Training in Progress!!

[Stephoklein]

Hey Parrot Friends,

So I posted a few weeks back about our new member "Odie" a 2 year old male Eclectus. I have begun target training and he has been doing excellent. We have also started retrieve where he has to drop the item into a bowl, which he is picking up very fast. Now the only bump I am running into is the "clicking". Should I click and treat every single time? Can I click and say good boy without the treat? Not sure if clicking without treating will mess him up.

Second question!! Odie does not like hands around him unless he is in the mood. Otherwise he gives a little growl and will snap. I have been using the target stick to get him to step onto my hand. Is there a technique I could use to get him use to having my hands around him and touching him? Sorry thats a lot of questions, but whatever advice anyone has I would appreciate it!!

[ljeanne]

google " power pause" for hand conditioning. Chet Womack
clicler training starts by treating all the time then moves to random treating when the training is bomb proof. meaning when your bird has "got it" change up a bit to make him think and work it out.

[Michael]

For consistency and reliability, you should always click and reward (until "bombproof" performance is established, I like that term lol). For hand taming, things will take longer but that's fine. I don't use the clicker for this for two reasons. First of all, you quite likely really need both hands. Second, the bird isn't performing a specifically desired behavior (it's simply teaching it to stay calm and allow you to do stuff) so there is no exact behavior to click for. This shows a bit of how its done:

http://trainedparrot.com/index.php?bid= ... New+Parrot

[Stephoklein]

For consistency and reliability, you should always click and reward (until "bombproof" performance is established, I like that term lol). For hand taming, things will take longer but that's fine. I don't use the clicker for this for two reasons. First of all, you quite likely really need both hands. Second, the bird isn't performing a specifically desired behavior (it's simply teaching it to stay calm and allow you to do stuff) so there is no exact behavior to click for. This shows a bit of how its done:

http://trainedparrot.com/index.php?bid= ... New+Parrot

Thank you very much Michael!! I think I may have been pushing him a little too fast as well for him to accept touching and was training accepting touch as a trick. Then the next morning he didn't want to train. So, I backed off a bit and simply touch him on the back and beak when I take him out of the cage, because he is so excited to come out he allows it more without becoming flustered. Then that night he did training perfectly. I think I'm going to continue with trick training, until he becomes more and more calm.

[Stephoklein]

google " power pause" for hand conditioning. Chet Womack
clicler training starts by treating all the time then moves to random treating when the training is bomb proof. meaning when your bird has "got it" change up a bit to make him think and work it out.

I have seen the power pause and have started trying, but it definitely has to be at the right time otherwise he gets super flustered. Thank you so much for your help!