Look What Baxter Has Learned!

I'm a proud parront - LOL!

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3UuiR9LFC0Q&feature=youtu.be"]Fetch - YouTube[/ame]

He's also mastered "Wave" and "Turnaround"

What a smart little cutie Baxter is !

As you should be! Baxter is AWESOME!!

Good Job!

Toni

Wow Baxter is amazing. Lately the posts on this forum have been awesome and yours tops them. Great job Baxter.

He SPRINTS to put it in the bowl lol

Hot damn, smart lad! The most I can say for Parker is he's learned to sneeze on me...

Obviously good training in play and a smart bird. Good job!

Awesome!!! Shawna, I ROFLMAO @ the "Breaking News" bit in the beginning! Brilliantly done!!

Baxter is looking stunning, too!!! :smile015:

Trick training is a wonderful way of becoming the teacher, and instilling discipline in the form of play... it gets their little brains working in the same way that foraging gets their brains working. So long as it isn't forced on them... it's almost always a positive.

Once they learn this fetch trick, you can adapt that to a million different tricks, because it's all the same basic behavior, just slightly modified with a new toy.

Are you using Tani Robar's stuff?! I really liked that series the best.

Yayyyy Baxter! Great teaching skills, Shawna! Best of all, it's easy to see Baxter is having fun!

Birdman666 said:

Are you using Tani Robar's stuff?! I really liked that series the best.

Click to expand...

I've actually been using a combination of BirdTricks (sorry, I know these guys are controversial - I'm not following their training diet), Parrot Wizard (sorry again) and Barbara Heindenreich. All three are basically on the same page as far as training using positive reinforcement so that's the approach I've been taking.

Going to look into Tani Robar now that you have suggested it!

GreatBlue320 said:

Birdman666 said:

Are you using Tani Robar's stuff?! I really liked that series the best.

Click to expand...

I've actually been using a combination of BirdTricks (sorry, I know these guys are controversial - I'm not following their training diet), Parrot Wizard (sorry again) and Barbara Heindenreich. All three are basically on the same page as far as training using positive reinforcement so that's the approach I've been taking.

Going to look into Tani Robar now that you have suggested it!

Click to expand...

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x10v4o3_tani-and-her-fabulous-performing-parrots-1995_fun

http://www.birdchannel.com/bird-magazines/bird-talk/2008-october/bird-trainer-extraordinaire.aspx

http://blog.birdsupplies.com/bird-training-dvds

http://www.featherfantasy.com/tani-robar-teach-your-parrots-intermediate-tricks-p-1505.html

TR17184 Tani Robar -Teach Your Parrot Advanced Tricks - VIDEOS & DVDS

That's how I learned it. I actually bought all four. To me, that's the best trick training series on the market. Don't know where they are anymore. I think they got ruined in the flood in my garage.

I think a lot of it is the same stuff. For me, she just broke it down into steps better. I like the way she explains things. It totally makes sense to me.

Ebay's got all of them, used, for not much money:

Teach Your Parrot DVD 2 World Famous Tani Robar | eBay

You want 2, 3, and 4.

Video one is just a video of her professional bird show, and all the things her birds can do. It's pretty amazing, but if your object is to learn how to teach your birds to do that, get 2 though 4.

Oh, and just to point out how long it takes to do this if you actually work with your bird consistently...

Baxter came home in what? June-ish?! So, we are what, about four months into this... ?!

So, yeah, kind of significant progress, eh?!

Thanks for the DVD recommendations, Mark! Already purchased all three via Amazon (Prime so they will be here in 2 days)!

I would say that I started seriously training with Baxter about a month after he came home so we've been at it for only about 6 weeks! It is amazing how quickly these beautiful creatures learn! Every time he masters a new trick, I am just awestruck.

In all honesty, once my conures got the hang of trick training, you didn't have to show them a behavior twice... because they already got it.

If you can break it down into steps to teach it to them... they will soak it up like a sponge.

What I like about Tani's series is that she teaches you all the little steps, and how to combine stuff your bird already knows, into other tricks.

For example, what is the difference between putting a basketball in a hoop, and what Baxter did in this video? You hand him a different object. That's all.



(THAT IS A DOLLAR STORE KIDS TOY, WITH A CAT BALL FOR A BALL. TWO BUCKS, AND YOUR BIRD ALREADY KNOWS THE TRICK. HE'LL PROBABLY GET IT THE FIRST TRY.)

Taking a little toy off a little doll house shelf, and putting it in a toy shopping cart? Guess what, same trick. That's just a go get it, and put it in here...

Push the scooter. Push the skateboard. Push the grocery cart. Same trick. Different object.

I think you're really gonna love this stuff! And Baxter certainly seems to have the temperment for it.

And if you do it right, for them it's just playtime. And they become super bonded in the process.

Totally on board with you, Mark!

Today I had Baxter retrieve different objects and put them in different bowls so I could generalize the behavior. It did throw him off just a little, but after a few tries, he got it.

I also had him retrieve things to my hand (which I just held over the bowl he usually uses).

Can't wait for the DVDs. I really enjoy watching bird training programs. Yes, I AM a total bird nerd!

I don't know if you can still find these things or not, but they make macaw sized tech decks!

I got this one in the clearance bid after the tech deck fad had passed, so it was also only a couple of bucks.

Notice Sweepea was still a baby in this one?! This was within, like, THE FIRST WEEK of her coming home...

So, yeah. Definately. Lock them in a cage for a week or so and don't handle them, they might get spooked!

GreatBlue320 said:

Thanks for the DVD recommendations, Mark! Already purchased all three via Amazon (Prime so they will be here in 2 days)!

I would say that I started seriously training with Baxter about a month after he came home so we've been at it for only about 6 weeks! It is amazing how quickly these beautiful creatures learn! Every time he masters a new trick, I am just awestruck.

Click to expand...

Yeah, give it another six months... THEN just wait and see what you've got!

And it's so not about the tricks per se, it's the interaction factor and the interest level that goes up exponentially.

I personally believe this can be as valuable as foraging IF you don't stress them out doing it.

GreatBlue320 said:

Thanks for the DVD recommendations, Mark! Already purchased all three via Amazon (Prime so they will be here in 2 days)!

I would say that I started seriously training with Baxter about a month after he came home so we've been at it for only about 6 weeks! It is amazing how quickly these beautiful creatures learn! Every time he masters a new trick, I am just awestruck.

Click to expand...

You realize of course, that there are people out there that have OWNED their birds longer than you have owned Baxter, and not only can't they do this, but they can't even consistently handle their birds without getting bitten...

And one of the things I did with "the biters" when I was rehabing birds, to get their behavior under control, was regular trick training sessions... not because it entertained me, but because it improved their disposition.

They use their minds. They have structured interaction. Then it's easy to translate that into a structured flock setting. Once you establish that, the same thing happens every day, and every day you see a little more progress...

Until the out of control bird, that nobody wanted, is a bird everyone envies... how did you get so lucky?!

ACTUALLY, I DIDN'T!

Remember, Alex was picked out at random from a pet store... and became what he became.

Anyone else paying attention to that lesson?! THEY ALL have this innate ability, if you nurture it. And what you get back for that effort (effort, which I consider high entertainment value anyway) is just friggin' amazing!

All of them CAN. If you bother to teach them.

Or they can just sit there.

It's up to you, really.