Life Covered in Feathers: Lokisaurus Rex Update

For a long time, Loki was in exile. I decided to "start from scratch" with him, treating him as though he was a completely untame bird that wouldn't come out of his cage. I thought that maybe it would be an extra motivator for him to learn to trust me and step up.

It did not work.

I am completely ok with admitting that a lot of the time I don't k now what I'm doing when it comes to parronthood. Yes, I grew up in a house full of birds. But time away from that, education in bird behavior, and lots of research on my part have opened my eyes to the fact that guess what? My grandparents didn't really know what they were doing, either. And how would they? It's not like the internet existed back then. "Positive reinforcement" wasn't exactly a buzz term in the 1970's-1990's. Looking back, there are LOTS of things that my grandparents did wrong. But their hearts were in the right place and they took parrots out of really bad situations and gave them love the best way they knew how. Sure, their birds weren't always properly socialized, but they were always fed well, given vet care, and were kept clean.

I'm sad that Loki lost so much time that he could have been hanging out with me and having fun, but I tried something that I thought might work. I don't regret it. We can only move forward from here. He's still not stepping up, but he is getting closer to walking near my hands every day. He loves getting head scratches and will readily take treats from my hands. He's even ok with me touching his feet after a few minutes of warming up to it. But stepping on hands is still strictly forbidden in his birdie brain. And that's cool. We'll get there.

Here are some pics from today's training and play session. Yesterday he learned how to give beaky-kisses on command, and now he wants to kiss everything (because sunflower seeds). It's totez adorbz.