I've had my 8 mth old cockatiel for 4 days now, and I think the training is going okay. As I'm new to this, though, I'd like to get some feedback on how I'm doing and get advice on a few things.

We've only really been working on 'up' so far. I put my fingers near him, and say 'up' and if he steps up I immediately click my tongue and give him a sunflower seed. Sometimes he'll do it right away, other times he'll just back away from me completely (especially if he's in his cage). I try tempting him with sunflower seeds, where he has to step onto my hand to reach them, but if he doesn't want to come to me, he'll just ignore them. In this situation, I usually get a piece of dowel, which he'll step onto about 80% of the time, compared to my 40% with my finger. In this situation, should I persist with trying to get him on my finger, or should I leave him?

Any suggestions on the behaviours Sammy and I should try next, or should we just focus on 'up' until we've got it perfect?

I seem to be giving him a lot of sunflower seeds, and I'm not sure if it's enough of an incentive for him to do things. About how often should I be giving him treats?

Any advice you can give me would be much appreciated. I know that training will go much better if I make sure I'm doing the right things from the start!