Hood Advice Needed

[chase 0]

This is my second year now with my 2yr old MHH. Took a while to get him use to being hooded but he's fine with it going on now. He loves the hunt! Takes anything he spots, rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks and mice. Follows well, sets to hunt and comes to the glove instantly every time he's called. All in all a perfect 1st bird IMO. Only issue I'd like to do away with is every time the hood is removed he instantly tries to leave the hand. After he makes that initial attempt to flee he will sit unhooded and wait for me to release. I never let him take off as soon as the hood comes off because I figure that would just encourage an unwanted behavior.

 

He use to pull his head back as soon as he felt the draws being loosened. But I over came that by drawing the hood loose and waiting a minute before removing. So now he's calm right up to the point the hood actually comes off, He's comfortable on the glove once he knows what's going on. During flights he stays high in the tree tops but when he's had enough of flying he will come down to the glove and is more than happy to sit there taking a rest untethered while I walk back home.

 

Is there a way to train him so he is more calm removing the hood?

 

[tilimangro 1,013]

why do you NEED to hood him

how did you get him used to being hooded in the first place?(with food or perseverance)

[Lee C 55]

Hi,

 

You could try repetition in a dark room on off on off on off etc.

Might teach him to be steady when hood is remove!

 

It Does show he is alert and ready for the off, have you flown him directly from the hood straight at prey? As this may have started to problem, even if it was once they seem to remember. Do you only hood when going hunting as this may have got him thinking hood off and time to go! So you could try hooding different times and places so the repetition is broken and he is not expecting to be unhooded and flown straight away.

 

Why exactly do you keep him hooded. Does he need to be hooded for you to reach you place of hunting, is he noisy with out the hood. If not don't use it all the time and just pop it on and off now and again to reinforce the hooding. That way when you need to hood for a reason he will still except the hood.

 

Hope you manage to sort it out and let me know if and how you break the habit.

Share the knowledge !!

 

ATB

 

Lee C

[chase 0]

Hi,

 

You could try repetition in a dark room on off on off on off etc.

Might teach him to be steady when hood is remove!

 

It Does show he is alert and ready for the off, have you flown him directly from the hood straight at prey? As this may have started to problem, even if it was once they seem to remember. Do you only hood when going hunting as this may have got him thinking hood off and time to go! So you could try hooding different times and places so the repetition is broken and he is not expecting to be unhooded and flown straight away.

 

Why exactly do you keep him hooded. Does he need to be hooded for you to reach you place of hunting, is he noisy with out the hood. If not don't use it all the time and just pop it on and off now and again to reinforce the hooding. That way when you need to hood for a reason he will still except the hood.

 

Hope you manage to sort it out and let me know if and how you break the habit.

Share the knowledge !!

 

ATB

 

Lee C

Thanks for the replies. He's actually only hooded for about 20-30 minutes each day. I hood to weigh him or he would never step on the scale.Other than this he's never hooded. I tried the tidbits in the hood when I was getting him use to it but that didn't work with him. I found taking him into a room I have a dimmer switch and turning the lights down as low as I could to just be able to see what I was doing worked for me. As he got use to this I just increased the amount of light in the room while hooding each day until he was accepting it in full light.

 

My routine is when I pick him up each day I hood him and go to the scale to record his weight and determine his feeding. Prepare his food while he chills for a few minutes and then straight outside to hunt where I remove the hood. I also looked at this as associating something he enjoys with the hooding process which I was told helps to get them to accept it. So you may be right on with the thought he's associating the removal with it's time to hunt. It just seems to me though it's more of a flee reaction because he tries to bolt in what ever direction comes first and doesn't take even a second to see where he is going to go before doing so.

 

He's never been flown at prey straight off the hood. So maybe it's back to the dimmer switch and work with the second part ( removal ) in the same way he accepted being hooded. I just hope that because the hood comes off and he's inside he doesn't revert back to fighting hooding. I'll keep this post updated. Any other opinions would be welcome in the mean time.