clicker training a budgie

[TheNzJessie]

hey, there might already be a post on this but honestly im way to tired to even look tonight :/

i just wanted to know if there is a right and wrong way to clicker train any bird especially a budgie. when you should start moving on to target training, how long training sessions should be. all those basic questions


it would be a great help as i have been clicker training my budgie for 3 days now and i have seen no result so a average time span it takes would be a great help. or if there is a proper way to do it like how long in between clicking and then giving a treat.

[amiliak]

Hello, i am a total newbie to clicker training with birds and have also only been doing it for a few days with 2 very young budgies. These are my observations so far:

I have a tendancy towards impatience in all aspects of my life so this impacts my bird training. These little guys (Kizzie and Orly) will prove an excellent exercise for me. I started with conditioning the clicker the first day by offering a treat and as soon as the budgie beaked it I would click. I did this for about 10 minutes with each bird and they "seemed" to get it. Later the same day Iactually tried some targeting by using a chopstick as the target. Only Orly was interested in the stick. We did this for 10 minutes and I was convinced I had a prodigy on my hands. Orly was not hungry at this time so he was not accepting the treat when offered after the click. It turns out he was just in a playful mood at the time and the stick was interesting to him because when I tried the same thing the next morning when he was hungry he was clearly confused by it. I recognize that I need to slow down and be absolutely certain that they have been fully conditioned to the clicker so I am going to just condition them for a few more days before including the stick.

I am experimenting with training diets right now but have definately noticed that the birds are way more responsive when they are hungry. This isn't surprising as this holds true for clicker/treat training any animal. My dog was exactly the same way when he was a pup. It is the only way to get there undivided attention.

Let me know how its going with your little guy, mabey we can learn from each other as we are at the same stage in this process.

Cheers,
Amy

[TheNzJessie]

i think thats where i went wrong, i was clicking just before the treat was given to him i started clicking when his beak touched the treat and he seems more responsive. ill do another 10 minutes of clicking just when his beak touches the treat and later on in the day i will click just before he eats it and so on, and i would like so i say i just heard my budgie wolf whistle for the first time....im so proud haha

[budgiebuddy]

here is some tips i know you know that you are done clicker training when you click it and they look around for a treat you should never ever just click the clicker and never give the bird a treat cause then the thought of always getting a treat when they hear the clicker starts to go away another thing is if you are target training with you bird you have to click the clicker the second they touch or bite whatever you are using as a target stick becuase if you do it to late then they get the impression that they should be doing something else besides biting or touching the stick it can be confusing and at times difficult but if you know what you are doing easy i hope this information has helped

[Michael]

It's hard to imagine but there are many many things people can do wrong in training. The important thing is to try to do as much as possible right as the trainer and let the burden of mistakes fall only on the bird.

Some critical components for basic training:

-Sufficient motivation (hunger)
-Accuracy/consistency of clicking
-Immediacy of reinforcement
-Accurate pacing and increasingly challenging

So obviously the parrot needs to be a bit hungry. See what time it normally eats and try to train it around that time and withhold just prior. Don't mess your parrot up by clicking at the wrong time. It seems like a stupid thing to mention but I've definitely watched people mess up with the clicker and then fumble to get it clicked or to serve the treat. If you're not agile with holding taget stick, clicker, and treat with one hand and quickly completing each task, you'd better practice before you do this with the bird and screw up. If you screw up then it will just confuse the bird and require a lot more training to correct for the mistakes. You want to be able to show the parrot the target stick. Click at the exact moment it touches the tip of the stick with its beak and offer the reward immediately after. You don't want to have any delay between touching the stick and receiving the reward. Just because you are using the clicker doesn't much matter at this early stage. This will prove handy for more advanced tricks where there must be a delay between behavior and reward but in this case, there is no reason you shouldn't be rewarding immediately.

Also don't lure the bird to touch the target stick. It is best to keep the reward out of view until the stick has been touched. Don't expect the parrot to start running all over for the stick right away. First it must touch when the stick is just in front of it. Then work it to the point where it just has to reach a little for it or turn its head for it. Then one step, two steps, etc. You will have to practice each stage until the bird is getting it consistently and then try the next. If it fails at the next, return to the last point of success or end the session. As for keeping it challenging, once the bird is getting it, make sure you keep making it harder by targeting farther or onto other places. Don't hurt your parrot's chance for doing more advanced behavior by only asking for easy ones. But don't expect it to happen immediately. Challenge it to do just a little more every time but wait till it gets it before moving on.

[TheNzJessie]

thanks Michael. my budgie is on to target training now he responds to the clicker very well took 5 days for him to respond every time to the clicker with a reasonable amount of excitement for whats coming next.

[TheNzJessie]

he now climbs up my arm and across my desk to touch the target stick. its going great. and he only touches it when i say target

[HyperD]

Well done on the progress so far

Have you thought about training any tricks?