Accepting nail trim

[Avialae]

How many of you guys teach your birds to do this?
Way to often i see people that are great with positive reinforcement, train all the tricks there are, but forget the basics like nail trimming and accepting medication without restraint.

Here's a quick vid of one of my sennies. Usually i train it with the bird perched, but she is very comfortable on her back so this is what we did with her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xJGG70F ... e=youtu.be

[Michael]

Because the parrot has been taught through positive reinforcement to accept restraint and because nail clipping is done so infrequently that there isn't really a need to practice that behavior specifically. It's great if a parrot is willing to do it without requiring restraint, however, it can be dangerous to do this because if for any reason the parrot moves suddenly it could get cut.

[Avialae]

Well, that's exactly what you do in a normal case; you train the parrot to offer it's foot so that you can hold/restrain the toe while clipping/filing the nail. Molly here is an exception since she is more comfortable and relaxed on her back. If you use the right clipper there is no risk of the bird being cut.
Though, as in any positive reinforcement training, the important part is letting them know that they don't have to participate if they don't want to, and that you'll let them go if they tell you to, but if they'll be rewarded if they don't.
I can't really agree with you that a bird that is wriggling around trying to get loose has been trained to "accept" restraint.

Personally i can't see how it being done only once in a while is a reason not to train it when it is a very easy behavior to train, and very stressful/uncomfortable to the bird. Same goes for accepting medication from a syringe or anything like that.
Most effective, least aversive method is what PRT is all about, and not just when it comes to tricks.

[cml]

Id say that was very impressive!

[Avialae]

This isn't my bird, but this is what it would "normally" look like. Very eager and happy macaw.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ly1eKiV ... creen&NR=1

Thanks cml!

[macbrush]

I think that depends on individuals. I am not very experienced with birds, but I have seen dogs, no matter how much time you spent training him to accept nail trimming, the best you can do is a very hesitated cooperation, i.e. they would still move around slightly, and a bit afraid of the clipper. You will have to be very careful working with those dogs, they may make sudden move when you're clipping.

While some, you can just clip or do whatever you want with them, while watching TV...

[Avialae]

That's mostly because people confuse training with habituation.
Trying to get a dog to accept it by doing it over and over again is not the same thing as shaping a completely new and positive behavior.

I work a lot with dogs (and different exotic mammals as well) and once trained a rescue German shepherd who was a known biter to do this. He would litterally try to bite and lunge when the owners needed to clip his nails, they had to be like three people just to wrestle him down.

So we started from the beginning by just clicking and treating for being able to have our hand NEAR his paws. Over a week (we take it very slowly with these dogs) we then shaped it into being able to touch his toes and nail whilst he was still relaxed, and eventually into him placing his paws in our hand by hos own. When they're comfortable with this, you introduce the clipper at a distance. A friend of mine actually turned the sound of the clipper (cutting into a twig) into a "clicker"/secondary reinforcer itself.
After that it's just a matter of shaping it to the point where the dog is relaxed with you tapping the clipper to it's claws, holding the clipper around a claw, putting a bit of pressure on the claw and eventually clipping, and rewarding small approximations all the time.
This is how you train a behavior like this, and i have actually not seen this fail with any dog so far.

Here's a quick vid that explains the process, even though you might have to take it a lot slower with other dogs. (And this is why you need to start long before it is time for a trim)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MuXwKqXTBsE

[macbrush]

I know what you mean, and that's exactly what we did, step by step rewarding them until they let us clip willingly. But there are still difference of acceptance level with individual dogs, some would eventually love it, while some would just "okay, I'll let you clip", with those dogs, sometimes they look for excuse and will pull away slightly with slightest distraction. That's all I am saying.

[Avialae]

Try switching to a dremel.