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Fear of training props

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Fear of training props

Postby k9shrink » Thu Mar 01, 2012 5:58 am

Hi guys,

I have just one parrot, a 5 year old CAG. I'm home with her all day and she's out of the cage--just not training. She's only had about 5 trick training sessions in the past two years, mostly due to her freaking out about new props.

I have a collection of props for "new" tricks that I've been wanting to teach her since 2008. A month in advance of training, I put a couple of these new props in my office where we hang out. She sees these items daily for a month or more and ignores them. Typically, this might be a mini-shopping cart and something new to fetch. She is fine with them sitting even inches outside her cage.

All 5 training sessions have gone as follows, including the one today: I set Clover on a table (size of an end table) and she does her old tricks for sunflower seed payments. I then place one "presumably desensitized" prop on the opposite end of the table, just planning to let it sit there while we continue working on old tricks. Clover freaks out and flies off. I bring her back, she freaks again. After five or so freak outs and panicked circles around the kitchen, I move the prop to the far end of the room and return her to the table. At that point, she'll only sit near me with her back to me. If I offer seeds, she'll either refuse them, fling them, or (very occasionally) eat them... but won't take a single step or do any further tricks. At this point, I always give up and end the session. I never even get to the point of her and a new prop sharing a table, much less getting her to go up an interact with it.

Some of these props have been in her field of vision for ages, but she still won't sit on a table with any of them. In fact, I've found that even putting her familiar toys on the table evokes the same panicked reaction. This is a table where she often eats with me and shares food out of my spoon, bowl, cup or pizza box. She's also fine (though maybe a bit suspicious) with old props like rings and pegs, fetch toys, target, etc. But anything resembling a parrot toy or NEW prop causes total chaos. I'm not sure if it's the table, the prop or both that is setting her off.

I've committed to weekly training sessions with Clover (today was the first of these), but I don't want to repeat another session like this week after week. I can see this quickly disintegrating into Clover biting me when I try to pick her up, because she doesn't want me to put her in the room with the scary prop.

Has anybody else worked through an issue like this? I'm thinking it could be anything from the shininess of the chrome props to the small or slippery properties of the table. And another dozen besides that. Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

Sharon Yildiz
Istanbul, Turkey
Last edited by k9shrink on Tue Apr 03, 2012 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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k9shrink
Lovebird
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Types of Birds Owned: Congo African Grey
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Re: Fear of training props

Postby Michael » Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:22 am

Target training and systematic desensitization. See my toweling and harness training articles for the general technique and then apply to the specific props instead. Reward for tolerating the props at a great distance, then closer, closer, touch, touch for a while, perform tricks...
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Michael
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Re: Fear of training props

Postby k9shrink » Sat Mar 03, 2012 5:30 am

Hi Michael,

Thanks for your reply. I'll check out your articles and try again next Thursday. I think I'll try working on a bigger table in a bigger room, too. The kitchen and tiny breakfast (fold-down) table was probably the wrong place to work, as I couldn't get the props far enough away to desensitize them properly. Still, I'm surprised that she freaks out so much after seeing these props for up to 2 years just outside her cage, or in another room. I guess she is not used to seeing them in the kitchen, and we have to start all over there. That's why it's so hard to train parrots to perform in novel locations, as I'm sure you've seen yourself while prepping for the school performance(s).

Thanks again,

Sharon in Istanbul
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k9shrink
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Re: Fear of training props

Postby Michael » Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:53 pm

k9shrink wrote:Still, I'm surprised that she freaks out so much after seeing these props for up to 2 years just outside her cage, or in another room. I guess she is not used to seeing them in the kitchen, and we have to start all over there.


Not surprising. For 2 years the bird has "seen" the props but never interacted with them. Now they are going from something that was harmlessly out of the way to in contact.
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Michael
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Gender: This parrot forum member is male
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Types of Birds Owned: Senegal Parrot, Cape Parrot, Green-Winged Macaw
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Re: Fear of training props

Postby k9shrink » Sun Mar 11, 2012 4:11 pm

In our next training session, I had the prop next to me, and Clover far away. I played with and "chewed on" the prop, and she didn't freak out this time. I had her do a bunch of known tricks for treats, and she did them fine. I was able to get her to move quite close to me and the prop--about 5". This is better than I expected. I think a big help was to have her approaching the prop AND ME (her buddy) rather than trying to lure her away from the security of me and towards the unknown prop. Hopefully in the next session she'll get even closer!

Sharon
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k9shrink
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Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 44
Location: Istanbul, Turkey
Number of Birds Owned: 1
Types of Birds Owned: Congo African Grey
Flight: Yes


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