a few difficulties in training my GCC

[rnocera]

Now that my GCC Trouble is flying, I'm really having some . . . well . . . trouble with him. My wife and I have been working on teaching him to come, and he does it really well. He'll fly from her hand to me, or my hand to her on command now, and gets very excited about it.

But no matter what we do, we can't get him to fly from a perch to us. It's only happened maybe twice out of all the time we've spent flying. We're practicing flying 3-4 times a day, usually with 30-45 minute sessions. These seem long to me, but he really really seems to enjoy it, and as soon as he lands on one of us, he's excited, bobbing up and down, crouching, waiting for the command to "come" from the other one. His aim is much, much better now than it was two weeks ago, and he's down to only missing our shoulders occasionally. We started by offering him slices of almond to entice him to come, and now he comes freely, mostly for joy of flying, I think. We give him a slice of almond as a treat every time he comes when called (we don't respond if he flies without being called, and simply give him the command to fly back to the other person), and we've started clicking a clicker every time he does it, too. We've actually started clicking every time he gets a treat for anything- stepping up, shrugging his wings up ("eagle"), stretching his wings out("stretch"), and for kisses.

But now he's discovered a couple other perches in the house. Specifically he's discovered two bookshelves, and today he's gotten to the point where I can't even get him out anymore, because after I've been holding him for about 30 seconds, he takes off and lands on the book shelf. Once he's on the book shelf I can't get him to come back to me at all.

I really, really want to keep him fully flighted, especially now that I see how much he enjoys flying, and how good he's getting at it, but I won't be able to if I can't teach him to stay with me or to come when he's called. I don't mind him flying around and exploring as long as he'll come back to me when I call him. It's getting to be a bit old when I can't hold him at all because he refuses to sit with me, even when I'm playing with him.


Does anyone have any advice for me?



Also, one last thing here- anybody have any advice for warming him up to a harness? We got an Aviator, but he's absolutely terrified of it. The first time I even showed it to him he spooked and flew to the opposite side of his cage. I've left it in sight of his cage, and I've started setting it on top of his cage, also, but I'm always open to advice!

Thanks!

[Fruit Basket]

As far as the harness goes, it will take some time. It is not something he will want to do in a day.. It took my cockatiel about a month be be comfortable with it, and now she wears it whenever we go on walks or on 'field trips'.

give it time, and do NOT force it. you do not want him to associate the harness with negativity.

it also should have come with a CD. If it didn't, i can mail you mine. just let me know. It has full instructions on how to use it and condition it, introduce it, etc.

[flyingfluff]

Do you have a separate playstand for him?

[rnocera]

It did come with a CD, and I've watched it. I'm not really worried about how long it will take to get him to wear it- my only problem is he gets upset as soon as he even sees it. I always end up taking it away, because he freaks out and gets worked up as soon as it's in sight, and that's exactly what they warn against. I guess I'll try just getting it closer & closer to him.

This is odd for him, because I've never seen him this hesitant with a new toy or anything. He's a little bit shy at first, but as soon as he sees me playing with something, he wants to play with it. I always get him to play with his new toys by letting him watch me play with it first. After about 10 seconds he comes running over to investigate, then tries pushing me away so he can have a turn. (And by turn, I mean hog it forever, and never let me have it back.)

He has a playstand I made for him out of PVC, but he hates it. We've never tried a playstand for him, because we always just open the door to his cage, and let him crawl around in & on the cage whenever we're home. When we do that, he has access to his food, water, toys, etc. . . Sometimes we'll find him in the cage sleeping, even though he has the opportunity to be out! But in the last couple days, he doesn't even want to do that- he won't sit anywhere outside his cage except those two bookshelves.

[Monica]

Very Important Question!!!!!!
What do we do with those Wings

[rnocera]

Thanks! I've read all through the first link, but the second one is new for me. It's given me a couple ideas. Some youtube videos have give me ideas, as well.

I think more than anything, I need to work on bonding Trouble. I'm not exactly sure when or how it happened, but somehow our bond seems to have faded a bit. He now treats my wife how he used to treat me, and seems like he just doesn't care about me as much. I've been thinking about it a lot lately, and that's what I've come up with.

The odd thing about that is, I'm the one who feeds him. I give him toys, and clean his cage. I give him treats, and I get him out of the cage. She puts him back 3 out of every 4 times, too. And even when he does something good for her, I'm almost always the one who gives him the treat, so he sees it coming from my hand. But, he no longer rolls over on his back in my lap, and he no longer rubs his head against my hand until I'll pet him. I guess it's back to square one, with lots of treats, and praise, and petting.

[magdalena]

I like to use a very simple T stand when doing actual training so the bird isn't distracted. When one of my birds is on that they know it's time for serious business (and treat rewards). I don't know if you've said in a previous post how old trouble is? Could he be going through puberty and chosen your wife as his mate? Not much you can do about that at that point birds have that nasty habit (joke) of having free will and will happily trade in their primary caretaker for someone else in the family, it's heartbreaking but I don't think they see it as a snub to you as much as aha I found my true love, thanks mom or dad for taking care of me until now. It doesn't matter at that point if you feed him, try to love him up, give him the best treats ever he's made his choice and the stubborn little stinkers are hard to convince otherwise.

[rnocera]

I'm not sure on exact age for him. . . He came in to the pet store I work in last year around June, and the only thing we knew is that he was "less than a year." He went through a major molt around October, and I'm assuming it was his first major molt, as his colors are much brighter now, and he has more red on him, especially over his beak.

And that's what it is, I'm sure. He absolutely loves her. He took to her very quickly, even though she didn't like him. Now, she's still hesitant with him, and she very rarely gets him out on her own, but he's so cute and snuggly with her that she just can't say no. He just adores her, and wants nothing more than to snuggle up to her neck under her hair.

Unfortunately, I think I may need to clip him again to get him to bond better. I've had him out a couple times today, and he won't sit with me for even 30 seconds. As soon as I take my hands off him, he flies away to land on that book shelf, or look for my wife. I don't even know how to bond with him better if I can't keep him near me!

The really frustrating part is, he understands that when he comes he gets a treat. He'll "come" on command walking towards me from a bunch of different places - along a step, the back of the couch, the table, etc. . . He also understands what the clicker is. As soon as he even sees the clicker he gets excited and starts looking at it intently, waiting for a command. It's just that other things are more interesting to him, and once he's on a perch, he's interested in that perch and not coming.

[magdalena]

The problem is you can't change his mind, all the love, treats and cuddles from you are not going to make him decide to dump your wife. You may be able to both handle him but sadly for you she's been picked. Birds do that, new bird owners tend to overlook this when they buy babies and then don't understand when suddenly their cuddlebud decides they suck and they want to be with someone else in the family. Don't feel slighted, it happens all the time (just read all the 'my bird suddenly hates me' posts).

You're going to have to adjust to his needs not the other way around. Often, though by no means always, birds also tend to pick a person of the opposite gender. My advice to you is go to a rescue with your wife and find a bird that picks you then you can both be loved and you get to save a bird in need too.

[rnocera]

Trouble used to like me more, though. That's the really frustrating part. How do I pick out a bird that likes me more if that's how this bird used to be?

We've actually been working a lot, and he's been warming up to me more & more. Over the last few days, I've been working on clicker training him. He's paying a lot more attention to me, now that I'm giving him regular treats every few minutes.