BMustee Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Ok, so the other day he turned 6 months so I decided that he was old enough to trick train. I started a couple days ago with teaching him to wave hi, and he learned it in like, 10 minutes. I was pleasantly surprised because this trick took about 2 days for my Sun Conure to learn. Sense he got it down so quick and didn’t need a treat in my hand to get him to do it, last night I figured I would go ahead and see if he was ready for another trick. I went ahead and started teaching him to shake his head no. I could not believe it when he picked it up in only 5 minutes!!!!! I also was shocked that after 15-20 minutes of training and figuring he was done for the night he got upset and wanted to keep going…he got all puffed up and head butting me…this is his “I wanna” dance as I call it. I gave in and kept training him for about 10 more minutes. I can’t believe how excited I am that he enjoys learning so much and his attention span is long enough to want to keep going well after I’m done…that’s more of a large breed Cockatoo thing. Has anyone else had one of these moments…where you think your grey is the smartest bird in the world for something they did/learned? I laugh at myself because I’m like one of those moms that think their kid is the next Einstein even though he’s eating glue or something in the corner…LOL {Characters-0002005C} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danmcq Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Wow Bmustee, that is fast learning!! Now, I'm on a mission :woohoo: Youve just started a "Training" frenzy!!! <br><br>Post edited by: danmcq, at: 2007/10/04 14:15 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siobha9 Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 How did you teach him to shake his head? My grey does lots of tricks, but don't know how to do that one. That is really really fast learning. I think you are right, you DO have a genius! Siobhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
judygram Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 We all probably have a little Alex inside our greys, just some of us are good at bringing it out and teaching them tricks. Congrats BMustee for a quick learner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 4, 2007 Author Share Posted October 4, 2007 Thanks you guys! I'm one proud mommy, and I'll have a smile on my face for the rest of the day from your comments. I'll be handing out Karmas! Siobhan, it is a really simple trick as long as your bird doesn't like getting it's face blown on. All you do is put the favorite bite sized treat in-between your middle finger and thumb and stick your index finger up, like your making a d with your fingers. Get the bird to look at your hand with the treat and start shaking your finger side-to-side as the queue and at the same time blow into the birds face. Most birds don't like this and will shake their heads. Once the bird shakes his head you bridge with praise and the treat. Keep doing this step and slowly quit blowing in the face...it should realize it is being rewarded for shaking its head and not need the blow to get him to do it. Then just keep drilling and only give treats one out of two or three times and only give praise the others to get the bird to do it without the treat. It’s very simple as long as they don’t like the blowing. I’m not sure if bad breath will made a difference if they like it or not…LOL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siobha9 Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 Thank you! That is SOO clever. I have to try that. Knowing my luck she wont mind having her face blown on!! But it sounds simple. I will let you know how I get on! Siobhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 4, 2007 Author Share Posted October 4, 2007 Keep me posted, and I hope I did start a training frenzy as Dan put it. I have found that trick training helps reinforce bonds and curb behavior problems, as well as give birds a higher self-esteem. The Sun that I had could care less if his face was blown on, so I figured out a new trick for him. He loved to tap his beak on perches, stands, tables, anything he could put his beak on. Every time I started tapping my hand he could not resist tapping his beak, so I went through with treats and praise till he got to the point that if I tapped my finger in the air he would bob his head like he was tapping air.<br><br>Post edited by: BMustee, at: 2007/10/04 16:43 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
loviechick Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 I've tried to do the wave thing with mine, but I think Red is just so stuck in her ways LOL and to be honest it doesn't matter to me one way or the otehr if she waves. I bet the shaking the head no thing is super cute though! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest briansmum Posted October 4, 2007 Share Posted October 4, 2007 BMustee, get some footage or photos and enter the contest in the training room!! dooo itt!!! so cool that your little guy is such a fast learner. brian was doing pretty well but he's going through a bit of a "you can't tell me what to do" phase, so training is short and fruitless at the moment LOL keep us updated Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 5, 2007 Author Share Posted October 5, 2007 Yeah...I'll have to get a video of him doing it on my phone and upload it. The head shaking no is the most Adorable thing I have seen!!! I got to get it on here for you all to see. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siobha9 Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 As I suspected, Liath couldnt care less if I blow in her face. She just tucks her head down so that I blow the top of her head. I think she actually likes that. Mind you she loves to sit on my shoulder if I am using the hair dryer too. Oh well. Guess that one is a non winner for us... Did you manage to film him yet? I really would love to see that, it sounds soooo cute!! Siobhan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dicky601 Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 I have trid teaching Herbie to wave, he almost got there and then seemed to lose the plot Any tips Bmustee as you seem to have cracked in record time?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laurie Posted October 7, 2007 Share Posted October 7, 2007 That is awesome! I haven't even thought of trying to teach Klaus tricks ... just assumed he's too young. I'll have to try the head-shaking thing. And I'd love to know the technique for teaching them to wave "hi." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 8, 2007 Author Share Posted October 8, 2007 Alright, the wave Hi is actually what I would say it one of the easiest for a bird to learn as long as it is fully trained on the step up command. Start with the bird on a stand or play gym. Get a treat and put it in-between the thumb and first finger...I'm right handed so I do this with that hand. Get the bird to look at the treat and wave the other fingers in a "wave hi" manner while at the same time taking your left hand up to the bird like you want him to step up. As soon as the foot is lifted off the perch, no matter how high (and not stepping on you) praise and give the treat. Keep drilling and pretty soon you should not have to bring your left hand up as far to get the bird to bring up it's foot up. Little by little take the left hand out and only show the hand signal with the right. As soon as the left hand is no longer needed to get him to lift the foot start working on how high it is lifted. What has worked for me is lifting the right hand with the treat higher and not giving the treat till the foot is raised a little higher...and not giving treats for lower lifts. If this does not seem to work, then after the foot has been raised bring your left hand back up and take your finger to a toe/nail and lift it for him...the bird should get the hint. I have never needed to use that so try just raising the hand higher first. Don't get frustrated and give up, the real key to training is to make sure you get a feel for your bird’s attention span. If you go too long the bird will get bored and you won't be able to end on a positive note. If your bird can only go for 5 minutes before loosing interest then only go for 4 minutes, if you can go for 15 without loosing interest then go for that long...just as long as the bird is still into it. This may be your problem Dicky601…you should try shorter sessions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LunaBaby Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 LOL I tried these and figured out Luna's attention span to be about 30 second :laugh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 LOL...maybe try a better treat LunaBaby? I use hulled sunflower seeds (roasted, no salt) because it's like the old Klondike bar commercials...my grey would do anything for one! :laugh: Plus, training is the only time he get them...I make sure the little bit of seeds he DOES get do not have them in it. Goldfish crackers also work...just break them up into smaller bit sized portions. I haven't been able to get a video yet...my new phone's video it's working right so I need to call them up to see if I can fix it. I'm going to start working on teaching how to Fetch in the next day or two so I'll let you all know how that goes as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest briansmum Posted October 9, 2007 Share Posted October 9, 2007 i found a great treat! in my supermarket the other day i spotted pomegranite "gems", already out of the fruit it's self, just in a little packet in the fresh fruit section. well brian loves them and each little gem makes an excellent treat and much better for him than seeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BMustee Posted October 9, 2007 Author Share Posted October 9, 2007 Those do sound better than seeds...I'll have to see if I can find them at my store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zooman Posted October 6, 2008 Share Posted October 6, 2008 Ive gotten zuri hooked on the trick training too, hes a TAG and i started last winter, we were bored and its collld outside and i thought he wouldnt want to but hes like yours hes excited about the training. I got him to do the head shake took a bit longer but the turn around took 5 minutes max. now the wave ive wanted to try but i dont know did it mess with your step up command? thats why i didnt try it, i didnt want to confuse him, but maybe im thinking too much..lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ina Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Weldone Mbustee, you sure deserve a medal:) ,i am going to try it with Charlie tomorrow and hope he also dont take that long to learn. Please inform us of the other tricks as well, if you good you good, {Feel-good-000200BB} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ina Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 Weldone Mbustee, you sure deserve a medal:) ,i am going to try it with Charlie tomorrow and hope he also dont take that long to learn. Please inform us of the other tricks as well, if you good you good, {Feel-good-000200BB} Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvparrots Posted October 7, 2008 Share Posted October 7, 2008 I can't wait to see soon of these great tricks. Videos please!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now