Parrot Trick Training - Pick It Up and Give It To Me - GETTING STARTED

PART 2 -- Pick-It-Up and Give-It-To-Me WITH FLIGHT can be viewed at...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=900akRkSMcg&feature=channel_page

We wanted to show how the different birds progressed with the same exercise, so we had them all do the training simultaneously . However, it can be somewhat chaotic when the others get involved in one bird's training. We often train with multiple birds, but we weren't sure if it was going to work on-camera with this exercise. Happily it worked out, as we thought this would be the most entertaining and informative for a video.

There were times when another bird came along and took over the show. Only once was someone (Bobo) disruptive enough that we removed her from the training (it was either at the end of these sessions, or in the flighted sessions -- can't remember). But otherwise, we let them come and "show off". Instead of stopping them, they were encouraged so the other birds could see the attention and the treats they got for doing it.

Grasshopper was obviously the most difficult due to her lack of focus. We are convinced she understood, but that she felt the trick was an "inconvenience" for getting the treat. Even so, she kept at it -- even after her own training session was done, so she was enjoying the "game". By the end, she was more enthusiastic than the Grey. As you can probably see, she is heavily motivated by food -- whereas the other two think they are clever birds and want to prove it (but the treat is still important to them).

Grasshopper is a bit attention deficit. We tried to annotate the video to point it out as it happened, but it distracted too much from the training. So, if you have a chance and want a bit of a laugh, check out her antics, when she starts to head UNDER the table--i could feel her running all around my knee as i was working with the grey. LOL...it's around 3:15 (time is linked to it).

Please keep in mind that we are NOT professional trainers. We rely strictly on the intelligence of our birds when we teach them tricks, which doesn't work in all situations. We recommend that if you are interested in training your parrots, that you visit the site of a professional trainer to learn proper training techniques.

Category:

Pets & Animals

Tags:

• smart
• parrot
• bird
• tricks
• train
• learn
• intelligent
• clever
• African
• Grey
• gray
• Grasshopper
• Zorro
• Bobo
• jenday
• nanday
• conure
• understanding
• speech
• Chomper

[quinnbeeloved]

what do you use as treats?? my nanday doesnt seem to want any treat!!

[flychomperfly]

@quinnbeeloved hi - treats don't have to be food...they can be anything that motivates your friend. i use safflower seeds most of the time--they are the little white seeds. you can also use sunflower seeds, bits of almond, some people will reward with a tiny taste of peanut butter... even just a nice head scritch. it depends on the bird, of course. if those don't work, whenever you give your bird food, if you serve a variety, watch for what (s)he eats first. that would be a start.

[gizmotis]

well i think there is a big difference between using your voice for reinforcement and talking too much. i think you do the latter. i taught a parrot to do a flighted retrieve in one session, so what? that wasn't the point i was making, which was that you make the session more difficult than they need to be. i never said that you shouldn't be giving advice, i was just pointing out mistakes in your training style that you could address to be a better trainer, if thats what you want to be.

[flychomperfly]

that is your opinion. i don't see them as mistakes -- i purposely talk to them. that is the whole point of my training -- communication with parrots.

again...they are my pets, and i am not training to be a trainer. that is not my goal.

my goal is to show that we can communicate with our parrots because they are intelligent. i have accomplished my goal.

[Gabby27653]

now my birds can bond more with me. watching your videos helps me to play with my birds more. I think my parrot is bored. now we'll have fun together

[mari8244]

OMG Grasshopper is the cutest and most super hyperactive distracted smart bird ever. I can't stop laughing it is just to cute.

[NumaNumaRiiko]

Lol at Bobo. :3

[schatzi011]

Nice video. That is neat how they learned from each other.

[flychomperfly]

why should i 'improve' on something that works? you just want me to do it your way.

as we both said, you aren't a professional trainer. and even if you were...i am clearly doing fine with my own methods. and yes, mine are different -- otherwise, you wouldn't feel so compelled to comment.

if you don't like it, no one is telling you to do it -- esp me. i am just showing the intelligence of parrots.

if you keep ignoring the purpose and continue to be rude, i won't allow this to continue.

[gizmotis]

i don't think that i said that what you are doing doesn't work, but rather that you can improve on the skills that you have at present. i too am an average person, trained multiple tasks and use the same basic structure that you do. neither of us have reinvented the wheel. your ideas aren't different from other trainers, just your techniques are very rough and in need of polishing. you seem to hold yourself in high regard, but as you have pointed out to others, we can all use improvement.