Where to go after you've mastered the step-up command?

Thank you for the training tips. I'll keep you posted how well it's going. I don't have a T perch yet, so I think I will take her away from the cage while on my finger, and then do a little petting at a time for now. Thanks again!

My TAG is going to be 1 year old May 10th. We have had her since she was 6 months old and we have had to work really hard to just get where we are. For some it can be allot of work, others it can come pretty fast. I would go ahead and follow Mario's advice. You just have to start petting and do what you have been doing with telling them no bite and not making a big deal out of it, if it happens to hurt, that is a big deal no matter how bad the bite you can't over react cause they will get a kick out of that and just keep doing it.

SweetHeart has been one heck of a challenge. But I am still determined to have her let me pet her willingly. I am her chosen one there is no doubt about that. She will let me do much more than any of the others without growling at me, now of course she has her days, but as far as my husband and my daughter they can't do the things I do without getting nipped at. But still to this day she has only tested us with her nips, we still have not been really bit good. I do take the 15 minute with her and play with her and pet her and try to give her neck rubs and try petting her head. The funny thing is when she's in the bath tub when I give her a shower I can touch her absolutely anywhere lol. Go figure. But the main thing is Patience! I can't stress that enough! We have almost been at this for 6 months and made very little progress, but I know in the long run it will pay off for the good. She will come around one of these days lol. I do wish I would have gotten her a little younger, but what can I do, I'm stuck with my little gal and wouldn't change it for the world, just trying to train her lol. Good luck to you! And trust me just be patient, one day you may move forward and than the next two steps back. So don't give up! Keep us updated!

Hello,

Patience is the key. What you need to do is to have a school set up. What is a great way to do this is to take the bird and do the training 3 to 4 times a day for no more then 15 minutes each time. A birds attention span is good for about 15 minutes at a time, any more the bird will loose intrest in the training period. You should have the training period away from the cage and out of sight. I like to use a T perch and put the bird on it to train him. You have the STEP UP done now you need to work on the petting and touching of the bird. This will take some time to get done but it will pay off later. The best thing that I have found to do is to place the bird on the T perch and gentally start to touch him/her while on the T stand. After the bird is OK with you touching him/her then start to use the step up and the touching together. This will do 2 things for you. It will first of all get the bird to start to learn the commands that you are calling out. The second thing is that the bird will start the TRUST between you and him/her. This is a common mistake that people think just because a bird will STEP UP that the bird trusts them. There is nothing further to the truth. A bird needs to feel comfy with you and start to trust you touching him/her. The hardest places most birds will not allow you to touch is under the wing and by the tail feathers. After you have got the trust of the bird then you can move on to the touching in the places that they might not like you to touch. This has worked great for me and many others that I have told it to. I hope you get the same results from the input that I have given you.

Mario

We've mastered the step-up command, whereby Obi will step-up, come out of his cage, but immediately wants to go to the top of the cage. That's okay, I've been building trust, but it's time now he learned to be touched without biting.

The past two evenings, we put a towel on the back of a living room chair, and let Obi wonder around - not more than 5 minutes or so each time, then I took him into the kitchen and put him back on top of his cage.

When taking Obi out of the cage now, I've been trying to pet him, scratch his head, etc., in an attempt to get him to warm up to me. He still would rather be on top of his cage, so I only have worked with him for a minute or two.

When he tries to bite my hand while scratching/petting, I say "no" or "no bite" in a firm voice in an attempt to let him know this is not okay, and that I want to build trust by him allowing me to pet/scratch his head.

Any advice on where to go from here? I don't want to push myself on him, I hope that he will want the interaction with me rather thank being forced. Do you know how long it takes for them to actually like/want to be with you? I feel we've made great progress in these two weeks. He doesn't appear to be afraid of me any longer.

Thanks, and have a great day!