Home » Bird Forums » Training » Teaching Tricks » Basic tricks for clippped, new, young bird???
Posted by Ming on Sat, 01/14/2006 - 01:58 :: Teaching Tricks
Hi all,

I've had a look through here and the article section, but I couldn't see anything quite what I wanted. I've had a new young bird (Pippi - small 'too)for about 3 weeks now. She's stepping up really nicely(she didn't know this when I got her); and thanks to forum advice she is screaming less these past days. Additionally,she is also learning to speak her first word 'hello.'

So what I want to know is what are some simple things I could teach her? The page seemed to be mostly about flight related training and therefore not applicable to my clipped bird.

I realise people ask Q's all the time and others must get sick of typing answers... so maybe there is a link I could follow to get some ideas. I don't have a clicker; I don't know where to get one in Oz? Any other Aussies know?

Today I was trying to start teaching her to let my lay her on her back. I would pick her up and gently ley her on her back on my lap and then give her her favorite treat. I did this with her about 10 times, then reverted back to treating her for stepping up as she had become a little wary about stepping up as it resulted in being put on her back.

All in all she seemed to tolerate it really well. No biting, and she was really happy to grab the treat whilst on her back, before turning over again. Eventually, I would like to be able to turn her on her back and so she could feel comfortable lying on her back on my lap for a scratch.

So far I am making this all up as I go along as I've never taught a bird to anything more than step up in the past. I would prefer to reward Pip for doing a behaviour she performs entirely of her own will, but she doesn't lie of her back too often. ALso I thought that teaching her to accept me turning her onto her back might be really handy for any future vet trips.


Cheerio for now,
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Posted by jtholley03 on Sat, 01/14/2006 - 14:20.
Getting her to roll over is a BIG trust thing - congrats.

Now if she is down under when she rolls over is she upside down or right side up _ HA.

You could go from here to nail trimming - yippee. Start with her on her back and touch her feet as much as she will let you without wanting to turn over. Then sort of pick at her toenails. Then get on of those nail files that are sandpaper. Touch it to her nail, and treat her. Work step by step from there to filing. You can use a dremel also like I use on Bean with a tiny sanding drum. I do not towel him to do this.


No but really...

Pick out a place like the kitchen table - somewhere specific for training. Get a plastic ring (could be metal). Hold a treat in your hand and the ring too. Make the ring in the way of the treat. This way Pippi will move the ring to get the treat. So you automatically have a bridge. Touch the ring get a treat.

Then work from there and put a dish on the table (very close to P). Drop the ring in the dish and give P a treat. Then have P get the ring and work towards her dropping it in the dish.

Then make the dish into a basketball cup and raise it a little at a time.

Thank the Bird Man of Las Vegas for the Ring and treat idea!

He has a really cool shot of a wild caught Military Macaw (no favorite here of course - heh). hoevering nearly straight down from about 5 or 8 stories. Really neat shot. As soon as I can extract it I will post it (have permission to).

He has some good training tapes and dvd's.

You can look up clicker training. It is a bridge that captures the moment allowing you to add the food reward momentarily later.

When I first worked with Bean and clicker training I had him retreiving (on the table) a ring back to me. Then color recognition of Red, Green and Blue rings. All this within 10 minutes.

There is a yahoo group for clicker training.

Karon Pryor has clickers. She will ship one over yonder. You can use a bottle cap or a click with your mouth too! Nate has an article here for clicker training I think. Do a search for it.
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Posted by Ming on Sat, 01/14/2006 - 17:01.
Thanks a lot for that Jim. I think the nail thing sounds great. She wouldn't tolerate that at the moment. I shall try holding her on her back for longer periods before treat. I like the other idea about the ring too. Will report back after any progress.

Michelle.

Proud owner of little corella - rose breasted cockatoo cross (Pippi), alexandrine (Cam Rahn) and princess parrot (Eep). From Qld, Australia.
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Posted by karen on Sat, 01/14/2006 - 23:11.
Well, you might try training her to wear a harness (if you can get one). It's useful for taking birds outside but birds have to be taught young or it's unlikely they will tolerate it well. That's always something I wish I'd taught my conure when he was younger.
Otherwise, the easiest tricks to train are ones Pippi does herself. Wait until she does something cute and immediately praise and reward her. If you have a clicker you click/treat when she does something you want which can help speed up her learning exactly what you want. But I've had luck training my conure this way without a clicker and he caught on quickly enough - and a cockatoo is smarter than a conure.
Otherwise, some basic things to teach are targeting, waving (easy to teach if Pippi already lifts up a foot when you tell her step up), climbing a rope, ect.


Karen
Chico (conure) and Pippin (budgie)
WI
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