# Aviator Harness Training with Ziggy



## ccollin13 (May 24, 2013)

Hey everyone, I wanted to start a thread to document the process of training Ziggy with the Aviator harness. I thought because Ziggy likes looking out the window so much, it would be fun to take him outside. Also, my dad wants to be able to take Chucki the M2 outside, and I might be able to convince him to get a harness if I can show him that it works for Ziggy.

Ziggy has only been hand-tame for about 8 months (and he's 7 years old) so I wondered if I was doing the right thing. However, he is super gentle and never ever bites, so I was willing to give it a shot.

I bought my harness from My Safe Bird Store, and it comes with an instructional video. The video is highly informative and I recommend anyone who gets this harness watch it! The only problem is, he uses the harness on a big bird (macaw) so you can see it easier, but I know it's going to be much more difficult on my tiny cockatiel.

As of right now, I'm in the introduction stage with Ziggy. He's not afraid of new toys so it was easy to introduce the harness. He even talked to it the first time I showed it to him. I was able to place it on his back for a little bit, so that's good progress.

The other thing they instruct you to do is to work with your bird on accepting certain kinds of touching that you have to do to put the harness on. There are three components. 

First, you have to teach the bird to closes its eyes and allow you to slide the harness over its neck. You teach it this by sliding your fingers in a loop around its head. Ziggy has been surprisingly accepting of this, considering he wasn't even hand tame a year ago. So far, so good.

Next you have to teach the bird to accept you holding its wing straight up for a few seconds while you put the harness over it. Ziggy does not like this at all, but it helps if I count to three... 1, 2, 3. When he hears 1, he relaxes a bit, because he knows at 3, I'm going to let him go. I was surprised how fast he learned that. He still doesn't like this step, though.

The last thing is teaching the bird to accept being pushed off-balance a bit. You do this by pushing on the bird's side. Ziggy was very tolerant of that as well, especially again when I counted to 3. Amazing how smart he is.

So, I've been doing these things for a few days, and I think he's about ready for his first harness attempt  I'll update you again then, of course with pictures


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

Can't wait so exciting








He sounds like he adapts to things really easily
Keep us posted


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

ccollin I admire you for your patience! It seems like you two are working wonders, I can't wait to know the end results and to see pics of course! Great job, Ziggy is really a clever boy.


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## half-moon (Aug 15, 2012)

My tiel has the same harness ( I know what video your talking about)
I warn you the first time I put it on my tiel she was screeching and screaming but when she got outside she was amazed and really happy. I felt bad putting it on her at first but now she is used to it. Now when I take the harness out she runs up to me really excited and stands patiently as I put it around her. 
(PS- this harness works great!)


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## ccollin13 (May 24, 2013)

Well, we went outside for the first time today!

Ziggy HATED getting the harness put on. I worked with him multiple times a day for two weeks to get him used to being touched that way, but he still put up a fight. Lots of screaming and squawking, my goodness. I'm proud of him, though. He didn't bite me. He did keep putting his foot through the bottom of the harness, which made it take even longer because I couldn't tighten it when he did that. 

It's REALLY a lot harder to put this on a small bird. I imagine a bigger bird would be much easier, as long as he or she was well-trained.

Anyway, when I took him out the door he was like.... wait what, I'm going with you? Then we got outside and he was a little bit stunned, then he started to really like it! He was calling to the other birds, and relaxed a bit. He did try to fly once, but because his wings are growing out from a clip, he didnt get very far. The Aviator is WONDERFUL because it lets him go gently to the ground, rather than pulling him taut when he flies. He picked at the harness once or twice, but he seemed to forget about it once we were out there!

When we got back, it was quicker to get it off of him, but he was still grumpy. He's super mad at me, and I think he's a bit too warm from putting up a fight with the harness, so he's pouting in his cage. But I do hope that the outside experience will make it worth it for him so he doesn't hate the harness now. I do think I had it a little bit tight around the belly, so I'll adjust that next time.


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## CaliTiels (Oct 18, 2012)

What a doll! That last picture of him is really neat  Sounds like Ziggy is starting to enjoy that harness, at least over time...


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## Haimovfids (Sep 19, 2012)

That's great








Those photos are absolutely adorable


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## ccollin13 (May 24, 2013)

I left Zig alone for a bit. You know he's mad when he won't even look at millet, haha! But he got over it, preened a bit, and is now sitting with me. So, no long term grudge!


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## Vickitiel (Oct 10, 2012)

Sooo cute with that harness on! I want one


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## bobobubu (Dec 12, 2011)

That's fantastic! He looks adorable with that harness on! Bubu does the same thing with his foot, I always need to be extra careful.
Well done Ziggy!

Sent from my GT-I9100 using Tapatalk 2


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