Toweling Parrot - How To Tame Parrot to Towel

[Michael]

Toweling Parrot - How To Tame Parrot to Towel

This article is about how I towel tamed Truman in just 3 days to undo the towel phobia instilled by the vet. I provide two approaches for completing the training and the end result is a parrot that does not fear being grabbed by a towel. Check out the video and see how Truman stands tall and accepts being held by a towel.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

I'll have to give this a try, when I have some time to spare. Scooter came to us towel-phobic and I started desensitizing him to it by wearing a towel around, draped over my head or shoulder, but he was reluctant even to deal with that. However, he's considerably more settled now and it may be time to give it a go.

One question... how do you time the reward with the withdrawal of the towel? It seems to me there might be some danger of having the reward associated with the towel being "chased away" rather than with tolerating the towel.

One thing I've been unsure of, that you may have a good answer to, is what the maximum time gap is over which a parrot will associate two actions. In other words, how long can I wait to bridge and reward or reward the bird and have the bird connect the reward to the action I want to be reinforcing? I'm sure there is a technical term for this, but it is eluding me at the moment. With a horse it is said to be 3 seconds. I think it is longer with a parrot, but I'm not sure how long.

[Michael]

I think it has less to do with the gap of time than with additional behavior. If the parrot gets a chance to execute another behavior before the reward is given, you risk it associating the reward with the wrong behavior. So from my training experience, it's not the gap of association but the time gap prior to the parrot doing something else that is most influential.

As for towel, I simply take the towel away first as negative reinforcement and then provide positive reinforcement later. As long as the parrot did not move or contribute any new behavior, I don't see the time gap being a problem. If the parrot starts squirming as soon as you release the towel, then you should reward while still covered with the towel. Thus when you remove it, the parrot will be busy with the treat and not contribute alternative behavior. The reason I prefer to reward after release is to allow the negative reinforcement to take effect and to teach the calm behavior before, during, and after toweling.

[entrancedbymyGCC]

The reason I prefer to reward after release is to allow the negative reinforcement to take effect and to teach the calm behavior before, during, and after toweling.

That makes sense.