I'm new to clicker training but not new to owning birds. I have a brown-headed parrot who's been with me for 3 1/2 years and a GCC who's been with me for 3.
I never tried to train either one of them until 6 days ago. Here's how things went with my GCC (moving at his pace):
Day 1: He learns that "click" means treat
Day 2: He learns to target a stick
Day 3: He learns to move in a circle by following the target stick
Day 4: He learns to move in a circle by following my finger instead of the target stick
Day 5: He learns to move in a circle with no hand signal on the cue word "circle"
I can't believe that 6 days ago he didn't know any tricks and had never heard a clicker and now he will follow the target stick and turn in a circle when you say "circle." I even tested his circle trick with my husband and he will also turn in a circle when he gives the verbal cue!
Things are progressing more slowly with my brown-headed parrot but he's less tame than my GCC so I expected that to be the case. He knows how to target and I'm teaching him to move in a circle by following the target stick.
What's great is that my GCC seems to love training as much as I do. Yesterday when he was doing circles he'd do a circle and then wag his tail as soon as I clicked---even before I gave him a treat!
I think my brown-headed parrot likes it, too, but he's more low-key and harder to read.
I'm so glad that I have a new way of interacting with my birds and this forum and Michael's videos and blog have been such a great resource.
I do have one question: do you reward a trick when you haven't given a cue? This morning when I put Bubba on his training perch he immediately started doing circles again and again without a cue. I didn't click and reward until I actually gave the cue and he turned in a circle. In-between cues he was continuing to turn in circles but again I didn't reward him for that. Is that right?