my bird

https://www.amazon.com/Premier-Feather-Tether-Harness-Leash/dp/B00OZBZ8T8

P.S. Kiwi tells Amy to RUN before she too suffers the shame and indignity of wearing a harness

Yep...I have one of those nylon loopy things and the moment I try to slip it over Amy's head,she glares at me with the evil eye

..NOT gonna happen.

Jim

Kiwibird · Jan 15, 2018

AmyMyBlueFront said:
Yep...I have one of those nylon loopy things and the moment I try to slip it over Amy's head,she glares at me with the evil eye ..NOT gonna happen.

Jim

Lol. I know that look :green:

When I watched the videos of how both style harnesses went on, I knew a buckle on one was iffy enough, but one he'd actually have to stick his head through voluntarily was never ever going to happen. Several years ago, I made him a hoodie and after wrestling him into it, he just rolled over and gave us the "put me out of my misery now" look and wouldn't get back up lol

It was really difficult to take off too because he freaked when I tried to pull it off his head. Couldn't imagine going through that process regularly to get him in and out of a harness.

LordTriggs · Jan 15, 2018

yes I hate to say in the future I would prefer either a clip on harness or one of those flight suits after Rio's brush with the aviator, easy enough to get on but getting it off was horrifying

Tami2 · Jan 15, 2018

That's awesome!! Congratulations. :emoticonc

Honestly, I don't believe my Levi would ever allow that.

Kiwibird · Jan 15, 2018

Kiwibird said:
LordTriggs said:

yes I hate to say in the future I would prefer either a clip on harness or one of those flight suits after Rio's brush with the aviator, easy enough to get on but getting it off was horrifying

Click to expand...

I saw the flight suits and while they are very cute colors/patterns, they all seemed to have "diapers" attached. Kiwi is already incredulous about having to be harnessed, but diapered as well? I decided to spare his last scrap of dignity as a bird

Kiwibird · Jan 15, 2018

Tami2 said:
That's awesome!! Congratulations. :emoticonc

Honestly, I don't believe my Levi would ever allow that.

Don't write off Levi yet! I know it seems some people have birds who take to wearing a harness after a few weeks, but those people seriously hit the parrot jackpot. The rest of us have a major challenge to get our birds in a harness. We've been at this for a year and a half with Kiwi to reach this point and still have yet to introduce the concept of a "leash" (the harness is bad enough to him, wait until he realizes the point of the evil contraption is to tether him to a human

). Patience and determination is key with birds!

AmyMyBlueFront · Jan 15, 2018

I know that shortening of the arm sleeve's is foo-foo'd apon by many. Amy seem's to have little interest in flapping

Oh sure,she loves the lessons ( just another play time for her)
It seems she'd rather walk,or hitch a ride with me

Amy has probably walked more miles than any other parrot I know lol.

Jim

Soyajam · Jan 15, 2018

Oh my gosh I'm soooo jealous.

I know you've probably gone into detail into another thread but what was the main component of getting you here?

Just being persistent with positive reinforcement? Is there a food Kiwi goes nuts for that helped here?
Did being regular with training sessions help?

I can't wait to see pictures of you guys out in the big wide world!

Kiwibird · Jan 15, 2018

AmyMyBlueFront said:
I know that shortening of the arm sleeve's is foo-foo'd apon by many. Amy seem's to have little interest in flapping Oh sure,she loves the lessons ( just another play time for her)
It seems she'd rather walk,or hitch a ride with me
Amy has probably walked more miles than any other parrot I know lol.

Jim

Kiwi is in the same boat with flight (just not his thing) and everyone is comfortable with him being clipped. Amy also knows no different to being clipped, so to her, it's no big deal (even if to some people, you're a big meanie for clipping her

).

Had Kiwi not taken a few little flights even with his clip, I wouldn't be concerned with the harness but I will just never feel safe with him uncaged outside again

I also don't want to give him a more severe clip either, so the harness was the compromise!

Kiwibird · Jan 15, 2018

Soyajam said:
Oh my gosh I'm soooo jealous.

I know you've probably gone into detail into another thread but what was the main component of getting you here?

Just being persistent with positive reinforcement? Is there a food Kiwi goes nuts for that helped here?
Did being regular with training sessions help?

I can't wait to see pictures of you guys out in the big wide world!

Kiwi is not treat responsive enough for it to be effective for training. If he likes the activity, he'll take the treat but if he's not interested, no treat on earth can entice him to do something he doesn't want to do

He kind of requires a firmer hand at times than other birds. After months upon months of introduction of the harness, laying the harness on him, wearing the harness on our hands to show it was safe etc... and still 0 interest in allowing us to put it on, we took a bit of a "sink or swim" approach. We took him into a low light room (which calms him) and put it on despite his protests. We'd put it on him and immediately take it back off at first, but then we gradually started leaving it on for longer and longer, and then started bringing him out of the office into the main living area to learn to walk in it. Now, we didn't practice daily or anything, thus why it's taken a year and a half to get him to wear it for longer periods of time, but had we not just stuck it on him (after a sensible amount of time of making it clear it wasn't going to hurt him), we never would have gotten to this point

Progress on the harness front!

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How much displacement biting is normal for an amazon?

Amazon or not

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