Chet womach ( the good , the bad and the ugly)

[Pheonix Rising]

Hi all
so the name Chet womach has come up a bit in threads lately and I'm
curious to know what peoples experiances are with
his systems and approachs

What have you found to be good
what have you found to be bad
and what have you found that you deem ugly and would never use on yours or anyone elses birds ?


Personaly I like his approach in teaching your bird to talk by having it listen to real birds talking , the pitch of voice in which it is said and how it relates to your birds pitch tones and about keeping the bird in a heightened emotional state while training

I have had experiance in buying a bird that was 'shake' trained
he was a young baby and the people had done it with him since day 1 so to speak
I found good results with it
but it may also have just Been this birds great nature
I wouldn't however recomend it and certainly not to an older bird as it would wreck your trust


I also like chets approach in getting a bird to accept your hand and not bite
it works by taking things at the birds pace which I belive is always the best thing for the bird

Please do not start debates about this
each and every person is entitled to their say and
it is up to the person reading if they choose to agree or not and if they wish to look into any of his methods further

I'm just curious to find out what people have found for themselves

 

[Bobby34231]

While I'm a big believer in freedom of speech I do ask in advance that all responses to this thread be kept civil, Thanks girls and boys

 

[BlueToast]

Never heard of Chet Womach but I do know of a David Womach who has a large flock of parrots and performs with them in one of the big traveling circus shows I think it's Barnum's but who knows. Search for him on yahoo's picture sharing site flickr and while your there check out Chris097 he's great with parrots too.

 

[myparrothelp]

I think that chet and his brother dave have had lots of experience with birds and training them, whether it be free flight or clicker training. I think anybody who has this much experience with parrots would be a great advice giver. I recommend them

 

[Bobby34231]

I believe he started out as a dog trainer and has now trained birds for a few years and started birdtricks.com, I prefer Barbara Heidenreich and goodbirdinc, but as they say to each his or her own

 

[Pheonix Rising]

Barbara is a great one I love her work !

I just thought I'd start the thread to see if anyone has found any positives in his training methods

There are so many systems out there but his seems to be one I hear most often yet I always hear very mixed reveiws on it
so I thought what better place to ask than this forum

 

[Aussie Ben]

I have got some of the Womach brothers material and I think overall it is very good. However, my advice to anyone is to never become narrow minded and believe that one trainer/author/speaker etc has the 'one and only' solution. Do your research, find various sources of information and learn from all of them. Every bird is different and although many of these people say that their course is the only true way to train a bird, I can guarantee you, it is not . I think the one thing that is unanimous though, is that positive reinforcement is a proven method. Keep an open mind about these things, we are always learning.

 

[Pheonix Rising]

What's your fav thing you've learnt from thr birdtricks DVDs Ben ?
I totally agree with what you are saying as we and our birds know variety is the spice of life
so goes with anything with our birds and the knowledge we gather to keep them

 

[Aussie Ben]

What's your fav thing you've learnt from thr birdtricks DVDs Ben ?

Probably the method of how to clicker/target train. Having said this, this is not a new method and they did not invent it. What they did do however was present the methods in a very clear and easy to understand format, which is what made it good. They took something that could be made very complicated and showed how to make it simple......by actually walking you through step by step. Many dvd's/books do this from my understanding, birdtricks is just one and it worked well IMO.

 

[Pheonix Rising]

Perhaps you would care to pm me on the details behind this Ben as I am just about ready to start clicker training my little fellow

We've been practicing a few things without the clicker but I'd love to introduce it to him so he has a regognisable cue that he is doing things correctly

 

[Ecclipse]

Hi PR - The only thing I know about this woman is what I read on the forum about her shaking a bird. I dont agree with that method but I have not read about any of her other methods so can only comment on that one aspect My view is that you use the method that suits your bird. I use the "Bird whisperer's" methods and Rosie is stepping up and clearly loving that approach. I guess it all depends on the person and their bird

 

[bogo1]

I think that there are multiple approaches out there and some DVDs are merely better packaging of older ideas. There is obviously something effective about them or they wouldn't sell...Barbara, Chet, David, whomever. But none of these people know your bird. It is up to you to find the right approach to whatever it is you and your bird are trying to accomplish and I think that a philosophy that one sees sometimes in the vids is that "this" (whatever this is) "is the right way and sometimes the meaning is intended as only way and sometimes we merely hear that when it wasn't intended. My point is this, there is no "one right way" because we are not interacting with wind up action figures but rather very intelligent animals who are processing information and experiences and have individual personalities and thresholds. So I have nothing against any of these experts. One should (if time and patience allows) see as many as possible. But then use your observations, intuition, compassion, and shared experiences to achieve the best possible relationship with your bird. It is well worth the time and effort, and even the trial and error, to become your own expert on the fids in your life.

 

[Vickiesbirds]

I have actually never purchased from him... his stuff is SO expensive! I would honestly rather leave my birdies untrained in certain aspects and fill their cage with tons of toys for what the price of one of his dvd sets goes for. I will say though... that I mulled it over for awhile when I got my first bird, and signed up for his email list, which is completely free. I get TONS of emails from him and they often contain video excerpts from his dvds... and that alone has taught me a lot. He sends everything from information about nutrition, to toy safety, helping a new bird to gain your trust, how to deal with a hormonal bird, and many more topics. I would highly recommend owners to sign up for this email list... after all, it's free, right? If it doesn't work for you, you can easily take yourself off the list. But if it does, it's tons of free material, some interesting reads and some great videos. Plus, it's a free "sample" to see if you like his teaching style and want to go forth with buying the set.

 

[Pheonix Rising]

Yes I to am signed up to the email list
I do find some quite interesting but I also find alot
more of it is buy now buy now
it seems to me if the information in the DVDs was as good as he claims then people wouldn't need perswasion to buy them
if that makes sense
for me in nz his DVDs are to expensive but I do watch his YouTube videos

I think what most members have said are correct
a bit from here a bit from there take what works for you and your bird