Gettin my parrot back in her cage

[Barb]

Hello to you all!

We are having great trouble getting our 1 year old CAG back in her cage.
She is very clever and all my tricks are failing to work. I would be
grateful for any advice as she just refuses to go back in and it is
impossible to catch her sometimes.

I used to towel her and cuddle her and then gently put her back in but she's
got wise to that. She hasn't had her wings clipped and so flies off as soon
as she realises that we are trying to get her back in. We've tried bribing
her with treats and newspaper, but she would rather stay out permanently,
which of course she can't!

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Barb in UK

[Monique]

At this point, other than "chase" her around til you get her to put her back ... :P I don't know what you do.

I think for starters you have to train her to stay where you put her. You put her on t-stand/playgym (wherever she is supposed to be when she is out). She gets off ... you IMMEDIATELY put her back or into her cage. This is like the 2-year-old game where they throw something on the floor and you pick it up. You do it over and over and over and over and think they're never going to get it. Then one day they will.

Some other ideas... You should make a game out of getting her and not always for the cage. Go get her and give her a seed. Get her so she doesn't mind you getting her as much. Then start treating her when you put her back in her cage, too, so she has something to look forward to. I would also put her on a schedule. Her time in and out of the cage - so she always knows what to expect.

I don't think you ever win by punishing a bird - especially a grey so keep persistent with some different things and expect to wait a little while for results. And keep your thinking cap on. There's got to be some way we can outsmart her . :lol:

[Barb]

Thanks a lot, I will try those things. I always give her a treat when she gets back in the cage, I would never punish her. Actually the worst she was was when she had been out of her cage for hours so perhaps I will schedule her time out.

Advice much appreciated.

Barb

[FairY]

Hi there Barb, welcome to greyforums I hope you will enjoy it here

Maybe she needs a regular schedule of being out of and in her cage?

[TheGreyMiester]

When you do get her in the cage, even if you did all the work, praise her and try to give the most irresistible treat, whatever that might be. Positive reinforcement is vital to training. Make sure you don’t accidentally reinforce any bad behavior, like praise her just after she bit you when putting her in the cage, only when it's a smooth operation.

Just another suggestion to consider.

[Barb]

Thanks

Last night the monkey would not go back in at all and eventually we left her to sit on the top of her cage and ignored her. After ages she decided to go in and investigate an exciting strip of paper that I had strategically positioned so I closed the door and told her she was a good girl.

She has copied my husband in calling my name and calls my name constantly in his voice, it's sooo funny, quite uncanny! She's coming out again soon so I'll see how we get on tonight.

Bye for now

Barb in UK

[TheGreyMiester]

sound great! Ill be waiting for more results.

[Monique]

You say she was on top of the cage. Does she not do "step up" or let you take hold of her? If not, what does she do when you do these things? Personally, I wouldn't let my unclipped bird loose unless they were well-trained in those items.