teaching my macaw =)

[mattinao]

hiyas all

I have owned the same macaw for 9 years,and he has never flown (except from the rare occurrences). I am trying to train him to fly by putting him on 2 perches and slowly pushing them away, combined with clicker and target training (which is actually going better then expected!!).

Now i need advice, any advice would be helpful! As soon as the two perches are separate enough so that he can no longer stretch to reach the second perch, he doesn't seem to understand that he needs to jump to get to the second perch. Is there a better way to show him he needs to jump to get to the second perch?

I've been stuck on this part for about a month now, and i tried sticking his favorite foods on the second perch, he just begs for it lol.

Thanks again!! =)

 

[Birdman666]

I did it a different way with sweepea, with a harness and a flight lead, and a training perch. Give the fly to me Command, with my forearm as the target. Gentle tug on the lead.

 

[mattinao]

so basically you tugged her to make her jump? =)

 

[Birdman666]

Well, I called her and gave her the signal. She did the bent over flippy flappy thing that showed she wanted to, but was just too chicken to do it.

Then I didn't so much tug on the lead as I put pressure on it until she flew to me. Once she did it the first time, then she was over it. After that, it was easier.

Then I got one of those retractable dog leashes, and just made the lead longer and longer until she was flying across the room/yard.