Tips for Harness Training Your Parrot - Jasper the Eclectus Parrot

Harness training your parrot is probably THE most frustrating process. It's slow, they don't particularly enjoy it, if you try to push them too much you'll regress, and it normally feels like it'll never happen! There's a bunch of tricks I use to get Jasper into his harness and I hope they will help you.
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[@nicola3540]

Great advice. For any new parrot owners, pay special attention to the “don’t rush things” message. Because when I was training my eckie to wear a harness, I was so keen to have him out walking around with me I kind of rushed him through it pretty quickly, and now more than 15 years later, he still absolutely refuses to have anything to do with wearing one - and it’s entirely my own fault😳

[@KatieFleming]

Sorry to hear that, have you restarted training? Even just the head loop? Jasper has only let me put his harness on twice this summer even though as you can see in the video he was fully trained. Unfortunately they decide when they want it on or not. Very frustrating for sure, especially when we do it for their benefit, but if they refuse their harness, the next best thing is a birdie bag so at least they can still get some fresh air.

[@nicola3540]

@@KatieFleming I did re-start but I didn’t get very far. It’s getting the head loop on that’s the real sticking point, he just won’t tolerate it. He’s much the same about pretty much anything touching his head, he doesn’t like it and to this day will flinch if I try to pat him anywhere on or near it - as an aside I’ve always been a tad jealous when I see parrots begging for a nice head scratch, mine wouldn’t do that in a month of Sundays, I always thought this lack of feelie touchieness was an eckie thing, and while I think this is the case, my boy’s particularly big on the no patting thing. Of course the same rules don’t apply in reverse and he is free to be all over me whenever and where ever he wants, which is most of the time, his favourites bring a claw on each of my hands while I’m trying to do something, grabbing my teeth when I’m trying to eat or sitting on my head for literally hours (in fact he’s there right now)..... so I’ve sort of given up trying. I thought going outside would be such a plus for him he would get through it, but honestly the few times we got out the door he spent the entire time trying to get the harness off I’m not sure he even realised he was outside! I have a pretty big veranda and we both spend a lot of time out there (I even sleep out there in summer) as it’s netted it off with bird netting, so at least he does get to go outside a fair bit, but I’d love to take him for proper walks..... maybe one day!

[@KatieFleming]

Most Ekkies don't like being pet on the head (Jasper doesn't really like it either). I'd re-start the training and just try having the harness come near him until he tolerates it touching his body like in the first few steps of this video. It could take months if he's really opposed to it. But the point is to work in stages. Each time I have to re-train Jasper to wear his harness it seems to take about 4-6 months by the way, so it's a long (frustrating) process with him, and sometimes we're only on one stage for a month even. It's up to you if you want to try and get your Ekkie back in one or not. Honestly I love training Jasper but I hate harness training lol. Right now he's being miserable with it again, so we're back to just the head loop :)

[@lipstickrose]

I love how he was ready! Shooo cuteee!!! 🧡🧡

[@daniellevesper8071]

Thank you for the video! My boy Ozzy is stuck on putting this head through the harness. He'll do it for a treat, but he hates having the harness on for more than a few seconds. Hopefully he will be more comfortable in the future!

[@KatieFleming]

Jasper was the exact same, and that's where the counting really helped. Once he got the concept he was more patient. They'll keep throwing it off for awhile but it just takes that one time until you get to 10 (or whatever number you decide) when they have that "ah ha!" moment. It's a slow process but Ozzy will get there :) Of course they also have days where they're just not having it at all and that's ok too. Good luck!

[@lindacormack8657]

Love yr videos always so cute and informative. Thank you

[@KatieFleming]

Glad you're enjoying them Linda, thanks for watching!

[@sawdust2556]

Great job!

[@KatieFleming]

I'd also like to add that some days Jasper just absolutely refuses his harness so he either stays inside or he goes out in his birdie bag instead. Never force them.

[@zoeaslam7111]

thanks alot for this video it really means alot.

[@KatieFleming]

Glad it helped!

[@RaptorGoesRAWR]

Until I adopted mine, I didn't realise that conversation with an ekkie was basically.... 'honk'. Honk for days!!! And yet it's amazing how much they can say with just one sound.

[@KatieFleming]

Does he/she say any words too? Love all their funny sounds they come out with 😆

[@brokenredflag]

His feathers areso bright and beautifull!! Have you concider free fliying him? I dont get one cuse they say birds need to learn to free flight. And that looks harder.

[@KatieFleming]

No I don't free fly him. He's not super comfortable being outdoors and he has no interest in flying when we are outside. He gets plenty of exercise in my apartment and flies when he wants to inside!

[@brokenredflag]

@@KatieFleming thank you!! 0o0!!

[@teekalevine3988]

❤❤❤ Great training help! I'm wondering if a female would be as cooperative. I'll be finding out soon!

[@KatieFleming]

LOTS of patience and take it slow! Let me know how it goes 🙌

[@beanieboosolo9953]

This was very helpful! What treats do you give them tho??

[@KatieFleming]

Happy to hear! 🙌 I break slivered almonds, sunflower/pumpkin seeds into pieces. I like to save a "big treat" for when he gets to another milestone (half or full almond, or 1/4 walnut)

[@amirmostanbet3442]

Thanks for the video, how do you get your parrot to sit still mine just flies off all the time especially when he sees the harness 😀

[@KatieFleming]

If he flies off when he sees the harness then it sounds like he either is afraid of it or hates it! Did he have a bad experience? The first step would be to show him the harness from further away in the room, if he doesn't move, click (clicker training) and reward him (leave the harness and go over and give him a treat). You'll have to do this process slowly, moving closer and closer with the harness until eventually you can have it right beside him without flying away. Then you can continue with this video. Good luck 🙌

[@allamsemaan]

Very good job , 😀😀😀, I have same parrot , but he always tries to bite on it , how you make him stop doing that ???

[@KatieFleming]

Depends when he's biting it. When you're first bringing the harness near him? If so, bring it close to him (where he doesn't bite), click, treat. Next time a little closer, click, treat. Work your way closer and closer and only reward if he doesn't bite it. If he bites, start over, and no reward. It could take some time. I can't stress patience enough. It took 6 months to train Jasper again to wear his harness, and we have to redo the process each year because he doesn't wear it during the Winter. I try to get him to practice during the Winter so he doesn't lose it but with a molt in-between he doesn't like it around his neck. So I go through this process with him all the time! Good luck.

[@Sieg_W]

Cute and lovable! I wanted to buy one but here they cost more than one thousand dollars :(

[@denooos]

Many thanks, my Amazon is very scared, what can I do more?

[@KatieFleming]

Don't push to continue to the next step until they're 100% comfortable with the one you're on. Pushing them will only frighten more and you can potentially lose all the progress you've made so far, having to re-start. Go slowly - this took me 6 months when I re-trained Jasper.

[@denooos]

@@KatieFleming Many thanks, I will try.

[@jessicataggart5656]

Which harness are you using? I have the aviator for my Cape parrot jasper and the hole for the head seems much smaller then yours. He won't put his head all the way through

[@KatieFleming]

I have an Aviator as well. Did you order the right size? Jasper wears a medium. I really pull open the hole for the head as wide as it will go so he's got lots of room.

[@jessicataggart5656]

@@KatieFleming I got a small for Jasper. He is about 306-312 grams depending on the day. It seems the medium would be too big if the sizing on the packaging is accurate. He just hates the harness and if I force it on him he flips out and tries to fly with it on and wraps his claws around it and I have a hard time getting it off of him. He was trying to get away so badly with the harness on him that he broke a few tail feathers. So I stopped trying for a few months and just within the last week after having a one year old hatch day he's flying in the house so much more and getting more height and skill so now I'm terrified he will get out of the house. Until last week he would just sit on my shoulder if I walked him around my neighborhood. He could only fly to me if I was a few feet away and he was only able to glide downwards. I got him in April 2022 and he was clipped when I took him home but I have not clipped him since. But now I'm really afraid if I can't get him recall trained and harness trained pretty quickly that I may have to clip him😓. I don't know what to do

[@KatieFleming]

If you force him, he'll never accept it. I think it took me 6 months the second time I harness trained Jasper. It is THE most frustrating training for sure. And actually, since Jasper started plucking, he unfortunately hasn't gone back in his harness. Do you have a birdie bag of some sort? That's how I take Jasper outside. Or, on my balcony he goes in his little cage. He is still able to enjoy being outside without the harness but being safe. Absolutely do NOT bring Jasper (your Jasper!) outside WITHOUT a harness. I know someone whose bird flew away who was clipped. All it takes is a little wind and they can go FAR. Never ever ever risk it. It's just not worth it. Jasper can fly in your place and get exercise that way. I don't personally believe in free-flying because you take a risk each time you do it. It's just not worth losing your baby over. Clipping is a personal choice. When I first got Jasper I did a "baby clip" on him but he would crash down hard and I didn't want him to get hurt. So since then he's been fully flighted. He enjoys flying around my apartment and still gets exercise. Hope some of this has helped :)

[@cryptoshi9636]

Hello there, how’s vocabulary ?

[@KatieFleming]

Great! He says over 30 words, a lot in context

[@sorina2501]

It looks a bit easier with large parrots that are still for long. My lovebirds move very fast ALL the time unless they are sleeping or cuddling, so they take off with the harness half on and get so frustrated or scared.

[@sorina2501]

Will try the counting though, maybe they can learn to stay still

[@KatieFleming]

Oh Jasper takes it off as well - this video is when he was behaving! lol 99% of the time we get it on his head and then he takes it off right away. It's a process. And it can be super frustrating. Jasper unfortunately hasn't worn his harness in nearly a year now since the plucking started but hopefully once we can get things resolved I'll re-train him. Using this exact method! Baby steps. :)

[@sorina2501]

@@KatieFleming oh, sorry to hear he has started plucking, I hope there is some way that can be fixed. Thanks for answering! What I mean with lovebirds is that they don't sit still on the perch, they take off in flight before I finish with the harness and get scared because it is half on. One of them is more calm, but the other is a bit AHDD :D, and feels the need to fly to me and back between exercises. They just move so much faster than large parrots and seem to be filmed with 2x speed, it is just difficult sometimes to mimick the training with them.

[@KatieFleming]

Appreciate that, thank you. And I can only imagine how fast they are! What if you tried training in a smaller room, like a bathroom? I taught Jasper to "sit still" when I trained him to wear his Santa hat, maybe you can try something like that first

[@cryptoshi9636]

Do you clip his flight wings?

[@KatieFleming]

No, he's fully flighted

[@Meghnaaad]

What is the need of tieing a bird when you're having him in the damn cage.