Friendly on her terms

[Cyrinaluna]

As I type this, Lizzy is sitting on my shoulder preening herself and my hair (apparently I'm dirty). But she didn't step up nicely from her cage. The only way she get on my shoulder is on her terms. And by that I mean she flies off the cage on the floor to get my attention... Only then can I pick her up. I'll try to get her to step up on my terms, while on her cage but she bites hard. And even when she is on my shoulder she won't get off unless I lean on her cage so she can step from me to it. I like that she's comfortable enough to be on me, but I would like it to be on my terms too.

I'm doing clicker training with her, but we haven't progressed very far. She's willing to lean over my step up hand to get the treat from my other hand, so I know it's still a work in progress, and I have all the patience in the world to wait for her to trust me. I guess what I'm asking is, should I be discouraging her means of getting my attention? Or doing more to help her see that I'm not a big scary beast?

 

[Cyrinaluna]

[ame="http://youtu.be/fg0GJZrvYtQ"]More Lizzy - YouTube[/ame]

Hope that link works. She has a good step up at the end. Archer in the background, possibly NSFW.

 

[riddick07]

My one will only step up on a stick to get her out of the cage. Even now after a couple years she will bite my hand if I offer it while she's in her cage. I've just learned to keep a stick or something near her cage to get her to step up. She will step up nicely onto the hand anywhere else. Its just the cage she has issues being nice about...

Also, she will let me stick my hand in the cage while she's in it no problem but if I ask her to step up its on....

 

[Cyrinaluna]

So it might just be a cage thing with her. I mean this is only week 2 with her so I'm not expecting her to jump through hoops on command yet lol. I mean when she does step up I feel so proud of her

 

[riddick07]

A yeah right now she might just be protecting her safe zone! If not at least you know you can work around it if its a cage issue Those first willing step ups are always great How old is she?

Monkey will let me roll her around on her back, extend her wings, grab her beak, hang her upside down, and pretty much anything I want to do with her! The cage is just a zone that she's not willing to negotiate on beyond the stepping up on the stick

 

[Cyrinaluna]

The people we got her from weren't sure exactly. They said between 6 months and a year. I tell people she's 9 months for simplicity's sake lol. So if my guess is right I'll probably be dealing with hormones soon too haha.

 

[andielane87]

So it might just be a cage thing with her. I mean this is only week 2 with her so I'm not expecting her to jump through hoops on command yet lol. I mean when she does step up I feel so proud of her

We need to be friends! I just got Banjo a week ago today! Sweet little ball of fluff when he WANTS TO and went on a biting rampage 2 days ago, today and yesterday he's improved a ton because I started reading his cues and clicker training him.

Banjo will be a year old in May so that makes him 10 months old. Trying to curb bad behaviors before he starts his "terrible twos"!

 

[riddick07]

GCC can start maturity around 1 to 2 but one is pretty normal. Have fun guys:54:

 

[Dinosrawr]

I often find that Avery is the same, but this is also why I won't let her on my shoulder. Whenever she's there, she absolutely refuses to come off and it becomes a bitter battle to see who will give first... thankfully (I think?) I'm more stubborn than her. It's pretty typical for birds to be territorial around their cage, and I wouldn't sweat it too much

Training birds and giving them stimulation is not only a great way to bond, but it also helps your parrot learn that they WANT to do things for you, because it means yummy treats and lots of praise!

PS: Lizzy is adorraabblleee! Such pretty colours

 

[Cyrinaluna]

So it might just be a cage thing with her. I mean this is only week 2 with her so I'm not expecting her to jump through hoops on command yet lol. I mean when she does step up I feel so proud of her

We need to be friends! I just got Banjo a week ago today! Sweet little ball of fluff when he WANTS TO and went on a biting rampage 2 days ago, today and yesterday he's improved a ton because I started reading his cues and clicker training him.



Banjo will be a year old in May so that makes him 10 months old. Trying to curb bad behaviors before he starts his "terrible twos"!

Bonding over bitey conures haha she already had some bad behaviors from her previous home I'm trying to curb as well lol. Begging for food during our dinner. And by begging I mean screaming until we leave the room and she can't see us eating. I give her her dinner as we eat ours, but people food is so much tastier than bird food haha.

 

[andielane87]

So it might just be a cage thing with her. I mean this is only week 2 with her so I'm not expecting her to jump through hoops on command yet lol. I mean when she does step up I feel so proud of her

We need to be friends! I just got Banjo a week ago today! Sweet little ball of fluff when he WANTS TO and went on a biting rampage 2 days ago, today and yesterday he's improved a ton because I started reading his cues and clicker training him.



Banjo will be a year old in May so that makes him 10 months old. Trying to curb bad behaviors before he starts his "terrible twos"!

Bonding over bitey conures haha she already had some bad behaviors from her previous home I'm trying to curb as well lol. Begging for food during our dinner. And by begging I mean screaming until we leave the room and she can't see us eating. I give her her dinner as we eat ours, but people food is so much tastier than bird food haha.

Oh boy, they certainly do have quite the personalities! Mine reminds me of my cat, a brat who gets mad when he doesn't get his way... But I let him stay that way and he doesn't bite.... But man can these little conures make me squeal lol. They're super smart though and in the last 30 mins my bf and I taught him to say (nod) yes! And only one bite today! Phew

I hope your baby improves too!!!!

 

[MonicaMc]

Just because you taught a bird to step up away from the cage doesn't mean that the bird has generalized that training and has learned to step up from the cage or from inside the cage.

Animals can be pretty simple creatures, in the fact that they don't equate one behavior performed in one area with that same behavior being asked in a different setting.


Once your bird understands how to step up from furniture to hand, or hand to hand, you need to teach step up from various other locations as well! Teach the bird to generalize that behavior!




To put it more simply, if you owned a horse and you always mounted the horse from the left side for years, the first time you mount that horse from the right the horse might balk and freak out. The horse wasn't taught to generalize that mounting from the left side is the same as mounting from the right side.

 

[Cyrinaluna]

She's been stepping up very good since the original post steps off her cage nicely, and from the coffee table, the bed, basically anywhere I tell her to now we've been working on target/clicker training too. It's a learning process for both of us, but I think we're doing good so far

 

[MonicaMc]

That's awesome news!!!! Well done in your training!