10/6/11 Gracie is a foodie, and Coco is stubborn AKA Cockatoo!

Gracie is a foodie!  She's doing great with the training.  I noticed that she said "woof" kind of a lot, so I showed her a seed and asked her, "What does a doggie say?"  She looked at me... the seed... the clicker... the seed (wait for it!) and then "woof."  It was quiet and soft, but a few repetitions of this and she belted out "WOOF!"  Thinking this might have been a fluke, I tried it again this morning after target training and, sure enough, she did answer "WOOF!" over and over again in answer to my question.  Is this the untapped genius in the family?

Bobby is a little better today, but still won't come out of his cage.  We aren't using the little stick, but ask him to meow and wave for a click/treat.

Lucy's getting excited about target training and we have been going through her repertoire of older tricks like waving, flapping, and turning around.  Her attitude seems improved with the attention and showers.   We all love attention, right.

Coco:  As mentioned before, he's refusing to step up and come out of his cage.  This is the situation where I got bit (and his beloved bird sitter).  He is baseline angry with the training diet, refusing fruits and vegetables, and acts like a rebellious teen.  I try to get him to step up (he's done this for years!) and he holds the cage side with his beak and proceeds to crawl up the bars with his feet to "CLING" and avoid being picked up.

Biggest challenge is holding my attitude to that of a beloved yoga instructor.  Relax.  Stretch.  Breathe.  Feel your breath... lalala.  It's hard not to mirror a bad attitude even when it's under 280 grams!  Today was Coco's bath day and last bath day, I got bit taking him out of his cage.  Grrrrr!

Breathe.  Clicker.  Target stick.  Sunflower seed.  He bit the stick (aggressively).  Relax.  Breathe.  Offer 3 other parrots sunflower seeds.  Show joy.  Try Coco again.  Gentle target, successful click and sunflower seed.

Next step, get him out of the cage with good attitude.  Go around to other 3 birds and joyfully complete target/click/treat sequence and return to Coco.  Place target closer to door and "target" while showing seed.  30 seconds.  Cockatoos genetic movement sequence must be linked to the movement of a sloth or chameleon.   (Patience.  Breathe.  Relax.  Wait.)  NO MOVEMENT TOWARD THE TARGET.

Repeat steps with target/click/treat with the grey parrots, ignoring Coco.

GwaaaaaaaaaLaah!  Coco is magically standing in his door opening.  Successful target/click/treat in the doorway before he climbs on the cage top and hops around idiotically.  Tried to get him to "target" on top of the cage and treat, but again... cockatoo responses are delayed and then, jerky.

Went back to other greys... see a pattern here?  Competition for the food seems to inspire Coco (I know it does inspire me.  I don't like to share chocolate.  Even if I do offer, I don't mean it.) and when I return, he targets, I click, and I give him 2 seeds.  I asked him to "step up" from his cage top and when he did, I got all excited, clicked, and gave him 3 seeds!

Yesterday Gracie got a shower, so today was Coco's turn.  He acted like he didn't appreciate the water hitting his yellow crest feathers, but after a few seconds, I saw that little tail waddle that tells bird moms everywhere that birdie is happy. <%