success !!!

[genie04]

The other day my daughter excitedly told me that the p'let had taken some millet off a branch she was holding out to him. Eureka ! Now we could start clicker training...I have been working with him for a few minutes each day for the last two days and just now he allowed me to touch him !!....At first he did put his beak round my finger and I clicked for that as I figured he was making the choice to touch me...however, I then decided this might not be a good idea to teach him to put his beak round my fingers in this way !...so I moved on to very, very gently just touching his belly and it worked...click, treat and success !!....Quite a big leap foreward that I just wasn't expecting - despite my trust in clicker training.

The only problem is the stupid design of the cage...he's still sitting on the top perches which are almost out of reach as the silly door is at the bottom...so I'm really having to contort myself and keep getting terrible pins and needles in my legs ! Also I forget to breathe - exacerbated by teh fact I'm trying not to fall over and crash into the cage ! Who needs yoga !...

Just thought I'd share this though...I'm at home on my own today and there's nobody else who would understand my excitement !!

[genie04]

just to say, what I'm going to do now is move to target training..just as soon as I've found a suitable target stick...rather dubious after the perfomance with the long cocktail stick and the piece of cucumber...!!....but target training seems like the best way forward...

he's tweeting loudly now....I wonder if he wants to play some more??

[genie04]

hmmm....just tried again...too soon...and he doesn't want to know this time - just hopped away from me...oh well...softly, softly catchee monkey.

[AndreaFahy]

Yes, do be careful not to be too pushy. I wouldn't even try any touching or petting before you have good trust established with the clicker training. Are you using any particular training guide?

[genie04]

No, just my own...been using clicker training for some years now...only with dogs...good thing about the clicker you can experiment without too much undue stress and any mistakes can be resolved with a bit more time...its open for experiment, unlike other methods such as flooding. The crossover issue with clicker training birds is that it is a MUCH slower process which needs to be borne in mind - however, you can be pushy ( without being forceful ) to a certain degree ( depending on the animal being trained ) with clicker training which is the beauty of it.

I'm not going for petting, but touch - in the slightest context...in fact its barely even touch...its clicking and treating for having my hand right near him...and importantly this has been in increments. Like all training, you can't miss bits out. So I was pleased with my progress. The mistake was not leaving enough time inbetween sessions. With dogs you could wait fifteen minutes or so and begin another session..perhaps so with birds of a certain type....but not so with birds as timid as mine.

[SweetPeasMom]

Go Genie!!!!!