Behavior while wearing a harness?

[faysalitani]

Hi all,

I have a question about my recently harness-trained ekkie. He's just under two years old and it took me about two weeks to get him to wear the aviator harness without a fuss. But once he's got it on he behaves really strangely. He becomes very still and quiet, and he doesn't take treats (and he is a *very* treat-responsive bird!). He's just not himself and I dont know what's wrong. He goes back to normal soon after I take it off. The first time it took him a while but now he recovers a little faster. What's up with this bird? :06: Should I stop putting a harness on him? And if he hates it so much why does he cooperate with putting it on?

Thank you!


Faysal

 

[EllenD]

Honestly I'm shocked that it only took 2 weeks for you to get him to let you put him on it, and that he's not constantly chewing at it, as it usually takes most birds months and months to over a year just to be able to get it on them, and even then they typically chew and chew and chew on it the entire time they're wearing it...

So there is absolutely nothing at all wrong with your bird, you just took the harness-training way too quickly, and he's just extremely uncomfortable, anxious, and upset about wearing it, as it's just too soon to keep it on him for any long periods of time, and by that I mean for a few minutes a day. You just didn't know and that's understandable, but now that you do know you need to hit the brakes and SLOOOOW DOWN!

Birds don't naturally wear clothing or have anything touching them or anything "around" them like a harness, so it is going to take a while before he's not scared of the harness and is actually okay with accepting it and wearing it...A lot of the time with a very sweet, hand-tame bird that doesn't mind being handled, you actually are able to force it on them without a fuss, but that doesn't take away their fear of it. They let you put it on them all at once because they are very tame, but once it's on them they're terrified of it and totally uncomfortable, and that's where you bird is at right now...He let you put it on him very quickly, but he's scared to death of it and is very uncomfortable wearing it...

So what you need to do is just put it on him once a day, every day, for only a few minutes, like 5 minutes tops, and as soon as you get it on him you need to give him a special treat, whatever his favorite treat is...Then talk to him while he has it on, make him feel as comfortable as he can feel, and if it's warm enough outside then take him outside in it right after putting it on him so he can see that the harness means he gets to go outside...Then after 5 minutes take it off of him and give him another treat and more verbal praise...And that's it until the next day...And each day extend the time period he wears it by a few minutes, and be sure to give him a treat as soon as you get it on him and then another after it comes off, and some in between while he's wearing it, along with lots of verbal praise....Each day add a minute or two to the time he wears it, and eventually he will get used to wearing it and he will also associate it with treats and going outside. Eventually he'll be fine in it all the time, but 2 weeks is WAY TOO SHORT a time period to just put it on him and expect him to totally accept it, because it's totally unnatural for them and right now the reason he is quiet and not moving when he has it on because he's terrified of it.

Be patient and go at HIS PACE with wearing the harness, not your pace. It will happen, but you can't force it, it must happen very slowly and gradually over-time, just like anyone getting used to anything new and abnormal for them to be wearing. It's a marathon, not a sprint...

 

[charmedbyekkie]

I've an ekkie who also picked up the harness in two weeks. But! I did make sure he was ok with it at every step, to the point where he would run over to the harness whenever he saw it.

I think the biggest part would be to make sure he initiates things like putting his head through the harness (I know a lot of Aviator beginners put the harness over the head) - it must be he puts his head in. Do not guide it over, just hold it there and he'll put his head through.

The next part would be to remind him that he can move. Cairo knows he can fly in his harness, but with holiday outfits, he forgets sometimes. So I have him on my arm and I drop my arm quickly like they do to train birds to flap their wings to fly. If your little guy knows tricks, you should also encourage him to do his tricks at every step.

So we would put it on and then immediately take off. We did practice a couple of times a day. And he got obsessed about doing harness training - he leans forward so I can slip his wings through and he tries to help me tighten it as well and he knows now to fly to me when the whole process is done.

I also make him associate the harness with going outside. So he got distracted enough to forget about the harness.

 

[faysalitani]

Guys, thank you both. This is super helpful.

So I think my mistake was assuming that if he didn’t want to wear it, he’d give me some sort of signal or resistance before it was completely on. Or that he’d bite it or something once it was on. So I figured since he was very cooperative he was fine with wearing it. You’re saying that’s not the case? ( I definitely didn’t force it on him or anything and he does put his head through the collar voluntarily, but based on what you’re saying I think he’s doing that for the treats only lol).

So I should continue taking it on and off him but for very short periods, treating him, reassuring him etc? Rather than get him accustomed to wearing it for long enough to get ‘used’ to it? I have no problem with that and certainly don’t want to make him uncomfortable. He must’ve fooled me!

 

[charmedbyekkie]

Oh! Then it sounds like a case of he feels he can't move.

Make sure his feathers are comfortable. Cairo bites at the harness if his feathers are above the chest strap. And if the chest strap is 'too tight' - being that two fingers can't fit in comfortably - he doesn't want to move either. Try figuring out if it is a fit issue.

If it's not that, then he just thinks he can't move. So start with basic things like target training - first within his reach, then just barely within his reach so he has to lean, then just outside of his reach so he has to take a step. I typically move on to wing flapping then recall training next. Or onto things like step up and shake and wave. Distract him with other activities while he's wearing it - it'll take some time for him to realise he can still move.

But most important is the fit of the harness on him. Feathers out of place or tight for him (at first I put it on Cairo like you do for horses ) or other things you have to observe with a lot of trial and error to figure out what works for him

 

[ChristaNL]

the 3 F's (freeze, fight, flight) of how birds react.


You bird uses the the first, which is nice considering the alternatves


Just go with what the others said - desensitize him to what is going on by repeatedly making it short and sweet.
Once the harness is telling the bird "you are in for a fun experience" you will have won the battle.