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Cockatoo Training

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

Cockatoo Training

Postby sdorsaneo » Wed Sep 14, 2016 10:11 am

Hello!

I'm reaching out to the parrot community for some advice on training a Sulfur crested cockatoo.

Some background:

I work for an animal organization. I have a degree in animal management and experience working with trained parrots to maintain behaviors. I have also owned parrots. I am the only one in my department who has experience with parrots.
A few months back we accepted the cockatoo from a private donor. The donor had gotten the bird from another facility and we are not sure where he was before his previous facility. We actually aren't even sure if he is a he or a she. This bird has clearly been passed around from place to place its entire life and I am determined to make my organization his forever home. Which is where all of you come in.

I am the lead trainer on this bird, but we are having some trouble getting him ready to be an ambassador animal. We want to utilize him in programming discussing why exotic pets might not be for everyone. We have had some unwarranted aggression, biting without warning.

How do we get multiple people to gain his trust? Should I be the only one to work with him and have the others in my department slowly join in? Should we all be hands on? (there are 4 of us including me)

Also why isn't he taking any reinforcement during training sessions? How do we get him excited to take part in training sessions if he just wanted to be in his enclosure?

I hope someone out there will be able to help us out, we want to connect with this bird.

- Sam
sdorsaneo
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 1
Number of Birds Owned: 2
Types of Birds Owned: Sun conure, Sulfur crested cockatoo
Flight: No

Re: Cockatoo Training

Postby Pajarita » Wed Sep 14, 2016 11:03 am

Hi, Sam, and welcome to the forum! I have two LSC (actually, they are Eleanora mixes because they don't have the bright yellow cheeks), both of them came to me after belonging to other people. Freddy was 21 (he is now 25) and Linus was 25 (he is now 26). Freddy was a screamer and Linus a real bad plucker. Freddy is now OK but Linus will need a couple more years to stop plucking, if he ever does (he has gotten much better though).

As to getting a parrot to accept a number of people equally... well, although it's not completely unheard of, it is not the usual. As I am sure you know, cockatoos are monogamous and, as such, they choose one individual to become their human and, even though they could be friendly to other people, they will never develop the same relationship as they do with their chosen one. Now, when one gets a baby and this baby is always treated with love and patience, the adult bird might (not a sure thing) be willing to trust a number of people that are familiar to it BUT when you are talking about birds that come to us as adults and which might have been neglected (and, in captivity, neglecting a cockatoo is more the rule than the exception) or even abused, this small margin of exception kind of disappears and, if lucky and the new owner/human does everything right all the time, the bird will bond with one person and one person alone. So, the question here is: Is there one person he never bites? One person for whom he is always more than willing to come out of his enclosure? Because, if there is, I would suggest only this person handles him.

As to 'taking reinforcement during training', are you talking about the reward for doing something right? If you are, is he been free-fed protein food? Because, if he is, the answer is simple: not enough 'reward' in the reward :D High value items need to be identified and used ONLY for training. Also, training needs to come after bonding or it doesn't work in the long run so, again, you need to identify his 'chosen one' and this person needs to be with him hours every day just bonding (cockatoos are SUPER needy and need long hours everyday of personal attention). If the training is done right (and this is a big IF, mind you!), it can deepen the bond but the bond needs to be there first and, with neglected birds, it becomes more of a need than with well-adjusted birds that have been raised from infancy because the lack has created psychological problems (lack of trust, disaffection, depression and even PTSD) that need to be addressed before any training is done. A neglected or abused bird is in a negative number position and it needs to be brought to a zero with impeccable husbandry (solar light schedule, fresh food diet, steady and strict daily routines, etc as well as plain old familiarity between the bird and the human), then you start adding positive numbers by creating the bond (hours and hours daily of company and love) and, later on, with training. You can't jump from -10 to +10 in one single leap (training), you need to go number to number and build up.
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 18701
Location: NW Pa
Number of Birds Owned: 30
Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
Flight: Yes


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