TOTALLY at a loss!!!!!!!

[5shaggys]

Hi there everyone,

My name is Sharon, im at a loss as to the next step i take with my IRN Cheeky. Donna you gave me such great advise, but i havent been able to get him to sit on my hand to do any step up training at all. :'( :'(
I can sit on the chair next to his cage, and he will sit on my knee and play with my necklace. i can feed him treats, while he sits there, but when ever my hand goes anywhere near him to step up he takes off. iv even sat still while he bit the crap outta me. DAM IT HURTS. does anyone have any suggestions? i dont know what to do.
sharon

It takes time. I know you want him to do certain things for you but when you have a bird like this it's not going to happen quick. I've had a little female IRN now for 8 months and the only thing I can do with her is reach in the cage now without her freaking out. So now I kinda quit the training of trying to get her to step up on my hand and I wait till she comes to me. She will climb up my leg and sit on my lap but I can not touch her. She does go back in her cage when I tell her to so right now I'm fine with what ever she wants to do. I'm not pushing anything on her. Sometimes we tend to push to hard when their not ready yet and then it creates more fear. Just keep being patient. Some birds just don't like human touch and we have to except it :-[


Donna

[imported_David]

I feel the same way as Donna as far as cooling it with the training for a while. That has to be done with a variety of species, not just IRNs. Some will take longer to come around. Some will take longer to accept each step of training. Some need longer breaks between those steps. That happens frequently with high energy birds and IRNs are high energy birds. Donna knows that there's just so far a person can go before a temporary vacation has to proceed until the next step. Some birds get used to their owner up to a point concerning routines and habits. Then that person adds another new routine and the bird takes quite a while to accept it. It happens with lots of birds. Donna makes another extremely important point involving the amount of time steps take----but i'll say it in my own words. EVERY SMALL STEP FORWARD INVOLVES TAKING MANY STEPS BACKWARDS UNTIL A HAPPY MEDIUM OCCURS. Patience is needed with all parrots. It'll happen------Dave

[imported_Jason]

Time and patience is the only key...

Jason

[5shaggys]

Thank you all soo much for the advise. I sat with him for a few hours last nite and he follows me around, and screams when he cant see me. im just letting him do his thing. Can i ask, he has this thing with my skin, when he sits on my lap, he bites my arm what do i do?
sharon

Sharon it sounds like this little guy could use a good spanking ;D But really it depends on what kind of bite it is. Is he biting hard or just trying to tastes your skin. If he is biting hard he is looking for a reaction out of you. Don't show him it hurts. Try to distact his attention with a toy or a sound from you that gets his attention. Not a good idea to use food as a distraction because he'll think he is being rewarded for this biting.

Donna ;)

[imported_David]

Another suggestion---put it in your file along with all the other suggestions----more is always better than just one.

Have a 6 to 8 in. perch in your hand. Hold it but don't let him think that you're actually gonna use it. Just let him get used to seeing it. At first, just let him see about 3 inches of it. Eventually, he'll not be afraid of it. When he's on your arm and starts to bite, just gently push the stick to his feet and let him check it out and let him bite it if he wants to. It's only a temporary distraction but eventually the nipping should ease up. It might wind up that he will actually look forward to nibbling on an item while he's perched on your arm. Eventually, lessen the amount of times that you have the perch in your hand. He won't miss it that much. True, it's a slow process and only a suggestion but by taking a small piece of info from one suggestion and another small piece from another suggestion, you just might come up with that magic formula that will work for YOUR bird. All parrots are individuals with their own likes and dislikes. There's no set method that will always work but creating your own method gives you a better chance at good results. Most of all, have patience. Be optimistic. People are always here to lend a hand. In the future, you'll come across another person with a similar problem as yours and it'll be time for you to add your successful suggestion to someone who's at their wit's end--------Dave

[5shaggys]

:)Thank you all sooo much. He is actually biting me. MAN IT HURTS LIKE HELL :'( somtimes he sort of runs his tongue over my arm like as to taste, if that makes sense, but when he actually bites me :-X i blow gently in his face and tell him sternly NO! im not sure if this is wrong. thanks dave for your suggestion im going to give it a go. And thank you Donna, you are both LEDGENDS!!!!!!!!!!

[imported_kimtoo]

I may have just missed this bit but is your bird clipped (wings?) I have had much better success with training step-up and just general acclimation when my fids wings were clipped.