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Post by vankarhi on Nov 4, 2005 11:09:22 GMT 10
I know nothing about conures except they are small. LOL and can be noisy. LOL
About training birds. In the past I have had no problems with teaching/trainiing my birds "manners" eg to step up and step down and to come to me when called (they were clipped so they waddled/strutted/jumped etc depending on the bird). I had taught my galah to dance, and lift her wings on command and she would hang upside down on my arm and swing upside down and lift her wings (drop them really when upside down) when asked to lift them. She was very easy to train because she loved to be patted and scratched and would almost anything for attention. But if I tried to bribe her with food she would toss the food and put her head down for a scratch - she was a female with a mind of her own. LOL she has since passed away 2 months ago.
I have had my ekkie for about 14 months and she is now 18 months old. I joined a clicker training group who purely talk about training birds. I am really amazed how easy it has been to teach skye the tricks I have so far just by clicker training. The trick to clicker training (no pun intended) is to find what reward your bird will do anything for. As I said Bo loved physical attention. well that did not work with Skye she is food orientated. So I found she loved passionfruit seeds and crunchy cereal like cornflakes or muselie. First you need to condition the clicker to the bird, by just "click" and treat for a few mins. Until the bird realises that "hey click means treat". then you teach the bird to target. I taught skye to target to a knitting needle, but other people use spoons, toothpicks - anything that the bird might move towards or touch - then click and reward.
You need to shape the behaviours that you want. In other words do things in little steps. So when I was teaching Skye to target (usually the first thing to teach so it can help in future training - I needed to target SKYE a few times for her to realise I wanted her to come to me on command). when she looked at the target - click and treat, when she moved toward the target - click and treat, when she touched the target - click and treat etc etc. As the bird learns to expand the behaviour i do not treat for a lesser behaviour until I get it to where i want. Eventually you fade the clicker, but not necessarily the treat. I always say "good girl" then treat after I have clicked. Then when I drop the clicker from the training for each behaviour, she still associates "good girl" with doing something correct that will earn her a treat. So far she has learned to retrieve a ball, put a leggo into a container, do hi five with her foot to my hand (avatar), turn around and fly to me on command (she loves to fly to me anyway)
I hope I have explained this clearly. My understanding is any bird can be clicker trained, you just have to have your timing right with the behaviour and when to click and be patient and do not click for something you do not want the bird to do. Also reward regular - so lots of rewards for correct behaviour even if only a little improvement. That is why it needs to be in small steps, so they get plenty of rewards and hopefully the small steps lead to the correct behaviour in the end. I have taught each trick to skye in a matter of a few days (retrieve took about a week) with only a few mins of training once or twice a day.
if my website is at the end of my signature, check it out as I have pics of some of the tricks skye does plus I posted pics of her flying to me - the other day.
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Post by vankarhi on Nov 4, 2005 11:12:55 GMT 10
The pics of her flying to me are not on my web site, I posted them here under photo's of birds.
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abbeyroad
Newbie
This is my insperation for my site! R.I.P Baby!
Posts: 39
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Post by abbeyroad on Nov 4, 2005 18:53:58 GMT 10
thankyou very much for that, i would love to clicker train my bird but i would prefer if i learnt in a group like yours, the only thing is i dont know of anygroups like that in perth. i have been trying 2 teach him/her to come to me on comand (s/he flies to me) and iv taught him/her to "step up" & "step down" (i teach this to all my birds once they learn 2 pearch) and im teaching him/her now to lay on his back untill given the comande "ok" to get back up agian. but like i said it would be easier clicker training him so im gonna look into it rite away!  ;D |
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Post by vankarhi on Nov 5, 2005 6:59:42 GMT 10
The group I am with is on the "internet" I actually train her by myself. I bought the book and asked a few questions but they have files on their group for everybody to read and Wendy (the main trainer) has actually trained all sorts of animals including dolphins. Clicker training is extremely simple. I wish I had learned it years ago when I first heard of it - instead of thinking it is too hard and too much effort (that is exactly what I thought) and have been surprised how quick and easy it has been. Obviously some birds might be a bit harder to train depending on breed and their situations, but believe me it is not hard to learn. I must also say, I have been training dogs without clickers for about 30 years, so maybe i already had a basic idea about training anyway. groups.yahoo.com/group/Bird-Click/The above link will take you to the site I go to to learn about clicker training. I hope I do not get into trouble for posting this here, I would love to see you learn to train your bird and it bonds the bird more to you. Good luck |
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