Beginning clicker training. Help!!!

[MissLady9902]

Okay! I consider my Senegal Noodle tame.
How do I start with clicker training. I have treats, a clicker and a pointer.
Now what?

[Kathleen]

A pointer..... like a target stick? You won't need that yet.

You want the bird to associate the sound of a click with instant happiness. You condition them to hearing this click by clicking and then giving them a reward. You probably should do two short training sessions of just this before anything else.

Once this is accomplished, you'll notice that the bird gets excited by the click a bit, and expects a treat. That is when you move on to target training, one of the most, if not the most, useful thing to teach a parrot.

[MissLady9902]

Okay, pointer has been set aside.
Two sessions in one day or several days of two sessions?

[Michael]

It's not so exact the duration. Basically you are looking for signs that the bird knows that sound means food is coming. At first you want to be very quickly. Bring the treat up to bird and just as its beak comes in contact with the food you click. Do that a few times, then start clicking as you are reaching the treat in. And finally click with the treat out of site, then offer it. Take short breaks between clicks at this point and click and see if your bird reacts in a positive way and offer treat. If the bird is looking for the treat upon hearing the click, it knows the clicker and you can move on to target training.

The one good reason you don't want to rush the clicker training and not finish it properly is that you will basically never have the opportunity to train it again. In the future you will be clicking for favorable behaviors and thus you will never again click for no reason. Just do it for a 2-3 training sessions and feel for when the bird knows it, then move on right away.

[MissLady9902]

Okay! I can do that!
So after conditioning is done then what?

[Kathleen]

After you finish clicker conditioning, your bird understands that they hear a click and they get a treat. You then train them the real first behavior they get treats for doing.

You can do this with an ordinary chopstick (don't use a dirty one, make sure it's unused and keep it around for bird use only obviously), you'll probably want a few extra chopsticks to keep around in case your bird ruins one or they get lost.

This is a video of some of the process with my budgie Duke:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RFnBnVRe5A

It's kind of a long, tedious process to teach them to target but well worth it. I would make sure your bird is motivated for treats. This usually means don't feed them for only a few hours, and then take them out to try this.

You start by showing the bird the stick. If it's curious, it might touch the stick itself, but if it isn't, you'll kind of need to force it the first time. You want your bird to gently beak/nip the very end/tip of the stick. When they do, you click and give them their treat.

If they're not interested, you'll need to put it up close to their beak. They might touch it by accident. Reward this anyway! If they don't touch it at all, and are completely uninterested, force them to touch it by touching their beak gently with the stick. Don't chase your bird around with the stick or they're gonna get scared.

You slowly want to increase the distance. After putting it right up close to their beak a few times, put it far enough away that they have to turn their neck to reach it. Then repeat that a few times. Then a step away. Then a few steps away. And on and on.

Mix it up. Target in different directions and at different heights. Don't let your bird figure out a pattern. It isn't a dance. The only consistent thing should be touching the target stick.

Only reward for them touching the end of the stick, don't reward if they touch the middle. This will help in the long run. This might take a few training sessions or it might only take one or two. Wait it out if your bird is not immediately responding to the stick. They might eventually go and reach for it. Don't move it closer immediately if they're not moving to get it. If that happens, put the target stick behind you and don't give the bird any attention. Then, try it again and maybe put the stick a little closer this time instead.

[MissLady9902]

Sweet! Thank you!
I will let you know when we're ready to move to the next stage!

[Mona]

This is a great thread

[Batman]

Hello, I am also new to clicker training and I stumbled on this site because it was posted on your youtube channel . I am also a subscriber under trackstarr707! I just begun training my black headed caique I've only had her for two days and when i first got her she wouldn't even come out of her cage or let me pet her. Two days after I begun training her and she has step up and let me pet her. I tried to give her lots of treats to see which one she absolutely loves but it seems like she could care less to recieve a "sunflower seed, pea, or pistachio." How can I make make this training more effective? Any tips or books, or movies you watch? Thanks!

[Michael]

First of all, welcome to the parrot forum. I think you will find many useful topics, knowledgeable members, and courteous staff.

The fact that your parrot enjoys attention/praise is very good and you should cherish that because some people's parrots couldn't give a hoot. Food based treats are best for formal trick training. For informal good behavior and playtime, attention is often the best reward.

To establish food treats there are two necessary things. First off, the bird has to be hungry to some extent. If it just had a complete meal (think of having a big big dinner and then being offered something yummy but you just can't eat any more) it is less likely to accept, desire, or work for food. The second part to it is establishing a treat. You have to find out what your bird likes and just because other birds like sunflower seeds is no guarantee that yours does. Offer yours a parrot mix and see which seeds it chooses and keep those in mind. Never again feed those seeds to it except as treats. Also try fruits, seeds, nuts, and pasta as treats and see if it likes those. Good luck.

PS you can't use HTML for your signature but rather BBCode. Just press the "Img" button and paste the url between the open and close img tags.