The "wait" command - Do you use it?

[friend2parrots]

Hi everyone,

I've been teaching Ringo the "wait" command - basically as a means to keep him from being a velcro bird, and to teach him how to play independently again. I don't make him sit still, I just let him do whatever he wants where I've placed him (i.e. bird tree or other play area) and reward him for spending time on his own while I am nearby, so he understands that he doesnt have to be ON me to feel secure.

recently, however, his nervousness while I use this command has increased a lot, esp. since we've worked up to 30 seconds (over a period of four weeks) I'm not sure if I am doing anything wrong - or if I should be doing things differently?

So I was wondering if anyone else uses the "wait" command or something similar for this purpose, and if theyve had success?

thanks in advance for your feedback !

[Dave & Karen]

Our parrotlet does the same thing while laying on his back, he obeys the command flawlessly and will not getup unless I tell him to but he's shaking very nervously the whole time, and sometimes even after he's done doing the trick... it does make me nervous to what's really going on in his head, but it's also strange that he will stay on his back totally motionless until either I touch his feet so he can grab my finger and pull himself back up or until I put a treat where he can grab it with his beak....

So basically I was going to ask the same question or wait for someone else to answer your post...

[marie83]

I haven't trained wait as yet but it may be something I will do in the future. I also plan to do it in the same way you would train a dog.
I dont know how the nervousness or fear of being alone will impact things but the way we taught Ollie (gcc)to be less clingy was by putting loads of foraging toys on his tree and playing with them with him to start with. We then started backing off a few steps at a time whilst he was too busy to notice until we were returning to whatever we were doing, he pretty soon got the idea he could come back to us any time he wanted but it was actually fun to play alone sometimes.

These days we only put food in random toys a couple of times a week but he will now actively fly back to check and double check them all every time, he is now also happy to go off and explore other areas too. He can still be clingy at times but he is also very independant now, of course we can still guarentee he will be clingy when we are busy but independant when we want to sit down with him and give hm a cuddle

[Dave & Karen]

It may have something to do with the part where he knows you want him to not move but still has free reign of the room or house and not so much a clingy issue, just that he wants to do something else but he's following your command.
I know ours does not like being on his back but he will obey the command, usually until I physicaly touch his feet or beak so he can pull himself up, otherwise he'll just lay there... I can even walk away and come back and he's still in the exact same position... but very nervous about it.
my solution to the nervousness is to drastically shorten this part of his training and only put him on his back once or twice a day and only make him hold the position for about 5 to 10 seconds (basically just enough so he doesn't forget the trick) until he's far less nervous. after he's much more comfortable with it I'll slowly increase the time he's on his back.

I'll see how this works out since it's only been about 3 days since I decided to shorten this part of the training, so far yesterday he laid on the bed on his back for abbout 10 seconds or so without anyone touching him and he pulled himself back upright after the "good bird" cue and he seemed to be a lot more ok with that...

[friend2parrots]

thanks for the great advice and suggestions guys - what both of you are saying makes sense -

dave & karen - i think youre right that one reason for the nervousness is that i'm going too fast, too soon. it might be dawning in Ringo's mind that he doesn't like this exercise. i guess i need to go back to a point in our training of the wait command where he was like, "ok, this is cool." that was around the 15 second mark. i thnk i gotta practice that 15 sec wait a little more - maybe for another week. and he could be anxious because of what you mention:

just that he wants to do something else but he's following your command.

this is a helpful tip thanks for pointing this out. i need to be careful not to make him wait while he wants to do something else, becaues then he'll have bad associations with the wait.

marie - the playing with stuff on a foraging tree with him and then backing off gradually is a great idea - i guess I can click and treat then for increasing distances from the tree, and for him ignoring me while i do other stuff right nearby. and about training the wait command - i'm curious as to how one trains this command with a dog, as I have never trained a dog. the method i've been using for Ringo is basically, telling him wait, then click and treat, and then gradually increasing the duration between saying the word "wait" and the click. i let him do whatever he wants in the duration as long as he's not moving closer to me. is the dog-training method for wait different?

He can still be clingy at times but he is also very independant now, of course we can still guarentee he will be clingy when we are busy but independant when we want to sit down with him and give hm a cuddle

Ha ha!! this reminds me of my old Ringo - he used to be like this! something in the other side of the room would suddenly attract his attention just at the VERY moment that I'd get myself all comfortable to give him a nice little neck scratch. but then the next minute when I'm trying to concentrate really hard working on the computer, he'll pester me clinging to the front of my shirt, staring up and trying to look as cute as possible so i'll stop what i'm doing to cuddle him. i think they're all like this!

i'm noticing from just reading around that the "wait" command isnt used that much by bird owners -but people do seem to be using the "stay" command. anyone know what's the commonly understood difference between these two commands?