Early Training on a Harness
Here are some pictures of Piper’s early outdoor training on a harness.
Piper Goes Out
I use a retractable leash set short at the beginning (5-6 feet), then work up to the full length eventually (15 ft). They need to be familiar with doing recall on a harness and leash inside before doing this, so they understand the concept and don’t try to fly off uncontrollably.
I personally like using a harness like this to acclimate a new bird to flying outdoors. Even when Carly had started flying on her own outside, I still used the harness for the first few minutes of our outdoor sessions at the beginning. It allowed me a way to double-check that her response was good that day, that she was not distracted or anxious about something in the environment, etc.
I will take some pictures of the harness I use. It’s homemade, but similar to the aviator. I also have a version that doesn’t have to be put over the head since some birds don’t like that. The KEY with using a harness, in addition to sufficient indoor training first, is to make sure you have the leash securely attached on both ends. That means a secure fastener on the bird end that he won’t open up on his own (again — practice inside!) and a secure fastener on your end that you can’t accidentally lose hold of. That means a caribiner or some secure hook like those found at boat supply stores. I’ll include some pics of those too. Do not rely on holding the leash loop in your hand, or even looped around your wrist. If something startles your bird, and the bird tries to bolt, it may very well startle you too and you can accidentally let go of the leash. It’s also important to not have the line too long for what the bird is comfortable with doing recall, otherwise you can get tangled up.
An article about harness training by Barbara Heidenreich, featuring Stephanie Ernst’s African Grey is in Parrot Chronicles: Harness Training Your Bird .
Here’s a shot that show’s Piper’s harness better. I now use a screw-down pear clip to attach the leash to the harness because he learned how to unfasten the standard leash clip.
Complete Harness Training Series.
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