Shezbug
ASK ME FOR PICTURES OF MY MACAW!
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Thank you for the advice and the compliment @Macawnutz 
I try my hardest to always pay attention to his wishes and warnings (I am sure i have probably missed a few of them though) and as soon as he grumbles or puts his little foot up I back off and let him know it is ok and that I have listened. He always seems to feel/look ashamed or bad about telling me what for (usually a horrible noise he makes) and usually straight after I oblige and move back away he will let me do what he just grumped at me for by pretty much offering it up while I am still backed off.
When he does let me push past his comfort zone I praise like a crazy person and so far it has worked well for us. He was worried about being in confined spaces with people, like if you were too close to the wall with him or if you had your arms either side of him, we worked on that and now I can put him under my arm like a football or wrap him up and hold him firmly against me without him stressing out. He even decided it would be great fun to play games with me under the blankets and I can drop them on him so he has to push his way around under them to find his way out, he really loves this game and gets a little over excited sometimes.
I try to get him to want to do what I am asking by making it fun for him and rewarding if he does it or tries to, I have never been good at even ordering my dog around......I ask all the animals to work with me not for me and I think this is working really great with Burt......maybe not so well with the old dog lol.
I am really so pleased he lets me do so much with him already as I thought it would take much longer. He was so minimally handled before I got him as he was going to be going into an aviary and the breeder does not like to imprint on his baby birds any more than he feels he does by just checking them over and feeding them.
I try my hardest to always pay attention to his wishes and warnings (I am sure i have probably missed a few of them though) and as soon as he grumbles or puts his little foot up I back off and let him know it is ok and that I have listened. He always seems to feel/look ashamed or bad about telling me what for (usually a horrible noise he makes) and usually straight after I oblige and move back away he will let me do what he just grumped at me for by pretty much offering it up while I am still backed off.
When he does let me push past his comfort zone I praise like a crazy person and so far it has worked well for us. He was worried about being in confined spaces with people, like if you were too close to the wall with him or if you had your arms either side of him, we worked on that and now I can put him under my arm like a football or wrap him up and hold him firmly against me without him stressing out. He even decided it would be great fun to play games with me under the blankets and I can drop them on him so he has to push his way around under them to find his way out, he really loves this game and gets a little over excited sometimes.
I try to get him to want to do what I am asking by making it fun for him and rewarding if he does it or tries to, I have never been good at even ordering my dog around......I ask all the animals to work with me not for me and I think this is working really great with Burt......maybe not so well with the old dog lol.
I am really so pleased he lets me do so much with him already as I thought it would take much longer. He was so minimally handled before I got him as he was going to be going into an aviary and the breeder does not like to imprint on his baby birds any more than he feels he does by just checking them over and feeding them.
I am sure he will remind me of what sanity is every day for a very long time to come. Sanity is that thing that people who do not get a baby bird (or a macaw for that matter) have.
