(Semi) Training Success

Hi all,

So Aka isn't very touchy-feely. He used to be when he was a baby and before about five months but since then his body, feet, and beak, are strictly off-limits apart from scritches on his neck and head, his beak sometimes, but still not his feet.

I want him to be comfortable with me touching him in case I need to check his body for medical issues (for example another feather cyst or a broken feather), etc.

I have tried everything, except turning it into a training session. His cage came with two trays, on for the bottom to catch the food and everything else, and one at the top. I leave the top one off because it gets dark if I have the top one on and he wants to eat supper way earlier than normal because he thinks it's later than what it actually is.

Today, I decided to put the tray I don't use on the dining room table for training and I started by explaining to him that I'll need to touch his back (not stroke) to make sure he is healthy. He ran around the dining room table a few times when he saw my hand (he understood exactly what I meant even before he saw my hand and turned it into a game), but after about two minutes of this, he stopped and crouched. I put my hand on his back and took it off after a few seconds and gave him lots of praise, the second time I left my hand there a bit longer but I took it off because I could see he was getting uncomfortable. This is so cool, if I had done this a week ago, I would be typing with fingers in plasters haha.

I stopped after that, don't want to overdo it because that will have the opposite effect so he went back to his cage after I gave him some cabbage and lots of praise. I'm so chuffed he allowed me to do that.