Hi Nate, i see on the bridclick list you are working on th eretrive with Darwin. I have been working on this with Bazil (GW) for the past couple of weeks and I think he finally got it this morning! I found that a combination of backward and forward chaining finally did it for me. I got 3 in a row this morning so left it there as he seems to get bored quote easily. I have actually found this quite a difficult thing to teach. He targets 100%, has pretty good recall (Flighted as well as walking) The retrieve is the first "major" thing I have done with the clicker and I must admit I can't wait for the next session to try it again! At first I was not getiing anywhere on the training table, so I tried teaching it back chained on a pearch and when he was holding in his beak for 3 or more seconds I moved back to the table and after a few sesions on there it all seemed to fall into place form him. Now I will try and increase the distance he has to walk. He did it with a ring and block this am!

I worked on retrieve with Phoebe for a while, but every time I tried to extend the 'hold' she got frustrated and lost interest. We've done well with other behaviors like targeting, recall, wave, and fly to perch, but retrieve still escapes us. I've heard cockatoos are easy to teach retrieve so I'm looking forward to trying again with Darwin - and with a little luck Phoebe will learn enough by observation to make some progress herself.

For the back chaining part, did you have him lift the object from your hand, hold it for a few seconds, and drop it back into your hand?

Hi Nate, I have to agree with you, the retrieve is a tricky one! I thought i was doing somthing completely wrong, as on the bridclick list, everyone made it sound so easy!! What I did was hold the ring at beak level while he was on the perch.Then C/T for touching it (as per the target stick) when he was doing that 80-90% i would hold the click until he grabbed it with his beak C/T. Once that was 80-90% i would increase the length of time while he held it in his beak before C/T (At this stage I was still holding on as well) This is where i think i messed up in the past, as I then tried to get him to drop it into my hand!! INSTEAD of him just releasing it, whilst still in my hand. I say this because I produced a "flinger" and he was confused as to what I was expecting of him. I then decided to give it a break for a few days and back peddled to the point of him holding on to the object and would then C/T for when he let go of the object whilst still in my hand. When I had it to the point that we were BOTH holding onto it for about 3 seconds, I would let him take hold and release my hand for a second then regrab it and C/T when he let go. After a few sessions like this he grasped that he needed to PLACE it in my hand to get C/T. This is the point I got to yesteday. This morning, he showed no interset on the training table and flew down to the floor, he was about 10 feet away from me and I knelt down and placed the ring on the floor about halfway between us and he walked right over picked up the ring and brought it to me a good 5 feet! He did that twice!! I was starting to think it would never happen!!!

I am trying to work on the fly to perch using two perches about 3 feet apart. Using the target stick he will fly/hop from perch to perch to touch the target.I have been C/T when he touched the target and not when he landed on the prech but this now has me wandering if I should be clicking for his landing on the prech? Your thoughts would be appreciated

Thanks for getting so detailed about the different steps of teaching retrieve. That kind of thing is REALLY helpful.

It seems to me that using the target stick to get your bird to hop between perches is "just" an extension of targeting. "Just" in quotes because getting a bird to fly for any sort of cue is still an accomplishment, and this really paves the way for more flighted stuff. It's a great foundation to build on.

If what you want is 'fly to perch,' step back for a minute and decide what you want to use for the 'fly to perch' cue. I tap on the perch, or if it's out of reach I point to it. Probably best to start with tapping, since pointing at something is a lot less obvious. (I have been thinking it would be neat to use a laser pointer to illuminate the object I want Phoebe to fly to.)

Anyhow, tap on the perch (or do whatever cue you choose), and use the target stick to lure the bird onto the perch, and C/T for landing on the perch. Maybe you shouldn't even let the bird beak the target stick, because the next step is to fade out the stick... When the bird starts getting ready to hop after you just tap the perch, you know they're starting to understand the game... at the point start bringing out the stick very slowly and still C/T for landing on the perch. I'll bet that he will eventually be hopping to the perch before you even begin to show him he target stick. At that point you have 'fly to the perch I tap on' trained. Then work on extending the distance, flying to different perches (start really short, just a couple feet, when you start with a new perch), and then start pointing at things rather than tapping on them. Or use a laser pointer. I think that would be really neat. :-)

I'm guessing that since you already have him following the target stick to a new perch, it probably won't take long to get him doing the same behavior with a new cue. I've seen this kind of thing progress very quickly after you get the first couple of hops. When the bird 'gets it' it will probably be pretty obvious. My friend Andrew has a macaw that gets beside himself with excitement when Andrew cues him to fly to a perch. It's really neat to watch.

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Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Great advice! I like the "tap" idea and will give it a try tonight and report back with my progress

Well, this is taking a while! Bazil seems to grasp that I want him to go to the perch, as he leans towards it but wont actually take off from my hand unless I hold him close enough for him to grab a hold first with his beak. On a positive note his recall from the perch back to me has improved a lot, virtually no hesitation. I will try Chris's idea of a nut in shell for flying to me and let him go back to the perch to eat it and see how that goes

Well I think Bazil has got it! I started with 2 perches a couple of feet apart, placed bazil on one, walked around the other tapped on the perch and held the target stick to get Bazil to fly across, as he landed C/T. I then walked back behind the other perch, tapped it and sure enough Bazil flew across without the need of the target stick. We did about 5 there and backs then increased the distance. I had him going about 10 feet for 3 goes and I stopped there! Will keep working on it - Thanks Nate!

In addition to increasing the distance, you might try generalizing it - tapping on other things (different perches, etc) and having him hop to them. Start back at just a couple inches when you cue him to go to a new destination, and then you'll probably be able to extend the distance a bit faster with each new destination.

And se if you can get him to fly to a stick that you're holding... I tried to get Phoebe to climb onto a stick in the past with some success, but when I tried it as a variation on 'fly to perch' it worked ten times better. This can be handy for getting birds off of high perches - I never realized how handy until I got Darwin, who always seems to be more interested in something up high than in stepping up or flying down.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

I am new to this forum so I don't know whether I am posting this to the right place or not. I would like some opinions or solutions you might have. I am at present writing a book strictly on teaching parrots various tricks. However, I would like to include a chapter, on teaching "husbandry" items such as potty training, the "come","perch" and the like that aren't really tricks but necessary behaviors, like obedience training is with dogs. What I need help with is ways to train your bird for nail clipping. I have a way that works for me, but I would like ideas for other ways to suggest to readers. How do you train your bird to allow nail clipping?

Tani,
Welcome to feather forum. I may have a suggestion or two but I am curious, what is the way that works for you?
Mike Bross

Welcome, Tani. :-)

I have no ideas for nail trimming. If you see Jackie Cottrell or Kathy Morrison at NWEBS or ASOPS meetings, you might ask them... I think I've seen both of them filing their macaws' nails while the birds just perched on them.

I switched to abrasive perches, but all that seems to have done is allow me to gave Phoebe's nails trimmed less often.


Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

hi nate! i have a handfed lovebird who is six months old already. i want to teach him how to talk. is it already too late for me to do so? if i can still do it, what is the best way to go?

thanks in advance.
claire

The main thing is to reward the bird every time it says anything, or makes a noise that sounds sorta like human speech. Make it rewarding for the bird, and the bird will probably do more of it.

Try pairing phrases with events, for example, say "gimme that" (as a statement - speaking from the bird's perspective) when you offer food, and hope that the bird pairs that statement with that event - saying "gimme that" when you have food. Or you might choose more polite phrases. :-)

I am pretty sure it's not "too late" since birds tend to be pretty good about learning new things even as adults, but I have no idea whether or not lovebirds talk much in general. My only bird is a pionus - they rarely speak, and Phoebe is no exception.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Hi Tani,
i taught my umbrella cockatoo to happily accept nail trims years ago before i learned about positive reinforcement training. She was very affectionate with my son, and basically we stood in front of her and clipped and filed each other's nails with lots of happy sounds and cuddles. When she was good and intrigued and a little jealous, "oh, did you want some?" She got a honey-nut cheerio for each nail and lots of praise and petting, and that was good enough for her. She sometimes turns her "wave hello" into an actual solicitation if she sees i have the clipper out (more treats!).

And i am still impressed by how much bigger birds can learn by watching (as opposed to shaping), even after learning about the joys of R+ training. i have fun imitating them, and they have fun mocking - er, imitating me... it seems to be very self-reinforcing for some birds (not so for my lovebird though).

Zazu my B&G wanted to thoroughly investigate the clipper (i just use a big human toenail trimmer) and file. He learned to stick out his tongue and some really hilarious behaviors (prop and non-prop) by watching; even knows the cue "watch;" but he wanted no part of nailclipping.

We had already worked on just body handling and touching his feet. While sitting on his perch i reinforced for letting me touch the clipper to his nail, then for letting me put the nailtip into the clipper, then for an actual clip. The first few clips were very "token," as i was very leery of hurting him; also it really seemed to help that we started with him on a perch so that he felt free to move away if he wanted to (but why do that when he's being fed pinenuts?). Now he's so relaxed about it i can trim his nails while he's flipped upside down in my lap in between my ruffling his feathers and his chewing on my free hand. He still gets a pinenut for each toe, and i try to make it pleasant and playful.

i can't wait to read your book; i've learned a lot from your videos, especially for smaller birds. Welcome, looking forward to your posts...
lisa
"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement."

Wow Lisa, that's really neat. The way you taught your U2 to accept nail trimming is usually called "modeling." I have read a little tiny bit about people using modeling to teach things to parrots, but mostly people only use it to get their birds to eat. :-) Modeling was a big part of the way the taught Alex, the famous CAG at the University of Arizona, so it definitely has a lot of potential but I don't often hear of people using that approach. That's really neat that it worked so well for you and Pongo.

The breeder tells me that my baby pionus is accepting the harness pretty well so far, and I have been hoping that Phoebe will learn to accept a harness too, from watching me put it on the new guy when he gets here.

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA

Nate, i've been meaning to tell you i think the way you're accustoming the baby to harness is brilliant.

i use modeling a lot with Pongo and Zazu, but it doesn't work well with Mouse. Chico, my amazon, does learn a ton from watching the other birds, not so much from watching people. Pongo learned to "whistle" from watching me respond to Chico - she noticed his vocalizations were getting him attention from me, while her shrieks were not. So i guess a lot depends on who, if anyone, a bird accepts as a model, among other factors.

It will be interesting to hear how Phoebe takes to modeling.


lisa
"Good judgement comes from experience. Experience comes from poor judgement."

hi nate! thanks a lot for the information. i will try that. hope it will work.

claire

I feel lucky to have found a breeder who is willing to familiarize the bird with the harness for me like this. It seems to be going well, I just hope it rubs off on Phoebe!

Claire: Keep us posted on your progress. :)

Nate Waddoups
Redmond WA USA