Working on Stepping Up

[pycthedragon]

So Cream is definitely a lot more calm and "in control" of his surroundings, so we started working on a "step up" game that we play for a few minutes a training session. It's going pretty well, although, I want some advice as he gets better at it.

Basically, how the training goes, is that he gets a little birdie treat after he successfully steps up. I flash the treat in front of him so he's aware it's there, and I only give it to him if he steps up on the finger. He's been very cooperative, which is good, since Cream likes to be bitey. Afterward, I count to 3, and give him another bite of the treat. Each time, I count slower and slower, so he has to wait longer. When the treat is done, I let him sit on my hand and relax, until he's ready to fly off. I try to get this in every time I let him out of the cage, and the session lasts for about 3-4 minutes. He seems to really enjoy it, and I haven't seen him get stressed out from it (although it does take him a second to figure it out; I just started working with him and all). On weekends, he gets to come out around 3 times a day for anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours at a time. On weekdays he usually gets to play outside of the cage for 45-60 minutes.

I eventually want to wean him off the treats though. How should I go about this? As in, training him to finally stop relying on the treats so that he just steps up? This is my first time training an animal to do anything, so yeah.

Also, I'm going to be out of town in a couple of days for about 5 days, my parents will watch over him but he won't be able to come out of the cage (he'll be at their house and they don't know how to handle him). He has toys so he won't get bored, but I'm just worried he'll be strung up when I get to see him again. What should I expect?

 

[Allee]

Does Cream know your parents? If they are familiar to him it will probably be less stressful for him. He may be confused and it may take him a couple of days to get back to normal but he should be fine.

It sounds like your training is going very well, from what I've heard, it isn't real easy to train lovies. I think if you keep up your training sessions pretty soon you will be able to offer him a scritch or a , "good boy", as a reward instead of a treat.

 

[pycthedragon]

Thanks! Unfortunately he has not met my parents before but they're the only option. They're taking in the finches too, and are going to make sure they're fed and taken care of as well.

I think Cream seems to be a really playful guy, so I try to make it a little game for him. He still is bitey near my finger so scritches are kind of hard to do and I really don't want him to force to do anything he's not comfortable with, but he's definitely more comfortable with my hand. I think he's learning that I'm the nice person that lets him out of the cage