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Help training please! what is my next step?

Discuss the methods and techniques of clicker training, target training and bonding. These are usually the first steps in training a young parrot.

Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby rosalvarez.gt » Wed Oct 21, 2015 8:54 pm

Hi Everyone!
I have a 5 month old peach faced lovebird (Luna). She/He is very sweet and calm. Luna is new to me for 2 months now I have been trying to get her to trust me and then start training (step-up, etc). Since the beginning I have always let Luna out of the cage and around my room for about 2 to 3 hours. I've done everything to gain her trust and I finally got her to eat out of my hand and fly onto my finger in exchange for a treat!!! This is a big step for us. Now I am wondering what the next step is??? She will never come to me unless I have a treat for her/him. Also, she quickly resorts to nibbling when I run out of treats in my hand. I usually put her/him back in the cage if this happens to discourage it but it persists. Luna also demands attention, I think, because when I am sitting on my bed she sometimes starts flying towards me but directly to my face, I'm not sure if this is aggressive or not? She is definitely not trying to land on my head like many lovebirds love to do, she is going directly to my face at a high speed and then turns off at the last second. What is this behavior? And what should I work on next now that she eats out of my hand? I am not quite sure how to progress to the next step. She still doesn't come towards me in the cage when i get near her cage. She doesn;t answer to my presence much except for asking me to let her out of the cage.

Thank you so much in advance for any advice !

Luna :swaying:
rosalvarez.gt
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby Wolf » Wed Oct 21, 2015 10:39 pm

Right now I would probably stick with what you are doing for a while longer as she has not yet developed her trust in you to the point required for further training, at least in my opinion. It does not sound to me that she is being aggressive towards you with her flying towards your face. With all things parrot trust is the most difficult thing to attain, but without the trust to where they look forward to your presence and eagerly approach when you near their cage or that they fly to you when given the chance you have nothing. For a bird trust is paramount and everything must wait until you have earned it and although I don't have love birds, I do have parrotlets, which appear to be quite similar this seems to be even more important to them.
Love birds and parrotlets are small and fast so they don't have the physical strength for learning many of the tricks that people like to teach birds. If you limit what you try to teach her to things that don't require any props that they must manipulate and you wait until you have the trust required then you should do well with things like step up, wings, turning around and flight maneuvers and recall, Most of these begin with target training which would be your next logical step.
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Re: Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby Pajarita » Thu Oct 22, 2015 11:52 am

It's not only the lack of physical strength, it's also their attention span (they are flighty) as well as the fact that they simply do NOT bond with people the same way that companion species do. People think that all parrots are the same but they are not. There are companion and aviary species and the difference between the two is, basically, that companion species can bond very deeply to humans while aviary species don't. They would ALWAYS choose another bird over a human, even when they are hand-fed. These species don't do well with training. Oh, you can train them but it's highly stressful to them...

Also, all birds do tricks for food and nothing else so the fact that yours only steps up or comes to you for a treat is normal. Parrots are not programmed by nature to obey orders or even please anybody but themselves so the only way of getting them to do anything is bribing them with food so don't think that this is a failure on your part because it isn't. It's the way it is for everybody. Having said that, I had a hand-fed lovebird (a female called Matilda that was given up because of aggression even though she was the sweetest, sweetest thing ever!) that loved me to pieces and would fly to my shoulder when I called her (even when she was sitting on eggs in her nest) and step up every time I asked her to. But she was the exception to the rule.
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Re: Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby Wolf » Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:27 pm

This is the reason that I place so much emphasis on earning the birds trust. A bird may like you but not trust you but no bird that doesn't like you will ever give you its trust. If they like you but don't trust you it may fly to you but will only bite when you try to touch it and that is about as far as you can get. A bird that likes you and trusts you may still be a little bitey until it calms down but it will them accept head scratches and praise and you can slowly begin to train it as long as you listen to the bird, but without trust you can do very little if anything at all. Although this is from experience with my parrotlet, it should apply equally as much with a love bird due to their similarities and mostly with the larger parrots as again you must have their trust before you can train them as well.
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Re: Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby rosalvarez.gt » Sun Oct 25, 2015 11:21 pm

Ok thank you very much for taking the time to answer me. I think we are making great progression she plops on my computer and tries to play with me when she's out of the cage and lately she has been coming onto my arm and head. When I said train I just meant I would like to teach her how to come to me when I call her or teach her when she needs to go back to the cage if needed. I do think she likes me because she does seek me out and responds to me when i whistle or talk to her and trust as you say will develop with time and patience. Thank you once more!

Luna
:swaying:
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Re: Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby Wolf » Mon Oct 26, 2015 2:42 am

To train her to come to you when you call her you just open the cage door, take a few steps back and show her a treat and call her. You can also watch for when she starts to fly towards you and call her then as well and then reward her when she gets to you. Do the same thing when it is time to feed her in the evening using her evening feed as the treat. Target training should also help you with this.
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Re: Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby liz » Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:08 am

Your bird is equivalent to a scared toddler. He really wants to trust you but must go at his own speed. Spend time in the room when you are not consentrating on him. Let him have time to check you out and learn your voice.

Wolf is right. When he is flying to you or doing something that you like us the command as if you initiated it. As in Wolf says, when he is flying toward you give him the command "c'mere". He is smart enough to learn that "c'mere" means to fly to you.
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Re: Help training please! what is my next step?

Postby rosalvarez.gt » Mon Oct 26, 2015 5:31 pm

Thank you Wolf and Liz, those are great tips!!! I will definitely start that this evening.
Luna
:swaying:
rosalvarez.gt
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Lovebird
Flight: Yes


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