harness training
Posted: Fri Sep 24, 2010 4:11 am
Hi All
I recently bought an aviator harness. I have started trying to train Janey (our blue IRN) how to wear it. I started by getting her used to having it around - leaving it near the cage, holding it near her. Janey loves pattings so I started to hold it in my other hand and put it near her beak when I was patting her.
I also worked on the other approximations the instructional video said to use: lifting up her wings, getting her to shut her eyes when I place my finger near/over them and pushing her slightly off balance. All of these were going fine... although I must admit, I was doing them when she was receiving pattings.... and she may not have noticed what was going on.
One day, I managed to slip the harness over her neck whilst I was patting her. I pulled it off again really quickly. There were no problems... I'm not sure she actually new that it was on her. I haven't done this again since as there hasn't seemed to be an appropriate moment.
However, I've started giving her treats in such a way that she has to stick her beak through the head hole to get them. She seems to enjoy this and isn't scared of the harness in any way.
Whilst I was doing this today, I thought I'd see how she went if I slipped it over her head.... I shouldn't have done this. I got it on her head... but then she got really frightened/agitated by it and was trying to get it off. It reminded me of the first time I put a collar on one of our cats when I was a kid. Our cat was rolling around doing everything he could to try to get it off. I was quite worried about Janey because she had the other parts of the harness dangling and I hadn't t fitted them properly.... I'd only intended slipping it over her head and then taking it off again... but she wasn't letting me help her take it off. After at least 10 minutes of trying to avoid getting bitten by her and trying to calm her down, my husband and I took her into a darkened room (not completely dark) and I managed to grab her in a towel and pull the harness gently off. She seemed fine after that.... but it was not how I wanted it to go.
I'm really annoyed with myself for pushing it too far too soon. I find it very distressing to see her traumatised. I'm wondering if I should give up on the harness?
The main reason I want to harness train her (and eventually Charlie, our lutino IRN) is that our house gets almost no sun and I fear that their health may be adversely affected through lack of sun exposure. I thought that if I harness train them, I could take them outside with me and find patches of sunlight for them.
I'll see how she responds to it tomorrow... I realise that I've got a lot of trust building to do if I'm going to have any hope of training her with it again. Janey is extremely strong-willed... so I will see how I go.
If anyone has any advice, please share your thoughts. Has anyone had any similar experiences when training their IRN? How did you recover?
Ellie.
I recently bought an aviator harness. I have started trying to train Janey (our blue IRN) how to wear it. I started by getting her used to having it around - leaving it near the cage, holding it near her. Janey loves pattings so I started to hold it in my other hand and put it near her beak when I was patting her.
I also worked on the other approximations the instructional video said to use: lifting up her wings, getting her to shut her eyes when I place my finger near/over them and pushing her slightly off balance. All of these were going fine... although I must admit, I was doing them when she was receiving pattings.... and she may not have noticed what was going on.
One day, I managed to slip the harness over her neck whilst I was patting her. I pulled it off again really quickly. There were no problems... I'm not sure she actually new that it was on her. I haven't done this again since as there hasn't seemed to be an appropriate moment.
However, I've started giving her treats in such a way that she has to stick her beak through the head hole to get them. She seems to enjoy this and isn't scared of the harness in any way.
Whilst I was doing this today, I thought I'd see how she went if I slipped it over her head.... I shouldn't have done this. I got it on her head... but then she got really frightened/agitated by it and was trying to get it off. It reminded me of the first time I put a collar on one of our cats when I was a kid. Our cat was rolling around doing everything he could to try to get it off. I was quite worried about Janey because she had the other parts of the harness dangling and I hadn't t fitted them properly.... I'd only intended slipping it over her head and then taking it off again... but she wasn't letting me help her take it off. After at least 10 minutes of trying to avoid getting bitten by her and trying to calm her down, my husband and I took her into a darkened room (not completely dark) and I managed to grab her in a towel and pull the harness gently off. She seemed fine after that.... but it was not how I wanted it to go.
I'm really annoyed with myself for pushing it too far too soon. I find it very distressing to see her traumatised. I'm wondering if I should give up on the harness?
The main reason I want to harness train her (and eventually Charlie, our lutino IRN) is that our house gets almost no sun and I fear that their health may be adversely affected through lack of sun exposure. I thought that if I harness train them, I could take them outside with me and find patches of sunlight for them.
I'll see how she responds to it tomorrow... I realise that I've got a lot of trust building to do if I'm going to have any hope of training her with it again. Janey is extremely strong-willed... so I will see how I go.
If anyone has any advice, please share your thoughts. Has anyone had any similar experiences when training their IRN? How did you recover?
Ellie.