How to get the supervisor to stay on his stand?

[Jacob]

Jacob has been flying for about 2 - 3 weeks now and in that time I have trained him to fly to me on cue and to fly to his cage on cue. I have been strict with him that he is not allowed to fly onto me when not invited. If he does I take him back to wherever he flew from. It has been going well since he never managed to establish the behavior on flying to me whenever he likes.

Now my problem
Jacob really likes being with me in the kitchen while I'm prepping for cooking, loading/unloading the dishwasher. But for him he needs to be on my shoulder or hanging from my arm to get the best view of what I'm doing. I've been trying to get him to stay on his play stand in the kitchen and not on my shoulder. Because frankly he get's in the way while I'm getting things ready for cooking, you know how it is, trying to cut up things with a noisy parrot hanging on your arm supervising the whole thing (He's not allowed in the kitchen while I actually cook). But he is not happy with being on the play stand. He does not try to fly to me, because he knows I will only return him, but he does sit and scream in protest.

So how do I go about getting him to be content on the play stand and watch me from there instead of being on me? I'm thinking of click and treat him when I put him on the stand and then again if he's been behaving for a little while and then slowly increasing the time he needs to be quiet to get a treat. Would it be best to establish the rule that if he's in the kitchen he's on the play stand and never on us?

 

[Jacob]

ok so I tried clicking and treating Jacob while he sat quietly on the stand and I cut up some onions. It went well. I did c/t him frequently and he basically just sat and waited for the next treat. So instead of getting all worked up, screaming and begging for me to invite him to come and me getting frustrated by the noise and at him. He got some positive interaction with me and lots of praise and treats.

Thank goodness I'm a woman and can multitask, cooking and training my parrot all at once!

 

[TwoG2s]

I remember you said your place doesn't have a lot of extra room but perhaps you could have an orb closer to where you are working so Jacob can supervise better ; obviously not while you are cooking but perhaps when you are emptying the dishwasher, prepping meals, etc?

If you could hang a hook that makes it easy to hang and then take down a small swing; would that make Jacob happier?

My Toos are never allowed on my shoulder so having various hanging areas around the house allows them to be quite close but not on me.

In my case, it doesn't always work; The G2s are not always interested in what I am doing; they are only interested in interacting with me. At those times, I need to stop what I am doing and provide them some interaction time, or a snack, or involve them with some toys; so I can get my work done.

 

[Big Blues]

Athena, our Hy loves to fly from her playgym to the area where I am working in the kitchen preparing food. I just fly her back and forth and she eventually says, I think I will just sit here and watch!

 

[BraveheartDogs]

ok so I tried clicking and treating Jacob while he sat quietly on the stand and I cut up some onions. It went well. I did c/t him frequently and he basically just sat and waited for the next treat. So instead of getting all worked up, screaming and begging for me to invite him to come and me getting frustrated by the noise and at him. He got some positive interaction with me and lots of praise and treats.

Thank goodness I'm a woman and can multitask, cooking and training my parrot all at once!

That's excellent. that's what I would have done. You could also give him a really great forage toy or something to work on while you are working so he will also have something to work on and entertain himself.

 

[Jacob]

I remember you said your place doesn't have a lot of extra room but perhaps you could have an orb closer to where you are working so Jacob can supervise better ; obviously not while you are cooking but perhaps when you are emptying the dishwasher, prepping meals, etc?

If you could hang a hook that makes it easy to hang and then take down a small swing; would that make Jacob happier?

the kitchen is not big so he is really close to me when he is on the stand. Although we have been discussing to hang things around the apartment since Jacob is flying now. So he can get around better.

That's excellent. that's what I would have done. You could also give him a really great forage toy or something to work on while you are working so he will also have something to work on and entertain himself.

Before I have tried giving him something to keep him occupied but whatever I'm doing is always more interesting but it went well with the c/t, I continued doing that while we were cleaning up after dinner. Me and my boyfriend decided that from now on Jacob would only be on the stand while he's in the kitchen and not on us. So my boyfriend is going to c/t Jacob on the stand if he's working in the kitchen.

 

[JLcribber]

I remember you said your place doesn't have a lot of extra room but perhaps you could have an orb closer to where you are working so Jacob can supervise better ; obviously not while you are cooking but perhaps when you are emptying the dishwasher, prepping meals, etc?

If you could hang a hook that makes it easy to hang and then take down a small swing; would that make Jacob happier?

My Toos are never allowed on my shoulder so having various hanging areas around the house allows them to be quite close but not on me.

In my case, it doesn't always work; The G2s are not always interested in what I am doing; they are only interested in interacting with me. At those times, I need to stop what I am doing and provide them some interaction time, or a snack, or involve them with some toys; so I can get my work done.

That's what I would do. If he had something up high right by you then he can actually see what you are doing.

the kitchen is not big so he is really close to me when he is on the stand. Although we have been discussing to hang things around the apartment since Jacob is flying now. So he can get around better.

Having lots of landing stations up high is pretty well a "must have" for anyone with a flighted bird. If he has those stations in various parts of the house and becomes familiar with them he will use them and fly to them on his own with out always landing on you. JME

 

[Chicklette]

What I did was pick a phrase that you are going to use to get them to stay where they are, mine is “stay”. I put them of the perch and say “stay” and if they do I give them a treat. I just keep repeating this process over and over again until they get it. Every time they get a treat.

Also they know come here when I say “come here” with the same method. I point to something and they go where I point to like a stand.

It’s all about persistence and repetition.