Dogs and Half Trained Birds

User Question
hello, i have 2 parakeets 1 of them (blue one) is half and half hand trained he is 2 years old but sometimes he likes to fly off and im not so sure of him being on the ground because i have a dog (shih tzu) who killed my first bird on accident because he wanted to play with it. im trying to train my other 1 who is 6 months and doesnt like hands in the cage.i can reach in and follow your diretions but than when i try step 2 she freaks. the cage is huge though apx 2 feet in length and 1 and a half in width so i think she could care less of my hand being in there because its so far away.when i take them out the blue one likes to sit and play with me sometimes but the new one isnt so trutworthy and will fly around and when she lands on ground she willingly comes to my hand but than takes lift how can i prevent my blue one from flying and my new one to just sit on my finger and not fly around the house as much?

p.s my blue one sat on my fingers and shoulders and never ever bit me hard since day 1.

Lisa's Answer
Well first, you should lock the dog out of the room when you have the keets out. That seems to be pretty obvious since the dog has already killed one of your birds. Training should be done every day and is about establishing a trusting bond between you and your bird. It can't be rushed, there is no magic trick to it. It is about your bird getting used to you and trusting you. It will happen if you work on it daily, but if you only do it occasionally, your bird will never get the chance to really learn to know you and trust you.

Parakeets will stay with you if they want to. So you have to build up that trust so that your keets think of you as their best friend, and actively want to hang out with you on your finger. That is what this is all about.

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