Step backwards in Step Up

I don't know what to make of this. I thought I reached the point where I would put my finger and say "step up" and my bird would automatically step up. Often I don't even need to say the words. I did reach this point through training with treats being delivered and praise at the beginning. But over time she would quickly hop on with no treat and I thought it was a level of trust.

But now, especially at the first point in the morning when I want to transfer her from the sleeping cage to the main cage, she does not want to step up. I find this strange as she needs to get in the main cage to go to the bathroom for the morning whopper of poop which she does within 10 seconds of being in the main cage.

Is this sort of a teenager rebellion thing? After waiting this morning, I got a treat. As soon as she saw the treat, she hopped on my finger. Or do parronts always treat their birds with every step up? I guess I am not clear what is meant by gaining trust with a parrot.

Birds are not machines, as I say to Mr. Bug every so often. They have minds and opinions of their own, and even if they love and trust you completely, sometimes they wanna do what they wanna do and they don't really care what you want them to do.



Alex knows that mornings belong to the little birds. In the AM he is super eager to say hi and come out, until I open the door and ask him to come out. Then it is full on tantrum time. Shrug. Birds are weird some times.

Bear in mind step up is a trick, always has been and always swill be. But people forget this,l. When you hit points like this, that is when you start rewarding PROMPT step ups. You have to remind them stepping up is a great thing they want to do.

It's very much a relationship matter.

Sometimes, you turn to a person and say, "Let's go for a walk." That person, if a stranger, might say, "Err... but what's in it for me?" Then you offer to buy lunch later, and that stranger is like "Cool, leggo!"

Then sometimes, you turn to a close friend and say, "Let's go for a walk." That friend might say, "Sure! Anytime, dude," and not expected lunch after, but if you keep up a routine of buying that friend lunch after the walk, he'd be more inclined to keep going on walks.

Then other times, you turn to a close friend and say, "Let's go for a walk." But that friend goes, "Oh, actually, I was planning on just chilling at home and watching a movie instead." You can then say, "Oh, but I'll buy you lunch," or you can accept his preference and say, "I hear ya, no pressure."

But your relationship with that friend is good when you firmly and urgently insist, "We need to go for a walk," and he understands this is a serious matter and goes on that walk with you.

^late night rambling, sorry. Succinct below:

For us, I have two different types of stepping up (inspired by Chris-md if he pops by this thread). One is the command of "step up" which absolutely much be obeyed - it's trained for Cairo's safety and he always gets a treat after if I can find one. The other is "do you wanna?" with an open hand at his feet (not pushing against him) - and Cairo knows he's allowed to decline this one. With the "do you wanna?" Cairo either pulls my fingers closer or pushes them away gently.

Thank you very much for the suggestion of two different types of step ups. You are right that there are times that the step up is a serious matter and other times it is sort of an option. I need to reinforce the serious step up with automatic treats with just the finger. The other day I was in a time sensitive situation and when I grabbed the wash rag to grab her, she immediately ran to the finger step up not liking the other option at all.

I would rather do it with positive reinforcement and treats with the pointed finger and keep the open hand as a loose option. I guess it will take time to sort of retrain the "firm" step up because as you said, it can sometimes be a safety thing.