Fritz has been flying! (sort of...)
Someone a month or so ago gave me a kick in the rear on here about clipping his wings. Fritz is a VERY poor flier, has poor muscle tone, doesn't have full range of motion in his left wing, and has injured himself landing jumping off the couch arm to the floor. The last time I let his wings grow out is when he injured himself. Luckily it was nothing horrible but he did favor his right leg for a few days. I decided then to have him clipped for his own safety and he stopped trying altogether but instead climbs and walks everywhere.
Well, now he has his distal primary feathers in (9 and 10 I believe... the big ones!) and I decided to try and help him again. I have been clicker training Fritz and he LOVES yogurt drops. I am so scared of him injuring himself so I had my husband hold Fritz on his arm, then put the treats on my bed, then point and click. It took him a while to work up the courage but eventually he hopped off my husbands arm (about 1 ft away and above the bed). There was a lot of angry squawking involved and he landed wings out but then gobbled up the treats. We have now progressed to flying from the top of my dresser on to the bed about 4-5 ft up and away. He still lands terribly but makes it to roughly the same spot as the treats (which I move around to different spots on my bed).
But now I'm stumped. He is too scared to fly to my arm, the one time he did he didn't grab on with his feet and ended up face diving onto my floor (luckily there was a pile of dirty laundry there ) Now he won't even try, he just angry squawks because he wants the treats but is too scared to try it.
I am 99% he can only fly down, I don't know if he will ever be able to go up.
Any ideas about what to do next?
Someone a month or so ago gave me a kick in the rear on here about clipping his wings. Fritz is a VERY poor flier, has poor muscle tone, doesn't have full range of motion in his left wing, and has injured himself landing jumping off the couch arm to the floor. The last time I let his wings grow out is when he injured himself. Luckily it was nothing horrible but he did favor his right leg for a few days. I decided then to have him clipped for his own safety and he stopped trying altogether but instead climbs and walks everywhere.
Well, now he has his distal primary feathers in (9 and 10 I believe... the big ones!) and I decided to try and help him again. I have been clicker training Fritz and he LOVES yogurt drops. I am so scared of him injuring himself so I had my husband hold Fritz on his arm, then put the treats on my bed, then point and click. It took him a while to work up the courage but eventually he hopped off my husbands arm (about 1 ft away and above the bed). There was a lot of angry squawking involved and he landed wings out but then gobbled up the treats. We have now progressed to flying from the top of my dresser on to the bed about 4-5 ft up and away. He still lands terribly but makes it to roughly the same spot as the treats (which I move around to different spots on my bed).
But now I'm stumped. He is too scared to fly to my arm, the one time he did he didn't grab on with his feet and ended up face diving onto my floor (luckily there was a pile of dirty laundry there ) Now he won't even try, he just angry squawks because he wants the treats but is too scared to try it.
I am 99% he can only fly down, I don't know if he will ever be able to go up.
Any ideas about what to do next?