How to continue in training.

[Yoshi&Raphi]

So I have had Yoshi for a while now and he loves hanging out with me on my shoulder or head and will call for me if I leave the room.

He will step up on a arm (whilst I’m wearing my jumper) but here’s my issue: He attacks all skin, if I offered him my bare hand to step up on I would 100% bring back a bloody hand.

The thing is he REALLY wants to be on me and will beg to be picked up but will only step up on a jumper. I have to wear hoodies whilst he’s with me because if he notices my neck skin he will attack it.

Im not sure how to stop this as I don’t understand why he’s biting. He’s no longer scared of me, he desperately wants to hang out with me so it’s not anger biting. It’s just an immediate response he sees skin he makes his way over to bite it. Is it just habit developed from when he was at the petstore? How do I solve this so I can have a better (and less painful!) relation ship with my bird?

 

[Hjarta5]

Im interested in your question, too, so just bumping for attention

 

[Gribouille]

Hmmm... maybe he like the taste, the texture?? Give him pieces of leather to chew on...?

 

[Leih]

I think you'll have to find a way to "desensitize" him. Will he take treats from you through his cage bars? I had to really work to convince my lovebird that my hands aren't evil. I used to sit with a hand on the side of her cage (until she became cage Territorial.) Then I think I'd hold some treats and drop one in her dish. We eventually got to where she'd take treats through her bars, then outside of her cage, then from my open hand. It's like thinking of what he's afraid of, finding a way to introduce that to him slowly.

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

I think you'll have to find a way to "desensitize" him. Will he take treats from you through his cage bars? I had to really work to convince my lovebird that my hands aren't evil. I used to sit with a hand on the side of her cage (until she became cage Territorial.) Then I think I'd hold some treats and drop one in her dish. We eventually got to where she'd take treats through her bars, then outside of her cage, then from my open hand. It's like thinking of what he's afraid of, finding a way to introduce that to him slowly.

He does take treats from my fingers without biting but if my fingers linger after he has eaten the treats he will bite.

It’s not a territorial thing because he will be sitting on my shoulder half asleep then turn slightly and see my neck skin, instant bite.

Hmmm... maybe he like the taste, the texture?? Give him pieces of leather to chew on...?

He has a leather toy in his cage currently and he’s not interested at all .

 

[Leih]

Hmm... That's going to take some thought

 

[Leih]

@DoubleTake any ideas?

 

[DoubleTake]

Do you show fear or any signs of being hesitant when trying to get him to step up? I think it would be a good idea to have someone other than you record the interaction to get a basic idea of what may be going on. Sometimes we are doing something and we don't even know it. I wanted someone else to record because if you are recording that may bring unwanted aggression towards you or distract him from his "normal" behavior.

You mentioned he will go for your neck. One problem is that when a bird is on your head or shoulder the bird cannot see your face no can you see the bird very well thus the communication through body language is absent.

You mentioned having him for awhile, how long has it been? Was he always like this when you got him? How old is he?

When he bites, what happens next?

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

Do you show fear or any signs of being hesitant when trying to get him to step up? I think it would be a good idea to have someone other than you record the interaction to get a basic idea of what may be going on. Sometimes we are doing something and we don't even know it. I wanted someone else to record because if you are recording that may bring unwanted aggression towards you or distract him from his "normal" behavior.

You mentioned he will go for your neck. One problem is that when a bird is on your head or shoulder the bird cannot see your face no can you see the bird very well thus the communication through body language is absent.

You mentioned having him for awhile, how long has it been? Was he always like this when you got him? How old is he?

When he bites, what happens next?

I don’t show any signs of hesitance when asking him to step up on a hand although I haven’t tried for a couple weeks as I don’t want it to reinforce.

I have had him for a few months now I think. He is around 7-8 months old. We got him from a bird store, he had been there for multiple months because no one wanted him.

He has always attacked any bare skin. I thought this would pass once he had bonded and realised hands would never hurt him but he never stopped, he has always done this.

When he bites I calmly put him down then leave for a few minutes he usually calls for me or begs to step up again.

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

@Monica

 

[DoubleTake]

I have had him for a few months now I think. He is around 7-8 months old. We got him from a bird store, he had been there for multiple months because no one wanted him.

He has always attacked any bare skin. I thought this would pass once he had bonded and realised hands would never hurt him but he never stopped, he has always done this.

When he bites I calmly put him down then leave for a few minutes he usually calls for me or begs to step up again.

Most likely caused by being at the store for so long and he didn't learn that attacking people isn't acceptable. Since it has only been a few months I believe it will just take more time a patience for him to learn that biting is not acceptable behavior. I know green cheeks tend to be more nippy but I don't think this is the case here.

When he is biting have you tried distracting him with something else to divert his attention(distracting his brain from "attack mode")?

When you are putting him down, are you putting him back in his cage? the floor?

If you are able to get him to perch on your hand, I assume he is attacking your hand. Have you tried the "earthquake" method to snap him out of it.

Some of my questions may seem repetitive or common sense but I don't like to assume anything. Really hard to suggest something without me seeing it. I usually have people at the bird store I volunteer at handle their birds while I watch.

 

[finchly]

Sooo...if I'm understanding this right he doesn't bite if he steps up on fabric, but he does if stepping on skin? How about let him step up on a sleeve or jumper or a towel. Build trust between you. If he bites at all, put him on the floor. Later you can start working with step up on skin. Or never. Some birbs want to step onto fabric.

 

[Gribouille]

Sooo...if I'm understanding this right he doesn't bite if he steps up on fabric, but he does if stepping on skin? How about let him step up on a sleeve or jumper or a towel. Build trust between you. If he bites at all, put him on the floor. Later you can start working with step up on skin. Or never. Some birbs want to step onto fabric.

As I understand it is not only step up. He'll bite any skin he sees. Neck, face, hands, arm... Not much fun to have to cover yourselv like a mummy in your own flat to avoid being attacked by the bird..

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

Most likely caused by being at the store for so long and he didn't learn that attacking people isn't acceptable. Since it has only been a few months I believe it will just take more time a patience for him to learn that biting is not acceptable behavior. I know green cheeks tend to be more nippy but I don't think this is the case here.

When he is biting have you tried distracting him with something else to divert his attention(distracting his brain from "attack mode")?

When you are putting him down, are you putting him back in his cage? the floor?

If you are able to get him to perch on your hand, I assume he is attacking your hand. Have you tried the "earthquake" method to snap him out of it.

Some of my questions may seem repetitive or common sense but I don't like to assume anything. Really hard to suggest something without me seeing it. I usually have people at the bird store I volunteer at handle their birds while I watch.

It’s ok ask as many questions as you need I really appreciate your help. I will try the earthquake method and/or distracting him this afternoon I’ll let everyone know how it goes.

Sooo...if I'm understanding this right he doesn't bite if he steps up on fabric, but he does if stepping on skin? How about let him step up on a sleeve or jumper or a towel. Build trust between you. If he bites at all, put him on the floor. Later you can start working with step up on skin. Or never. Some birbs want to step onto fabric.

That’s what we have been doing he steps up on a sleeve and I wear a hoodie to protect my neck. But @Gribouille is right I would rather try and find a solution instead of having to constantly be like a mummy when holding him .

 

[Monica]

Please do not use the earthquake method... this could result in him biting down harder because his 'perch' has become unstable or may even teach him to avoid hands. We don't want this.


Have you done much target training with him? And station training?


If he's on you and will step up for a reward no problem, I would just keep feeding him rewards for as long as he's willing and slowly increase the time between when he receives a reward!

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

Please do not use the earthquake method... this could result in him biting down harder because his 'perch' has become unstable or may even teach him to avoid hands. We don't want this.


Have you done much target training with him? And station training?


If he's on you and will step up for a reward no problem, I would just keep feeding him rewards for as long as he's willing and slowly increase the time between when he receives a reward!

I have not tried the earthquake method yet because I assumed it would make him more untrusting of hands like you said thank you for confirming my suspicions.

I do target and recall training daily, he steps up on a sleeve easily but not hands.

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

Update: So after our daily training session I got a piece of almond (the holy god of treats for Yoshi) confidently and calmly asked him to step he automatically hopped on, then looked down saw skin and chomped down .
Ouch .

I put him back on a perch where he started begging to come back on me. I’m not sure what to do so I can fix his hate of skin .

 

[finchly]

Again, I would wait. Just let him step on fabric for awhile. Or teach him that you use this special towel over your arm just for him. **edit*** sorry now I see where @Gribouille corrected me. Gosh I see the problem now.

@Monica you're getting blurry up there, did you lose your kryptonite?

 

[Monica]

@Yoshi&Raphi Any chance you can reward *BEFORE* the bite occurs?

How does a target training session go? Have you trained him to step up using target training?


@finchly Something like that! LOL Need a better image hosting website but with bad internet, not really interested in trying to move things over! (plus, it'll break a lot of *old* links!)

 

[Yoshi&Raphi]

@Yoshi&Raphi Any chance you can reward *BEFORE* the bite occurs?

How does a target training session go? Have you trained him to step up using target training?


@finchly Something like that! LOL Need a better image hosting website but with bad internet, not really interested in trying to move things over! (plus, it'll break a lot of *old* links!)

Not really he bites the second he is on my finger.

The target training sessions go well, at the moment we have broken off in to recall training which is going fantastically.