It’s not difficult at all to get started with training your pet parrot. You can start by teaching your bird a few basics, and this is true whether your pet has been with you a few days or a few years. In my opinion, one of the best things you can teach your parrot is to have a reliable step up response. So by following the instructions in this article, you will be able to tell your parrot to “step up” and it will immediately step onto your finger or hand.
So why is teaching step-up important to you and your parrot? For one, it allows you to remove your bird easily from its cage. Another is that parrots sometimes climb up on shoulders whether you want them to or not, so step-up makes it easier to get them off of a shoulder. In this situation, some parrots may try to bite, so especially with a larger parrot the step-up command will make getting the bird off the shoulder less dangerous. You will find that a bird that has learned the step-up command is easier to handle in unfamiliar or even dangerous situations such as if the bird would ever escape your home accidentally. It’s important that your bird learn to cooperate with you, and teaching step up is an excellent way to do that. This is why people who are experienced with parrots often recommend beginning training with teaching the bird to step up.
Training Your Bird to Step-up is Easy
It is generally very easy to teach a bird to step up to your hand. You slowly place your hand so that it is in front of your bird at around the height of its feet and in a normal speaking tone, give the command to “step up.” At first the bird is not going to understand what you want it to do, so you may need to gently press your finger against the lower torso which will cause the bird’s balance to shift backwards. If you continue to press the bird gently backwards, you’ll find that it should then step up willingly to your hand. Just as soon as the bird steps up to your hand, let your bird know it did the right thing by giving it plenty of praise. Next, continue to practice step-up a few more times by asking your bird to step up from one finger to the other. This is called “laddering” for obvious reasons.
What If My Bird Doesn’t Step Up?
There are a few particularly stubborn parrots that clamp down on the perch with their talons and hang on for dear life. What they are thinking as they do this is anyone’s guess, but here is what you can do. Continue holding your one hand in front of the bird as before, but with your other hand, you want to move behind the bird so that it looks like you are about to pick your bird up from behind. What you are doing is giving your bird a choice of stepping up to your hand or being picked up from behind (which most birds don’t like). Most of the time, the parrot will choose to willingly step up to your hand when presented with this choice. Remember to praise your bird when it steps up for you.
Continuing Education
It is highly recommended that you continue to work with your bird on a regular basis. It’s a good idea to practice daily at first. But even throughout the bird’s lifetime, it’s a good idea to occasionally practice step-up just to reinforce the behavior. If you practice the step-up command consistently, you will be rewarded with a more cooperative pet and who knows, it might just save its life one day. And just think – you are now on the path to becoming an expert in training your parrot.