can't clicker train this chicken, but i harnessed him!!!!!

[TheHolisticNanny]

p.s. THIS thread is about clicker training, but COULD NOT edit the title after I had posted!!!!


BAH AHA AHHAHA HAHAHA........ But seriously... i had good intentions.

I bought the clicker read a few online intros to bird clicking, and even joined the yahoo group bird click..... Nada, even worse than NADA!...... he doesn't LIKE the clicker, and IS NOT FOOD DRIVEN!!!!!!!......... I thought I was SO clever when i very easily clicker trained horses pigs and the occasional dog... So very clever!

YEAH RIGHT!!!!!!! Pft, clever my big pasty white butt!

I'm glad I only spent a few bucks on the clicker and didn't go hog wild on the books like I wanted.

What Mo DOES respond to is CHEERING!... Lots of YAYAYAYYAYAY MOOoooooo's and clapping and dancing!... who knew!????

FOR those of you who don't know, Mo, is my 20-ish-plus yr old wild caught CAG, that I bought for my b-day pressy about 5 ish weeks ago. YES I paid for a 20yr old bird....LOL..... I was TOLD he was 5. Hmm, what ever, he's cool.


Now for the harness. I dished out the almost 40 bucks for the aviator after reading great reviews on it ect ect ect.... put it on his cage for a while@ a week, then sat on the floor with him and proceeded to "gentle" him to it, kinda like sacking out a horse,,, you start small and innocuous and then gradually get big and obnoxious with it. I did this once and eventually got it looked over his head a few times, left it on a good note with LOTS of cheering and lame attempts at rewarding his fearful, yet angry, yet tolerant and not biting me with seeds. he spit out the damn sunflower seeds! LOL

AND THEN>>>>>

TODAY...... I started just like last week, but then did more and eventually got he whole thing on him!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he didn't like it, but didn't bite me, and protested with a few growls and a death grip on my hands that I still have nail punctures from ...LOL>>>>>.

I got it snug and MADE SURE to loop the other end on my wrist and then took him OUTSIDE!!!!!!!... HOLY MOLY did his eyes get BIG!!!!!!.......

I made the whole thing short and sweet and lots and LOTS of cheers, a few pics when i can find my card reader and then i'll post,...... we ended with him very patiently not biting me and letting me but still not happy about the harness to take it off and a dish with some extra sunflower seeds and of course LOTS and lots of cheers!!!!! All in all a great experience for the both of us.

My son wanted to take him for a bike ride!! LMAO,,,, can you imagine!!!!

I just had to share, this week has been a whirlwind ending yesterday in my car blowing up, so I'm home bound until I can figure out what I'm going to do about it......

One small step for NO ONE, a few GIANT steps for EVERY ONE!!!!!!!!!


YAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[LovelySydney]

HAHA sounds like everything went well!! (minus the title of the thread, LOL! I knew what you were talking about - otherwise Id like to know what this "licker training" is haha!)

[SallyQZ]

Wow, I'm in awe of your bravery in harnessing a growling CAG! I've had my CAG for 10 years and I know that when he growls, I back down or else I'll be bleeding profusely in a few seconds, LOL!

Congrats!!!!!

[Scritch]

I wouldn't try licker-training with my parrots unless I wanted a pierced tongue.

No, seriously, my dog Pi is licker-trained. One of her greatest joys in life is licking my face, but I can't say I share in her joy, so most of the time she's not allowed. But on extra-special occasions like when we finish a training session or she lets me trim her toenails, I give her the coveted command: "kisses?" Voila! Licker-trained dog.

Ummm.... ANYway... I'm SOOO impressed, you seem to be well on your way to harness-training an older bird! I'm still hoping Charlie here would someday consider letting me do such a thing to him.

Lolo has been doing great with it...



But she's just a baby, so she was easy!

[TheHolisticNanny]

This Mo is funny! He's trusting, but not at the same time it's weird, I think it's more like he's not SO trusting but afraid of being separated from us.....
IF that makes any sense?>

Mo sat the entire time on my hand, I held his feet with my thumb so he wouldn't topple over backwards or rip skin trying to avoid the harness going over his head, THAT PART he hated... Who knew he was SO flexible!!! The rest not so much, once I got it over his head I switched hands cause I know had deep claw marks from him holding on for dear life! i can STILL see the red marks!!!.. I tried to do it sitting on the floor with my legs in a V and him in front of me, he just wanted to be held, I think it feels safer to him....


Trust me if he hated it TOTALLY he would have drawn blood, like he did the other day while I was toweling him dry after a shower,,.. He bit hard enough to open the skin on my finger and I bled PROFUSELY!

[TheHolisticNanny]

LOL!!!!.....OMG, Lola is SO freaking cute, I love the dark baby eyes and the big bobble heads!!!! that harness is too funny on her!!!! She looks great tho!!

No no, please don't be impressed, I think it's more dumb luck than anything else, that and some determination on my part... because seriously, I'm WAY more used to mammals, behavior wise, birds are pretty much stumping me! I mean I've never met an animal that didn't have a drive for food! Let alone gets excited when we cheer and clap and holler his name!!!!!
Go figure!

Derek is all EXCITED, we put a deposit down on a lovie for him, the baby will be ready in 4-6 weeks, he's already got a name, "Norbert" and is talking about harness training him so we can take them BOTH to the park!!!!

Originally Posted by Scritch

I wouldn't try licker-training with my parrots unless I wanted a pierced tongue.

No, seriously, my dog Pi is licker-trained. One of her greatest joys in life is licking my face, but I can't say I share in her joy, so most of the time she's not allowed. But on extra-special occasions like when we finish a training session or she lets me trim her toenails, I give her the coveted command: "kisses?" Voila! Licker-trained dog.

Ummm.... ANYway... I'm SOOO impressed, you seem to be well on your way to harness-training an older bird! I'm still hoping Charlie here would someday consider letting me do such a thing to him.

Lolo has been doing great with it...



But she's just a baby, so she was easy!

[LovelySydney]

Oh that picture of lolo is adorable!!!!! It could be a postcard, seriously!!