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Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Exchange information about how to teach specific tricks to parrots. Most of these techniques should apply to all bird species. Share your success stories.

Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Viatrixa » Thu May 26, 2016 4:21 pm

I don't think I've even mentioned that a while ago I actually ordered Michael's book, he was kind enough to send it specially all the way from states here to Europe.

The stick & clicker training has seriously been a real godsend. Over the months Simo has become noticeably braver, less scared, and even curious simply because of this. I find that the stick is a great tool to get the parrot used to things he's shy with before - he'll poke the stick near a strange object simply out of habit and this slowly seems to get him into the mindset of "oh, I got near this strange thing and nothing bad happened!". The most noticeable changes are he has become less and less shy with hands. He also seems to enjoy the training sessions, so much that if we haven't trained that day yet he'll let me know by squawking at me in a very specific way. I honestly think he likes learning; and not just that, since it essentially helps him get used to things it makes him less skittish too. If there's anything anyone would be like to recommend, as in, some tiny hints and tips just to help out, I'd welcome them! :mrgreen:
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Pajarita » Fri May 27, 2016 9:52 am

Well, I will have to disagree with you. I don't think that parrots 'like' learning for its own sake. If it happens, I have never seen it. I think they like training sessions because of the rewards and the interaction it means. It is, for most pet birds, the only real distraction they get all day long...
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Wolf » Fri May 27, 2016 10:46 am

In some respects it is really a moot point, as to why they may like the training. It is not always possible to know if it is just because of the treats or interaction or if they just like the mental activity.
I watch my birds working on taking apart certain toys that I have when there are no treats or interaction involved, I see them doing things for me for treats and have birds that will not accept treats for learning a trick, for most of them their preferred treat is a beak rub or head scratch. Kookooloo is the hardest one to try and figure out why as she will refuse a treat that she loves, such as an almond if I ask her to do a trick for it, and although she does like beak rubs, head and neck scratches, she only accepts them when she asks for them and again tricks just don't fit her idea of why she wants a treat or a head scratch or other possible reward. So while it does not actually rule out that she is doing it for the interaction it does make it appear as if she will learn these thing because she just wants to. Interaction with another being does not always require physical contact to still be an interaction and as such a treat although it is not a food treat. It still comes down to the fact that the bird receives some form of reward out of learning the trick or behavior.

I may be wrong but I think that is what Pajarita is saying, that the bird is getting some type of reward for learning a trick or behavior and not just doing it for the purpose of learning something new that day.

In that respect, I must agree, the bird is getting some type of reward for learning. I am just saying that we don't always recognize what the reward is. I also agree with Pajarita that if the bird is expecting a beak rub, a head scratch, a tidbit of food or even praise hen it is most likely that it is doing the tricks for those items, but even without any of them there is still some form of reward that the bird receives for the learning.
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Navre » Fri May 27, 2016 8:02 pm

We give them foraging toys because they seem to enjoy, or otherwise benefit from the mental stimulation. I don't see why the same wouldn't be true of other training.
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Wolf » Sat May 28, 2016 1:38 am

I watch all of my animals on a daily basis and I see that there are things that they all do simply because they enjoy doing it. This has been true of every type of animal that I have ever had the pleasure of working and playing with. I know that they do things because they like the rewards of praise, getting scratched, and sometimes for the reward of a treat. I very often don't have a food reward for them and although they like getting scratched and getting praise, I still think that there are a lot of things that they do because the simply enjoy doing it. Simply enjoyment is a reward all by itself and is probably the best reward there is for doing anything. I try not to put human thoughts and feelings to the things that my animal friends do, but I think that when we say that everything they do is for a reward that we provide, that we are assuming that they don't enjoy things on their own and I really don't think that is true. While they do learn things from us and in many cases the enjoy the treats and interactions that come with it, I do not rule out the possibility that they may also enjoy some of the things that they were taught. Enjoyment is a reward, a very good reward, it just isn't always derived from us.
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Pajarita » Sat May 28, 2016 10:16 am

Navre wrote:We give them foraging toys because they seem to enjoy, or otherwise benefit from the mental stimulation. I don't see why the same wouldn't be true of other training.


But, John, a foraging toy is nothing but a puzzle that, if it is solved, will provide a food reward so it's not the mental stimulation that does it for them but what we hide inside the toy.
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Pajarita » Sat May 28, 2016 10:26 am

Wolf wrote:I watch all of my animals on a daily basis and I see that there are things that they all do simply because they enjoy doing it. This has been true of every type of animal that I have ever had the pleasure of working and playing with. I know that they do things because they like the rewards of praise, getting scratched, and sometimes for the reward of a treat. I very often don't have a food reward for them and although they like getting scratched and getting praise, I still think that there are a lot of things that they do because the simply enjoy doing it. Simply enjoyment is a reward all by itself and is probably the best reward there is for doing anything. I try not to put human thoughts and feelings to the things that my animal friends do, but I think that when we say that everything they do is for a reward that we provide, that we are assuming that they don't enjoy things on their own and I really don't think that is true. While they do learn things from us and in many cases the enjoy the treats and interactions that come with it, I do not rule out the possibility that they may also enjoy some of the things that they were taught. Enjoyment is a reward, a very good reward, it just isn't always derived from us.


Indeed, enjoyment IS a reward (let's not forget that we are talking hormones here). And birds do things for enjoyment (preening each other, kissing each other, bathing, chewing, having sex, etc) but let's also not forget that the 'enjoyment' these actions bring is the reward and was put there by nature to ensure the survival of the individual AND the species. It's all done through hormones: dopamine, serotonin, endorphin, oxytocin, even sexual hormones like estrogen, progesterone and testosterone. Even man is like that...
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Wolf » Sun May 29, 2016 7:17 am

Yes, indeed! The very last part is my exact point in this, even man is like this. Our parrots are intelligent and, I believe, self aware ( more about that later and in different section), they all appear to have the same range of emotions with some of them at least being felt even more deeply than in most humans. They seem to have many cognitive skills that vary from perhaps less developed to some that are more developed than in humans, especially the ones related to flight. It just stands to reason that if we, actually being very little different than them, are capable of enjoying anything at all just for the individual and personal rewards that we derive from doing that thing that so to are they capable of this.

Strictly speaking, we do not do a thing just for the sake of doing it alone, we receive some benefit from it even if that benefit is enjoyment, it is still our reward.
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Pajarita » Sun May 29, 2016 9:17 am

Yes, but with humans, sometimes the only reward is the mental stimulation -as in people who do crossword puzzles, for example, or people who go to school for no other reason that they like to learn whereas parrots don't seem to be like that, for them, there has to be a reward that brings them actual physical pleasure and not just intellectual stimulation.
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Re: Positive experiences about stick & clicker training!

Postby Navre » Sun May 29, 2016 9:20 am

Pajarita wrote:Yes, but with humans, sometimes the only reward is the mental stimulation -as in people who do crossword puzzles, for example, or people who go to school for no other reason that they like to learn whereas parrots don't seem to be like that, for them, there has to be a reward that brings them actual physical pleasure and not just intellectual stimulation.


We have a Grey who would rather take treats out of the foraging toy than take them right out of his bowl, or from your hand. I always figured that he enjoyed doing it.
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