Slow progress, but that's okay.

Coco in the wndow

Some days are better than others and each one of my 4 birds seems to be in a "different" mood every day.  It's difficult to tell when they will... and when they will not... take favorably to training. 

I have been doing incidental training with all of the birds throughout the day.  That is to say, informal requests for an activity are made to a bird, and with a positive response... the promised treat.  Then, in the evening when I've cleaned their cages and changed their water and filled their food bowls, we have a more lengthy session with all the birds that takes about 30 minutes altogether.

NOTED:  The girls were not eating their "bird kibble" during the day.  Apparently they have learned that seeds and nuts come at cage-cleaning time.  I haven't decided how to deal with this exactly, but for now I am not putting extra seeds or nuts into their cages post-training.  They need to eat the good-for-them bird food.

Gracie's food was dumped all over the floor of her cage.  That which landed on clean newspaper was returned to the bowl.  She was brought out to the T-stand and she went through her training easily for a few minutes, got bored, and refused to perform.  I returned her to her cage with only about 6 sunflower seeds having been offered during training.  Surprise!  She went straight to her bird food bowl and started eating BIRD FOOD! 

Lucy refuses to train or even take a treat from the bird stands... either of them.  She wants to train On-Her-Cage.  I will continue to bring her out to the stands and attempt training.  We need to move forward to more advanced training, in different locations, so that I can start new behaviors.  She is getting very good at "mama touch!"  Apparently the training is teaching some trust.  (Duh!)

Coco is sweet and dives into his wet breakfast bowl these days.  He is also trying to wait for training to get seeds and all-the-while avoiding the bird food.  Through the week he has been refusing to say "hello" on command or "turn around" without my hand pointing the way over top of his head.  Today, on the T-stand he said "hello" several times in succession when asked.  :D  However, turn around... is a work in progress.  His demeanor is more trusting.  I ask him to step up to come out of his cage.  If he refuses, I leave.  When he does step up, we go to the living room T-stand and he gets a nutriberry.  It's starting to pay off.  He seems much less agitated, doesn't scream much, and steps up more frequently.

We have taken Bobby to a slightly new level.  I ask him to step up and he has to stay on my hand for a count of 10 before he can go back to the perch and get his treat.  Now I have added stay-on-my-finger-while-I-do-a-360-degree-turn and count to ten at the same time, and THEN he gets a treat IF he doesn't fly off my hand.  If I start out slowly and he can concentrate on the smaller requests (wave, meow, etc), he can manage to contain his fear for a 360-ten-count.  :D  Baby steps.  He is a phobic bird and this training is about building confidence, so I'm happy.

This coming week:  Work more with the birds, one-on-one in the living room.  Get Lucy to do anything positive on the T-stand.  Teach Gracie to "wave" if she'll let me touch her foot.  Get Coco to say "hello" even more often, on command.  Work with Bobby and the 360-10-count and see if it doesn't help his confidence.  VARY the training so that the bird food gets eaten and the birds don't "wait" for the predicted treat/train time.

Chugging right along...

It's funny how the birds are reacting to the training and training menu.  (:    We haven't done new stuff because mama was gone for a week and then sick.  However, we have continued training every day.  The diet of bird-kibble and wet-bowl in the morning (fruits,vegetables, and sometimes scrambled eggs) continues.  AMAZINGLY, all 4 birds are more interested in their healthy food now that I'm not stuffing them with treats all day long.  In addition, it is so much easier on me!  ALSO, all of the birds run to their breakfast bowls now instead of looking at them like they were filled with dog-food.  Makes me happier and them, I think!

We continue to shower the birds, one a day, throughout the week.

Lucy (CAG) is happy and glad to do stuff to get treats, seeds, nuts, and praise.   She doesn't exhibit the impatience she did at the beginning.  "Mama touch" is getting better and better.  It's still hard for her, but now I make her "not pull away" in order to get the treat. 

Graice (TAG-11) is a pill and cute as a button!  She has learned to make an exact copy of the clicker sounds.  Hard not to laugh.  She's doing turn around quickly now and "mama touch" is (every time) easy for her.

Bobby is still a basket case.  I started having him step up (that has improved as long as he's inside his cage) and then I draw him to me and count to ten before I click, return him to the perch, and give him a treat.  In the beginning, he was too nervous to even step up with both feet!!!  (I've started counting to 10 by counting very slowly sometimes, stretching out his time of self-control, ie non-panic!)

Coco, the spoiled one:  He has never bitten me again and doesn't show any aggression toward the chop stick anymore.  He won't step up in the morning without a treat (husband says he's not a morning-person-bird) and refuses to step out almost all day long...without treating him.  I go in, offer my hand, and when he refuses I simply withdraw.  Occasionally he will step up and when he does, he gets to come to the living room, sit in the window perch, and eat a nutriberry seed ball.  He's a space-case-cockatoo about turn around, loves "mama touch," and we have gotten him to (more than accidentally) say "hello" in response to my "hello!" 

Conclusion of training so far:

-Aggression has disappeared from Coco.
-Lucy is improving steadily in her trust of the touch. 
-Bobby understands that "10" means he gets a treat. 
-Gracie is blossoming and eats almost as much bird food as she throws down to the floor.

New update next week.

Coco is "targeting..." reluctantly.

Coco is targeting...

Coco started touching the target for every sunflower seed.  At first he bit it, but then he got it... and just touched it... for the seed.  I'll take whatever time it takes to get his "ducks in a row."  He had bitten me again earlier today when I tried to get him out of the cage for a shower.  He has a temper.  He's never been a biter.  Puberty seems to have brought this behavior, a perfect reason to get him back on track with training.  So, I ignored the bite, waited a few hours, offered the seeds and target... and he got it.  Whew!  It's a start.

I weighed the birds yesterday evening before bed at 7 PM to verify that they weren't losing weight on the training diet.  Coco the lesser sulfur crested cockatoo (LSCC) and Bobby, the Timneh (TAG) could both use a little more weight.  Coco's a picky eater (wants only seeds) and Bobby is a quivering mess of nerves.  Lucy is about perfect weight (Congo Grey) and Gracie is too heavy (TAG).

Lucy    428 grams
Gracie  306 grams
Bobby  278 grams
Coco    274 grams

Target/clicker training was again easy for Gracie, but she was seemingly less hungry today, so she would only take a few seeds before I had to up the treat to a cashew.  She did "target" the stick when it put it clear across to the opposite side of the cage from her.  She threw all of her all natural bird food (kibble) on the floor of her cage.  Clean food was returned to her food dish.  In other words, if it didn't land in "anything," then I recycled it.

Bobby targets well, but he's so scared all of the time, he often drops the treat.  The Avian vet told me that peanut butter could be harmful to the birds (a mold, Aspergillus flavus, that can be found even in cooked peanuts) and we should avoid it.  But, the birds have had peanut butter (organic, freshly ground) for years, so I am using it as an ultimate-treat to tempt both Bobby and Lucy to calm down and focus on the target/click/treat training.   Lucy bit the blankety-blank-blank stick again (in anger/frustration) when I tried to give her a sunflower seed.  She took the cashew, but threw it (demonstratively) away and glowered at me.  So, I pulled out the peanut butter for now.

My plan of action:

-->Desensitize all 4 birds to the clicker and stick and get them used to target/click/treat over the coming week or so before attempting anything new.

-->Reduce and eliminate peanut butter entirely within 4 weeks by getting the peanut-butter-loving birds used to the training, the training diet, and replacing the peanut butter with almond butter.  Right now the almond butter is not enough of a prize to calm Bobby or incite Lucy to train properly.   Coco only marginally likes peanut butter and Gracie hates anything sticky, but she does like peanuts.  Again, peanuts will be eliminated.

-->Continue target/click/training at least twice a day for each bird and the dog (in front of the birds).  Move the "target" and get the birds to follow.  Get Bobby targeting more confidently and Coco/Lucy, less aggressively.

-->Shower the birds regularly!  Gracie and Coco got a shower today.  Game plan also includes one bird gets a shower every day.  Why?  Individual time spent with birds that also inspires relaxation for them.  (Also, less bird dust!)

Today was a good day, in spite of my very sore finger.  I've handled Coco many times after the bite.  He loves me.  I know that.  He's a wild-child and it's my responsibility to help him change that.

Highlight!  The bonus treat!  When Coco had successfully targeted the stick a few times in a row, he got 3 sunflower seeds instead of one.  After a few more single treats, he got a nutriberry.  Jackpots are proven to work in dog training, so hopefully it is helpful in bird training.  All the greys also enjoyed a "jackpot" of several bites of their favorite after a few single-treat-target-click rounds.

Tomorrow is a new day and all 4 birds (and dog) have shown greater understanding of what I'm doing.  I'm happy and I have a whole big box of band aids.  Let's hope I don't have to use any more of those!  <%

Teaching old parrots new tricks or teaching old pet owner new tricks.

Lucy, 5 years old

    I have 4 parrots.   They are spoiled and often act like spoiled children, throwing small tantrums when they don't get what they want and refusing to give me what I want... loving pets that interact joyfully with me and with my husband.

Timneh African Grey (Bobby) is 6 years old.  He's been with us from the "pre-feather" stage.  He knows a few tricks like, giving kisses, waving, turning around, flapping his wings, and the best... meowing when I ask him what a kitty says.  He has gone "phobic" on us and is frightened of everything.  He still does his tricks for treats.  He whistles, but doesn't talk.

Timneh African Grey (Gracie) is about 10 or 11.  She talks a little, makes awful squeaky sounds, bites men, and makes blowing your nose sound when you reach for a tissue.  She flaps her wings on command and gives kisses.  We adopted her about 18 months ago.  We adore Gracie.

Lucy (shown above) is a 5 year old Congo African Grey.  She whistles, talks, and (reluctantly) does the same tricks like wave, flap, kiss, turn around, (used to) sound like a chicken when you asked her to.  She is stubborn, smart, funny, and bites when she is frustrated... which is often if she doesn't get her own way.  She can whistle part of the Adams' Family tune, 76 trombones, the Marine Corps Hymn, and more I can't remember.  She talks a lot, but could really improve her interaction.  Her favorite word of late, "water."

Lastly, there is Coco.  He is a 6 year old lesser sulfur crested cockatoo that we adopted 4 years ago.  He says some small things, but has become very stubborn with age and sometimes refuses to step up.  He bit me the other day... and he bit his bird sitter that he loves.  He was upset and we both cried.  ):  It just isn't like Coco to be like that.  He doesn't want to eat anything except sunflower seeds and gets really grumpy when they aren't provided.

Bottom line:  My birds get the best cages, light, water (filtered) and best bird food.  They get out of their cages every day onto a huge stand I built.  I cook warm food for their breakfast and have given them loads of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds in addition to their "bird food."  The "bird food" usually ends up on the floor.  It's time my spoiled birdie-children went to school and learned some manners.  I've been weaning them off the "treats" and getting them used to "bird food" and fresh foods.  I've ordered some bird training guides and I've already started.  This blog is about the progress.

9/27/11  The Timnehs (TAG) both took well to target training.  I "loaded" the clicker with good vibrations by giving the bird a sunflower seen and simultaneously clicking the clicker.  The morning lesson included only this:  Treat/click.... treat/click.... treat click.   In the afternoon, I added a little wooden stick.  The TAGs easily, curiously, touched the stick.  When they did, CLICK, and they got a seed.  Three seeds and they were veterans!  Coco refused the sunflower seed all morning.  He was hungry, but refused to take it.  (He is like that!)  Lucy (CAG) got mad, grabbed the seed and threw it on the floor.  I walked away and continued training on the TAGs.

9/28/11  The TAG's both consider themselves veteran target trainees!  :D  Although Bobby is scared of his own shadow, he seems to understand touch-the-stick-get-a-seed quite well.  I stretch him a little bit by having him outside of his cage and he did target/treat 3 times before freaking out... at which point, I just let him alone.  BREAKTHROUGH with Lucy this afternoon.  She allowed me to present-the-seed with a click in her cage this morning without throwing a tantrum, so I put her on the bird stand and UPPED the anti on the treat.  PEANUT BUTTER on a spoon!  OMG!  First I did treat/click at the same time a couple of times and then I present the stick.  She daintily reached out with that big beak and only just touched the stick (she broke on end yesterday!) and then got her peanut butter bite.  We repeated this 5 or 6 times.  She is so darn smart and so darn stubborn!  She knew exactly what I wanted.  COCO is holding out.  He's drowning "bird food" and trying to get filled up.  I know he wants a sunflower seed... but he twists his head away from my hand and refuses to take it.  I have yet to give him a seed with a click... I won't give up.  Cockatoos are ultra smart.  Tomorrow is a new day.

Ordered training materials.  Must set aside an hour or so every day just for training.  This is gonna be fun!