Realistic Amazon Goals???

[LoveOfallAnimals]

Hi! I have had Tito since the end of November. I don't really know his history other than vet is pretty sure he was a juvenile.
He was extremely scared, but that has changed. He will come out of his cage onto a play perch. I can move it next to my desk and he will stay on it and engage with me.
He takes treats from my hands very gently. He has never bitten me. However, if I try to get him to step up, he screams and runs in the other direction.
He will step onto a stick, but if you try to move it, he screams and jumps off.
Will I ever be able to get him to step up? I was told by a bird behaviorist that if he wasn't a hand feed baby that he will never step up.
For the most part everything is fine. I push his play perch over to his cage and allow him to come out on it. The problem is when he accidentally falls off of it.
He then panics and runs around the room screaming for around 10 minutes or so. He doesn't want me to come near him.
It pains me that he won't let me just left him back up on the perch. He does eventually calm down and I can get him to go to his cage by using target training.

 

[saxguy64]

Well, I'm not a behaviorist, but I definitely don't buy the theory that only hand fed babies will step up. Fact is, he does step up onto a perch, right? Really, some birds just don't like hands for any number of reasons, and I've met quite a few like that. We have members who have wonderful relationships with birds that absolutely won't step up onto hands. I'm not saying that Tito never will, there's always hope, but it's just not a make or break. If he doesn't like hands, keep a perch handy and use that.

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

Well, I'm not a behaviorist, but I definitely don't buy the theory that only hand fed babies will step up. Fact is, he does step up onto a perch, right? Really, some birds just don't like hands for any number of reasons, and I've met quite a few like that. We have members who have wonderful relationships with birds that absolutely won't step up onto hands. I'm not saying that Tito never will, there's always hope, but it's just not a make or break. If he doesn't like hands, keep a perch handy and use that.

Thanks for the response! The problem I have is that even with a stick once you start to move it, he jumps off. I don't know if it is because his wings had been butchered before I got him (praying they grow back) so if he does fall he has no ability to gracefully drift down. I have never dropped him, but he acts like he is afraid that will happen.
What should I do to encourage him to stay on the stick while I move it. Is it just time? I feel like I am failing him.

 

[PrimorandMoxi]

Tito is a beauty.
My RLA is a real sweeeet heart.
So was another forty year old RLA that I had for a short time before she got sick.

It is just time and every Amazon goes at a different pace.

You can and will do this!!
Keep on making him trust you the way you are.

once he is hand tame he will look to you for protection rather than running away.
Then he will learn that every place you bring him is fun.

 

[wrench13]

YEah I would stay with the perch for a while, maybe even forever. Once he is on
the perch, give him treats as long as he is on it. Move around a little bit, a tiny bit. If he stays on, give him another treat. Rinse and repeat, moving a little bit more gradually. This might take a few weeks of every day training but is very do-able.
When training parrots - Be immediate (have your treat ready! Lots of praise too), Be consistent (don't change methods or requests, it only will confuse him) and Be patient!!

 

[LoveOfallAnimals]

YEah I would stay with the perch for a while, maybe even forever. Once he is on
the perch, give him treats as long as he is on it. Move around a little bit, a tiny bit. If he stays on, give him another treat. Rinse and repeat, moving a little bit more gradually. This might take a few weeks of every day training but is very do-able.
When training parrots - Be immediate (have your treat ready! Lots of praise too), Be consistent (don't change methods or requests, it only will confuse him) and Be patient!!

Thank you!

 

[SailBoat]

So, you have been talking to or reading the words of a 'bird behaviorist.' Understand that group have their manual and they stick to it regardless of what is happening in front of them. Take care as their manual is more important then your Parrot.

Please read with understanding the two huge Threads at the very top of the Amazon Forum! I would strongly recommend that you sit next to your Amazon and read in a comfortable voice those Threads to you Amazon. It is part of deepening your Amazon's comfort in you and your voice. After you have read them several times, your knowledge base regarding your Amazon will be much deeper.

You should consider that anything your Amazon is now doing (interacting with you) is developing your relationship (Bond).

Consider a very short (height) perch that your Amazon can step-up on from the floor. If possible added a water and food bowl to it. The goal is to make it your Amazons safe place just above the floor. Once comfortable with it, over time, move it ever so slowly toward the cage. The goal is with time, developing a comfort that anytime on the perch, only good things happen.

If you had gotten your Amazon from a business or any individual, your Amazon should have come with its Hatch Certificate. A document that provides the hatch date, the Species of each parent, and their contact information from hatch to you! If you do not have it, contact the individual you purchased you Amazon from and begin hounding them for that document.

Clearly this is a starting point and developing that Trust Bond is job #1.

 

[Briburd]

Maybe start with literal baby steps. Once he steps up on the perch from
his cage have his stand a few inches away so that he can step up almost immediately onto it from the perch in your hand. Then slowly increase the distance between his stand and the handheld perch.

 

[wrench13]

In my experience with parrots I make the following observations.

Noticing a common point here, @LoveOfallAnimals? Or points?

• Establish a safe place at or near the floor
• Treat while on it
• Slowly increase the time or height of the perch from the floor
• Patience, patients, however you spell it, take copious amounts of time in developing this bond and behavior!!

PS: unlike most advice or suggestions on parrot behavior (which may or may not make a noticeable change in your parrot), following Sailboats comments TO THE LETTER I guarantee will make a noticeable change in the parront/parrot relationship, and all for the better.

With 152 comments and 119,000 views, it is without a doubt one of the most useful, accurate and comprehensive gathering of information not only about Amazons, but to all companion parrots (all you conure and budgies owners take notice!). Sound important? It is. However, new information and views on state of the art Aviculture are always on the move and what was common practice as little as 10 years ago might be supplanted by new findings or results of studies and programs. It's one of the reasons I support parrot related studies and student research at colleges like Cornell Univ. and similar ones. Barbaric practices such as cutting a parrots toung into 2 (bifurcating) to increase the ability to talk, or starving the parrot prior to any treat related training to make him more receptive to the training. Both of these were in printed materials printed within the last 15 years. Always consider the source of information.

I Love Amazons
and
Amazon Body Language

 

[Birdman666]

OMG! A red lored... I had one for about a quarter of a century... She was a very special bird. Irreplacable! BUT when I got that bird I could not handle her except wrapped up in a towel. It took me two months to rehab and train her with me, and another two months to out and about train her/recall her, and get her to the point where she would go to anyone and loved everyone... SO YES IT IS ABSOLUTELY REALISTIC. IT TAKES TIME, EFFORT, CONSISTENCY, AND PATIENCE...

My red lored amazon was my flock leader, and one of the most bonded birds I ever owned. The effort was well worth it!!!