How do you get the petite aviator harness on??

[DancingFeathers]

I got Triton an aviator harness right at the beginning of the SWS and after months of daily work... He will put his beak through the harness for a few seconds. Any effort of anything further results in Triton retreating all together. The thing about the petite harness is that in order to put it over the head, a small amount of pressure must be used in order to even make the loop actually slide over the head. I don't think that Triton will ever do that willingly. So now what? Do I give up or try and force it on him? Theoretically, if I turned off all of the lights and quickly got it on him whenever he couldn't see, would he hate me for it or have any long lasting fear? It just sounds wrong to me.

What do you guys with petite harnesses do?

 

[Lavalleer]

With Mozzie I used his favorite treat to entice to reach farther and farther through the loop until he had put his head all the way through. At first he freaked out but after a few times of doing this he started to calm down. My biggest problem once it is on is he always wants to chew on it.

 

[InTheAir]

I went too fast when I was training our first ringneck to wear a harness and he got scared of it, so I had to start at the beginning again. With our second ringneck, I have been putting a lot of time into getting her really comfortable with the harness, especially on taking her head out calmly (which is harder than getting it in).
I started with making a big loop out of the strap and getting her to put her head in and out before we tried using the head loop.

 

[Doublete]

My guy is fine getting it on. But man is it tough to take off.
He is absolutely cool with you encircling his head and neck and almost closing his eyes with your hand. I practiced that a lot before I introduced the harness and its various straps.
The small ones are certainly tougher. My Amazon really doesn't like hers.. So we are still working.

 

[zvezdast]

I recently got a different kind of harness for my lovebird, and boy, is it tough to get it on!
She was fine touching it right away, and for the past week we've been practicing taking seeds through the head opening. But, like the aviator harness, sliding over the head is a little tight. She manages to get half her head through to grab a seed, but then retracts quickly.
After 7 days I decided to try and hold her and put the entire harness on to show her there is a reason for that thing and that she can actually go outside. It took quite a bit of struggling to get it on, and velcro it, as she is very wiggly. Luckily she didn't bite. I finally managed to get it on after about 6-7 minutes, and took her outside. I didn't want to tighten it too much for the first time, as I felt she is getting too scared when I tried. But she kept pulling it off herself, wedging her foot in, trying to get it over her head... that I had to hold her in the palm as she could not stand while trying to get that thing off. I tried to distract her with food, and she would take a bite, but it wasn't quite working.
After 1-2 minutes outside, which I am not sure she even noticed she was outside, we went in and I took it off. She does not hate me for it, and doesn't hate the harness. We continue to practice taking seeds through the loop. I like @InTheAir's idea of making a bigger loop with the leash and practice like that first.

 

[DancingFeathers]

He got caught in the harness after I tried to get him into it and ten minutes later, I managed to pry the loop from his head. I can feel it now, that he won't ever trust it. I hate myself for allowing this to happen.

 

[InTheAir]

Bummer. Don't stress, just use it as a learning experience and start right at the beginning again, really slowly.
The bird I shared the video of has had a couple disasters with harness training too! She tried to fly off with it on her neck and ended up with the harness fully on. I had to completely restrain her to get it off, and she doesn't like being touched or restrained at all! I felt so bad and thought she would never forgive me, but she did as you can see.
Try way, way, way more preparation work before you use the head loop. You can even teach him to pick up the harness and give it to you, which allows him to have full control of the training session and builds his confidence.

 

[noelletulip]

I'm having the hardest time with harness training as well. My little Tulip is perfectly comfortable with me putting the larger loops over his head and even resting the harness on his body, but the actual head loop is a huge issue. One time, I got it on him okay but he started freaking out so much that I couldn't even give him a treat. In fighting with it, he actually got in all the way on him, under both wings, the way it was supposed to be. I tried to take advantage and tighten it and leave him be to show him it was okay, but he became so frantic that I decided to take it off, which was harder than getting it on. In the process, I got my first (and only) purposeful bite (as opposed to exploration bites). I didn't care about the bite, though it broke the skin. Luckily I think I'm more traumatized from the incident than he was, the little angel. Harness training is definitely a tough lesson in patience.

 

[noelletulip]

Reading and posting on this thread inspired me to have a harness training session with Tulip and we had a breakthrough and I discovered something that will really help overcome the small size of the head opening. We're all trying to get our birds to get their head through the opening with a treat, right? So, if you hold the harness and treat far enough away from the bird so that they have to stretch their heads forward to get it, it makes their head/neck skinny enough that it will slide right in! I then let Tulip munch on his millet for a while with his head through the loop, and while his head was still stretched forward, I was able to slide the loop right back off his head again, super easy! I strongly encourage you guys to try this because it made a world of difference for us and I have hope again!

 

[DancingFeathers]

@noelletulip Thank you so much for your advice! I might get out the old harness and give it a go!

 

[Wolf]

Something to consider; The Aviator harness is designed to fit a range of weights, so if your bird is near the upper weight range for the harness you might want to give the next larger sizea try. Just a thought, hope it helps.

 

[InTheAir]

We have 2 aviator harnesses the same size bought a year apart, the newer one has a bigger head loop. The first one is a tight squeeze for our undersized bird.