hello all! this is my first post on the forum, and I have to say how excited I was to find this site! It has some great info and from seeing Kili doing tricks on youtube, I am on my way to training my 10 y/o senegal Salvador.
I wanted to make some comments, and ask some questions...I am hoping you can shed some light on a few things...
I started the clicker training. It has been successful so far, and Sal within one short session already knows that she has to touch the stick in order to get her a treat. I am trying to make her walk around things to get it at the moment. I have encountered a few hic-ups and would love your feedback.
Well for one, I am hoping that this training will satisfy Sal, as she is very intelligent, but is a bit aggressive with everyone EXCEPT me. I can pretty much do anything with her and she is fine. She acts like she likes ppl, but when put on them, she will draw blood. So as you may imagine, noone wants to pick her up anymore
Lately, (in the past 6 months maybe) she has started screaming. Not just a fit, but will scream all day! She was always a quiet bird...so its a bit frustrating! She wants my husband to be in the room, or to hear him whistle...even though, he cant hold her!! haha. She adores him from a distance i guess! Well...I was hoping the training would help her to overcome the screaming by fulfilling her in a different way. Maybe even being able to interact physically with others!
I let her feed all day. I do this, for one, because it had never occurred to me to do it any different. And two because i work during the day. I do not want her to go hungry because i get home late from work. I feed her roudybush, which i do so she will not get too fat. She loves it, and I also give her "birdy bread" which i make at home for her out of the roudybush pellets and fruits/veggies. (if you would like the recipe i would be happy to post it! i make a batch and freeze it for future use!) so she has that with other fruits/veggies every day. Since beginning the training, i have stopped putting treats in her cage. I was concerned because i want her to forage, and Mona suggested a great idea to hide the pellets! (again, never dawned on me) Is there some sort of schedule you know that working ppl do in regards to training...ie do training in the a.m or do training in the p.m after they get home? and is there any advantage/disadvantage to that. Also, how long do you do your sessions for? I dont like to really feed her a lot of seed, so I am a bit nervous about doing a long session as the reward is a sunflower seed. (i dont think she would do it for anything less than that! unless it was my husbands interaction to her)
This is a lengthy reply, but I guess my questions are...how long should sessions be (gemerally speaking) and what tricks have you guys done for birds that only want the seed as rewards? Also, is there maybe something I am not thinking of in regards to feeding/training with me being gone all day?
I am looking to start trick training, and I am still not exactly sure how to do it yet! I am filtering through the site to hopefully find the video or explanation of my next step!
thanks again for the site! its awesome!
tina