Tips and Hints for Harness Training (and other husbandry behaviors)
Posted by raz on Jul 7th, 2009
2009
Jul 7
These are some things I’ve noticed can go awry with harness training –- or with any training for that matter — but especially when training very unnatural behaviors with objects the bird may find aversive (straps, nail files and the like). Here are a few tips.
- Use a training perch It can be difficult to interpret whether a bird moving around in an open space is bored, distracted, or if it is avoidance behavior. To make it clearer, and also to keep the session focused, I use a training perch for our harness sessions (as well as other “staying put” behaviors). Put it at a slight angle and have the harness at one end. Then the bird can come forward directly to the harness (a good sign that he’s up for the training) or he can back away to the other side (a good sign he finds it aversive).
- Clear cuing If a behavior doesn’t have a clear cue, it’s likely the bird will be confused about what you want him to do. When I’m harness training, I hold the harness up 8-10” from the bird as the signal that I want him to come forward to put it on. (In the beginning, just approaching the harness is the target behavior.) By coming forward, he is essentially giving his consent and making his own decision. If he doesn’t come forward within a few seconds, down it goes. Part of having a clear cue is to….
- Limit the window of opportunity Give the bird a short window of time in which to do the requested behavior (3-5 seconds). If he doesn’t do it, lower the harness. This is the same as in recall training: if the bird doesn’t respond immediately, lower your hand and remove the opportunity for a reward. If the bird doesn’t respond repeatedly when given a window of opportunity, you may be asking for too large of a step, the bird might be unclear about the behavior you want, or the reward might not be worth enough.
- Use special treats and bonuses With difficult or unnatural behaviors like putting on a harness, I find extra special rewards are helpful. We’re asking for a lot! Let’s give a lot in return to make it worth it. When there is a small breakthrough to a new level, I give an ample bonus, then just a couple more reps before ending the session. End on a high note.
- Limit the session length When training something that a bird would normally want to avoid (putting things on, having nails filed, etc.) I like to keep the sessions short and fast paced. If the routine is a short session with quick repetitions and great treats, I think there is much higher likelihood of the bird being eager to participate. (Short for us is 2-3 minutes.) You can always do more sessions each day if you want.
“Not for Dogs Only”
Harness life: not so bad. This is Daphne, a Ducorps Cockatoo,
on vacation with Barb Saunders in Morro Bay. Sure beats the pet sitter!
(See more of Barb’s birds and aviary here.)
Complete Harness Training Series.
RSS feed
July 8th, 2009 at 7:51 am
Thanks Raz, I am going today to buy a harness for Zoey and get started right away.What do you use for treats? Zoey eats most anything that I give her, though she doesn’t eat much. Have a good day.
July 8th, 2009 at 8:04 am
Nice post Raz.
I never ceased to be amazed when I see videos of folks training birds how they fail to clearly communcate what they want. One can almost always see the bird’s confusion as the trainer presses on with a strategy that is clearly not working. If the bird isn’t getting it then it is because the trainer is not clearly communicating with the bird what is required!
Sometimes it is hard to remember that it is OK to change the stratgey if it is not working, in fact it becomes essential.
I wish everyone would play the training game (as in Don’t Shoot the Dog) and then they just might understand how precise non-verbal communication has to be!
Well done,
Sid.
July 9th, 2009 at 10:01 am
Great post Raz!! This training does work! I’ve doing it with Zazu and it’s proven fantastic results! Had a bit of hesitation today with Zaz and the harness…but…baby steps gets you further in the long run. Kudos! And I totally agree with Sid!! Well done! -C
February 1st, 2013 at 3:04 am
Thanks to my father who informed me concerning this webpage, this blog is
genuinely awesome.
February 7th, 2013 at 5:28 pm
Useful info. Lucky me I found your website by accident, and I’m surprised why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.
February 14th, 2013 at 3:26 pm
Hey There. I found your blog using msn. This is a very well
written article. I’ll be sure to bookmark it and return to read more of your useful information. Thanks for the post. I’ll certainly return.
February 17th, 2013 at 10:29 pm
“Tips and Hints for Harness Training (and other husbandry behaviors) | Carly Lu’s Flight Blog” was indeed a relatively pleasant blog post, . Continue posting and I’ll try to
keep on viewing! Thank you ,Mohammad
April 9th, 2013 at 8:50 pm
I loved as much as you’ll receive carried out right here. The sketch is attractive, your authored subject matter stylish. nonetheless, you command get got an edginess over that you wish be delivering the following. unwell unquestionably come further formerly again as exactly the same nearly very often inside case you shield this increase.
April 28th, 2013 at 8:24 am
Excellent website. Lots of helpful information here.
I’m sending it to some buddies ans also sharing in delicious. And certainly, thank you in your sweat!
April 28th, 2013 at 9:32 pm
Hello! Someone in my Myspace group shared this site with us so I came to
give it a look. I’m definitely enjoying the information. I’m bookmarking and will be tweeting this to my followers!
Exceptional blog and amazing design and style.
April 28th, 2013 at 9:46 pm
Aw, this was an extremely nice post. Taking the time
and actual effort to create a great article… but what can I say… I hesitate a lot and never manage to get anything done.
May 2nd, 2013 at 11:44 pm
The other day, while I was at work, my sister stole my apple ipad and
tested to see if it can survive a thirty foot drop,
just so she can be a youtube sensation. My iPad is now destroyed and she has 83 views.
I know this is completely off topic but I had to share it with someone!
May 6th, 2013 at 12:32 pm
What a material of un-ambiguity and preserveness of precious experience about unpredicted feelings.
May 9th, 2013 at 9:16 pm
If you desire to improve your knowledge simply keep visiting this site and
be updated with the hottest news update posted here.
May 19th, 2013 at 9:54 pm
Hello, all is going fine here and ofcourse every one is sharing data, that’s truly good, keep up writing.
May 21st, 2013 at 3:00 am
I would like to thank you for the еfforts you’ve put in penning this website. I am hoping to see the same high-grade blog posts by you later on as well. In fact, your creative writing abilities has encouraged me to get my own blog now
May 26th, 2013 at 4:19 pm
Hello just wanted to give you a quick heads up. The
text in your content seem to be running off the screen
in Firefox. I’m not sure if this is a formatting issue or something to do with browser compatibility but I thought I’d post to let you know.
The style and design look great though! Hope you get the problem fixed
soon. Cheers
June 3rd, 2013 at 2:44 pm
I comment whenever I appreciate a article on a website or I have something to contribute to
I do have 2 questions for you if you usually do not mind. Could it be simply me or do some of these remarks come across as if they are written by brain dead folks? 
And, if you are writing at additional sites, I’d like to keep up
the conversation. Usually it is triggered by the fire communicated in the article I browsed.
And on this article Tips and Hints for Harness Training
(and other husbandry behaviors) | Carly Lu’s Flight Blog. I was excited enough to write a thought
with everything fresh you have to post. Would you list every one of all
your community sites like your twitter feed, Facebook page or linkedin profile?