Re: [Freeflight] NO! Was: Re: anklets and a leash - suitable for a macaw??

["Tana" <tana@u...>]

On 2 Sep 2004 at 7:45, ashkebird wrote:

> But SLOW. Take your time. This will be a months long project,
> nooo rush. You have 60 years with your bird possibly, a few months now to
> do something right, is nothing. 

Yes, I hadn't read this excellent advice when I wrote about harness 
training. We disagree on the actual procedure (which would vary with 
the bird and the bird's history anyway) but we do agree on going slowly 
and breaking the procedure down in small steps. A compliant easily 
handled bird probably won't take months.....if practice sessions are 
several times a day everyday.....but it might. That's the point.

Juba and I, before she was one year old, had some failed attempts due 
to my taking the instructions on the harness package seriously (big 
mistake)....though she never was stressed by the harness or afraid; she 
just wanted to play with the thing. Her second summer I had had more 
training experience and I thought I will approach this like any other 
multi-step training program. That worked easily.

Tana