Clicker Training - who is training who?

[Seth]

My parrots have been successfully clicker trained. It took a lot of time and effort. They were terrified of the clicker. Its sight. Its sound. Everything about it. I had to coat it with almond slivers to get them used to its sight. I had to hide it from view and click and give them an almond piece for a long time to get them to not be terrified of the sound. For many months they have been successfully trained and like the clicker visually and audibly.

With this success came a realization that the birds think they were training me and not the other way around!

There is a long ledge at chest level separating two rooms that I turned into a bird safe play stand and training platform. Frequently a parrot wizard clicker is left sitting somewhere on this ledge. They like to play with the clicker. They are green cheeks so they are small enough that they cannot cause it or themselves any harm by batting it around while supervised.

However, they have an association with the clicker and the sound it makes. That association is not just that this object makes a clicking sound and then they get a treat. That association is that when I hear the clicking sound coming from that object that I am trained to give them a treat.

As such, they throw the clicker on the floor and stand exactly where it was and perfectly mimic the clicker noise (timbre, tone, rhythm, and duration). Then they look right at me. If they see that they caught my attention they turn to where the almond slivers are kept and lean impatiently towards them. Then they lean/gesture at me and make the click again and lean/gesture/point at the almonds. It is clear that they think they are tricking me into giving them a treat. "Hey, buddy, didn't you hear the clicker? Give us a treat!"

So my question is, who is training who here?

Clever birdies.

[Wolf]

Excellent! They are smart and they do learn when and how to manipulated us, to get what they want. In this case it is the clicker, but they use all kinds of ways to accomplish their task. It is one of the most amusing things about them, at least to me.

[Michael]

This is why training parrots is soooo much fun! They really challenge you to stay ahead! If you aren't perfect with your training, they will take over and fill the void!

[Seth]

Glad you enjoyed the story. When they do this I use it as an opportunity for some proper training as I interpret this behavior as an eagerness for training and a hightened level of critical thinking. They learn new tricks or variations much better from these sessions.

[liz]

LOL

[Pajarita]

Smart cookies aren't they?! But I seriously doubt they are looking for actual training when they do this, what they want is the treat!

[Seth]

It is true - they just want the treat and are not looking for training. But since they want a treat so badly they are super receptive to training.

[Pajarita]

Yes, a high value item as reward is the only way parrots will perform for us because they are not hard-wired for obedience or a need to please anybody.