leaving the cage

natalie

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I really need some help

Holly is doing great, no doubt. She lets me pet her entire body, is talking, is bonding, feeds me... everything....BUT...she will only do this while on her cage .... she'll also do it away from her cage .... BUT...the problem is getting her from the cage.

She does not like the thought of leaving it and gets very aggressive as soon as she suspects you're going to try to remove her.

So, I've been using a dowel to teach her to step up on .... like I said before, I have to actually push her off balance in order to get her to step up....and all the while she is screaming at it and biting it as hard as she can, pushing it away... I can NOT attempt a step up with my arm while she is on her cage....only away from it.

She bit my arm hard the other day trying to get a step up from her cage door.
But if she is on the couch or anywhere else, she will step up nicely.

When I do have her away from the cage, she'll play a little, and chatter with me, likes to be pet....but she is also stressed and only wants her cage back. She leans toward it (even if we are in another room)...and is very nervous.

So how do I properly work on this? I can't teach her that being away from the cage is good, if it is a fight just to get her off of it. Putting her in at night (because she likes to sit on top of it) is still a fight because she won't step up from it.

She is fine once I have her....so, why the fight to get her? She obviously feels safe only when on her cage .... and I understand that I have to slowly show her she is safe when not on it.... but that requires time away from it, even if for only 5 minutes....BUT, I can't get her to willingly come away from it, and you aren't supposed to force them to do anything....
so, if someone understands this difficult issue, I need help with it.
Am I wrong in forcing her onto the dowel? .... what if there is a fire or other emergency and I HAVE to get her to step up??

I want a bird that will sit with me, so training her to leave the cage is very important to me. I don't mind doing it in stages and understand that importance....but I'm not sure where to start with a bird that will literally open my arm if I even look like I want her to step up on it. ...and she is really starting to HATE the dowel...in fact, I think it has gotten worse...she now knows that the dowel takes her away from the cage, so she attacks it....It was supposed to teach her to step up!! ...and she will refuse any kind of treat for being good. She only wants to be on that cage.

Advice would be wonderful right now. She is definately ready for more training.
 
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Spiritbird

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Rosie can be the same way. One day I said to her want a piece of cheese (her most fav. food) and out she came. Even though she is not saying the word she sure knew what it meant. Does Holly have a fav. treat to entice her from the cage?
 
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natalie

natalie

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SB, I'm afraid that no treat is better to her than to stay on the cage ... so this is going to be really hard. I tried not giving her breakfast the other morning and instead holding it out to her and showing her she can have it if she steps on my arm....I went 3 hours of offering it to her that way before I realized it just wasn't going to work and gave her her food.

The only thing I have is that she likes to go into my bedroom to the big mirrors, and then we sing, dance and talk with the "other" bird. She loves it.

So, I ask her "Want to go see the bird?" in a happy voice and she knows exactly what I mean and she'll lean toward the direction of my room. .... BUt as soon as I offer a step up to my arm or shoulder, she gets mean and runs to where I can't reach her.

I don't know what to do.
 

antoinette

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Wow Holly sure has a mind of her own. !!!!!
This may sound silly, perhaps try another different dowel. Maybe she does not like the dowel for some reason.
Worth a try
Good luck
Keep us posted
 
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natalie

natalie

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Antoinette, it's not a silly idea, it's just not going to make a difference for her.

She grabs hold of the cage bars with her feet so tightly, that getting her off is really hard.

This is how it goes...

I get the dowel and bring it to her belly....right away, she yells at it, grabs it with her beak and pushes it away, if it does not go away, she grabs it and begins chewing at it and gets aggressive. She will also go up the dowel to try and bite at my hand. (she will bite anything hard that tries to pick her up from her cage)
I talk to her the entire time and tell her step up. I then have to push her off balance, while she is still bitging it, and pull her up onto the dowel.... Meanwhile she is grabbing and holding onto the cage as if for dear life....
once she is on, she then tries to grab the cage with her beak...so I have to move her away quickly....

once I have her, she stops all aggression and will then step up onto my arm. ...then she is sweet and I can pet her....but very soon, she is leaning toward her cage again and will act very stressed out....if I take her in to see the bird in the mirror, she is happy.

I just don't know what to do


I really think she spent 19 years doing nothing but sitting in her cage. :( I think she must have only left it for vet visits and other stressful stuff.... but like I said, how do I teach her it is good if we have to go through this every time?
 

Chaos_1.0

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I rescued two parakeets for a friend. It is a really long story but the short of it is these birds I guess to be about 4 and they have never been out of their cage. I just left the door open and put food outside the cage and they came out. They still aren't very comfortable with me but they come out and will step up. I have 3 cages the have a massive rope net play area over all three cages. They will not step up if they are on their cage but if they are on the net then they will sometimes step up. I would get a play area or something else and put it right next to the cage and see if she will step up from there.
 

Spiritbird

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It looks like Holly is showing some cage bound behaviors. No doubt this behavior was present from her previous life. It could be fear based from not being handled enough when young. She is guarding her turf and she must have a strong territorial instinct. Macaws can be prone to this type of behavior. I guess she feels the safest when she is in the cage. Next time you are going to get her out of the cage first ask is she wants to come out and watch the body language as you will be able to tell. Do not say step up if the body language tells you it is a no out of cage time. Suggest you have a t perch stand nearby set up with lots of goodies she can see. Always use a posative approach and dont have it in the back of your mind that she will not come out cause she will know you are thinking that somehow. It is going to take patience, posative approach with lots of verbal and non verbal praise from you. You once said you have lots of time and you are going to need it. Let us know.
 
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natalie

natalie

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Thanks for the replies.

I tried something new tonight and we had some success!

First off...she always wants to come out of her cage...I can pat the door and she will step out onto the door....I can literally put myself inside the cage with her and love on her and she is fine with that too ... she does everything great...just not leaving the cage.
So... tonight I picked up the dowel and instead of making her step up on it, I just showed it to her. She wanted to bite it, so I just left it in front of her to see it. Then I moved it all around her in sweeping arcs, not letting it touch her...everytime she bit at it, I moved it away and then returned it.
Then I began trying to touch her wing with it....it took about 5 minutes for her to let it touch her wing....and then slowly moved to petting her with the dowel... She enjoyed it...
ok....so now we know the dowel is safe
So then she wanted to come out and I put myself into the doorway of the cage and made it clear that the only way she could come out was to step up onto the dowel....she didn't want to...
so I kept petting her with it.
Then I asked her to touch the dowel with her foot....and I showed her by touching it with my hand and said "TOUCH" .... after a minute, she put her toe on it and I rewarded with a scratch on her head and said good girl!!
Then after about 5 or 6 touches.....she stepped up on it!
YAY!!

So I took her out, she stepped up on my arm and I kept praising her and petting her head (which she loves)....and took her right in to see the bird in my room. She loved it and called out excitedly.
5 minutes later or so, I let her go back to her cage and sit on top....she was ready to play.
Oh...thank goodness....it worked.... but we'll see if I have that much luck again tomorrow. I'll try it this way again and hopefully it won't be long before I tell her to touch my arm while in the cage for a step up.
 

birdcrazy

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AWESOME!!!! WAY TO GO HOLLY!!!! just keep it up you're gonna have good days and bad days, but stick with it. Keep up the good work!
 

antoinette

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Hi Natalie, I would certainly follow Chaos' suggestion

I would get a play area or something else and put it right next to the cage and see if she will step up from there.


I think it's a great idea !!! :D
 
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Auggie's Dad

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Sounds like you solved your own problem.

I take it Holly is clipped? Make sure she is able, and knows how to get back to her cage from anywhere - for example a ladder from the floor to the cage door is often handy, but from the sounds of it this is a bigger cage (is the door at floor level?)
 

parrotqueen

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Great job!!

I'm so glad that you were so persistent with your training, nice work! Keep sticking to it and soon Holly won't be cage aggressive anymore.
 

antoinette

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I tried something new tonight and we had some success!

I asked her to touch the dowel with her foot....and I showed her by touching it with my hand and said "TOUCH" .... after a minute, she put her toe on it and I rewarded with a scratch on her head and said good girl!!
Then after about 5 or 6 touches.....she stepped up on it!
YAY!!

So I took her out, she stepped up on my arm and I kept praising her and petting her head (which she loves)....and took her right in to see the bird in my room. She loved it and called out excitedly.
5 minutes later or so, I let her go back to her cage and sit on top....she was ready to play.
Oh...thank goodness....it worked.... but we'll see if I have that much luck again tomorrow. I'll try it this way again and hopefully it won't be long before I tell her to touch my arm while in the cage for a step up.[/quote]

Well done, what a great achievement. :D
Each and every bird is so different, glad you found a way, that works for you.
Carry on doing it daily, you will be greatly rewarded !!!! ;)
 
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