Crate Training Regression After Vet Visit

Alfie, my moluccan cockatoo, hasn’t been in a carrier since his last vet trip in early March. The vets struggled with him, and he wasn’t a happy camper when he came home. But, I would rather him be unhappy than unhealthy. He normally does well when I’m there, but with COVID, my vet wouldn’t let me in

Since he hasn’t been back in the carrier since the vet, he didn’t want to go in today. It took a lot of luring with very high values reinforcers for him to go into the carrier to rocks. He was previously crate trained very very well.

Luckily he did go in willingly (or he wouldn’t have went) and when I put him back in the carrier after playing on the rocks, he did very well.

Am I upset I have to retrain a bit? Absolutely not. I would rather my bird be healthy and we retrain and bond more than to “spare his feelings.” I know every mother out there wouldn’t “spare” their child’s feelings and not take them to the doctors.

All progress made through training can be lost, but it can also be regained! Never put off going to the vet because you might loose progression with your animal. If you don’t take them, you may not have an animal to continue to work with or them be unwell which will also affect training and bonding.