Tuesday, October 27, 2015

Paracord Jesses and Anti-Biting

     Petrie is taming down really well, but it seems that over the summer he learned to bite hard and not let go. So I've been working on that with him, as well as hopping to the fist.
     Normally, what I do to keep a bird from biting me is use some thing I've heard called the pencil trick. To do this, you need a pencil with an end that has been sharpened, but there is no lead poking out. What I did, was I took a sharpened pencil, broke the pointed lead off the tip, then sanded it a little so there were no jagged points. With this pencil, you rub the bird down. Rub the pencil tip against their feet, their keel, their crop, their wings, their back, and let them bite the pencil all they want. (Also, do this only with a freshly-trapped bird that hates you already. Doing this with a trained bird may jeopardize your relationship.) As they keep biting the pencil, their jaw will get sore and they will learn that biting things other than game sucks. After they've completely stopped biting the pencil even when you are still rubbing them with it, they are likely to be done biting for the day. (Another side note, they should have already eaten that day.) At this point, you can start touching them with your bare hand. Start at their feet, because they are least likely to be irritated by that, and slowly work your way up the tarsi to their keel, then their crop, then their back and wings. They may bite you a couple more times, so be prepared, but they will probably not. Rub them over with your fingers for a few minutes so they understand that you are not trying to hurt them. As you do this, they will see that there is no need to bite you.
     Petrie, on the other hand, has seen this trick before and is not falling for it. He's done biting the pencil, but he knows the difference between the pencil and my hand. Getting him to stop biting me is proving a challenge. So far, I've been able to touch his feet when we are outside and he is distracted, but I have to lay my hand on the glove for a few minutes and allow him to "accept" it, then I can slowly inch my way towards his toes. It's a very painstakingly slow and tedious process.
     The other biting problem is his jesses, which I think I've found a "cure" for. I was using leather jesses and he was tearing them apart, but tonight I made him some paracord jesses. I use a method similar to the one you see in this video by FalconersApprentice on Youtube. Instead of the plasti-dip he used on the knot of his jesses, however, I took a match to the whole knot for a few seconds, so the surface melted then hardened. In the end, there is a very hard knot with less specialized tools and products. I put these jesses on Petrie. I think that allowing him to bite the knot on the paracord jesses will have the same effect as the pencil trick and will teach him not to bite.
     Wish me luck! If all else fails, I expect he will calm down once I get him really flying.


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