Michael wrote:No no. Seriously. What is your purpose? What are you trying to achieve? Overworking an inexperienced bird is quite likely contrary to your purpose. You really need to think through why you are training and what you are trying to achieve with it.
I'm a very strong proponent of training but I also believe in balance. Food management only works well in conjunction with a goal oriented and determined training approach. Starving the bird and trying to get it to do something it doesn't know doesn't build a sound relationship.
My main purpose to the trick training is to have her be a bird, I mainly am focusing on flight recall which she enjoys thoroughly. Another thing that would give me and her personal enjoyment is being able to take her outside without her being afraid, which is another thing I'm working on with carrier desensitizing. I'm also trying to build a forever relationship with her. Chris basically told me not to overfeed which I do fairly often because I have a fear that I may be starving her, I weigh her daily to make sure she's not losing weight drastically, he said to basically to a tablespoon of food until you see changes in her motivation level in the mornings, that's my only problem, she'll do everything willingly at night, she's a quick learner, I had her recalling on the third day, retrieving in 3 days as well, she is completely okay with misting after 7 days, and she goes in and out of her carrier willingly now as well. I do have goals that I have set with her, but the only thing is the motivation levels in the mornings, I, by all means would never do weight management with my bird of any sort, I just need to find a happy medium with her food intake so her motivation levels stays the same for both training sessions.