Jumping

We have had company for a couple of days and it is tough to leave then on their own while I sit in here and type stuff for the blog, so I didn't make an entry for yesterday. It was a break through for Puddy however. She made her first jump to the fist, even though she was up an entire ounce in weight. I had fed her a "gorge" the day before and I didn't expect her to do much of anything when I picked her up. Sure enough when I weighed her, she weighed 930 Grams. I took her outside as always and walked with my company for a while. She surprised me by indicating that she wanted to go to the fence. I took her over there just to see what she had in mind, and offered her a tidbit. She didn't hesitate, and walked down the fence to the fist for a tidbit. I made her walk a couple more times then offered her a chunk of back bone with a fair amount of meat on it. After a short bit of hesitation, she made the leap of faith to the fist. I kind of beamed for a while.

Tonight, she was back down to 903 grams, and I had some Bunny to feed her. A lot less calories in Bunny so I could feed her more. Karen and I sat with her in the lee side of the motor home to get out of the wind. She amused her self by watching the birds and the dogs for a while, but soon began to get hungry. She made a try for the fence, so I sat her on the rail, and made her walk for one bite. The next she had to jump for. She kept trying, but just couldn't pull the trigger. She hopped around on the fence and then onto the rock jack. I just waited and periodically offered her the fist. Finally she started walking across the top of the rocks, then flew the remaining foot or so. Karen missed the shot, but she wasn't done yet.

 

After I had called her a few times to the fist, I then gave her the big chunk that would complete her meal and satisfy her hunger. 

She is coming right along with her training. She no longer pays much attention to me after I pick her up. Many of you have asked how do you get birds to come back to you when you turn them loose. The answer is that you get them used to coming to you for food so gradually, that they don't remember any other way or time that they didn't.