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.