Well, as many of you may have seen with the coverage of the winter Olympics, Vancouver has been having fantastic weather! Today is no exception, sunny and warm, which I'm loving.
Anyway, last fall while the weather was warm enough, and not raining I started Paco on his harness training. He was about 4 months when we started, and although his didn't love the harness, he seemed to accept it, and loved being out in it.
Now that he is 8 months, and after not having seen the harness for a while, boy does he hate it! I take him to the church grounds next door where I can be assured a quiet time in a park-like setting where there are no obvious cats, dogs, or predatory birds to be concerned with.
Anyway, getting the harness on him is no problem, but it's tightening it that is the problem. He tries to pull on the buckle and bites with increasing pressure as I try to do it up. Once outside he calms down a bit, but tries to run up my arm to my shoulder which is never going to happen while we are outside! I value my eyes, ears, and lips to much for that to take a chance on a fright!
Once we got to the church Paco enjoyed climbing around in the cherry trees, ripping off the buds and playing in the grass, so much so that he refused to step-up, concerning in case I ever had him out and a predator were to come around, looks like we need to work on that!
He loved hanging out in the sun, and let out a few high-pitched screeches before really tearing through the branches, and climbing up.
Getting the harness off is the hard part. As soon as I reach for the buckle, he bites quite hard, then as soon as I get a bit of slack, he tears into the harness pulling on it, usually the wrong way! :blink:
Finally, after a hand full of scratches and nips we got it off and he is now sitting on his perch in the sun preening.
I guess he is starting to move beyond the "baby-stage" where he would accept things easily and readily. I've noticed that he is much more strong willed since he began speaking, I think I'm going to have to accept my baby is growing up, and I'll need to work on my patience level now...
What you have described Ryan is Harvey all over!!! To be honest - it nearly always takes two of us to put it on - I find it difficult to tighten the harness whilst he runs up my arms too! Taking it off - exactly the same! I think it's defiance!
Unfortunately the baby stage doesn't last too long - and they definitely start to get their own mind and independence!
It's too cold, wet, rainy and awful here to even contemplate an outside trip - I'm dreading trying the harness again
What We Do in Life Echoes in Eternity
I took Ana Grey out in her harness the other day and yes it was a battle that I finally won to get it on her. In hindsight I should have occasionally put her harness on her during the winter months and life would have been much easier for us this spring. I have two wire travel cages for my fids so perhaps it would be easier just to put them in these cages and then take them outside so they can enjoy the sun!<br><br>Post edited by: luvparrots, at: 2010/02/21 19:53
~~~~~~~~~~ Ana Grey ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Louie ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Sterling Gris ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lily ~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I can relate to this. Kookie hates the guts of his harness. I can manage to out it on and then take it off easily. I do this immediately after Kookie's shower. As I towel him to dry him (which he accepts), I manage to put it on while he is still in the towel. He always bites the side of the towel, but this keeps him busy while I tighten the harness. I use the towel again to remove the harness in the same way.
But once its on him, he is so nervous and pulls on it and bites it. I can feel he hates it and he is very comfortable and scared. Im even afraid he might hurt himself, so I removed it quickly. I figured that what matters is his comfort and happiness, and when harness freaks him out, he will never enjoy being out or anywhere. I have decided to let him enjoy himself at home the way he likes....
Rana<br><br>Post edited by: ranaz, at: 2010/02/21 20:27
Rana
Ha ha! Glad I'm not the only one to suffer with the harness, misery loves company!
I can tell he loves being out, and being able to climb around on the trees and pull out nice green grass, but ugh, the horrors of putting it on and taking it off!
Janet, I had considered using it a few times over the winter, but then I figured I wanted im to associate it with a fun trip outside, so I thought I'd be better off not putting it on him at all until we could go out.
Oh well, I will persevere, it's worth it for both of us when he lets out a wolf whistle while hanging from a branch in the fresh air!
Paco hates the towel too, Rana, so your lucky with that. As soon as he sees a towel he runs up my shirt with his beak taking full advantage of my shirt, hole, hole, hole....
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