This past Saturday I got Salty up at his usual time, 10AM, gave him his breakfast and fresh water, and let him wake up a bit. Then I got him out of his cage and put his Aviator harness on him. It's still a bit of a struggle to get it on him, no biting at all, but he still does not like to put his head thru the head loop. I have to hold his little head still and slip it over. Once that is on, slipping the loos for the wings is easy and he doesn't seem to mind that so much. Each time we put it on it gets easier and easier, as he realizes that a) its not going to hurt him or eat him and b) he gets lots n lots of treats when we are done and c) it means we are going OUT somewhere. With a pocket full of pine nuts, we headed out the front door. It's great to see the change come over him, like a wide eyed youngster seeing Disneyworld for the first time. We walked around my car a few times so he doesn't get freaked out by it when we actually go inside. I let him ride on my shoulder this time, if its going to be a long trip, Salty goes into the Pac-O-Bird, and wedged between the front bucket seats. But this was not going to be a all day trip, just a lot of stops, shopping. Salty loves to watch the trees and other cars go whizzing by. First stop was the big box pet store, where I get some of his food items - Avicakes and Roudybush pellets. They also have a big toy selection, and I let Salty pick out his own toys ( that way I know they will be used and destroyed, instead of ignored ). The staff there like when we visit and make a big fuss over him.
Salty was a gentleman the whole time, accepting his treats politely and even shook hand with a few people. Then it was back into the car, to hit a smaller Mom and Pop pet store, to get more of his second favorite treats, the yogurt coated seeds. And there he gets to say hi to all the other parrots waiting for new families. It was funny, he even introduced himself to one pair of white front amazons. We walked up to their cage, and Salty sings out "SALTY" and 'pretty pretty bird'. And more admiration from the staff and patrons in the shop, he must get a swollen head from all the attention, but I dont mind, it's good for socializing him. Its was interesting to me that last time he had his harness on for a lengthy amount of time ( the pirate festival a few weeks ago) he was chewing on the straps of the head loop. This time he paid no attention to the harness at all. Maybe he is getting used to it, maybe there was so much visual stimulation ( and treats) going on that he clean forgot h had it on. SO back into the car we went, cranked up the radio and listened to some good loud rock, so we could sing to it. Once back home, taking off the harness was matter of seconds ( Salty has the removing his head move down really well, so no drama in doing that), and we unpacked his treasure trove of goodies, toys and other less exciting purchases. I hung one of the new toys up right ways, onto his play chain, and he went right to town on it. All in all a good outing with Salty. We are going to take advantage of the nice warm weather here, because in 4-5 months it will be too cold once again to tke him outside.
To those working to get your parrot to accept a harness, I say keep at it, even if it takes months and months and months ( like it took us). It is so well worth it.
( not that it's bad now! or however Seinfeld put it lol) but we didn't know that at the time now,did we? 
