Inch by inch... anything's a cinch!

Gracie likes mashed potatoes!

     My philosophy about training my birds is that it should be fun and beneficial for all of us, humans included. Therefore, I am not sticking to an iron-clad training diet for my birds, nor do I adhere to an iron-clad training regime. Sometimes the birds don't feel like training and sometimes I don't feel like training them. So, by adjusting the training to their needs and mine, I hope to keep this a fun way of life for all of us. We do some training every single day, and some days are better than others, and the progress is slow... but definately in the right direction.   They get "bird food" and I give them seeds and nuts during training.

All 4 birds are holding their weight in spite a the reduction in seeds, nuts, and treats. There has been no aggression at all with the "target" stick in weeks.

Gracie (TAG) is turning circles, flapping her wings, kissing, barking, and targeting with ease. We introduced "the wave" this week. She didn't like having her foot touched at all, but is to the point now where she "raises" her left foot to wave. We will work on the actual wave this week. She's getting it.

Bobby (TAG) cannot work at all when he is outside of his cage, so we ask him to wave, meow, turn around, while he's on his perch, in his cage. We also have him step up and we count to 10 as we carry him around in a circle... returning him to his perch... for a treat. He seems to focus on the counting and calms now when we count. My husband also does the 10-count. It's small progress, but it is progress.

Coco (cockatoo) is whipping out the turn-arounds this week and completely interested in the training. :D No aggression at all from him. He is answering my "hello" with his "hello" more often now... but he forgets and says "come here" sometimes... and doesn't get rewarded for that.

Lucy (CAG) has been doing everything right. "Mama touch" is getting much easier for her. I introduced "hello" to her a little at a time. She already says it, but I want her to answer my hello with hers. We called back and forth to one another the past days with whistles and words and when she answered my hello with her hello, I "bridged" by telling her she was a good girl and ran to her with a pistachio nut. Today she said hello many many times, but she only got the nut when she responed to my hello with one of her own. <%  She did it right at least a dozen times today, but I still can't get her to do it when I am in the room and directly address her with "hello."  She just tries any of her other "tricks" to get the nut.  Maybe next week?

 I have to make it clear that training my flock is to be a lifelong "family" habit, so it has to be consistent and fun for all of us.  People and animals continue to do things that are "fun."  Even when I'm tired and really would rather just sit and watch TV, I find I enjoy the training once I get my backside in gear and go into the bird room.  Just watching them respond to me in such a positive way is pleasurable...

Coco was holding out, so I upped the anti and it worked!

Coco, 6 years old

Coco has been "holding out" on the training.  I've got him on a training diet (no seeds) and he's been getting grumpy.  Still, he has refused taking his favorite sunflower seed from my hand to eat it.  He does occasionally take it and throw it down in disgust.  ):  The first stage is getting him to figure out that the click from the clicker means "treat."  So, I try to give him a seed and then click when he takes it.   In dog training, they called it "loading the clicker."  You just build an association of treat=click.  The next stage is "target" where you get the bird to touch a target... you click (good bird!) and then, treat.  For 3 days Coco won't even take the treat!!!  So, after another failure this morning, I upped the anti:  Nutriberry!!!  It worked!  He took it.  I clicked and walked away.  I can't repeat it for a while because it takes a little time to "eat the treat."

Bobby:  He is too scared to stand on my hand all the way to the bird stand, but he only flew off once on the way there and not at all on the way back to his cage.  I've decided to "talk to Bobby" more, telling him where I'm taking him.  It seems to work.  Small breakthrough:  I was able to get Bobby to focus through his fear long enough (on the stand!) to target-click-treat three times before he freaked out.  You have to understand that Bobby is too nervous on the stand to even eat his warm lovely breakfast, so taking any food at all on the stand is a step in the right direction.  Go Bobby!

Gracie:  Gets it!  Target/click/treat is very straight forward for her!  Go grey girl!  She's a foodie and no seeds in her cage is motivation enough to target/click/treat!  :D


Lucy (CAG):  Jealous.  Angry.  Irritated...  Targeted once, click, took the seed... threw it on the floor and threw a hissy fit!  Hahaha!  I continued to work with the other two greys and Lucy got more jealous.

Birds back in cages.  Gave Lucy a peck on the head and a washed out yogurt carton to work out her frustrations on.  She just told me she was a "good girl" in my husband's voice, complete with Swedish accent.  How can you not love 'em.

PS  Cindy, the little doggie got her target behavior-click-treat lessons too.  She went through Pet Smart's entire 3-tier program, but I've been too lazy to keep her on her "paws."  We're all in  training!