Training and the holidays...

Training Progress Video  <% 

Disciplining myself to *not* treat the birds all day long represents a problem.  With the holidays, it seems we have a wider variety of goodies around that are both good for them and yummy.  Sweet potatoes, warmed up with just a little bit of butter... 


Bobby is definitely showing signs of less-panic and managed to target the stick without shaking himself off of his perch to do so.  And, he seems to understand that the 10-count with step-up is okay now and doesn't panic at all.  Baby steps.

Coco is still throwing away his birdie kibble and I'm still putting it back into his dish.  He's covered in pin feathers and grumpy and I understand.  He gets lots of training to get lots of sunflower seeds... and I never let his bowl go empty.

Gracie is due to learn something new.  I'm thinking about asking her to do the "what does a cat say" with the meow response.  She says meow already, so I just have to train her to respond correctly.

Lucy is my champion this week.  She now says hello in response to my hello even when she's perched on my hand!!!  She is allowing much more Mama Touch and even says hello to my husband for a nut.  She did, however, dump her full water bowl TWICE today.  Grrrr!

I did a video showing the birds' progress.  Who knows, maybe I'll inspire someone to help their relationships with their own birds.  I hope so.  If nothing else, it inspires me to keep going because it works!

Merry Christmas!~

Breakthrough... <%

 


In the video above, you will see the proof that I've got Lucy trained to answer my "hello" with her own "hello" while I'm in the room!  It took something like 3 weeks of my getting closer and closer and running like a nut with a nut... to treat her. 

She has always been a "closet talker" and I'm excited that she's answering me while I'm so close to her.  What is really exciting is that Peter was able to get the same response while in the room with her.

Bobby is a little less paranoid and nervous the past days, but in general the birds haven't trained well otherwise this weekend.  It seems I have provided too many goodies during the day so they simply weren't hungry.  (: 

I'll get some new videos of the birds in-training for the coming week. 

It's working.  I'm happy.  Now to get Lucy to respond to "What does a chicken say?"  (She already sounds like a chicken.  I just need her to do it as a response to the command.  She "did do this" when she was about a year old, but quit doing it.)

Bobby had a little improvement yesterday.  He is getting used to his new/old cage and actually did some of his tricks for treats last evening.  He approached me (while on top of his cage) and gave me a "kiss" for a nut! 

Usually, he won't do anything while outside of his cage because he is too scared!  I'll take any progress I can get!

He got warm mashed sweet potatoes before going to "bed" last night.  He loves those.  (:

Sweet Bobby!

"Hello" saga standoff with Lucy!

Lucy is saying "hello" all the time when I'm out of the room.  We have her "answering" hello as long as we are outside of the room.  When I go into the room and say "hello," it appears that she knows that I want her to answer with her own "hello" while I'm in the room... but she just can't make herself do it!

Lucy's agitation is palpable when I offer a pistachio, say hello and wait for her response while I'm standing in front of her cage.  She "walks" the top of her cage all-round and chips away at wooden toys... but won't answer "hello" in my presence.

Worried that the bird might be simply frustrated and not learning, I have done the routine for days without being inside the room...so she knows what is expected.  And, when I've done the training in the room with the other birds, I just ignore the lack of response and (in short order) turn around and ask her to do something I know she will do for a lesser nut, ie sunflower seed.

The past two days, I offer the nut and hello... wait a count of 10, say goodbye and walk out of the room.  She says "hello" many MANY times after I leave, but I ignore her for a while and then go in and repeat the process.  She is (hilariously) saying hello using different accents and voices from my normal and funny voices to my husband's voice.

I feel that if we get her to respond while I am inside the room, we will have managed a breakthrough.  Until then, I'm doomed to hear "hello" over and over again as soon as I leave the room.  /:

Oh, Coco got grumpy and feigned a  bite during training last night.  I terminated training and ignored the behavior.  He has lots of pin feathers and is grumpy.  This morning, he was anxious to please me.  Timnehs are doing just fine and Bobby, maybe a little improved.

Encouraging Talking outside of the closet...

Lucy with mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.

Today I am focusing on Lucy, the Congo African Grey.  She is a big "closet talker," meaning she talks when no one is in the room  While she can turn-around, wave, kiss, target, flap her wings, and tolerate "mama touch" on command, talking upon request hasn't happened... so far!

The past two weeks we have been practicing "hello."  I leave the room and say "hello," to her and basically she says "hello" a lot, but only gets a nut when she actually "answers" me AFTER I've said hello.  Her "answers" have always been random and it takes a lot of work to say hello, listen, holler "good girl," and then run like a chicken into her with a treat.

Today it is beginning to pay off... a little.  While she is busy saying "hello" about every three seconds, she has been successfully "answering my hello" within 10 seconds... every time!  If I reinforce this behavior regularly, I'm pretty sure I can have her "answering" when I am in the room with her in short order.  (:  Can't wait!

BTW, my neck and shoulders are really stiff and sore and I couldn't figure out why.  <%  Lucy got a new HUGE cage which I had to struggle to un-box and put together myself 36 hours ago.  Now the pain is tolerable because Lucy is soooooooo happy in her enormous cage!  She is a big girl and very actively travels around her whole cage several times a day.  Sometimes "pain" is the sign of a positive. 

One could get discouraged, but...

Sometimes I am tired and sometimes I get discouraged.  It feels, at times, that my birds just aren't interested in training and when it is the end of the day and there is this big, gigantic (normal) bird mess to deal with, I just want to skip training... And then, I read through a couple of blog entries from the beginning and see just how far they have come in about 12 weeks.

Coco (cockatoo) does everything I ask, including answering "hello" every time.  No biting.  No aggression.

Gracie (TAG) does everything I ask, and has learned "wave" in just the last week.

Bobby (TAG) is still phobic.  I moved him to a darker colored, smaller cage, one he was in for about a year before we got Coco.  He loved that cage and I thought the bigger one made him feel vulnerable.  He was scared to death with the move, but strangely enough, he's more readily following my training commands for turn-around, wave, and meow.   I get very sad about Bobby being scared of everything, even me.  I should try to *not* take this so personally, but be patient.  He took fright in the shower again this week and fell to the tile floor.  It jarred him and scared me.  I found a drop of blood, but couldn't find the injury on him, and that's been 3 days ago.

Lucy (CAG) has been doing everything, but "hello" in the right context is eluding her.  She should say hello right after I say hello.  She says hello over and over again, but hasn't figured out that she only gets a treat when she "answers" mine.

You could say that we have been "marching in place" most of the past few weeks.  There has been very little obvious progress.  I am waiting for a breakthrough moment and I have to believe we will get one.  In the meantime: 


Memo to self:  This is a lifelong project and there is no deadline.  Also, if you feed those birds treats all day long, they are not going to be the least bit interested in training.