Truman is getting lazy with "step up." He knows full well what we want, but he doesn't want to do it when he's on a certain perch in his cage or on a certain part of his play gym. We've moved the one perch and it seems to have helped, but he's still not as good as he was. I know full well that he knows what we want. We've been drilling him on step ups outside of his cage...is there anything else we can do, or should we just keep up the drilling?

Are you rewarding him with excited praise when he does step up. Or with a treat? Sometimes a little added incentive helps a lot.

Also is the play top on top the cage above eye level or is it down lower, If its above eyelevel move it down...the dominance factor can come into play there.

But I've found that getting excited about him stepping up and rewaring him will work the best.

Keep drilling him and a treat afterwards helps too

cricket has been doing the same thing! i probably haven't been handling it so well though...

he usually yells "come HERE" when he wants attention. when i ask him to step-up he just repeats me. when i say "come on" he says "let's go". so i started counting.

step-up.... one (while cricket says come on)
step-up.... two (he growls and lunges at me)
step-up.... three (i walk away)

this has gone on for a week or so... over and over. i think he's finally catching on because i once i say step-up for the third time he usually does it.

**speak of the devil... he's yelling for me now!!**

Hubby tried a couple of rounds of step-up today, really laying on the excitement when Tru did it correctly. It's so funny because the little booger knows what he wants. Hubby says "step up" and Tru says "step up" right back and then "good bird!" even tho' he knows he is being a bad little boy. The praise seemed to help so we'll see.

Kris, I laughed out loud at your posting - esp. Step Up - Two.
I have never really rewarded Shah with food treats (bad mommy) but give him lots of praise when he does things correctly followed by lots of kisses and cuddles. This seems enough for him (at the moment).

Casey will do that sometimes when she knows she's about to go back in her cage... she'll hold on to the bars and just won't let go! I'll say "Step-up!" and she'll just sit there yelling "Step-up Casey! Casey... Step-up!" but I'm persistent and she'll usually step up after a couple tries ... but I never just walk away and let her win, or she knows that she can make the decisions, which isn't what we want.

Good luck with Truman!

Today is the first time that Clyde has stepped onto my finger from his cage. Usually he insists on a shoulder and then only after he's darned good and ready. You have to pet him and say "pretty bird" several times first. But I always offer the finger anyway, just in case, and today he hopped right on and I only had to say "pretty bird" once. I say "hop on" instead of "step up." I figure it's only a matter of getting them used to a thing and it doesn't hurt if they want to do it, too. His Feathered Highness really, really wanted a shoulder ride tonight. Maybe something has changed about you and he's reluctant to get close to it?