Thanks so much, this is very helpful!! I’ve been working on training Kermit to let me touch his wings to prepare him for that step. Have you harness trained Cairo? Did it take you a long time?
Cairo is fully-harnessed trained - we go out just about every other day for walks on his harness, and we also go flying in parks most weekends with a leash extension on the harness.
I know Cairo is very much an anomaly regarding harnesses, though. He picked it up within 2-3 weeks, largely because he's incredibly food-motivated, and he doesn’t bite it normally. Most of the other birds on the forum took months, so don’t compare Kermit to Cairo.
In terms of touching, we have a set cue word (“sayang” - it’s a local word) to let him know that we are touching for the purpose of the harness, so he knows he can expect a treat for ‘suffering’ our hands (he’ll tolerate our faces near him, but hands are not kosher unless it’s for a set purpose). So that actually took up most of our practice time. While I put the harness on him, he does open his beak and search for a treat in my hands simply because he still dislikes being touched (I really can’t express how much he does not want to be touched, but he’s polite about it and doesn’t bite), so he needs the reassurance of treats constantly.
For the actual harness itself, I prep the harness to be wide enough for his left (my right) wing. Then we typically go (but lately, I can skip a lot of the treat giving):
“On” (head through)
Treat
“Sayang” (loop left wing)
Treat
“Sayang” (adjust the harness to make space for the other wing)
Treat
“Sayang” (loop right wing)
Treat
“Sayang” (tighten the body strap)
Treat
That being said, I’ve noticed if Cairo is acting upset with the harness (he’ll beak it), it’s normally because his feathers are out of place. So throughout the process of putting the harness on, after the we’ve completed the process, and during our time wearing it, I run my finger through the big body strap to make sure all his underwing body feathers are underneath it, which means I do have to poke underneath his wings. You’ll eventually notice which feathers on his back move with the wing - those go above the straps.
I’ve also noticed that Cairo doesn’t like it if the body strap is too tight (I suspect because it’s uncomfortable with his feathers when he moves and breathes), but you also can’t have it too loose or his foot will get caught when he flies and lands. So after the harness is on and I’ve checked that his feathers are underneath the body strap, then I step back and recall him to me. Then I can check that I’ve adjusted it properly (vestige from when I had a horse). The main reason I do recall is so when he does fly and land and if his foot does get caught on a too loose body strap, it’s while he’s landing on me, so I can immediately fix it.
We used to do harness training every day - if I missed one day, he would be hesitant about hands again, and if we missed two days, he wouldn’t be as enthusiastic about the head loop. Now, he’s more agreeable to forgoing constant training with the harness because he strongly associates it with going outside.
There will be other little things you guys will learn together. If Cairo spooked off, he used to just anyhow fly, then the harness would hold him back. Now if he spooks off (less frequently now that he’s better socialised with strangers), he’ll fly off in a panic, but then turn when I recall him back and land on my arm (he feels is more stable than a hand) or my head (he feels is a safe space). Do note that if Kermit spooks off, the harness will ruffle some feathers (bad pun intended), so you’ll need to tuck them back underneath and/or loosen the strap.
The biggest thing you can do for him after he learns to accept the harness is to normalise it. I ask him to do our usually training routine (tricks and toys), so he gets used to the idea that he can move in the harness (example: he used to not recall when wearing the harness, until I got him to “step up”, then put him back and ask for recall). Then, we go outside (which he enjoys) and I ask him to do some of his tricks. It can be as simple as “step up” or you can do anything else he knows.
I’m sure I’m forgetting some stuff right now, but feel free to ask questions and I’ll try to remember other points to cover.
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