Keeps going up to my shoulder..

[fred.e]

Hi,

I think I made the mistake of letting Austin up on my shoulder... I did this when i first got him so that he would be comfortable and be close. Now that's the only place he wants to go to when he comes to me from his cage.. He won't sit on my fingers anymore, just wants to go to the shoulder. Don't get me wrong, I love it cause he makes funny sounds in my ear and we have a chat and he replies so it's cool, but that's the only place he wants to go and I'm running out of shirts that he hasn't done his droppings on if you know what i mean..

I've held him back, takes about 10 minutes of swapping hands and him climbing from left hand to right hand as he tries to make his way to my shoulder and then finally gives up (or so he makes me think). But as soon as I give him attention he goes for the shoulder.. I try and take an approach of if he goes on the shoulder it's back in the cage so he knows, but I don't mind him once in a while sitting there while i clean his cage out or get his food ready, but i think that the hard work of stopping him goes as soon as I do let him as he has then achieved his goal..

I guess I want the best of both worlds, where he's happy to sit on my fingers and my shoulder... but it doesn't look likely.

Any advice would be great.

[sooty]

Hi there,

I was told recently by an amazing animal behaviourist, that there are no problems having parrots sit on your shoulder as long as they will always obey the command to step off.....I guess that this is the problem that you are having.

Have you tried doing any trick training with him? keep him mentally busy while interacting with you by playing games, or teaching tricks, and he will learn the correct way to respond to you in a fun and rewarding environment.

[Guest]

I have the same problem with my IRN... he loves to head for my shoulder... I've got him to the stage where he knows that I want him on my arm and he will happily sit in the crook of my elbow... but it's the same as you have with Austin, if he see s the chance probably 50% of the time he'll climb up my shirt and head stright for the shoulder again...
Like you said I don't mind him being up there while I'm doing chores around the house (it's hard to do the dishes witha bird on your arm... hehehe) but if I let him do it sometimes then he doesn't understand why he can't go there all the time....
One thing I found with Othello at a vrey early stage is that he doesn't like SKIN... he'll always go straight for a piece of clothing to sit on... if I'm not wearing a long sleeve shirt & I hold my hand out for him to step on, then he will actually stretch as far as can to bypass the bare skin and get to the shirt sleeve to sit on... but it I'm wearing a long sleeve shirt he will very happily just "climb aboard"??? Weird!!!
I used to have to drape a teatowel over my arm to even get him to step on me at all.... admittedly he is getting a lot better at that & now he sits on my arm without shirt sleeve.... BUT he refuses to stay anywhere near my hand... it's either sitting in the crook of my elbow, or on my shoulder!!!

[tzigane]

Just a suggestion or two regarding the droppings:
I've used a towel or a bandana held onto my shirt with a pin. That way when your together time is over you can just throw it in the laundry and wash it. Another thing you can do is use an old shirt as a smock or buy a smock or two that you can interchange so your birdie won't mess on your shirt. There is also a "flight suit" also called bird-diaper. There's a website on the internet http://birddiaper.com/ that sells these nifty items - all the way from budgie to goose sizes! It allows your birdie to have the run of the place without soiling anything. The "suit" also doubles as a harness and comes with a leash.

One last suggestion: I never had much success with it but, it's also possible to toilet train your bird to go on command so you can take birdie to the toilet or go on an offered towel or over the trash can! It sounds silly but there are folks out there who have had great success with it.

[doremon]

Hi! One thing to note about the flight suit is it may be challanging to get your bird into it. I bought a bird harness for my IRN and tried it on one day and it freaked out. He struggled so much that he nearly struggled himself with the harness. I may have to try that again after he gets older. What I am trying to say here is that you may still have to be very patient with getting the bird onto the flight suit as it will not appeal to every bird.

[fred.e]

I now have dedicated poo shirts.. Austin always looks at me funny as he sees me cleaning his mess as he does it.

I'm wondering that if evertime he poo's on me I put him in the cage, he might figure it out - is it worth a try?

Anyway, he now 99% of time comes off my shoulder at my command of 'up' or 'up Austin' which is great..!

Thought I'd let you know.

Cheers, Fred.e

[Tweets]

Hi there..

Why not try potty training your loved one?
It takes roughly a week - if given the right attention..

Check out this site for help with potty training..

http://stuff.mit.edu/people/rei/birds-potty.html
http://www.flightquarters.com/potty-train.htm
http://petplace.netscape.com/articles/a ... ?artID=194


hope this helps!

[Mikaela]

I have four human boys and two baby girls, I dont have to tell you how much laundry I do. I hug you until you faint in regards to the smock idea. I am going to a beauty supply store today to buy one. This will kill two birds with one stone ACK! No pun intended... 1) it will keep poop off of me and 2) it will help me get HER off of me all at the same time. I can't get her off of me once she is on my shoulder.

[Melika]

The greatest piece of advice (and I'm not kidding) I've given to anyone is no shoulder until your bird knows step-up. And if you have trouble- even just once- getting your bird off your shoulder, no more shoulder for a week.
That advice has recieved the most praise- especially when my friends see other people fighting with their shoulder-bound parrots!

But I know how it is with a shoulder bird. Killer, my 'tiel, was given to me and he had a phobia of hands. Still does but not when he wants to get up from the floor. ^_~ He would always go stright for the shoulder, I'd have to use a stick to get him off. I got him used to my wrist and forearm as a perch, and he was fine with that but still hated hands. And still climbed up to my shoulder. To get him off I would lean sideways so he would be on the very end (away from my head and ear!) then bring my other arm up over my head and basically push him off slowly. Of course he would get on my arm. That's still the only thing that works when he gets scared and jumps on my shoulder. But after a month of being pushed off my shoulder he pretty much gave up. You have to be more stubborn than your bird!

Good job with your progress.