Teach Your Bird to Wear a Harness | Training Guide Part I

A harness is an excellent way to safely take your bird outside. The Aviator Harness allows your bird to fly outdoors without the risk of being accidentally swept away by a sudden gust of wind. It is designed with an elastic lead that rotates easily around your bird's body as they fly. The elastic allows your bird to safely fly to the end of the lead without being "snapped" back. You can purchase lead extensions that are up to 80' long.
Taki (a cockatiel weighing approximately 87g) wears an Aviator Harness "Petite" or "XXS" (depending on the vendor). You can find an Aviator Harness for purchase here (with a size chart to help you fit your bird)-
www.chewy.com/aviator-bird-ha...
You can find the treats I used here (spray millet cut into pieces)-
www.chewy.com/kaytee-natural-...
Training Clicker-
www.chewy.com/frisco-pet-trai...
The target training stick is just a wooden chopstick. You can use anything for this!
This video is NOT sponsored - I just love these products! I bought them all with my own money and do not receive any income whatsoever from Aviator Harness, Chewy.com, etc.
This training guide assumes that your bird is not scared of the sight of the harness- if they are, they are not yet ready to start training! Please make sure your bird has had a good meal before starting a training session so they can focus and train without frustration.
Here I am demonstrating how I got my bird to be comfortable with putting his own head through the harness. Notice that he pushes his head through the harness on his own- I don't put it on for him. If he doesn't want to wear it he simply doesn't put his head through. I do not believe in using punishment to train or forcing a bird to "get used to" a harness by putting it on and making them wear it even when they're uncomfortable. Go slow and steady and let your bird set the pace. If you move too quickly your bird could develop a negative association with the harness which will only significantly slow the training process down. The whole process from beginning to end should be fun, relaxing, and rewarding for your bird- nothing should be scary, stressful, difficult, etc. The entire point of a harness is to enrich your bird's life so they can be happier- upsetting your bird during the harness training process defeats that purpose!
STEP 1 - Take a target stick or long treat like spray millet and push it through the head hole (so that your bird has to move toward the harness to eat the treat but is not yet touching the harness at all)
TRAIN STEP 1 UNTIL YOUR BIRD IS COMPLETELY COMFORTABLE
You can slowly make the target stick or treat "shorter" (by 1/2" each session) so that your bird has to get closer to the harness to reach the treat. If your bird hesitates, lengthen the stick/treat by 1-2" and try again.
Once the target stick/treat has been shortened to the point that it's level with the head hole opening you can move on to step 2.
STEP 2 - Place the target stick or treat slightly behind the head hole opening so that your bird must make slight contact with the head hole to reach the treat.
STEP 3 - Once your bird has mastered step 2 with no hesitation, retract the treat/stick by 1/4" - 1/2" so that your bird is partially putting their beak through the head hole to reach the treat.
Step 4 - As your bird becomes comfortable with each small step retract the treat/stick by another 1/4" - 1/2". Eventually they treat/stick will be far enough behind the head hole that your bird will put their entire head through to reach it.
Be very patient! It can take a few weeks of daily training sessions moving very slowly to get your bird used to this step. For most birds this is the "slowest" step of harness training as they aren't used to pushing their head through anything and it can feel weird. Once they get comfortable with this step the rest of harness training is usually a bit faster.
When your bird is comfortable reaching through the head hole for the treat continue retracting the treat until it's no longer visible. When your bird happily puts their head through the opening without seeing a treat you can start training for duration- make them wait 1 second wearing the harness over their head before earning a treat. Increase the amount of time your bird has to wear the harness over their head before earning a treat by one second at a time, never increasing the time until your bird is completely comfortable with the last time requirement. When you've worked up to a full minute of wearing the harness over the head before earning a treat (and your bird is comfortable and relaxed for that full minute) you can progress to working on training your bird to put the rest of the harness on.
Instructions for that in a future video!

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i love taki's chirps!❤

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