Nir wrote:I have been working on turn around and he does it but I haven't phased out the circle yet. That's only because I just got his harness so I started training him that. Any advice about teaching him multiple things on the same time? Is that okay or should I focus on 1 trick at a time and move on until he has mastered it. Also another thing that's a problem is that he only does wave ,turn around when he is on the area where I train him. If he is playing on his play tree and play gym, he will not do the tricks. So should I change the training area from time to time?
Ps: I finally got him to stick his head in the harness but he still doesn't do it willingly. He will just kinda hesitantly bow his head while closing his eyes and let me put it on but it's very defensively. And right after he is dying to take it off. Still a work in progress . I do reward him with bigger treats for this.
any advice is greatly appreciated.
I think it's perfectly fine to be teaching him multiple things at once. He's a smart bird and very capable of learning them. In fact, I think that if you just stuck with one thing at a time, he'd get bored and you'd lose him. Stick with one till he's got it about 75-80% of the time, then add in another one.
As for getting him to wave in other areas, be sure he's got the trick mastered in his training area. That's the beauty of having a mobile training area like a training perch. It can be moved around the house and raised and lowered so that it doesn't become "the place where tricks are done." Also, remember that clicks and treats are used to reinforce good behavior ALL the time - you can capture desired behaviors and shape them using the clicker. For example, if the bird lands on your shoulder rather than your head and you've been trying to make that happen for a LONG time (not that that's ever happened to me!), click and treat! If your bird happens to potty on a piece of paper rather than the floor, click and treat. If he's holding his wings out to stretch and you like the "big wing" trick - click and treat. If you start doing that, it's likely that Mango will get the idea that clicks and treats can happen any time in any place, and he may not be so stuck to the desk doing tricks.
As for the harness - I've yet to successfully train a bird to wear it happily. I'm impressed with Michael and everyone who's been able to do it. The BEST suggestion I can make would be to go back and watch Michael's video of training Kili to wear hers. I thought he did a great job.
