Trust

[kuttnup250]

This is probably a question that is tuff to answer but how long does it usually take for a zon to fully trust you. We rescued our 10yr bf zon 4 months ago and he had a pretty tuff life before hand. We know he is slowly comin out of his shell because hes not "as" aggressive and he talks to us more! He is a mans bird and will allow my husband to do anything with or around him, but he won't trust either of us enough to step up on our hands unless he has flown off his cage and gotten scared...I know he knows how because he used to do it years ago for his past owner before maturity..so I guess my question is actually two questions how long to gain trust and is stepping up finally the sign of trust and approval?

 

[MikeyTN]

So he haven't step up in years? IF you can get him away from his cage and while in front of you. Practice step up over and over. On a daily basis!!! Several birds I've got was like that unless they were being abused by hands at one point, then it's not a easy task. My Lesser Sulphur was like that, I knew something had happened at one point cause she absolutely refuse to step up until the previous owner told me what happened to her when they first picked her up, the owner before them used to grab ahold of her feet and pulled her right off the cage. So I had to resort to perch training to get her off her cage so she will step up to a perch then she will step off the perch to our hands. We've been doing that with her for the past 7-8 years. She still will not step onto our hands from her cage til this day. But I just keep on using the perch as it's been working just fine.

JoJo our ekkie was terrified of hands and human interaction when I brought him home but I got him to step up within a week of training. It's almost two years now and he steps up great. All it takes is persistence training and you'll get there! Good Luck!

 

[wenz2712]

It will take quite alot of time and patience to get him to fully trust you! Just stick with it and hopefully once he sees he is now in a good and loving Home he will come round.

Have you thought of giving clicker training a go?

 

[kuttnup250]

Yes I started it within weeks of getting him, and also bought training videos but gave it a rest for a bit because it didn't seem like it was working to well. I figured I was starting to soon and I really need to give it a go again! He is a mans bird so I'm sure my husband could've gotten farther with it but he doesn't have the time or patience;( our zon is comin around but still shows some aggression towards me while out of cage..which is a HUGE change because before I couldn't even go near cage