Step up Training

Hello Everyone,

I am proudly owned by a 2 year old African Grey. Other than parakeets, he is my first parrot. I adopted him about a month ago from a lady who was undergoing chemo treatments. We fondly call the bird Loki as he truly is a trickster. Under my post I'll explain his trickster behavior which I am certain some of you can relate to; but first the important issue.

Loki knows the step up command/question. He refuses to step up unless you corner him. I do not like to corner him and quickly adopted a "look the almond is in your cage, either step up or put yourself away" routine. He eagerly puts himself away without issue. I am okay with this because it is way quicker and easier on me....

however, before we started this he would step up a little bit, now he won't at all. He knows we won't force him, so he just keeps winning. I am also probably dropping the ball because I am still giving him the almond even when he refuses to step up. I read that you should do this somewhere, but man is it counter-intuitive, especially when you feel the bird is "playing you."

I really feel like he is pushing boundaries and we just cave in because we read somewhere here or there to always give them their way....Or beware of plucking!!!!!!

The issue is that I want to clean the cage once a week. He doesn't like that. So I need to remove him from the cage for cleaning. But he doesn't want to go. Should I force him off to clean the cage, or do I keep waiting and hoping that he is not actually smarter than me (which I'm pretty sure he is). Does anyone have any advice?

He acts very well adjusted for the most part, very noisy (in a good way, not screeching, more smooching). His favorite game is the innocent "scratch my head" routine where he lowers his head only to turn and bite you, then laugh! That is how he got the name Loki! He is very sweet otherwise, he even kisses at the dogs when they walk by (of course they are terrified!)

We are definitely encountering other issues as well, but I feel that teaching him to step up at the necessary times is very important, and the stem of other issues we are having.

Your Grey is doing a great job of training you!
You must remember that they are very, and I mean very smart!!!
At present, you are letting your Grey run its life and surprise, doing a poor job of it.
Training is a process with lots of tiny steps and upon completion of each tiny step and as time passes, the completed combination of tiny steps, a reward is provided. What you are doing is teaching that doing anything gets rewarded.
There are two things happening during any training, one is the reward part and the other is developing a relationship that supports your Grey wanting to be part of the 'group.' Step-Up is a major part of that process.
Cleaning the cage: Tell the Grey; I am going to clean your cage (showing a wash rag or whatever), do you want to stay or move? Request a Step-Up. If s/he stays, clean the cage with only water! Any sign that s/he wants to move, request a Step-Up.

What you are doing is providing confusing signals and as a result getting Zero Results! Clarity matters with Greys!

Make the small changes above and your Grey will begin seeing the clarity and pick-up on what gets rewarded and what doesn't. Like I stated, they are very smart! Use that in your favor!

Just because a bird "knows" step up, doesn't mean they actually know it... (I'm sure there are plenty of birds who know how to say it, but don't actually do the behavior!) just because they may step up from one location doesn't mean that they know to step up from another location.


So to speak... we can see a barn from the south side and the north side and we know it's the same barn. For animals, it could be two completely separate buildings, despite the fact that it's not. Instead of seeing something as a "whole", they see it in parts.


It sounds like almonds aren't that big of a reward for Loki. Is there anything he prefers over almonds? Could it be another type of nut? Sunflower seeds? Dried fruit? Or???


To me, it sounds like he was kind of trained, then you basically trained him to not step up, so you need to go back to square one and figure out what his favorite rewards are, and start all over again. Reward any progress towards stepping up, even if he's not touching you.



Basically, step up training should look something like this.... in even more steps! And make sure that the reward is *small*, something Loki can eat within a few seconds. You don't want him to fill up too quickly, or take too long. Something the size of 1/4 to 1/2 the size of a sunflower seed would be an ideal size for training purposes.

1. Reward your bird for looking at you.
2. Reward your bird for moving his head towards you.
3. Reward your bird for taking a step towards you.
4. Reward your bird for taking another step towards you.
5. If he doesn't run away, keep rewarding him for remaining where he's at. (if he runs/backs off, you may need to start over again)
6. Reward your bird for taking a couple more steps closer.
7. Encourage him to come closer yet again and reward him.
8. Reward your bird for touching you with his toe(s).
9. Reward your bird for putting a foot on you.
10. *JACKPOT REWARD*
    Give your bird lots of goodies for putting both feet on you!

"At present, you are letting your Grey run its life and surprise, doing a poor job of it."

I agree and think you are right, I am convinced that I have allowed myself to drink the the "give them what they want" kool aid to a point where we are really not getting anywhere. I am frustrated. I had a theory on what I should be doing. Please let me know what you think. I also summarized what you think. I think my new thoughts may be dumbing it down too much, and simply conversing with the bird and giving it a few weeks may work better?

My theory, before your post was to give him nuts then stroke his feet. Then withhold nuts, stroke his feet, then give a nut. Next was the idea of having him sit on my finger while eating a nut (not going anywhere). Then eventually go somewhere then give the nut.

Are your thoughts that I should just say, "hey I'm cleaning your cage, see this rag, would you like to step up first? then offer a finger. After a few times you think he will take the finger? I would prefer this approach, because I feel like he is more clever than an animal you would/could normally trick with treats. Plus Loki, doesn't always want treats

SailBoat said:

Your Grey is doing a great job of training you!
You must remember that they are very, and I mean very smart!!!
At present, you are letting your Grey run its life and surprise, doing a poor job of it.
Training is a process with lots of tiny steps and upon completion of each tiny step and as time passes, the completed combination of tiny steps, a reward is provided. What you are doing is teaching that doing anything gets rewarded.
There are two things happening during any training, one is the reward part and the other is developing a relationship that supports your Grey wanting to be part of the 'group.' Step-Up is a major part of that process.
Cleaning the cage: Tell the Grey; I am going to clean your cage (showing a wash rag or whatever), do you want to stay or move? Request a Step-Up. If s/he stays, clean the cage with only water! Any sign that s/he wants to move, request a Step-Up.

What you are doing is providing confusing signals and as a result getting Zero Results! Clarity matters with Greys!

Make the small changes above and your Grey will begin seeing the clarity and pick-up on what gets rewarded and what doesn't. Like I stated, they are very smart! Use that in your favor!

Click to expand...

All of this! Very good.


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Reading this thread and looking at myself, I think I need to concentrate a little more on training Enzo, thanks.

Hi, I would start with MonicaMc's strategy first. You might not have to start from the very beginning if it becomes clear that he understands "step up" , but you still have to get him used to stepping up for you. Once you move onto the next stage don't reward the previous one unless you realise you've moved on too quickly and then go back. So treating at step 5 5 5 5 5 6 6 (nope, scaredy parrot) 5 5 5 5 is fine, but treating at step 4 5 4 5 6 5 6 4 5 6 5 6 isn't!

Don't give him a reward for NOT doing as you ask! There's no problem with just giving the odd treat whenever, but if you give a reward for NOT doing as you've asked you're teaching/training him to NOT do as you ask! If it just so happens that this is what he'd prefer to do he'll happily make the connection quickly because he's getting 2 rewards; the food and the removal of the step-up-hand (in this case) which will make him feel all warm and fuzzy inside! If you ask and he doesn't I would ask once more, if still no I back off for a minute and either try again or do something else.

It might make things easier if you use a clicker? I love them, but not everyone does. It allows you to "mark" behaviour that you like in a completely unique way with a noise he will only hear when he has done something you like. It buys you a little time between behaviour and treat and means that if you treat at other times just to be nice, he's less likely to repeat the behaviour he happened to be doing at the time because he'll know it didn't get him a click. You have to "charge" the clicker first, but there's plenty online about that if you're interested.

If the issue is that you need to be able to move him there are other options. You could train him to touch a target and gradually (the magic word for all of this!) move it out of his cage. You could try offering a wrist or arm rather than a hand for him to step up to. You could leave the cage open with something he could climb onto right next to it if he can't/won't fly and then move this away from the cage while you're cleaning. My Alexandrine doesn't know "step up", but will fly to me or "hop" onto a covered wrist from a few cm away.

My question to you is.... do you want Loki to do something because he wants to, or because he has to?

You could say it's like having a job... do you want to work and get paid? Or do you want to work without pay?



If you force Loki to do things he doesn't want to, you may see increased aggression, or just a complete shutdown... that is, he's simply given up. He realizes that he has no say in the final outcome and doesn't do anything.


If you give him choice, and help teach him that your choice is worth while, then he'll be more likely to do the things you want him to do because he realizes that good things come out of being asked. He may even start doing those behaviors without even being prompted to.

With Enzo, if i ask her to do something and she doesnt want to do it, she wont. If she *NEEDS* to do something, maybe danger is around or something as simple as I need to go to work and she wont go in her cage, I will raise my voice a bit and ill look at her sternly and she will comply. I dont use this unless i really do need to and she does recognise and respect it.

bigfellasdad said:

With Enzo, if i ask her to do something and she doesnt want to do it, she wont. If she *NEEDS* to do something, maybe danger is around or something as simple as I need to go to work and she wont go in her cage, I will raise my voice a bit and ill look at her sternly and she will comply. I dont use this unless i really do need to and she does recognise and respect it.

Click to expand...

Same here.


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