BONDED but can't train

[kimberly1985]

Well, Yoshi and I have become best of friends. I believe he thinks I am his mate. He is incredibly clingy to me. He begs to come out all the time. He does these little crazy acrobatic gestures and even lifts the side door up and down until I let him out. He has flown to my husband a few times but never my children. If I let him perch on my children's shoulder, he just flies right back to me. He also still wants to perch on my head. I've tried the removal thing over and over, but he keeps going back to it. When I remove him, he bites. I'm guessing he's trying to keep me from removing him. He loves scratches on the head and neck area. But it's very hard to scratch him when he stays on my shoulder all the time. I've tried to give him alone time in his cage so he will play with his toys and learn some independence, but it hasn't helped. It only makes him more clingy when I let him out.

I am finding it very hard to teach him the "step up" command. If he's near me, he wants on my shoulder or head. The heck with my fingers! LOL I've also tried to teach him, if he wants to come out, he has to perch on my finger. Doesn't work...he just flies over my finger to me.

He doesn't really accept treats because he is trying to find a way to my shoulder the whole time. Any suggestions?

[bird-brain]

You keep mentioning that he "flies" so I am assuming he is not clipped. I have found it is much easier to train a clipped bird than a flighted one. I have personally had no luck teaching a flighted bird to step up. It's great that he is so bonded to you and you may well be right, he may view you as his mate. One of my conures is very bonded to me like that and it actually worked better for my husband to do the one on one training with her.

We used the bathroom for all of our birds' training because of the size and Wayne would just take her in there every evening after work. I think she could just focus on the tasks better when I was not part of the equation. :)

[kimberly1985]

No, Yoshi is clipped. It's not an extreme clip though. He can fly but only across a room before he starts going down. I don't want to clip him too short though because I had my parakeet clipped and they clipped him so short that he wasn't able to fly at all. Poor thing wouldn't ever come out of his cage because he had lost confidence in himself. And I was so scared he'd get hurt if he fell.

My husband leaves out at 5 in the morning and doesn't get home until 7 at night. He works 70 miles away and long hours so he is unable to spend much time with Yoshi. My kids (6 and 3) love him and want to spend time with him but aren't able to because he wants me.

He will step up if he thinks it will get him closer to my shoulder but only when he chooses. He actually just did it when I let him out this last time.

Also, I'm afraid that when I remove him from my hair (which requires grabbing) may be affecting the way he feels about my hand. I know you're not suppose to grab a bird but when he's in my hair, he leaves me no choice because he won't step up. I've tried shaking my head a little to see if this would deter him some. He just holds on tighter. LOL

I have decided to move his cage a little farther away from my computer desk (where I spend a lot of my time). He is still in the same room with me so he can still see me. I'm also going to get him some more toys so that he will learn some independence. I think if he learns that he doesn't have to be on me to be happy, he will be easier to teach the simple "step up" command.

Thanks for your reply! :)