How can i get mango as tame as kili?

[Nir]

Although mango is tame, i want to improve taming him to the point where he is as tame as this video of kili.

http://trainedparrot.com/index.php?bid= ... s+Tameness

what kind of taming exercises do i have to do to get mango this tame? so far mango will step up only when he wants to. like if he is in his play gym or swing, and i go to make him step up, he wont. he will even go away from me since he knows i will take him away from his toy. Also a lot of the day i let him do his own thing and i dont bother him because i want him to be independent which he is and of course he willingly comes to me throughout the day which is when i do some training or spend time with him but only time i will physically go to him is when i am going to put him back in his cage. so i think that might be a reason that he doesnt step up to me or come to me when i go to him? not sure though. Also when he is on my table, i can pick him up and lay him on his back on the table or my hand. but when he is on my finger, he wont let me pick him up. he will hold on to my finger like his life depended on it. so i dont push this.

he is clicker trained so when i am doing the clicker training on the play gym, he will do everything he knows how to do which at this point is wave, turn around, flighted recall (still work in progress) , step up.

so question is how can i get mango to feel more comfortable with me (more tame).

are there any taming articles i should read? I just want to improve our relationship to the next level by working on more taming exercises (instead of trick training). or perhaps i need to work on more trick training as well since i have been slacking a bit on training lately because of my strict schedule. but we still spend many hours every day even on the strictest schedule.

Lastly 1 thing i might be doing wrong is whenever he flys to me, i reward him with a treat. and also i have been giving him treats a bit too much i think and spoiling him lol. Thing is when he wants a treat, he will literally do every trick in the book. wave, turn around, then if that doesn't work he will hop on me and go to my lips and start touching it to give me a kiss. how can i say no to that... so i end up giving him more treats then i should and this is when i am not training him which has been the regular lately. Also in the morning, i give him 2 nutri berries which i hide in a foraging toy which he does a good job of eating. So perhaps i am desensitizing him to treats by giving him the treats too often to the point where he doesn't feel the need to listen to me? so perhaps i should be a bit more strict with the treats.

his treats i use nowadays is sunflower and also almonds. he seems to like the sun flower more.

sorry for the long reply but any advice is greatly appreciated.

[Michael]

http://www.amazon.com/Parrot-Wizards-Gu ... T0POF47SDU

It takes 300 pages to explain.

[Nir]

Damn, is there a cheaper soft cover option to buy lol. If not then I will order it in the next few days.

[nightjars]

I'd love an e-book version..

I'm in the same boat, though. Very much interested in buying this book. Not only because its quite obvious that Michael is very good at training his birds, but I very much like his opinions on the treatment of parrots as well. Its nice to see so much good information from somebody who very clearly genuinely cares about his critters. (Not that there are not many other people who do this too, I have just run into far too much information about training animals that completely divorces itself from regard of the animals' well being.)

[Michael]

I'm in the same boat, though. Very much interested in buying this book. Not only because its quite obvious that Michael is very good at training his birds, but I very much like his opinions on the treatment of parrots as well. Its nice to see so much good information from somebody who very clearly genuinely cares about his critters. (Not that there are not many other people who do this too, I have just run into far too much information about training animals that completely divorces itself from regard of the animals' well being.)

Thanks, I appreciate you realizing this. Mine may be one of the only or even first book about general parrot keeping that promotes flight, harness, outdoor time, and other essential or safety aspects. There is no soft or ebook version available at this time or foreseeable future. Thanks.

[Wayne361]

Time, patience, training, positive re-enforcement, conditioning, will all give you a closer bond over time. As for rewarding, only reward desired behaviour or you will have a hard time unteaching your bird regarding flight. I refer to parrots as "cerebral pets" in that your goal is to have parrot willingly do what you want. Figuring out how to do this is the "cerebral" part, but common sense combined by positive re-enforcement etc is the trick. Tricks and flight training will assist in bonding with your bird. For tricks i simply copied what was shown on this site and were not hard to teach. What I find personally most rewarding is training new desired behaviours based on extrapolating what I have learned and applying that to the new situation/desired behaviour. Once you have the basics down and can used this to your advantage you will have 90 percent mastered IMO. Sorry for the ramble but keep putting in the time, learn proper training techniques, reward ONLY for desired behaviour, use proper food management, and slightly (yes I said slightly) push the birds comfort zone in terms of socialization. Over time the old comfort zones are forgotten by the bird as you advance toward new boundries. This all builds trust if the bird realizes newly introduced situations etc dont result in negative results for the bird.
This is just a snap shot. I dont use complex terminology, only a simple basic understanding of techniques and methodology and Im still learning. In short get Micheals book. Dont just read but make an effort to understand.....

Hope this helps,


Wayne

[ShellyBorg]

Just got the book. Best bird money spent yet!