Advanced Target Training

[localpigeon]

How do you train your bird to target not just a stick but places you point to instead? My birds are fully target (stick) trained but I would like to train them to touch things I point to instead. And to make them touch a target with their wings or feet, instead of just their beak. Would anyone be able to teach me how to do that?

thanks!

Dani

[Kathleen]

I guess you would have to teach them to touch each thing you want them to target to separately, just like you taught to touch a stick. I'm not really sure what you mean by getting them to touch something else. Targeting can be used to get them where you want them to go.

You can also teach them another cue like "go to perch" and they will go to a perch.

[Michael]

Start with a very thin target stick and touch the object with the stick and let the parrot touch the stick in immediate proximity of the object. If the parrot understand verbal cues, now is a good time to start introducing one like saying "touch." But it must be different than anything you say during normal targeting. After a few times the parrot will go for it pretty easily. Then you jerk the stick out just a tad before the bird's beak touches the stick and it will inadvertently tap the object. Then over time you start to recede the involvement of the stick back further and further. A 1/4 second before it would touch, 1/2 second, etc. Eventually you should be able to tap an object with the stick and the bird will make the effort to touch that object. Quite simple really.

The process for targeting with other parts of the body (such as the feat) is possible but quite tedious. Essentially it's the same process as normal target training but you have to wait for the bird to touch the object with it's foot the first time. The reason it is easy to touch beak targeting is cause they use their beak for everything anyway and all you have to do is make a cue out of the stick. I hope you are using a clicker cause it will be essential to stop motion to train foot targeting cause it may be very brief at first. Basically put the object that will be the foot target (don't use the target stick again or it will be confused!) on the table. Perhaps use a different colored stick, pen, or something that won't be confused with beak target. Let the bird run around the table and every time it happens to walk by the stick, click/reward. Then when it's foot touches the stick click/reward. Then you should see the bird develop more association with the stick and spend more time at the stick and consecutively reward better attempts at touching new target with foot and nothing else. Eventually you should be able to hold the new target a little over the table and have it foot target it by lifting the foot up. Eventually you should be able to foot target the parrot to anywhere.

My parrot knows how to wave so I might find it easier to train mine to do it by cuing wave and touching the new target to her foot and click/rewarding. After a few of those, I bet she'd learn to "high five" the foot target.

[localpigeon]

Thank you. I will start on that training today.

[budgiebuddy]

I was wandering i can get my parakeet to touch a target stick on her perch but every time i try to get her to another perch she won't go i also wanted to know wicth bird do you think would be the easiest to teach advanced tricks to a senegal,parakeet,amazon,cockatoo ,or a cockatiel

[Michael]

Actually the budgie is probably just as good at learning advanced tricks as those other parrots you mentioned. Here's a video of budgie doing most tricks my Senegal Parrot can do.

[budgiebuddy]

THANK YOU so much i was also wandering are you going to use the same training methods on the cape baby that you used for kili cause i want toget a senegal sometime and i want it to be trained like yours is but i dont really get how to but i will be keeping up wih the blog

i know i am asking alot but i am also having some trouble getting my keet into a harness any tips or videos on that???

[Michael]

A lot of the information you ask for already exists on this forum.

Here is information about harness training.

This one shows you how to do target training. You don't have to wait for me to get the Cape to see videos of how to do that. It's the more advanced tricks that I plan to demonstrate how to teach on the flighted Cape.