Macaws:
Red Shouldered (Hahn's) Macaw
Severe Macaw
Blue And Gold Macaw
Blue Throated Macaw
Military Macaw
Red Fronted Macaw
Scarlet Macaw
Green Winged Macaw
Hyacinth Macaw
I received a question from a follower about whether or not it is possible for someone with a handicap/disability to put an Aviator Harness on a parrot with just one hand. I was about to just say the first thing that came to mind, "no!" But I had no experience with this either way so instead I said that I would look into it. After all, who better to try it out and find out?
I realize that there are many people with disabilities that keep parrots. Some are in a wheelchair or have shaky hands from PTSD. Others have trouble just from age while some are young and dealing with a temporary injury. So although the video included here is based on one single type of disability, I would like to use this as an encouragement for any physically challenged owner that there are ways to succeed in training your parrot despite your impairment.
Note that although this article is about one specific type of impairment and about one kind of training example, the mindset conveyed here may be helpful for all sorts of parrot issues and for any person having trouble with their parrot.
Granted Santina is fully harness trained already, this experiment was solely about whether or not it is even possible to consider harnessing a parrot with the use of just one hand. Well, I am happy to say that I learned that it is. Santina had not even worn a harness since last year and yet she was cooperative at putting it on. This is largely due to the fact that she was taught to wear the harness using positive reinforcement from the start and looks forward to it whenever she sees it. Since the harness was never forced on her, she has no reason to freak out when she sees it for the first time in a while. I did just one normal run with the harness to make sure she was still ok with it.
So I dangled the harness in front of Santina and she just stuck her head straight into the collar the way she was taught. Getting the collar onto the bird myself with one hand would have been much harder and simply impossible if the bird resisted. But since she actually wants to get it on, her assistance made it substantially easier! Pulling the straps through and around the wings was only more time consuming but no harder than usual. The hardest part I found was to pull all the extra material through the bird-proof clasp with one hand! Without the ability to hold the clasp in one hand and feed the material through with the other, it was a challenge of dexterity to do it with my fingers. But with practice it got better and by the second take, I kind of had it down. I would recommend anyone with a disability working with the harness, or any kind of training, practice all the mechanics of it ahead of time to reduce strain on the bird.
Besides a few nuts, Santina got to go outside for the first time this season, a reminder of how wonderful it is to wear a harness and go out. I didn't pester her further with my own clumsiness to take it off with one hand because she was eager to get back to her normal bird business when we returned. However, I am sure that the exact same process could be repeated in reverse. My conclusion is that if you can tie your shoe laces with one hand and go about daily tasks, putting an Aviator Harness on a parrot with one hand is at least possible!
The key part is the training. More precisely than ever, the bird with the impaired owner requires the most accurate of training. Yes, the parrot can be taught to fill some of the role of the owner and help in the harnessing process! But the training must be correct and thorough. More patience, self discipline, and attention will be required. But if your goal is to beat your impairment and achieve the same things with your parrot, then I think it can be done!
Sometimes I find myself impaired during parrot training even with two hands. Some things I do with the birds makes me wish I had three or four hands to accomplish all the training at the same time. But since that won't be happening, I have to make do with what I have. I find ways to either break behaviors down into smaller portions, devise tools to help me do more within my capabilities, or worst case scenario, I seek help from someone else to get more hands into the training scenario. No reason the same can't be done going from two hands to one, or working from a wheelchair, or dealing with a different impediment.
I suggest that anyone planning on having their parrot wear a harness to safely go outside, follow the steps covered in my Harness Training DVD. Further, it is important that the bird be prepared to begin this advanced training by performing the requisite basic training explained in my book. There is an automatic special discount built in on my online store. If you order a Book + DVD or Harness + DVD, DVD is 50% off. Book + Harness and the DVD is free.
What I found interesting was how not-unusual the challenge was! Although it was challenging, it was challenging the same way that any parrot training task is. There is a goal to accomplish x and y with the parrot with limited means and communication. So I work on solving the puzzle through trial and error, positive reinforcement, reading body language, and all the usual tools used to train behavior to the birds. What I discovered was that harnessing a parrot with one hand is really the exact same thing just with the added step of using less appendages and more patience. This turned out to only be one step more complicated than harness training a parrot in the first place. There are loads of other challenges in getting a parrot to wear a harness so this is just an extension of that and just adds one more challenge and nothing more. The same problem solving mindset that needs to applied to teaching the bird to wear a harness in the first place can just as well help overcome the added physical demands.
This system for overcoming disability and accomplishing things with our parrots stems far beyond just harness training. Target training, trick training, taming, flight training, and all that good stuff can be achieved through patient persistent application of the training methods that I teach. I'm not saying it will be easy. You will have to tailor these methods to your specific conditions. But following this system, you will find success with your bird.
I have owned parrots since 2008. Now, 7 years later I have 4 parrots, 30,000 subscribers on youtube, over 17 million views, and selling thousands of copies of my book. I would like to thank all of my subscribers, followers, readers, and fans for being a part of the whole Parrot Wizard experience. I am really happy to be sharing this with you and helping you achieve a great relationship with your bird as well.
Most of all I would like to thank my parrots for putting up with all the lights and cameras so that I could share them with you and the world. I have compiled a short sizzle reel to highlight some of the really cool stuff these magnificent performing parrots can do:
Kili knows over 30 tricks and I have actually lost count. The coolest thing is that she just knows how to work with me so I can come up with cool new videos like (Kili Swift Shake it Off) without specifically having to train anything new. We use commands that she is familiar with or she learns her new cues on the spot with a clicker. She is just a star actress.
Truman is a total monkey bird. He is always making a mess or getting into some kind of trouble. Still, he's the most lovable bird in the family and impossible to get mad at. He's very cuddly and hand tame. He is my go to bird for letting people hold. He has literally never bit anyone ever.
Santina is the rescue bird and still working on her skills to get along with other people. She was featured on my Harness Training DVD about how she learned to wear a harness in just a week!
I am working full time being a Parrot Wizard. When I'm not doing shows, consultations, or seminars, I am busy developing new tricks and products to sell. In my Parrot Wizard online store you will find a collection of products I have hand selected or invented to make parrot keeping more enjoyable. Trick training toys, perches, books, DVDs, and Parrot Training Perches can be purchased on that site. My book, The Parrot Wizard's Guide to Well-Behaved Parrots contains my complete approach to parrot training. It is exactly the system I have used on all of my parrots and the system that I recommend to other parrot owners. It is a lot of information so it took an entire book to contain it.
I am available for parrot shows for TV, general audience, or parrot clubs. Please contact me if you are a producer or organizer. I travel a lot, so there are occasionally opportunities to come and see one of my seminars in the US or around the world. I live in New York City and am especially available for events in the area.
Parrots are extremely intelligent creatures and can learn concepts like colors, matching, and size. That's why I am always excited to teach tricks to my parrots that both challenge them and demonstrate their capabilities to others.
It was pretty easy to teach my new Colored Boxes trick to Kili. That is because she already has all of the skills required to learn the colored boxes trick. First, a parrot needs to know how to fetch. Next, the parrot needs to learn how to match colors. Finally, the parrot needs to learn how to push or pull.
Kili already learned how to match colors in the puzzle trick and ring toss trick. Kili learned to push/pull for a coin box trick and for her stroller trick. Putting all of these skills together led to the Colored Boxes trick. In this trick Kili places all of the round colored pieces into matching colored boxes. Some of the pieces are smaller and some are larger. She had to learn to ignore the size and focus exclusively on matching the colors. Then Kili learned to walk over and push all of the boxes closed.
A problem that I ran into while teaching this trick was that Kili tricked me into helping her figure out where to put the pieces. Out of habit, I was clicking my clicker during the moment Kili would begin to dip the piece into right box. I realized that she would walk around dipping the piece into each box and waiting to see if there would be a click or not. In other words, she was tricking me into determining the color match and just cuing her when to drop it. So to avoid being outsmarted by the bird, I had to pay attention not to click until she would fully release the piece into the right box. She needed to receive the negative punishment of getting nothing for dropping the pieces into the wrong boxes in order to realize which ones are actually right.
When you teach a color match trick like ring toss, puzzle, or colored boxes, in the beginning the bird will only do two or three colors on pure memorization. But as you keep increasing the number of colors, a light bulb comes on in that bird's head and it realizes that the colors have to match regardless of what they are. Then the bird is able to match any color of that style trick.
I recommend the Colored Boxes Trick for any small to medium parrots. It's too small for bigger parrots but the 6 Color Birdie Ring Toss is great for all the medium to large parrots.
Now check out this video of Kili performing her colored boxes trick:
Check out Kili's newest trick. Well actually it's not that new but we have not made a video about it before. I taught Kili the bird toss or what I like to call "boing boing." It's a trick in which I can toss Kili up and down in my hand like a beanbag.
The trick first came to me when I was walking about Phoenix with Ginger and her Senegal Parrot Sammy on a harness. Sammy is a really easy going Senegal Parrot that just about anyone can hold. Sammy is the star of Ginger's Parrots Movie. Anyway, so I taught Sammy to wear a harness in no time and we went to a Sunday morning parrot outing with other parrot owners. I was holding Sammy and we were there a while so I started turning Sammy over and playing. I forget why exactly but I started bouncing Sammy up and down in my hand and before you knew it we had a new trick.
Ginger and I passed by Dr. Drigger's office (a well known Avian Veterinarian in the Phoenix area) and I showed him what Sammy could do. The doc thought it was hysterical and took a video.
Fast forward to more recent times. Kili is very good about laying in my hand. So I started preparing her for the bird toss. At first it was just a matter of moving my hand up and down while holding her. But then I started letting go and allowing her to go up out of my hand a little and back down. It's nothing more than a trust building exercise. If Kili gets too uncomfortable, she just flips over and lands on my hand or flies away. But I can see her overcoming her fears in order to earn treats.
The funny thing is that this trick wasn't taught in the usual click and treat method. Instead it would happen here and there in the course of a year. Sometimes just playing with her out of boredom, other times right before putting her in the cage for a meal, little by little Kili learned to bounce like a champ. This was sooner a long term type of training rather than quick accelerated learning. I tried to get her to learn it quickly at first but it just wasn't working. So spanning it out over time without any hurry was the best thing for this type of a trick.
An interesting thing I noticed is that both Sammy, Kili, and Truman do better with the bird toss while wearing a harness. Perhaps it's the security they feel of still being partially held (by the harness instead of hand) or something else, but the harness definitely helped get the trick going in the beginning. And without further ado, here's the video:
Kili said she's had enough of being the parrot on pirate's shoulder for Halloween. She decided that she's going to be a pirate too! Who has ever heard of that? A parrot being a pirate?
Trained Parrot is a blog about how to train tricks to all parrots and parakeets. Read about how I teach tricks to Truman the Brown Necked Cape Parrot including flight recall, shake, wave, nod, turn around, fetch, wings, and play dead. Learn how you can train tricks to your Parrot, Parrotlet, Parakeet, Lovebird, Cockatiel, Conure, African Grey, Amazon, Cockatoo or Macaw. This blog is better than books or DVDs because the information is real, live, and completely free of charge. If you want to know how to teach your parrot tricks then you will enjoy this free parrot training tutorial.
Trained Parrot site content Copyright 2010-2020 Michael Sazhin. Reproduction of text, images, or videos without prior permission prohibited. All rights reserved.
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