Harness training and recall for flighted birds

I took Eddie for his first walk today with the dog (he was in his carrier). Eddie often gets to sit out in the backyard in his cage and fly round under the back veranda, but this is the first time I have taken him for a walk. I am starting to get him used to the outdoor world as I am going to be starting harness training and recall in about a week. It will be a long time before I get him outside on a harness, but it’s never to early to start getting him used to outdoor distractions – plus, he seemed to enjoy it.

Has anyone got any tips for successful recall training? Both my birds have what I would define as ‘casual recall’, in that they only respond if they want to. I have target trained both my birds on the perch and cage but have yet to have success with flight. I have read things about ‘variable ratio reinforcement’, is this a successful method? Any tips on harness training would be appreciated too.

Cheers

In addition to above, how do you get a bird to learn its limits on a harness without having him hurt himself? - flying away at full speed and then being stopped suddenly. Even on one of those bungee leashes I would think the force might hurt them. Is it best to recall train while wearing the harness?

Well, for recall, I would try target training from a distance, and if that doesn't work, don't feed him for a couple hours, then try showing him food or a treat and see if he'll fly(I did this with my Cockatiel, eventually I got him to fly like a hawk and go low to the ground, then almost straight up to my hand.). Can't help with the harness too much (as I will be doing this very soon too.) but I would start small, and only give him a foot or two of rope, then gradually get longer and longer... If you can, I would also make a "training Leash" out of VERY stretchy rope, just so he feels the slowing down part of it.

Yea the training leash sounds like a good idea. I guess I'm confused about when to introduce the harness - I mean do you train the recall and then introduce the harness or train the whole thing while he's wearing it? Also, have you ever used a whistle with your birds? I thought it might work better for outdoor locations, when the bird may not be able to hear as well.

I would first make sure he's got recall down, then harness train him, then see if he'll recall with the harness on. I haven't tried an actual whistle that goes around your neck, but i have used my mouth for it, and it worked well.

I got Scarlett to recall reliably really easily. I noticed she looks at my hand movements and ignores commands. So I thought I'd use a particular whistle instead of a "come here" command, since she might not be able to see me when I want to call her, and a whistle is more attention-grabbing.

(edit: a physical whistle might not be a good idea, cause if that's the command to come, and they get out or you need to call them cause they're about to do something dangerous, and you haven't got it with you or you've lost it, you won't be able to get them to come!)

Anyway I would stand close to the cage when she was on it, show her a sunflower seed, hold my arm in position, and make the whistle when she flew over to get it. Then I would try and anticipate when she was about to take off, and whistle just before it. Then I wouldn't have the seed in my hand at all (but give it to her immediately when she came).

Then it was a problem that she would come when she wasn't called. In that case I'd keep my arms by my sides so she was forced to land on my chest, and put her back without a seed.

I moved back further and further, and she kept coming back reliably. Then I taught her to fly off when I asked her to (and not before). I held her up and said loudly "Go! Go!" and shook my arm a bit to make it obvious she should leave, and when she landed anywhere, I'd give her another seed.

Then it became a problem that as soon as she got her seed for coming, she would fly off again to get another seed. When that happened, I would not give her a seed and stopped the asking her to come, as though she had told me she was tired of it. Also while she was on my arm I would turn when she turned to face the cage to take off, to block her, and say calmly, "Wait, wait".

Anyway, now, as long as she is not super busy or interested in something, she will come every time I call her. Sometimes she behaves like she's about to take off, then stops. That means she's lazy and wants me to come a bit closer. She also flies off without me asking when she is sick of flying back and forth, and I respect that.

Recently I've been getting her to come when she can't see me. She isn't very good at it yet, and will usually only do it if she actually sees me go around the corner, and I don't delay more than a few seconds calling her.

Also it is probably better to recall-train without a harness on, since they will be very distracted by it! You would have to wait a long time to start the recall training if you had to wait until they were totally comfortable with the harness.

I haven't been able to target-train. How do you do it? I imagine it would be very useful, like if they started flying toward something dangerous.

I think I've noticed something useful for teaching parrots. If you respond when they say something or do something as though they actually wanted you to respond that way, even though you know it's just a random utterance or random behaviour, they will learn that's what they need to do to get you to do the thing. For instance here she learned that the flying would stop if she flew off without me asking, since I stopped asking her to when she did. Also, she started using the "come-here" whistle in her everyday talking, and the first time I heard it, she had knocked her food dish off the cage wall. I believed (fantasised maybe) that she was calling me to come fix it. Anyway I thought it wouldn't do any harm to come give her attention or pick her up everytime she made the whistle. And now she uses it whenever she wants something. Like if she's on my shoulder sharing my dinner, when she's finished whatever bit I've given her and wants some more, she makes the whistle. Or if she's flown to the fridge because she heard me in the kitchen and I didn't take her with me when I left the kitchen, a few minutes later she'll make the whistle if she doesn't know where I am or I'm upstairs (which she can't seem to figure out how to fly to). Or if we've put her in her cage cause we're eating and don't want to be bothered by her, if we finish dinner and haven't let her out for half an hour, she'll start the whistle.

Thanks for sharing that QC, you have done a wonderful job so far, keep it up. The recall training I am doing with Eddie is still quite casual. I am using a whistle and hand signal for him to come. I know what you mean about them being lazy lol, Eddie might be sitting on the cupboard or curtain rail and then I will leave the room... I call him to come with me and I know he wants to because he leans forward and lifts his wings. After several calls he wont respond so I just move a little closer, still no luck. I get closer and closer and then he stretches his beak out as far as he can and holds my finger and steps on . I know he is capable of flying down from there because he does it all the time, but he just knows how to make me cave when he is lazy lol. I need to be more consistent and persistent.

Target Training:

Target training is perhaps the easiest thing in the world to teach AND very fun . Just find yourself 3 things:

1: Target stick - this could be an unused chopstick, or I use a plastic knitting needle. Something solid and bird safe that will last.

2: The Bridge - The bridge is a sound/action that tells the bird they have done the right thing. I prefer to use a clicker because it is consistent and pin points the behaviour. You can also use verbal bridges like 'Good Girl', 'Well done' OR you can use physical bridges like head scritches and cuddles (which double as rewards).

3: Birdies favourite treat - Just make sure it is in small pieces. I use a seed mix in a bowl for my tiel as she is not a fan of eating out of peoples hands. For my Ekkie I used Sun Flower seed and crushed almonds and cashews

Start the training:

If you have not used a clicker (or whatever bridge you have chosen) before, then you need to condition the bird to associate the bridging with a reward. I will use a clicker for this example.

Start by haiving birdie sit comfortably on a t-stand or cage (as long as its not too distracting). Simply click the clicker and immediately give her a treat, click the clicker giver her a treat, click ,treat, click, treat.........do this for 2 or 3 5-10min sessions. Soon your bird will realise that everytime she hears that click, she immediately gets a reward, thus you can pinpoint the exact behaviour you want.

Now introduce the target stick. Same as before set the bird in a nice distraction free space. Now present her with the target stick. Most birds will peck the stick out of curiosity, when this happens CLICK the clicker, give a reward. Present the stick again, wait till she touches it, CLICK and reward. Make it simple for the first few sessions and your bird will understand that if it nibs that stick, it gets a reward, Now you can start moving the stick around further and further away and to more difficult locations and your bird will learn to follow. Only take small steps (inch by inch), don't all of a sudden go to the other side of the room and expect birdie to follow.

My bird is not interested in the stick, what do I do?

If you present the bird with the stick for the first time and it shows no interest or is a little wary of it, thats fine. Instead of rewarding for touching the stick, reward for being near it and remaining calm, then reward for looking at it, then stepping towards it, until the bird finally touches it.

Anyway, hope that helps. My Ekkie is still perfecting it, but my tiel is a pro. I can place the target stick on the other side of the table and she will go and peck it, then run back to me for a reward, then back to the other side for another nip and then back for a reward. It really is tremendous fun and IMO a great bond builder.