Harness training an older bird?

[nkrbkr]

For those of you with experience with the Aviator harness, how do you feel training an older bird to wear one would go? Ava (8 year old Amazon) loves being outside in her carrier, but I feel like she would really love being outside of the cage. Typically, I would think training an older bird to wear a harness might not go well, and could be an easy way to break trust. That said, I’m curious if it might be possible to get her to wear one for the following reasons:

1. She loves training. She begs for training sessions most days, and is very treat motivated.
2. She’s very trusting. I’ve been working on what I’ve cued as “gentle touch” with her, where she lets me rest my hand gently on her back. I’m planning to progress this to being able to turn her on her back, eventually.

I’m split on whether or not to try harness training, and just curious what thoughts you all might have?

 

[rheashard2]

My first CAG I trained when he was over 10 yo. He was an expert at destroying travel cages. Not a hand fed baby, he was handled by humans very young. He was calm about me handling wings, feet etc before I started. I showed it to him, touching him with it, lavish verbal praises. Treats were given at end of lesson. It took about 2 weeks before I started putting on. It was about a week later before fully on. Then he loved it. We'd go for walks on trails, to PetSmart, convenience stores etc. It was these outings where he showed that he was a true rooster. Any beautiful female he'd flirt shamelessly. Kisses, compliments and more. I didn't know what embarrassment was until then. I discovered he could speak Spanish! Apparently appropriately. He wasn't allowed to watch Spanish channel anymore. That didn't mean he and now Nameliss (wearing since 4 months) wouldn't have tantrums to avoid wearing it.

 

[nkrbkr]

Wonderful, thanks so much!

 

[rheashard2]

Wonderful, thanks so much!

Be prepared for your Ava to fall love with being out during outings. Nameliss has occasional tantrums to go bye!

 

[wrench13]

You know me - train, train train. If she's eager, so much the better. But wit any harness, you must be able to handle the bird all over the place, under wings and so forth, but thats training too.

 

[onamom]

It's worth a shot! You can find some of the progress with Ona in this sub forum. Now I will say, I think a huge part of harness training is dependent on the bird. Ona HATES things on her body. I mean HATES it. So honestly, I've kinda given up expecting her to wear one. Yuri I think maybe could. Ona and I still practice sometimes, but if it's not something she wants to do, I'm not going to make her go further than she wants.