Uninterested Parrot

[Lokums]

Hi guys,

I am sure this has been answered before but I can't find it, so please don't yell at me.

When doing some training, I am working on predominantly three things. Step up without beaking (small bite he likes to do before each step up), target training, and waving. Yesterday he would do target training no problem, step up just fine, but would insistently not wave.

My question is, do I stop trying to get him to do a trick and go to something else that he does want to do? Or to continue to try to get him to wave until he does. He knows wave, I am just trying to get him to do it on cue with regularity. My concern is if I stop what I am doing because of something he does or doesn't do, I am worried that I am the one being trained and not the other way around.

Thanks,


Mike

[Michael]

When a parrot knows so few tricks, they often forget one in favor of the newer, favorite, or other ones. Just follow the same steps you used to train the trick to train it over again and the bird will quickly remember what to do. Instead of 100 repetitions to train it initially it may take just 5 repetitions to get it back again. Mixing things up the way you're doing is good because it keeps the bird thinking about the different tricks instead of forgetting all but the latest.