Older Amazon Training question

[SandyBee]

So I've had Bosley for 2 months now.
He's a real sweetheart, very loving and even cuddly.
He is 35 and we got him from a rescue/sanctuary.

My question is how do I get him to step up?

He comes to me when asked mostly. I've been doing touch training with him and that is working reasonably well. I am trying clicker training, he looks at me like I'm nuts.
He won't step up on my hand or arm for anything. He will even avoid his favorite treats. Now I know he can because he flew to my coffee table and didn't know how to get off, he stepped up on my hand with no problem then because he needed help. He also flew onto the ledge of my bathroom mirror and he let me put my hands from behind under his feet to help him, so he is not afraid of me or hands.

I have a training stand that he happily will go to for me.He will climb on my shoulder and chest, he will sit on my knee.

But he will not step up on my hand/arm or stick when requested.
It's not a big problem because with the training stand it's almost the same thing, but not quite.

Also treats only work to an extent, he won't take the same treat 2 days in a row and would rather avoid treats that stepping up.

How do I further training from here?

Thanks!!

 

[JerseyWendy]

You have come a long LONG way with precious Bosley in a VERY short period of time. Give yourself a HUGE pat on the back for that.

At 35, he has certainly shown you that he CAN and is willing to trust you, which alone is an enormous achievement.

Have you tried makig him step onto a perch? Try using different perches if he refuses the first one. As an example: A dowel - a natural, wooden branch - a rope perch - a cement perch - a sandy perch. If he rejects all of them, he may just not be ready yet to come out when you ask him to. Don't give up though, as I'm certain in time he may just melt like butter in your arms, especially since you can cuddle with him.

As for the clicker training, you're not alone. My birds also give me the "WTH was that" look when I use it. Thank godness they respond quite well to verbal praise.

Just an idea, but does Bosley have a favorite toy? You could try a toy (foot toy, bell, stuffed animal) as a lure.

 

[SandyBee]

LOL

I've tried a few perches, he won't have anything to do with them yet.
But he will step onto his T stand so I am going to invest in a T perch.

He will come to me, climb out of his cage and march right over to me for treat/toy even just lovings. When I get home from work, he practically runs down his cage just to snuggle , BUT he will walk around my arm and go back to his cage rather than step up. I'm thinking just time and persistence and he apparently can be stubborn when he wants too!!

he also won't eat fruit or anything remotely sweet eg nutriberries LOL
Good thing he's on pellets and will eat some veggies or that would be an uphill battle!!

 

[JerseyWendy]

If he doesn't like sweet, how about you offer Jalapenos? LOL. Or pomegranate = sour as heck

 

[SandyBee]

Tried pomegranates, no go
He doesn't like dried chili's going to try fresh Jalapenos next.

At least I've got popcorn and cashews so far as treats.
Oh and a little bit of havarti cheese, he even turned down mozarella.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Oooh..I forgot about Popcorn! That's usually always a hit!
Apples: sliced, diced, whole (on a kabob)
Pears: ^^^ same thing
Carrots (raw): ^^^^ same thing
Mango: ^^^^^^^^^
Plums: ^^^^^^
Broccoli: ^^^^^

Gees, even I am running out of ideas. All my birds LOVE the occcasional kabob. They may not "eat" all the stuff I put on there, but they do use their beaks to shred it up...and some always gets eaten.

Cheese, yes, heavenly cheese. That is one thing my Hunter will do backflips for - literally! But she's not allowed any more cheese due to her cholesterol. So now I'm hiding each and every time I'm indulging. But she's SO clever! She hears me open the fridge, tries SO hard to see what I'm after...and starts begging immediately.

Uh..I have another idea: Cooked chicken bone. Like a drumstick, perhaps?

 

[Featheredsamurai]

Wow, how interesting

Here's some fantastic videos from bird tricks, they trained a Alexandrina who was afraid of stepping up/hands and taught him stepping up as a trick

Here they reward him for putting a foot on her hand
[ame=http://youtu.be/KgRnfssP6BM]Live training session - Alexandrine learns stepping up is a trick - YouTube[/ame]

And here they use touch training, to get to the target he has to step up onto the hand.
[ame=http://youtu.be/vnsTrOefRlQ]Alexandrine parrot stepping up - YouTube[/ame]

 

[SandyBee]

Thanks for the responses.
That is what I have been trying to do as in the video's. He refuses and goes back to his cage/ avoids the arm by trying to walk around it. I'll keep trying though, we make more and more progress on things all the time.

JerseyWendy, thanks for all the food tips, I haven't tried kabobs yet maybe that will interest him. He likes drumsticks, but only once in a while.

 

[henpecked]

Hey Sandy, sounds like your making great progress. He does seem to have an issue with hands, many birds do and are afraid of them. They act like hands are a different creature than you. They want to be with you but those hands are always in the way,LOL.Maybe try giving him smaller and smaller pieces of what ever treat your giving him. It's easier for him to accept larger pieces and has to overcome his fear to take the very small pieces from your hand.That smaller piece won't take as long to eat ,where as a big piece is more of a distraction. When choosing a treat, find something he likes and only use it when training, don't use it as everyday food, keep it special. I have also found pellets sometimes work as a training treat,if your lucky. Keep up the good work.

 

[MonicaMc]

Curious to know.... is it a physical step up or more like going from one surface to another? (i.e. hand/arm is at same level as whatever Bosley is on)

Are you offering fingers? Palm up? Palm down? Arm?

Have you tried with a bare arm/hand? Or what about one covered with a sweater?

 

[SandyBee]

Well it seems I've found Bosleys weak spot.
Cheddar cheese!!!

MonicaMC
I tried it all, same level, different levels, bare arm, sweater, palm up etc...

But last night I tried cheddar instead of white cheese and he stepped on my arm, hand and anything to get to the cheese!!!
Part of it was the up command I think because when I used the word up he went to my shoulder, I need to find a word to associate hand/arm.

Thanks for all the advice,
Question I know cheddar cheese is not the best on the system, I used really small pieces. How much can I give him/ He weighs 471 grams, in good shape for a DYH from what I've read and what the vet says.