Toy possessiveness

[95talongirl]

So I made a huge mistake with Maverick....

I let him play with the harness a while back, and now he thinks its a toy. Here's the problem. He is super aggressive when it comes to his toys. I usually have to toss them to him, as he attacks them with force... and if you finger happens to be there, it gets caught in the crossfire.

I'm not sure how to even start to try attempt to change this attitude, or if it is even possible. I've been thinking baout using the model/rival training process with Mopar. Since mopar gets into his harness ok.

I am kinda disappointed, as I really wanted to be able to take him back outside.

 

[expressmailtome]

I am not sure where to start, however @Macawnutz can work wonders. She may know how to help you.

Matt

 

[Clueless]

No answers, sorry. At least I can bump though!

 

[birdle]

maybe try getting a new harness in a different color

 

[95talongirl]

That's not a bad idea. I may try Mopar's on him, and see if I Get the same reaction. Thanks!

 

[InTheAir]

I'm not vastly experienced in this, but i have an idea: I'd go about it by changing the way he accepts toys. I assume you already have an established bridge... I'd take him to somewhere he is accustomed to training and then practice bridging and reinforcing calm behaviour as you bring the harness to the edge of his "comfort zone" (ie: the closest to him you can get it without him displaying any major reaction). As he gets used to the exercise, his comfort zone should decrease and he will be more focused on earning rewards... then you can change the rules to harness training... Theoretically. .. That's basically how I taught Sapphire to let me load her foraging toys without eating me and now she even lets me help her solve the tricky ones (she went through a little phrase of flying over from anywhere in the house if she heard me loading foraging toys to tell me to get lost)...

 

[95talongirl]

He does have this thing for those pita chips. He goes bonkers for them. So i used this to my advantage this morning. I had the harness in one hand, and showed him the pita chip. He was going to to for the harness, but his love for the chips, stopped him. I was able to get the harness to touch his head without him attacking my finger. So I am going to restrict pita chips ONLY to seeing the harness. Hopefully this will get him to calm down a little bit. If not, I'll also try a different color one.

 

[InTheAir]

Wow, that's pretty quick progress! Good work.

 

[95talongirl]

We shall see how it goes. At least I found something he will do ANYTHING for.
Who knew a hawkhead would be crazy over Stacy's Pita Chips.

 

[95talongirl]

It seems to be working quite well. I'm taking it slow, but he id definitely a very food-motivated bird! I now limit these pita chips to the harness only.

 

[InTheAir]

Nice work both of you. You should be able to cut down the size of the treats too. I've got smaller birds, but they work for crumb sized treats most of the time.