I'm in the dog house!

Having started harness training some weeks ago and going oh so slowly, today having played with the harness for a little while I popped it over Syd's head.

Mistake - big mistake! Huge! My plan was that he would take the seed I had ready in my hand while having the harness just over his head - no wings involved yet. I dropped the seed, he saw it, he lunged, realised the harness was on his head and tangled it in his feet.

He screeched and squawked and tried to run, got even more tangled until I finally managed to set him free. In all probably about 30 secs but it felt like a couple of hours. Believe it or not he then took the seed that I had recovered and calmly demolished it while giving me the evil eye.

We are friends again but the third person in this relationship - the Aviator harness in a pleasant shade of green to match his feathers - is banished to the bird kit box. I don't know when I will have the courage to introduce it again. I bet parrots aren't like fish with a 10 second memory span. No? Just my luck!

My friend... I have no choice but to side with your better avian-half... Syd!
The doghouse is too good for you: you're lucky he has allowed you to stay inside. Better yet, you're lucky that parts of your face or fingers aren't in that bird kit box.
My sympathies... and you meant so well!

GaleriaGila said:

My friend... I have no choice but to side with your better avian-half... Syd!
The doghouse is too good for you: you're lucky he has allowed you to stay inside. Better yet, you're lucky that parts of your face or fingers aren't in that bird kit box.
My sympathies... and you meant so well!

Click to expand...

It's true I did mean well, but suddenly I was all fingers and thumbs and he turned into a miniature whirling dervish, and slippery to boot. Or so it seemed. I have never felt quite so inept. He took me completely by surprise!

I'm a 100% major klutz. I laughed at this story, because this will be me trying *anything* with a bird! i'm sure all is not lost. Well, except you probably have to start from square one all over again, but at least he didn't take it out on you.

Having thought I would leave the harness in the box for the foreseeable future I gave in to bribery and corruption.

Syd seemed happy to play with the harness as he had before yesterday's debacle, so I got the seed pot out which of course he recognises only too well. He's no dodo when it comes to getting seeds without going through the process I am hoping for but with a lot of trial and error over several sessions today I have succeeded in getting him to put his head through a smallish loop of the harness (not the collar part) take a seed and extricate himself all without a murmur.
I am beginning to think that the collar is just a little small, not enough to go up a size after some investigation, Syd is only about 65g, so well within the size scale, but maybe his head is bursting with so much brain he needs a large size in hats!

He is very cuddly today and appears to have forgiven me for yesterday I'm just not convinced the memory of yesterday is completely erased. ONWARDS AND UPWARDS!

Just to quantify the brain size he currently says, Good morning, Good boy, Sleep tight, Pretty boy, and yesterday he copied my sneezes twice. I really don't know where he gets it from. He's still a baby!

That's great news!

I have the feeling this would be me so I haven't even tried a harness yet. I'd love to but...

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janquito said:

I have the feeling this would be me so I haven't even tried a harness yet. I'd love to but...

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You couldn't do any worse. I am convinced that slowly Syd is training me. It will probably end up with me wearing a harness while he takes me for a walk!

Go for it just don't rush it.

Dont give up! Getting him to put his head thru voluntarily ( for a treat) is the big hurdle. WHen I train with Salty , I keep the harness at about the finish closed size, and just drape it over his body/wings .

Actually putting it on him, I pt him on my lap, and take his head and put it thru the head loop, And then put the wing loops on, tighten them up and there you are. Just keep on practice him putting the head loop on and taking it off. THe idea is to desensitize him in practice to having that on. I assume you can handle sid? Like hold him, wrestle with him? Each bird is different, some calmly let you put the harness on, after awhile, some need some..... assistance, and and a few just never ever get it. Syd sounds like he is on his way, dont give up.

wrench13 said:

Dont give up! Getting him to put his head thru voluntarily ( for a treat) is the big hurdle. WHen I train with Salty , I keep the harness at about the finish closed size, and just drape it over his body/wings .

Actually putting it on him, I pt him on my lap, and take his head and put it thru the head loop, And then put the wing loops on, tighten them up and there you are. Just keep on practice him putting the head loop on and taking it off. THe idea is to desensitize him in practice to having that on. I assume you can handle sid? Like hold him, wrestle with him? Each bird is different, some calmly let you put the harness on, after awhile, some need some..... assistance, and and a few just never ever get it. Syd sounds like he is on his way, dont give up.

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I think more than half the problem is that he is soooo titchy (small) and wriggly. Usually I can hold him etc and he is really well behaved as a rule but when the panic set in it was chaos and I just wasn't ready for it. Getting the head part off him is quite tricky. All the vids I've watched it seems looser but this is quite tight around his head on the way off and seems to catch behind the ears.

Hopefully as we both get used to it we will get better at it.

T00tsyd said:

I am beginning to think that the collar is just a little small, not enough to go up a size after some investigation, Syd is only about 65g, so well within the size scale

Click to expand...

I had EXACTLY this when I tried to harness train Rio although the results weren't as pleasant as yours. He was doing fine with his but when he put his head through the collar it pressed on his eyes which brought out a full panic. Only he took off with it. then quickly dropped is at tangled round him. It took a good minute to get him out of it, I had to rip it slightly to squeeze his head out it was so small. After that he was petrified by anything resembling the harness. When I complained the company said their sizing is correct and refused to say anything further. I think they need to design a specific harness for GCC with a larger collar loop. they do seem to have large heads compared to other similar sized birds

LordTriggs said:

T00tsyd said:

I am beginning to think that the collar is just a little small, not enough to go up a size after some investigation, Syd is only about 65g, so well within the size scale

Click to expand...

I had EXACTLY this when I tried to harness train Rio although the results weren't as pleasant as yours. He was doing fine with his but when he put his head through the collar it pressed on his eyes which brought out a full panic. Only he took off with it. then quickly dropped is at tangled round him. It took a good minute to get him out of it, I had to rip it slightly to squeeze his head out it was so small. After that he was petrified by anything resembling the harness. When I complained the company said their sizing is correct and refused to say anything further. I think they need to design a specific harness for GCC with a larger collar loop. they do seem to have large heads compared to other similar sized birds

Click to expand...

That's really interesting, I'm so glad it isn't just me or Syd. I have looked at it carefully and am considering a little nick with sharp scissors on both back and front to give a little more give. I'm into sewing and think I might be able to adapt it to some degree. My main concern is once compromised how strong is the tape that the harness is made of and will it rip in use. If it did tear how far would it go? I think the sewing machine may be put into use to overstitch it to ensure strength.

If that proves to not be enough my other thought is to possibly remake it completely. I am fairly confident I can replicate it (without the fusing) making a new larger collar. I already have some very similar tape albeit in a different colour, I don't think Syd would object to a customised outfit. It needs some thought but would be possible.

I just thought - I have trained Syd to close his eyes by passing my fingers fairly tightly over his head from beak back to encourage him to close both eyes. That has worked pretty well.

T00tsyd said:

LordTriggs said:

T00tsyd said:

I am beginning to think that the collar is just a little small, not enough to go up a size after some investigation, Syd is only about 65g, so well within the size scale

Click to expand...

I had EXACTLY this when I tried to harness train Rio although the results weren't as pleasant as yours. He was doing fine with his but when he put his head through the collar it pressed on his eyes which brought out a full panic. Only he took off with it. then quickly dropped is at tangled round him. It took a good minute to get him out of it, I had to rip it slightly to squeeze his head out it was so small. After that he was petrified by anything resembling the harness. When I complained the company said their sizing is correct and refused to say anything further. I think they need to design a specific harness for GCC with a larger collar loop. they do seem to have large heads compared to other similar sized birds

Click to expand...

That's really interesting, I'm so glad it isn't just me or Syd. I have looked at it carefully and am considering a little nick with sharp scissors on both back and front to give a little more give. I'm into sewing and think I might be able to adapt it to some degree. My main concern is once compromised how strong is the tape that the harness is made of and will it rip in use. If it did tear how far would it go? I think the sewing machine may be put into use to overstitch it to ensure strength.

If that proves to not be enough my other thought is to possibly remake it completely. I am fairly confident I can replicate it (without the fusing) making a new larger collar. I already have some very similar tape albeit in a different colour, I don't think Syd would object to a customised outfit. It needs some thought but would be possible.

I just thought - I have trained Syd to close his eyes by passing my fingers fairly tightly over his head from beak back to encourage him to close both eyes. That has worked pretty well.

Click to expand...

I was thinking of doing that but I couldn't smooth it out. I think they need to make the collar be adjustable, if only slightly just to accommodate different birds heads. Or specific sizing for each species. Look at a macaw head compared to a U2, they're so different but they would most likely where the same size harness as they go by weight and body size opposed to the animal as an entirety

Well I have undone the stitching at the front of the collar and unpicked whatever it was that was like a glue that would have been scratchy against Syd's chest, if I restitch it parallel to the body band instead of at rightangles like it was, it will give me about 3/8" or just under 1cm and still maintain the sliding action. Will that be enough? Fingers crossed.

T00tsyd said:

Well I have undone the stitching at the front of the collar and unpicked whatever it was that was like a glue that would have been scratchy against Syd's chest, if I restitch it parallel to the body band instead of at rightangles like it was, it will give me about 3/8" or just under 1cm and still maintain the sliding action. Will that be enough? Fingers crossed.

Click to expand...

keep us updated! It would be nice to know if your method works. I think they sort of 'melt' the layers together so they don't have threads to worry about

LordTriggs said:

T00tsyd said:

Well I have undone the stitching at the front of the collar and unpicked whatever it was that was like a glue that would have been scratchy against Syd's chest, if I restitch it parallel to the body band instead of at rightangles like it was, it will give me about 3/8" or just under 1cm and still maintain the sliding action. Will that be enough? Fingers crossed.

Click to expand...

keep us updated! It would be nice to know if your method works. I think they sort of 'melt' the layers together so they don't have threads to worry about

Click to expand...

Yes I noticed that (on the video?) but this one was definitely stitched in place. I see the back neck join is done similarly but will be more difficult to adjust. I'll let you know how I get on.

Ok I have stitched it close to the body band and held a small pot of seed where Syd could only reach them by putting his head through the collar. SUCCESS! He reached right through to his shoulders got his seed then proceeded to get himself out. He squeaked once as he felt it around his neck but got out easily all by himself.

So the theory now should be that if I can get his trust to allow me to put it on again it should be easy. I am very relieved that I plucked up the courage. I really didn't want to try again with it appearing so tight. The body band still slips through easily. I've pulled at it really hard and it seems just as strong so I hope I've cracked it. We'll see.