Echo's getting ready for summer!!

[pacoparrot]

So with the nice weather slowly starting to emerge I'm working with Echo more and more on her tricks. I'm trying to perfect her routine. Switching locations, dogs and cats in the room, new people, other birds, etc.
She knows the following very well:
Retrieve
Piggy bank
Basket ball
What we are working on:
Stacking cups (better understanding of the command "fix it")
Waving(Re-enforcing)
Bobbing Head(Re-enforcing)
Color Discrimination(Understanding the colors instead of picking until she gets it right.)
Things we hope to accomplish this summer:
Saying "Echo" and "Hello" on command (Already knows the words)
Squawk on command
Taking "donations" (based on retrieve) *Very obtainable*
Flapping on command
"Spread Eagle" (Bow down spread wings and hold for a second)
Painting (That will be FUN!!)

My hopes with her training is to get her name out there and possibly get a few donations toward a indoor walk in aviary for her. But more importantly have fun and make people aware just how intelligent these so called "bird brains" can be. By the way it is completely her decision to participate. I don't take away her food before training and her treat is mashed bananas which she gets whole slices in her diet so she more or less just does it for entertainment. Here's a picture of her in our maple tree. (She isn't allowed to chew on it, just pose for a picture.)

 

[MonicaMc]

Well done with all the training! When not in training, does Echo ever perform behaviors to get a reaction from you?

 

[pacoparrot]

It's almost like the training has unlocked her brain. She will go through great effort to get my attention now instead of just screaming. She will try banging her toys around, putting all of them in her food dish, talking nicely, and even get creative and push things through the cage bars for me to retrieve. When she was a baby she was a nightmare. Very unpleasant to be around. When I started training in created a way for us to communicate and brought us so much closer. She now has a better understanding of bite pressure and that she must behave around strangers.

 

[MonicaMc]

That's a great example of how training can be used to teach a parrot how to behave better!!!! Thank you for the reply!

You've done fabulously with her!