Stepping Up with a little Reinforcement

[Sheldon89]

Hello, everyone! As you know, I'm new here, and have rehomed a CAG, affectionately named Congo.

 

His temperament has been better, as of late, and has let me get him out of his cage every time by hand, no biting or anything, and even sometimes "steps up" when perched on top of his cage.

 

Now, those times when he doesn't - I don't like to force him, but I notice that whenever I get him a treat, or fruit, and hold it in my other hand with him able to see it, he knows that he won't be getting said treat until he steps up. Will this help to build trust with me and maybe further on down the road I won't be needing fruit at all?

 

Am I doing the right thing, and if so are there any other additional things I could be doing to insure that the trust and bond grow to something strong?

 

Thanks!

-Aaron

[Ray P]

The treat is OK to start with, but also praise him and tell him what a good boy he is and make over him with excitement.

After a time drop the trear and use praise and excitement. This builds a bond.

[JeffNOK]

Treats can help your bird associate stepping up with good things. It is best as a temporary measure, but for now I think it's just fine. I still occassionally give treats when Gracie steps up.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

Treats are great. Bird should NEVER be on top of cage. Nancy

[Arecibo's Mum]

Hi Nancy, I'm new here... Could you tell me why a bird should never be on top of its cage? Ours seems to get a kick out of climbing up and down her dome-top.

[Greywings]

My birds often hang out on their cage tops with no issues. Some folks believe that the bird gets too aggressive when elevated (dominance issue), but in the wild the birds that remain up high while the others are ground feeding or roosting are the look outs who signal danger for the flock-not the aggressors. In my view that cage top issue is a not right assumption, aggression with Greys can be a form of communication(nothing else worked) or can be an expression of fear. Do remember that each bird is as different as you and I so what are issues in one home may not happen in mine or yours. The best I can offer is try to keep interactions positive, be consistent in what you allow, watch your bird and learn his body language to avoid problems rather than having to "fix" them.

Edited December 18, 2012 by Greywings

[Talon]

Treats are great. Bird should NEVER be on top of cage. Nancy

 

I couldnt disagree more. All my birds LOVE to hang out on their cage tops, the fridge, the top of the cupboards, the top of the curtain rods, top of the doors. I NEVER have a problem asking them to step up and them doing so. All birds love to be up high, it doenst make them more dominent in my opinion.

[Dave007]

If the animal is a bird then it'll go to the highest place that's possible. Stopping a bird from doing that is unnatural. People talk about the BS concerning ~Dominance~. Such nonsense! There's ways for getting a bird to come down but those ways have nothing to do with not allowing the bird to go up in the first place. A bird likes to stay high. It's just natural. What happens when people put toys on the top of cages? What about the cages that have roofs that open up? Going upward is simply natural. Remember, that animal is a bird.

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

I should have explained more. Remember, its just a matter of personal choice, and what works for them. For our family, to have an " open cage concept", meaning cages are next to each other, doors are never closed, can jump back and forth between gyms and cages... first, birds needed to develop trust amoung each other. To have different species to adjust to each other, the trust needed to be established between me, kids, and the birds. That is the first priority. Of course, all birds play on top of their cages. They all have gyms there. BUT.... if they are biting, haven't established that trust with us humans.... there is NO WAY they will be taller than me for me to attempt to pick up! It won't work. I always have to be taller than my birds when working on " stepup, stepdown". A simple step stool, always did the trick. When Kiki was younger, ( the only bird that went nuts with a molt), I would wait for her when she came charging across two cages to attack me. I was taller and waited to see what she would do. She skidded to a halt and stepped up quite nicely. This was a decade ago. Now, it doesn't matter who is taller than me. Noone bites no matter where they are on their cage. Nancy

[Dave007]

I always have to be taller than my birds when working on " stepup, stepdown". A simple step stool, always did the trick. When Kiki was younger, ( the only bird that went nuts with a molt), I would wait for her when she came charging across two cages to attack me. I was taller and waited to see what she would do. She skidded to a halt and stepped up quite nicely. This was a decade ago. Now, it doesn't matter who is taller than me. Noone bites no matter where they are on their cage. Nancy

 

 

Very simple solution---teach them how to " stepup, stepdown" when birds are on the floor. That's the most common solution and lessons used to teaching the stepping up or down. After doing that a bird will rarely be resistant to doing those things no matter where they're at. The only resistance a bird may give is when a bird simply doesn't wanna do those commands but the bird will do that no mtter where it is.

[Jayd]

Opinion vs facts, facts always rule. In the ideal world all birds would be able to trust each other as well trusting humans, this isn't so or even possible, each parrot, each human have so many variables not counting outside interferences, the variables are too great. Bird to bird, develop tolerances to each other, and on rare occasions birds of different species will bond on a one to one basis, not as a group.

A misconception of bonding have a lot of people believing that when a parrot bonds with a human, the parrot will no longer have anything to do with another human, this isn't true, only in a mating bond, grey to grey, doe's this happen. A example would be that human #1 would receive maximum amount of attention and devotion with all other humans receiving lessor amounts.

In most case's of multiple bird home's of different species, depending on the kind of parrot, they will tolerate each other, with some species, they will totally ignore each other, this isn't trust, but attitude, nature if you wish, they could care less about each other. To get your parrots to eat out of the same bowl at the same time isn't trust, it's training.

The largest problem with understanding human/parrot relationship is remembering that their two different entities and must be treated as such, avian and human psychology are not the same, yes, there's similarity's, good for comparison but not for practice, you don't use human psychology on a parrot or vise-versa. The only being who benefits from "Being Taller" is the person who believes this myth, if this was true, than the simple fact that we as humans are bigger than a parrot would have the same effect.....What ever we do, we have to do it more than once or twice to more than one bird, and we really need to research what we might believe in just to see if it's fact or fiction.............

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

What has worked for me, is having three birds of different origins, getting along. When I take them to get trimmed, I can put them all in one cage. My groomer has asked me, " how do you have three birds of different origins get along?" I say" what do you mean"? I don't make any choices for my birds. They do.

I have three rules. Many may not like it, but it works for us. Wrist status only, until the trust is established. Then they go to shoulder. Stepup and stepdown, a must. Play on top of your cage all you want, but I will always be taller than you when working on stepup. A simple step stool. We as parents make many things complicated. It doesn;t need to be. Just listen. I was given that advice when Sophie came to our home. I listen to her all the time! She can be quite unreasonable and I laugh at her. She knows it. Nancy

[Jayd]

What has worked for me, is having three birds of different origins, getting along. When I take them to get trimmed, I can put them all in one cage. My groomer has asked me, " how do you have three birds of different origins get along?" I say" what do you mean"? I don't make any choices for my birds. They do.

I have three rules. Many may not like it, but it works for us. Wrist status only, until the trust is established. Then they go to shoulder. Stepup and stepdown, a must. Play on top of your cage all you want, but I will always be taller than you when working on stepup. A simple step stool. We as parents make many things complicated. It doesn;t need to be. Just listen. I was given that advice when Sophie came to our home. I listen to her all the time! She can be quite unreasonable and I laugh at her. She knows it. Nancy

This is a very good post, thank you......We have 9 fid's [1 won't] at this point in time that eat with each other.

Edited December 20, 2012 by Jayd

[kins2321@yahoo.com]

For the one that won't... He will... when he see's over and over, the behavior of the flock. Its not us that makes the rules... its the flock. I have few rules, but I let the birds know, I'm not giving an inch. Extremely simple rules, they all argue with me, but they know when i won't give in Nancy