Harness Training: Handling the Wings

[Ladyhawk]

I have the Aviator Harness and I'm using the medium size to train Kizzy. I think she'll end up wearing a small.

As of now, Kizzy will put her head in and out. She doesn't like "out," but she does it. She tolerates the weight of the harness on her body for a pretty good chunk of time, as long as I keep feeding her treats.

We're not making much headway when it comes to handling her wings, which I'm doing without the harness around. One thing at a time, I think. I started by gently lifting them and counting to three, then giving her a seed. Now I'm gently holding her wings and letting her eat treats during the procedure, but like most Amazons I've known, she really doesn't like it. I've been growled at and pinched quite a bit. Is this something she'll overcome? Should I back off to something she's more comfortable with? I'm not sure how much I should be pushing her on this.

How did you train your Amazon to let you handle his / her wings?

Here's hoping Salty's dad sees this thread.

 

[SailBoat]

Yup, the Amazon Trainer of the Group is clearly Salty, I mean his Dad!

It is always important to remember that all of this comes back to their comfort level in us. The on-going building of trust is so important in every part of the relationship including training. A large part of this is getting them comfortable that regardless of what you are going with them, they can fully trust that everything will be okay! The only way to do that is to be continuing to push bounderies!

This process also opens doors to vocal and body language communications as she builds in the basics and adds her own to the mix.

As you transition from requiring treats to not requiring them is to assure that she first believes it to be fun (our showing the joy of her doing it) to her enjoying doing it. If is not fun doing, why do it?

Have Fun!

 

[wrench13]

Hi! When Salty and I do harness TRAINing, he will put his head thru the headstall, and let me drape the rest of the harness over his body. I have him walk around with the harness on , all over our training table, maybe ask him to pick up a small ball, and then, holding the headstall open with 2 fingers, give Salty the off command, and he will cleanly pull his head out, ruffling a minimum of feathers. You want to get Kizzy to that point, where it's no big deal to do this 'trick'. And I suggest you make a set time to do training, and have some other 'tricks' she may like to do, and do them every nite.

Getting the harness on is an entirely different proposition. Since you will no doubt want to take Kizzy out outside your nightly training time, it need not be treated like your normal training routine. I keep the harness all the way open, put Salty on my lap, give the on command, so he knows what's comming, and gently put his head thru the headstall, and wing by wing, slip the wing loops under each one. Treat. I'll then tighten up the buckle slowly. You'll need to straighten out a few feather's so it lies flat, and expect her to foul the straps with her claws but just under tangle her. Treat. The first time or two, it may not be as smooth as you would like, but if she is really desensitized to wearing the harness from your training sessions, it will get easier. Important, in addition to treats, that you go outside immediately after you are successful, so so knows that wow, we are going out, when you put it on. Good luck.

 

[Ladyhawk]

Yup, the Amazon Trainer of the Group is clearly Salty, I mean his Dad!

It is always important to remember that all of this comes back to their comfort level in us. The on-going building of trust is so important in every part of the relationship including training. A large part of this is getting them comfortable that regardless of what you are going with them, they can fully trust that everything will be okay! The only way to do that is to be continuing to push bounderies!

This process also opens doors to vocal and body language communications as she builds in the basics and adds her own to the mix.

As you transition from requiring treats to not requiring them is to assure that she first believes it to be fun (our showing the joy of her doing it) to her enjoying doing it. If is not fun doing, why do it?

Have Fun!

Yeah, Salty's dad is the grand champion of patience and persistence when it comes to training Amazons. I am most impressed.

Thanks for your input, SailBoat. I felt I needed to push her a bit, but when you love an Amazon, you don't like to make her feel uncomfortable, even if it's necessary.

Since pushing her is a necessity, I think I'll try mixing it up. Sometimes I'll barely touch the wings; sometimes I'll lift gently; sometimes I'll hold and sometimes I'll hold and move them slightly. I'll be very gentle, but because we won't be doing a recognizable pattern, she won't know how pissed off to get until it's over.

She seems to like bits of unsalted pistachio better than bits of raw sunflower, so I should probably save the pistachio for wing training.

 

[Ladyhawk]

Hi! When Salty and I do harness TRAINing, he will put his head thru the headstall, and let me drape the rest of the harness over his body. I have him walk around with the harness on , all over our training table, maybe ask him to pick up a small ball, and then, holding the headstall open with 2 fingers, give Salty the off command, and he will cleanly pull his head out, ruffling a minimum of feathers. You want to get Kizzy to that point, where it's no big deal to do this 'trick'. And I suggest you make a set time to do training, and have some other 'tricks' she may like to do, and do them every nite.

Getting the harness on is an entirely different proposition. Since you will no doubt want to take Kizzy out outside your nightly training time, it need not be treated like your normal training routine. I keep the harness all the way open, put Salty on my lap, give the on command, so he knows what's comming, and gently put his head thru the headstall, and wing by wing, slip the wing loops under each one. Treat. I'll then tighten up the buckle slowly. You'll need to straighten out a few feather's so it lies flat, and expect her to foul the straps with her claws but just under tangle her. Treat. The first time or two, it may not be as smooth as you would like, but if she is really desensitized to wearing the harness from your training sessions, it will get easier. Important, in addition to treats, that you go outside immediately after you are successful, so so knows that wow, we are going out, when you put it on. Good luck.

Thank you. I'm guessing Salty wears a small, but the head piece on the small I have is confining on Kizzy, so I'm using the medium for desensitization. I wish they made a size between the two I have.

Also, I need a table I can sit at so we're both comfortable. Hopefully, I can cook something up that works for both of us.

There's a variable that makes things a bit more difficult with Kizzy. She can fly. And she has used this ability to take off with the harness partially attached. So far this has happened only once, but it really freaked her out. Luckily, she bears the harness no ill will. I just don't want it to happen again.

When you hold the harness headstall open for Salty with two fingers, how do you do it? Usually when I say "off," Kizzy pulls back immediately. If I'm using the smaller harness, it usually upsets her enough that she growls. Part of the problem is I'm not sure what to do with the treats. Right now, I'm holding them with my hand to entice her to poke her head through the harness. I've tried using the targeting stick, but it's hard to manage the harness, target stick and treats at the same time.

Thank you for your time. I hope you'll let me pick your brain as training continues. Salty is a really wonderful little character and you are great at working with him.

 

[wrench13]

Lol, no third hand is needed. Your doing it exactly right, hold the heads tall open with 2 fingers and entice her to put her head thru it. I usually takes salty 3 tries to put his head completely in, I treat him each time, putting the treat just a little bit more away from the harness each time. I
Would just use the larger one for now, and she will need a med anyway when she's full grown. Personally I think it too early to try the whole thing but she may be more resilient then salty. She needs to be totally comfortable wearing it draped over her.

 

[AmyMyBlueFront]

I have the Aviator Harness and I'm using the medium size to train Kizzy. I think she'll end up wearing a small.

As of now, Kizzy will put her head in and out. She doesn't like "out," but she does it. She tolerates the weight of the harness on her body for a pretty good chunk of time, as long as I keep feeding her treats.

We're not making much headway when it comes to handling her wings, which I'm doing without the harness around. One thing at a time, I think. I started by gently lifting them and counting to three, then giving her a seed. Now I'm gently holding her wings and letting her eat treats during the procedure, but like most Amazons I've known, she really doesn't like it. I've been growled at and pinched quite a bit. Is this something she'll overcome? Should I back off to something she's more comfortable with? I'm not sure how much I should be pushing her on this.

How did you train your Amazon to let you handle his / her wings?

Here's hoping Salty's dad sees this thread.

Even though Amy isn't harness trained,she does let me extend her arms for ten to fifteen seconds without complaining. Any longer,she will turn her head to look at me and try to get my fingers with the beaky and then she will start to move around to get me to let go.
I'm trying to get Pookie's dad to come and trim her sleeves and do her feetsies.
I'm still on the fence about a harness for her though




Jim

 

[Ladyhawk]

Lol, no third hand is needed. Your doing it exactly right, hold the heads tall open with 2 fingers and entice her to put her head thru it. I usually takes salty 3 tries to put his head completely in, I treat him each time, putting the treat just a little bit more away from the harness each time. I
Would just use the larger one for now, and she will need a med anyway when she's full grown. Personally I think it too early to try the whole thing but she may be more resilient then salty. She needs to be totally comfortable wearing it draped over her.

The guy who invented the Aviator Harness recommends the small size for blue fronts, but at her current size, she needs one sort of in between small and medium. I'll train with the medium and see how well it works for her.

Thanks for the tips. My last training session went a bit more smoothly.