PLEASE HELP!

[skydds]

I have two cockatiels that i am training, Charlie i have had for 2 years i have trained him with no treats no clicker just pure affection because he loves it so much, i have gotten him on clicker training now because im training my other tiel Sasha on it and i figure it would be good for charlie to learn clicker because hes kinda spoiled. Anyways my problem is, i notice Sasha is unresponsive to my commands unless i have a clicker and treat in my hand... but charlie is all good. What have i been doing wrong? i cant figure it out, its frustrating.

[Roger P]

How long have you been working with Sasha? Is she doing the tricks consistently? If things go really well when you have the clicker and treats, try not treating her every time she does the trick. Start making it random treats. If Sasha does not know which time she does the trick will get her the treat, she should begin to do the trick more consistently and even without the clicker eventually, as the clicker tells her when she is done. You can also use this to string multiple tricks together (Turn, Shake, Nod, and Wings, for example).

Just a suggestion, let me know if it works for you (if you decide to try it). Hope it helps.

[skydds]

yea for sure i going to give it a shot and see how it goes in a couple weeks thanks

[amia]

Hi Guys,
I've asked myself similar question regarding the usage of clicker and treats. If I use it randomly than I am loosing the capability of teaching my parrot what exactly I want to train him. For example, for "fetch" he was having difficulty understanding he should drop it into the cup. Only after quite a few click+treats when it entered the cup and not when he didn't he got it. If I give the click+treat sign randomly he would be having more trouble understanding when I did not give it to him for no reason and when since he was not doing what I was trying to teach it.
I would like to hear your thought on this matter.

[Roger P]

The random thing only comes into play after the bird is consistently doing the trick correctly, not before he has it mastered. Once they have it mastered, they may not do the trick as well if they get a treat every time. If they are not sure which time will result in the treat, they will be more likely to perform it better, but only after they have perfected it. I will sometimes ask Merlin to turn around two or three times before he gets a treat.

[amia]

This is one way to think about it. However, another is that some tricks are done in stages for example "fetch" at first is just picking up the object and when this is mastered it also includes putting it inside the box/hand. If the treat is given randomly to "mastered" tricks the parrot might think that he is getting the treat randomly. If he is getting it every time he performs well he can understand he needs to do more/something else/slightly different and determine what he needs to change in order to perform well and get the treat. He has no way of knowing when he didn't get it because of that you want him to do something different or because of randomisation.

[FatimaAndCharlie]

I never used clicker for my Charlie. just lots of compliments and treats. teaching him to step up was really difficult for me. he was hand shy and so i had to be VERY patient. once he got over the hand shyness, he still wouldn't step up unless I have treats in front of him in my hand. Now he steps up without treats too. learned about a week ago.

My advice is, keep using clicker and treats for as long as you need to. work at your bird's pace and it will learn to do it without the clicker and treats eventually. it will take time and effort, but it will learn so don't stress about it