Clicker training questions

[stevePesce]

Hi,

I recently got a DYH Amazon from a friend. She is somewhere between 6-10 years old I believe. She knows a few sounds, not really any words unless you count gibberish.

I am starting to clicker train her and I have a few questions:

Is it going to be a lot harder to train her since I didn't get her as a baby?

After I associate treats with clicker should I start by getting her to say the words that she knows and reward her, try new words, or both? Should I have her step up and reward her?

Also, can I still say stuff to make her talk when I am not training her, like when I walk up to her cage to talk to her, but not reward her?

How long should it take for her to know that the clicker means shes getting a treat? Will it be obvious? I ask because I don't know when to start moving on to the tricks.

Any suggestions for treats for DYH amazon?

Thanks for reading. Hope I included everything important, let me know if any more info is needed.

 

[Jayyj]

I use segments of pine nuts as training treats.

To start with, you click and treat as quickly as you can after the treat. Pretty soon you'll see the bird looking for the treat as soon as she hears the click, so as soon as you see her eyeballing your hands with a glint in her eye with the first sound of the clicker you're ready for stage two!

Alice is a confirmed non talker so I've never tried anything speech related, but touching a target would be a great first step once you have the click/treat association made - target training gives you a good start into loads of tricks but it's also a useful tool for step ups, getting a bird off your shoulder and other situations where you want the bird to move somewhere without having to force her.

Hope that helps a bit.