Suggestions

[Suzzique]

So I heard back from my friend on Martini's bitting. She said to work on trick trainning. No problem there I was planning on working with Alex anyway. So I had already ordered hemp seeds I got them yesterday and went and got a clicker.

Alex is doing great! In 10 minutes he went from touching the stick to picking up a ball and giving it to me. Woot!

Martini on the other hand wouldn't try the treat wouldn't touch the stick nothing. I tried working with him just him. I would touch his beak with the stick say touch and click. No go. So I tried with Alex demonstrating. Still no go.

Is there a time of day that might be best for working with him? Like first thing in the morning before I feed him fresh food?

Any other suggestions would be great!

Thanks

[bmsweb]

We had the same issue with our Budgie. Our Cockatiel is great but the same can't be said about our budgie.

Watch the times Martini normally eats and then take the food out 30min or so before he is due to eat. Try training Martini around the time he normally eats. This is the only way I could get our budgie to cooperate. She is doing well but nothing like Jazz our Cockatiel.

If you find any great solutions please let me know.

Cheers
Paul

[Kathleen]

Yes, I think first thing in the morning or in the evening would be the best times. This is when birds typically forage and are very active.

[Suzzique]

So I'm not having much luck with Martini. I've even gone really basic and offer a treat. Sometimes he will take the treat and I click and say good bird. I've tried several different things with not much luck. I tried millit this morning because I know he LOVES millit. I'm starting to think he might not like the sound of the clicker. Because after a few clicks he seemed to lose interest.

Though the odd thing is he has started making a sound that sounds similar to the clicker sound. So I'm confuised. Any thoughts?

Oh and I have done a few sessions with Alex in the living room. Martini will come down to the table all on his own to watch.

[MandyG]

Sometimes he will take the treat and I click and say good bird. I've tried several different things with not much luck. I tried millit this morning because I know he LOVES millit. I'm starting to think he might not like the sound of the clicker. Because after a few clicks he seemed to lose interest.

Are you giving him the millit then clicking? You should click and then treat the bird. You're trying to teach the bird that the click means that a treat is coming. If you are clicking while the bird is eating the millit you may be startling the bird. If you startle the bird every time it's eating the millit you're going to condition it to be afraid of the millit. It sounds like this may be the case if it's losing interest in the millit after a couple of clicks.

Or it may be that he's losing motivation after a few click & treats (c&t) because he's either not hungry enough and a few bites is filling him up or millit isn't a high enough reward for him to want to work for it.

Have you tried finding different treats that he may like more? This post has a few suggestions on finding out what your bird likes and establishing it as a treat.

If it is the clicker that Martini has a problem with there could be many reasons for it. Depending on the type of clicker you have it may be too loud and it's scaring the bird, you can muffle the click by completely hiding the clicker in your hand our in your pocket. There are quieter clickers you can use as well. You can also use other things instead of a clicker like clicking a pen. You might find more information on clicker substitutes here.

[Suzzique]

Yes I have tried lots of different stuff with Martini. All things I know he likes. I finally went with millit because I know he LOVES it. He will eat nothing else until the whole thing is gone when I've given it to them. Once his is gone he will move to Alex's cage and eat anything that Alex hasn't. Because of this I don't give it very often.

I'm not sure how much if any training becides step up and step up onto a stick he got at his old home. When we first got him we were more worried about teaching him to fly and spend time with the family at dinner than any other type of training. We spent months building up his wing mustles and then throwing him short distences ect. Now he is almost as good as Alex at flying.

I've done some training sessions with Alex in the living room and Martini will fly down to the table to watch. The clicker doesn't seem to bother him then.

I was told to get him to take treats from me and click so that he gets use to the clicker and that it means good stuff. It could be that he is just being really stubbern.

[Suzzique]

So I've been working with Alex. I've been trying to get him to drop a ball into a cup. He will only do it once in a while. Part of the problem is that when he was a baby he made up a game where he throws his rubber ball for me to catch. Then I roll it back to him to grab. So now that I'm trying to get him to drop a ball (golf ball sized wiffle ball) into a cup he wants to play his game. Any suggestions to help me to get him to do what I want rather than play his game?

[Michael]

Shaping and operant conditioning through positive reinforcement.

[Suzzique]

He gets that if the ball goes in the cup he gets a click me excited and a treat. But more often than not still just wants to play his ball game.

[Michael]

You'll have to get enough repetitions of the new behavior to counter condition the old behavior. Don't reinforce the unwanted ball playing and do reinforce the trick. You may have to up the value of reinforcement if it isn't enough motivation for the bird to overcome the old behavior in favor of the new. How long have you been working on this? If anything short of a week, give it some more time before trying anything different.