what a beautiful green monster....

Burt is flattered that you want to use his picture as a screen saver.

I have never used a harness on Burt.
I don’t know if all parrots are as strong willed as Burt but I found that if he got it in his mind not to do some thing it was very difficult to get him to do it.
I started using positive reinforcement training giving him treats for doing something I wanted him to do and just ignoring things I wanted him to stop. He now enthusiastically dose tricks and interacts with me in ways he wouldn’t before.

Burt is the first parrot I have had but I have trained lots of other animals. I have found that with strong willed animals it is possible to break them to do your biding but this loses the animals trust and they do your biding threw fear.

The relationship I now have with Burt is that we trust each other. When I have him with me on the couch and ask him to step up he sometimes refuses as he wants to stay with me, if I want him to go to his cage I get up and move away from him then walk back and ask him to step up. At this point he has never refused to step up because I have removed the reason for him wanting to stay, me.
I never make him do something he doesn’t want to do except in a case of emergency for instance if he doesn’t want to step up but I need him to immediately I just cup my hands round him and pick him up and some how he seems to understand.

So if I was training Burt to wear a harness. Over several days I would slowly in steps introduce the harness to him, giving him parse and treats at every stage till I had it on him very loose. Then I would tighten it gradually giving him parse and treats. Eventually he will want to put it on to get praise and treats and you must keep this up doing it at least once a week even in winter so he doesn’t forget the trick.

When I got Burt he was antisocial very aggressive and scared of humans. I researched parrot behaviour before I took him on.
I spend on average of at least 4 hours a day with Burt at different levels of attention, one to one attention, watching TV or reading the paper together or visual and verbal from across the room.
The way to Burt's hart is threw his stomach I found his favourite food and took that out his regular diet so now the only way he gets this food is as a treat.
Doing positive reinforcement training has given back Burt’s trust in at least one human and has enriched his life without changing his personality or loosing his dignity as an individual.

I have 2 border collies both 12 they are also very intelligent and they taught me how to respect an animals individual intelligence.

I hope this has helped you, all animals have individual personalities and you have to find the best tecnique for Ryan

Thanks so much Rob! I have actually been letting Ryan play with the harness or at least check it out a bit and not attempting to put it on him yet. He's usually good with everything and very easy going, but he did not want that harness on him! Rather than getting aggressive though, he rolled around like I was murdering him. I can't take that!

Today I'll try your suggestion with the treats, and I'll let you know how it goes. I'm dying to bring him outside as it's finally nice out here. I'm tired of using a dog carrier!

And I must say I think the progress you made with Burt is amazing. There aren't too many people out there, especially first time parrot owners, who are willing to put in the time and patience. Burt is a lucky bird!

Have you ever read any of Susan Friedman's writings? She's all about positive behavior. I think she's great and there's always something that I learn from her. Here's one link: Home

And you need to start posting more pics of Burt!

Thanks for the link, it looks very intrestingand, I may look at joining one of the coarses

Great! Let me know how you make out. I believe there is a long waiting list though. I signed up for a course and it doesn't start until June! If you're interested in taking other courses online, I can point you in the right direction. I've actually done 2 certifications and they were a lot of fun. Lots of learning!

We love spoiled, green monsters! Ruby says "step-up!!!"

He's adorable!!!

oh he's beautiful. I like his play gym/tree thing.

Rob, that was a fantastic post about the positive reinforcement and how it has helped you build trust with Burt - I always love reading accounts of positive reinforcement building trust because it affirms to me that I've made some good decisions with my guys and in trying to respect them and earn their trust rather than simply dominating them.

ryan has to be one of the most photogenic birds ever! thanks for sharing