BirbFriemd
New member
- Jun 5, 2020
- 10
- 0
- Parrots
-
Kai (2002-2004) Blue budgie who lived too short a life </3
Kona (short term care until 6/2021) - GCC
I am a new part-time parrot parent (taking care of a friend's GCC for a few months while she's out of the country) and while her Kona is very smart, her training sessions keep descending into chaos because she's SO focused on the treats that she doesn't pay attention to what I'm cueing her to do. She'll climb down her T stand and onto the table/onto me and just go scrambling trying to get to wherever I've got the treat container. She just totally loses focus.
A few theories, which I'd appreciate thoughts on:
- I'm too slow at cueing tricks so she gets impatient? I try to wait until she's done chewing but it takes her several seconds to eat just a safflower seed or teeny (like, 2-3mm square) chunk of almond so we can't go super fast.
- I'm using treats that are too high value? Again, mainly safflower and tiny almond bits. But she has safflower seeds in her everyday food so I didn't think she'd go so crazy for them, plus even when half the time I give her something she doesn't care so much about (like millet or pistachio) it seems to have the opposite effect - rather than making her be more "meh" about the treats it just makes her scramble more for the dish.
- She doesn't have enough tricks to cue so she gets bored? She waves, spins, and steps up/down as well as targeting. That's about it, and I'm kind of at a loss for what new to give her, since she doesn't trust me enough yet for anything that might need a little more handling (she'll play dead for her owner, but doesn't like me holding her on her back)
I have also tried training "chill" by waiting for her to stop pacing/crawling around and then giving her a treat when she shows relaxed body language, but so far it doesn't seem to be working. Only been doing it for ~5 days so far though.
Perhaps I'm sweating it too much but I want our interactions to be enriching, and also, importantly, not hormonally triggering, which cuddles seem to be after a point...
Any help appreciated!
A few theories, which I'd appreciate thoughts on:
- I'm too slow at cueing tricks so she gets impatient? I try to wait until she's done chewing but it takes her several seconds to eat just a safflower seed or teeny (like, 2-3mm square) chunk of almond so we can't go super fast.
- I'm using treats that are too high value? Again, mainly safflower and tiny almond bits. But she has safflower seeds in her everyday food so I didn't think she'd go so crazy for them, plus even when half the time I give her something she doesn't care so much about (like millet or pistachio) it seems to have the opposite effect - rather than making her be more "meh" about the treats it just makes her scramble more for the dish.
- She doesn't have enough tricks to cue so she gets bored? She waves, spins, and steps up/down as well as targeting. That's about it, and I'm kind of at a loss for what new to give her, since she doesn't trust me enough yet for anything that might need a little more handling (she'll play dead for her owner, but doesn't like me holding her on her back)
I have also tried training "chill" by waiting for her to stop pacing/crawling around and then giving her a treat when she shows relaxed body language, but so far it doesn't seem to be working. Only been doing it for ~5 days so far though.
Perhaps I'm sweating it too much but I want our interactions to be enriching, and also, importantly, not hormonally triggering, which cuddles seem to be after a point...
Any help appreciated!