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| Emu |
My best mates name is charlie, He is a 7 year old Major Mitchell
cross Galah - bright orange/sunset red body with light grey and slate
grey wings. However, he was very aggressive and unpredictable - this
is how i got him out of it.
When i first got him, he was totally feral - he was left to his own
devices in an avery for the last 2-3 years, with buggerall to no human
interaction because all the people at the store where i got him were
terrified of him.
I've managed to get him to totally trust me, and i can practically do
anything with him and these are the techniques i've used (which no
doubt will be flamed and or disected, but thats why i thought i'd put
them up for debate as this is the first big guy ive ever trained) Also
i feel i got away with something i shouldnt have done whilst training
him, and id be interested in your feedback.
This process took me about 3 weeks in all
Firsly, I took him from a HUGE avery, around 20 foot square with very
high perches, into a 3'x3' cage, with a big door - i feel that a large
door was vital to gaining the trust of the bird, as you can get them
out of the cage without having to man handle him. - (this in my mind,
in charlie's case took him from being king of the castle right back
down to earth.) I also placed the cage at about chest height - so
every member of the household was taller than him, looking over the
top of him. The cage was also place in a position so that you could
only approach him from one side.
Then after a day or so i got him out with a glove (kevlar motorbike
glove) this i believe was a mistake as it scared him more than helped
me - now i hardly use a glove - and ive found that i rarely get bitten
when training new birds - yet they bite the crapper out of a
glove??!?) - he flew around the living room a few times, and i couldnt
catch him. So i toweled him, clipped him (very minor clip as the
primary flight were too beautiful to take to many off. I took the
first 4 off each wing). This practically grounded him.
Once grounded i approached with no glove, taking the leap of faith
that i would keep my fingers - which fortunatly i did. over the next
few days of playing chase, Using the step up command i mananged to get
him onto my hand - I've found that all my birds respond better to palm
up, rather than palm down (dont know why - any ideas?)
From there, once he would step up to me (from the floor) and i had the
faith that he wasnt going to attack me, or be frightened of me, it was
a long process of lots of cuddles, stepping up when he bites, or
squeezes to hard. I would put him in the cage, get him out, step him,
put him on the floor/couch/table/cage roof and so on) OK, heres the
controversal bit. (im interested to get you opinions here)
To get him out of biting me (and drawing blood) one day i submitted
him. He bit me very hard, so I flipped him upside down, put him on the
floor and lent totally over him, using a stern voice. saying "Charlie
.... NO!" after a couple of minutes of having him pinned he stopped
biting and struggling - then i let him up, gave him a cuddle and lots
of "good boy's - its ok .. kisses" ect. I had to do it 2 more times
after that a couple of day later - since then he has never bitten me
to draw blood, (hes squeezed me a few times, but a "charlie - cut it
out! is enough to get him to stop) and he totally besoted with me.
the thinking behind why i did this (what seems like a terrible thing)
well i figured that the most un-natural position for a large
dominent/aggressive parrot to be in would be held upside down pinned
on the floor - he had to rely on me to get him out of this situation
and i know he is smart enough to figure that if he fights me, he'll
get held there untill he stop fighting. when he dousnt fight, he gets
cuddles and tickles and rewards.
now then, just to re-assure you guys, he has never been hit, or
smacked, beak tapped, also never had his cage hit either. I now have
him as pride of place in our pet store, and i feel 100% confident in
letting him go to anyone who wants to play with him (except my wife
who is still terrified of him!) The only rules i follow with him are,
no shoulders, and i always give him step ups when i get him out before
i give him to a customer that wants to cuddle him.
I'd also like to say i havent had any training, this may not be
correct, but it worked in this case, and has also worked on a nandy, a
quacker, countless ringnecks and 2 alexanderines.
thanks for taking the time to read this, and i do appreciate your
feedback on the flipping upside down - as i value yuor opinion on
wether you guys think this is a good or bad idea.
Cheers
Alex and Charlie
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