Harness Training

Vilatus · Dec 4, 2017

Hi everyone, I have some questions about harness training.

First of all, what do you guys recommend, a flightsuit, or an aviator harness? I bought my cockatiel a flightsuit, but she constantly chews the velcro when its on. If we're out for a walk and she's stimulated, she'll stop, but the second she deems the situation boring, she goes back to chewing. She's lovely on the harness otherwise, and even allows strangers to pet her. How do I discourage this?

Soyajam · Dec 4, 2017

I use an aviator harness. But my bird's much larger than yours so I'm not sure if the size makes a different to fit and comfort.

I'm curious about the chewing too. I'm doing harness training with Remi and she chews, sometimes frantically on it. Same as you, when she's outside and distracted she stops. I suspect it's because we've gone too fast and she's not comfortable with it on her body.

I think I might need to go back to just sitting inside with the harness until she's not bothered by it until we proceed.

Any other members have input on this?

Vilatus · Dec 4, 2017

Good to hear I'm not the only one. I went too fast with my bird as well, so maybe that has a factor for both of us. I wonder if maybe putting lemon juice on the area they chew would help?

Soyajam · Dec 4, 2017

Ziel said:
I wonder if maybe putting lemon juice on the area they chew would help?

I've never heard of that before. I doubt it?

Do you do much training with your birds? Got any treats they go crazy over?
The aviator training itself suggests going slowly - rewarding them (with treats) for putting their head inside the harness, being calm with it on etc.

I'd do this only my bird is too young to be interested in treats yet... and cuddles aren't the most precise of training bridges!

Bunch of videos on youtube demonstrating the process of harness climatising:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aviator+training+harness

Vilatus · Dec 4, 2017

Soyajam said:
Ziel said:

I wonder if maybe putting lemon juice on the area they chew would help?

Click to expand...

I've never heard of that before. I doubt it?

Do you do much training with your birds? Got any treats they go crazy over?
The aviator training itself suggests going slowly - rewarding them (with treats) for putting their head inside the harness, being calm with it on etc.

I'd do this only my bird is too young to be interested in treats yet... and cuddles aren't the most precise of training bridges!

Bunch of videos on youtube demonstrating the process of harness climatising:
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=aviator+training+harness

I've just heard it tasting bad might discourage chewing- like with cats and dogs.

No I don't, for the specific reason that I can't find any treats they like. (Besides human junk food my family slips them) I'll have to see if I can find anything that works...

Thank you for the links!

chris-md · Dec 4, 2017

The key here is rewarding for calm behavior, especially if training older birds (non infants). Extensive harness training involves lots of treat rewards for the simplest of tasks, such as simply looking at the harness.

Part of the rewarding process is to ensure you don’t give any rewards if he steps out of line, like chewing on the harness. So it sounds like you really need to start from square one.

At this top of this sub forum is a thread about harness training which contains myriad videos on what a training session looks like. You’d do well to check it out.

wrench13 · Dec 4, 2017

Salty only occsionally chews his harness, and I will just say you dont need to do that, and pick his head up and show him the trees or ducks or what ever. They get used to it, esp if treats are given for behaving.

wrench13 · Dec 5, 2017

If you really want a laugh, to go Salty's video, :. "How not to put a hardness on".
We evntually do , throu no fault of his own.

SilleIN · Dec 5, 2017

I harness train all my parrots and regularly take them for trips

sillein-albums-my-birds-picture17993-18221996-10154758668818759-5870479298411270701-n.jpg

My "trick" is that the outside is the reward. As you have noticed, once they're outside, the sceneary will usually make them stop. I usually start with small walks and try to get back before the harness starts to become interesting again. I then extend the walks and eventually, they know, that harness means we get to go outside at see fun stuff.

I will once in a while take their beaks and say NO, if they get to focussed on the harness.

I have also designed a harness for my birds, that fits them better than the ones I could find on the market and is more safe (IMHO), if they should get scared and take off flying. I find that they much sooner leave that harness alone, than for instance the aviator.

Some of my birds prefer a suit (homemade), but most of them prefer the harness. On the above photo, 2 of them wears a harness and the middle one wears a suit.

SilleIN · Dec 5, 2017

If anyone wants the designs for my harnesses or suits, you are most welcome

Vilatus · Dec 5, 2017

chris-md said:
The key here is rewarding for calm behavior, especially if training older birds (non infants). Extensive harness training involves lots of treat rewards for the simplest of tasks, such as simply looking at the harness.

Part of the rewarding process is to ensure you don’t give any rewards if he steps out of line, like chewing on the harness. So it sounds like you really need to start from square one.

At this top of this sub forum is a thread about harness training which contains myriad videos on what a training session looks like. You’d do well to check it out.

I'll try that this time around. I was way too quick about it the first time.

So if I were to take my tiel out, and she started chewing in the harness, would it be best to immediately take her back inside? Also how can I help her get over any bad impressions of it? (Right now I've put it on the playstand with some millet, so they can see it.)

I'll take a look at those for sure.

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Vilatus · Dec 5, 2017

wrench13 said:
Salty only occsionally chews his harness, and I will just say you dont need to do that, and pick his head up and show him the trees or ducks or what ever. They get used to it, esp if treats are given for behaving.

Maybe I'll have to start carrying some treats. Iggy is kind of the same as Salty, once she gets immersed in her surroundings she's fine. The issue is getting her to stop chewing and look, haha

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Vilatus · Dec 5, 2017

SilleIN said:
I harness train all my parrots and regularly take them for trips

My "trick" is that the outside is the reward. As you have noticed, once they're outside, the sceneary will usually make them stop. I usually start with small walks and try to get back before the harness starts to become interesting again. I then extend the walks and eventually, they know, that harness means we get to go outside at see fun stuff.

I will once in a while take their beaks and say NO, if they get to focussed on the harness.

I have also designed a harness for my birds, that fits them better than the ones I could find on the market and is more safe (IMHO), if they should get scared and take off flying. I find that they much sooner leave that harness alone, than for instance the aviator.

Some of my birds prefer a suit (homemade), but most of them prefer the harness. On the above photo, 2 of them wears a harness and the middle one wears a suit.

That's what I was trying to do. I hoped putting the harness on only when we went out would make her associate it with fun, but she still chews. She doesn't care so much about me putting it on though strangely enough.

I also tried the beak, but it only momentarily distracted her. She understands no much better now, I almost wonder if she was a bit too young to be training for that.

Also, in reply to your post after this, if you wouldn't mind I would love to at least see how to make them. Anything is worth a shot at this point. (Also your birds are beautiful, I'm jealous. [emoji178])

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SilleIN · Dec 6, 2017

This is the Tiel-sized harness

sillein-albums-other-stuff-picture18975-tiel-harness.jpg

(And yes, my friends GW showed his "love" for me right on my index finger

according to him I deserved it as I had just clipped his nails and trimmed his beak

)

This is the basic design, however the tiel harness does not have a buckle at the neck as the larger birds have.

sillein-albums-other-stuff-picture18976-parrot-harness.jpg

sillein-albums-other-stuff-picture18978-parrot-harness.jpg

sillein-albums-other-stuff-picture18977-parrot-harness.jpg

Vilatus · Dec 6, 2017

SilleIN said:
This is the Tiel-sized harness

(And yes, my friends GW showed his "love" for me right on my index finger according to him I deserved it as I had just clipped his nails and trimmed his beak )

This is the basic design, however the tiel harness does not have a buckle at the neck as the larger birds have.

Thank you! I actually might try this.

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SilleIN · Dec 6, 2017

I would offer to make one for you, but I think the shipping will be enormous

Vilatus · Dec 7, 2017

SilleIN said:
I would offer to make one for you, but I think the shipping will be enormous

I ship internationally fairly frequently, and it's actually not bad at all for small packages. I couldn't accept it for free anyway though, I'd feel guilty. Thank you though!

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