Training environment

[dangerwit]

I'm used to clicker training dogs, but not birds.

I am planning on getting a nice tabletop "tree" to let my as-of-yet-unnamed bird hang out on. It is a fake tree, gnarled up like driftwood, and has some branches for perching and eyelets for hanging toys.

1. Would that be sufficient to use also for training? I assume I'd have to remove any hanging toys to avoid distractions. (I'd like to avoid buying a separate training "station" if possible)

2. Any other things I should be aware of regarding training? Like, is it more meaningful if I'm standing as opposed to kneeling on the ground or whatever? Or does the bird not care about that kind of thing? Eye contact? (I read that "predatorial eye contact" is discouraged, but what is that exactly?)

Thank you,
*Phil

 

[dangerwit]

Whoops, I didn't scroll down far enough, I see there is a training message board. I'll go read there for a while, unless there is conure-specific behavior that might be helpful to share?

 

[MonicaMc]

You can train wherever you want to train, although it helps to train a parrot from various locations once the bird has learned a behavior.

Case in point, if you teach your bird to step up from the cage door, you need to also teach step up from inside the cage, step up from the top of the cage, step up from furniture, step up from locations higher than your head, step up from hand to hand, etc. Teach the bird to generalize the behavior and you'll have less issues with asking for a behavior down the road!



If you have a bird that is afraid, it may help to not look directly at the bird, or in other words, don't stare the bird down. If your bird isn't afraid, then you should be able to make eye contact without issues!

 

[Kiwibird]

We just started trick training our amazon (though we've had him for 6 years now, so he's already used to us, steps up and other basic bird behavior concepts). I'm personally doing our training sessions on the cleared off coffee table. That way, he is not distracted from the task at hand and still has a relatively large space to work on so he can follow the stick or (we're working on this) retrieve an object and carry it back. With our bird though, EVERYTHING is SUPER intriguing and he's very active, so I want him in an environment where there is no other mental stimulation besides the what we are learning for the trick. I know if he were in his cage or on the play tree, even if there were no toys, he would be climbing around, chewing the perches and generally not paying attention. Plus, I want those areas to be associated with fun and freedom and doing as he well pleases. The coffee table is not normally somewhere he would be, so I want him to make an association with it being a "learning" area.

Just my thoughts on the matter, I've only just started the trick training, but he's making fast progress, so either he's a genius or I'm doing something right (or maybe both). Good luck with your bird.

 

[MonicaMc]

Speaking of training, I remembered the training videos by flychomperfly on Youtube. They have a two part training video for retrieving an item, and they have a lot of distractions around their home while training their birds! And training multiple birds at that! They are not professional trainers, but you can tell that they've put a lot of work and dedication into training their flock!


https://www.youtube.com/user/flychomperfly/videos

 

[dangerwit]

Oooh this is all great information, thank you!