Step Up

     So Cosmo the Eckie came to live with us on Australia Day, 2010. He was three months old at the time. While he had a lot of maturing to do, he was already the size of a fully-grown adult Eclectus parrot. 

We had a cage, so in Cosmo went. He was now our responsibility, him and all his noise and poo, and of course his toys. Any parrot that is going to spend any length anywhere, ever, is going to want something to do. In the wild, he’d have been busy ripping tree branches apart and foraging for nuts and pretty mates. In a cage, Cosmo was going to need a lot to keep him occupied. We bought him hanging toys, dangling toys and toys to chew on. His favourite toy then and now has always been food. The way to an Eckie’s heart is definitely through his or her stomach. Stomachs with wings, as Mark calls them. 

But of course, a pet can’t spend all its time inside a cage. Mark bought some training DVDs and made a t-stand out of dowelling. I bought a clicker to help train this huge bird of ours and Mark set about training him. 

We learnt that the first thing a bird should know is how to 'step up'. When we put our arms out to Cosmo and say the words, 'step up', he should climb onto us, no questions asked. If he couldn't step up, then we'd never get him out of places he shouldn't be and off people he shouldn't be on. Think of it as bird-101. ‘Step up’ is a precursor to ‘come here’ or ‘heel’ if you’re into dog training. Very useful for getting Polly off the yard-arm.

Eckies have approximately the intelligence of a three-year old child, with some of the attitude and all of the curiosity. Or maybe that’s the other way around. An Eckie who doesn't want to do whatever it is you’re asking them to do, won’t. You might even be treated to a screaming tantrum if you really bug them hard enough.

They also have an appetite to match a starving monkey, so hold out a small treat to them, like a sunflower seed and they'll be all over the business of stepping up. Mark held out his arm, the seed in his other hand and Cosmo was stepping onto his arm to get it before you could say 'birds of a feather'. 

This stepping up stuff was easy! Of course stepping back down onto the training bar could be a challenge, but Cosmo nailed that pretty quickly, If stepping down again meant another sunflower seed, then he could play this game with his human slaves, er, friends. Gradually the seed was swapped for the clicker. Instead of getting a sunflower seed for stepping up, Mark would press the clicker and Cosmo would get a satisfying noise instead. Ok, it felt like a bit of a shabby treat, but Cosmo loved it and soon mastered stepping up 101. 

     Maybe this buying a parrot thing wouldn't be so scary after all.