Dove keeps hurting itself

[IsaDa18]

I adopted a new ringneck dove quite some time ago. He gets many hours out of his cage and I am always trying to tame him while I am home.

When I first bought him his wings were clipped by his previous owner because he would flap his wings hard and damage them against objects, the ceiling, and the perch when taking off.

Now he often walks around my room and follows me warily, but when he does try to fly he will jump off of me, desk, or whatever he may have climbed into, and hit the floor. Often he will flap and damage his wings against the ground or any nearby objects. I'm not sure how to prevent him from doing this while still providing proper exercise and out-of-the-cage time?
I have been treating his scabs and any bleeding feathers, but I worry he may injure himself badly.

Edit: Normally I can train a bird faster, but this bird is only slightly motivated for sunflower seeds, so it is proving difficult

 

[Fuzzy]

So sunflower seeds aren't really motivating. What does he go for in his food bowl first? Take those items out of the food bowl and use them as treats only throughout the day... that way they become special.

Perhaps he's not ready yet to climb onto a high object like the desk or you. Perhaps target training or other training on safer ground will build more confidence. Keep pairing yourself with good things, good experiences.

 

[IsaDa18]

@Fuzzy Sunflower seeds seem like the only thing he really is motivated for, I've tried almost everything. They're what he goes for in his bowl.

He climbs onto the high objects on his own, and if he doesn't he hurts himself trying to reach them (hitting his wings on the ground)

I'm not sure about how a dove would do with target training, I hear they aren't the most intelligent birds?

 

[sunnysmom]

@Birdbabe ?

 

[Fuzzy]

Is it possible to take the suns out of his bowl so that they become special? You can target train all sorts of creatures eg. chickens, goldfish, etc. so I am sure you could target train your lovely ringneck dove. You would do it in teeny tiny steps towards the final target behaviour. First step might be just looking at the target. Treat! Turns towards target. Treat! Leans towards target. Treat! Slowly slowly you will teach him to touch the target. He is targeting your hand anyway to get the treat.

Could you redirect his inquisitiveness by giving him some interesting things to do in a safer place... like foraging (you may have to teach him how in teeny steps), toys to play with etc?

Can he actually fly? You could start teaching him to by first teaching him to step up either on your hand or stick using a sunflower as a reinforcer. Then gradually move your hand further away so that he has to reach to step up, then hop to step up, then uses his wings to help him hop to your hand, etc. Each tiny step towards flying is reinforced by a treat. If he fails a step then go back to the last successful one and break the steps down even smaller.

 

[IsaDa18]

Is it possible to take the suns out of his bowl so that they become special? You can target train all sorts of creatures eg. chickens, goldfish, etc. so I am sure you could target train your lovely ringneck dove. You would do it in teeny tiny steps towards the final target behaviour. First step might be just looking at the target. Treat! Turns towards target. Treat! Leans towards target. Treat! Slowly slowly you will teach him to touch the target. He is targeting your hand anyway to get the treat.

Could you redirect his inquisitiveness by giving him some interesting things to do in a safer place... like foraging (you may have to teach him how in teeny steps), toys to play with etc?

Can he actually fly? You could start teaching him to by first teaching him to step up either on your hand or stick using a sunflower as a reinforcer. Then gradually move your hand further away so that he has to reach to step up, then hop to step up, then uses his wings to help him hop to your hand, etc. Each tiny step towards flying is reinforced by a treat. If he fails a step then go back to the last successful one and break the steps down even smaller.

I could try that. His sunflower seeds are already removed, aside from a few as a positive reinforcer for eating his food. I'm familiar with target training, I just assumed a ringneck would be unable to link the steps together easily.
The bird could fly before, but he would crash into ceilings, ext and hurt himself.

 

[Fuzzy]

Try a few target training sessions before his meals to get him more motivated. Just 30 seconds or a couple of minutes training here and there. You are not denying him food, but encouraging him to work for some of it. Maybe the first session you will only get up to him turning toward the target. And that's fine. Next session you might get slightly further.

Perhaps he's crashing into ceilings etc. because he has no recognizable place to land eg. playstands, perches, etc.? You can teach him to fly in a more controlled way by shaping the behaviour in those tiny manageable steps as above. It might take a few weeks or months as his chest muscles might have to build up after being clipped.

 

[Birdbabe]

My first question is his sight, if he's flying straight up or into things,,my dove who is blind in one eye does that. I worry he will hurt himself too. But he only does that when he's startled, normally he's calm, sits on my hand and gets along OK. Sunflower seeds aren't a dove favorite here, but the little white safflower seeds and millet are. And like "Fuzzy" said, if he was clipped, he will have to build his strength,as for feather growth, try some scramble eggs and get some unflavored KNOX gelitan to sprinkle on his food, it will help with his protein intake. Doves are easily scared and skittish, take it slow and quiet, he will need time, a few months is nothing. Good luck, keep us updated!

 

[Monica]

Not the proper way to do it.... but........

This person doesn't know how to interact with their dove.... but dove is potty trained.

Does your dove have all of his flight feathers? Pictures of wings stretched out?

 

[IsaDa18]

Not the proper way to do it.... but........

This person doesn't know how to interact with their dove.... but dove is potty trained.

Does your dove have all of his flight feathers? Pictures of wings stretched out?

Those videos definietly show that I have underestimated the intelligence of a dove. He has some secondary flights but his primarys are cut pretty short. Do you think a louder clicker would be too much for a skittish bird like a dove? I used to have a quieter clicker but that was lost when one of my client's dogs got a hold of my pouch a few weeks ago, is a verbal cue recognizable to birds? I haven't owned birds while being educated with more 'advanced' training

 

[IsaDa18]

Not the proper way to do it.... but........

This person doesn't know how to interact with their dove.... but dove is potty trained.

Does your dove have all of his flight feathers? Pictures of wings stretched out?

Also, by not knowing how to interact with the dove were you just referingg to her being boisterous, petting it, and ignoring it's body language? I always like to be sure I'm not mishandling an animal, so like to make sure there wasn't something else obvious that I should have noticed

 

[Monica]

I couldn't find any *GOOD* videos.... I feel like these aren't as great as they could be....

You can desensitize him to a loud click by doing it at a distance that doesn't bother him. If you can click at 10 feet and no reaction, walk up to him and reward him. Repeat. Then do it at 9 feet. Still no reaction? Walk up and reward, then repeat. If he reacts in a way that scares him, then try from a further distance.

Could also use the click of a pen.

Verbal cues can be used as well, but they aren't always as concise and clear as a click. You might use "Good" for the bridge, and use it several times, then switch to "Good boy!". Then switch back to "Good". This could be confusing because you keep changing the bridge. A click doesn't change as long as you only click once.





As far as the women 'mishandling' her dove? Dove is laying eggs. Dove comes out of cage, poops, women goes up and "rewards" dove for going poop. Great, right? Except, what she's not realizing is that she is actually rewarding her dove for being hormonal because the dove is taking her pets as sexual advances, which results in increased hormones and in female birds....... EGGS!


Encouraging hormonal behavior can result in aggression and unhealthy relationships between birds and humans. (not to mention the potential other issues that can result from increased hormones)

 

[IsaDa18]

I couldn't find any *GOOD* videos.... I feel like these aren't as great as they could be....

You can desensitize him to a loud click by doing it at a distance that doesn't bother him. If you can click at 10 feet and no reaction, walk up to him and reward him. Repeat. Then do it at 9 feet. Still no reaction? Walk up and reward, then repeat. If he reacts in a way that scares him, then try from a further distance.

Could also use the click of a pen.

Verbal cues can be used as well, but they aren't always as concise and clear as a click. You might use "Good" for the bridge, and use it several times, then switch to "Good boy!". Then switch back to "Good". This could be confusing because you keep changing the bridge. A click doesn't change as long as you only click once.





As far as the women 'mishandling' her dove? Dove is laying eggs. Dove comes out of cage, poops, women goes up and "rewards" dove for going poop. Great, right? Except, what she's not realizing is that she is actually rewarding her dove for being hormonal because the dove is taking her pets as sexual advances, which results in increased hormones and in female birds....... EGGS!


Encouraging hormonal behavior can result in aggression and unhealthy relationships between birds and humans. (not to mention the potential other issues that can result from increased hormones)

I don't fully understand, the pooping is a sexual behavior? Or do you mean because it was bowing, ect

Pen is a good idea. Also, for a verbal cue an excited "yes!" is very clear and great when used correctly. You can see with Zac George's videos for example, he says it in a way that it has a distinctly dragged on s, hard to explain; just for future reference since its easier than carrying around a pen on walks, ect.

 

[Monica]

This behavior at the very end of the video....


She is sexually stimulating her bird.

Basically, the same as what the female dove is doing in this video.... bowing forward so that a male can mate with her.