by Pajarita » Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:00 am
Well, there are three things that you need to take into consideration:
1) most linnies, an aviary species, are parent-raised so they are not and never will be imprinted to humans.
2) I don't know how long you've had him but, at his age, I doubt you've had him longer than a couple of weeks, if not less, and that means the bird is still in its honeymoon period.
3) with the diet you are offering, you will never be able to find a good enough high value item for training.
Now, let me elaborate and explain what I mean by these statements and how they relate to your training question.
Parent-raised means that they were not handfed by humans when babies so they never imprinted to them and, once the narrow window of time when you can do this closes, there is nothing you can do about it. BUT, even if an aviary species is hand-fed, the close bond does not last past the time the bird becomes sexually mature. Most people do not realize that there are two types of parrots, the aviary species and the companion species and while the companion species, if treated right, bond very deeply to humans, the aviary species will never be happy once they reach adulthood unless they have companions of their own species (which does not mean the bird will stop loving you, by the way).
The honeymoon period is what we call the first few months after a bird comes to live with us. During this time, there should be no training because you need to build trust and love first BEFORE you can start training. Parrots are not naturally 'programmed' by nature through genes to understand the concept of obedience or subservience so, although training is perfectly doable, the bird needs to trust you and love you so it obeys you not only for the reward but also because it wants to please you because the desire to please the object of its affection is programmed into their genes as they mate for life.
The reward for training needs to be something the bird prefers above anything else. This is always a food item and it is always a protein food. If you free-feed protein, the bird will not crave it enough to prompt it to obey just so it can get it.
Now, what you need to do. You already have the right idea: let it out of its cage, spend as many hours you can with it talking, singing. whistling and, every now and then give it a high value item as a GIFT - this is not a reward for the bird doing anything, it is a gift from you to him to win him over. The fact that you will not be actively training does not mean the bird will not be learning valuable lessons. It will learn to trust you and, as time goes by, it will learn to love you. It can also learn to step up (something you have been trying to teach it) and step down but this is not done on a training session but as you go along and spend time with him. Parrots always want to be on their humans and this is a fact. If the bird does not want to be on you, it's because it does not trust you - and this is why you need to spend a lot of time with him without asking anything of it - because asking for it to perform when it doesn't trust/love you is considered an imposition by them. The way to teach it to step up is to offer it a treat on your open palm every now and then UNTIL you see the bird takes it from it without any hesitation and it is eager for your company (he will come close to you, walk towards you on its own and will have no hesitation on climbing on you whenever it feels like it). Mind you, you always have to wait for the bird to do something for a few days and consistently without hesitation before you go on to the next step. Once it is stepping on your hand to get the treat, you start holding it with one hand (the non-dominant one so, if you are a lefty, you would hold it in your right hand and, if you are a righty, you would hold it in your left hand) and putting your other hand in between the bird and the treat so the bird needs to step on your hand to reach it. And always praise, praise, praise when it does it even if it did not involve the bird doing anything to get it because you need to get the bird used to making a connection between praise and reward. Once he is stepping on your flat hand, start slowly and very gradually moving it so it perches on the side of your hand, first and they on your finger. Once he is doing this, start moving your hand VERY slowly and VERY gradually increasing the distance so it gets used to being 'carried' on your hand. Once you can get him from point A to point B, start teaching Step down by putting him close to a perch (the feet need to be at the same height as the perch, cage of whatever) and, once he steps down, praise, praise, praise and reward.
Now the 'high value item' thing... it's all about diet. For one thing, you are feeding an adult diet to a baby bird and that needs to be changed asap. I don't know what the breeder/store employee told you but a 3 month old bird is not an adult and it is not completely weaned. They tell you this because they want to sell them as soon as possible so they can sell more birds. People that sell birds are NOT bird lovers - if they were, they would not sell them. You need to feed soft food which is 'toddler' food for birds. As the name implies, it's food that is soft, easily digestible and nutritious. There are several kinds: gloop (which is always my first recommendation because you can continue using it when it becomes an adult and what I feed all my birds), polenta/cous cous/pastina/Irish oatmeal cooked and mixed with veggies/fruits very finely chopped and, of course, raw produce and, until the bird is a bit older, also soft seed like millet and quinoa (maybe half and half). Once the bird is older, you should not free-feed protein food which should be reserved for dinner only. I've been doing research for over 25 years on their natural diets and do not believe that pellets are or ever will be the best dietary option for them but, if you have your heart set on them, feed them only for dinner and only the best ones, Tops, and no other brand.
Once you are no longer free-feeding high protein food, you should see which one he chooses as his own high value item by putting three different kinds in front of him and making a note of which one he eats first. Try different combinations like: one sunflower seed, one piece of walnut, one piece of almond and see which one he chooses three days in a row. Then use that one with others like, say it chose the walnut, so offer a piece of walnut, a piece of cashew and a piece of pistachio and see which one he choose out of these. The one he consistently choose first is his high value item and what should be reserved for special treats and rewards.
Let me know if there is something that needs more explanation.