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Recall training?

Senneth

Strolling the yard
Joined
2/13/16
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86
Location
Utah
I had an extremely scary accident happen yesterday! My mom and kids thought they would help me out by cleaning Yoshi's cage while I was working. He's quite used to the process, but not when it isn't me messing with his stuff. Usually he's content to play on his gym, supervised, while I clean. But my kids are too young to understand the rules about him when he's out, so they opened the door a crack, Yoshi panics that someone has taken his cage, avd out the door he went! There's a "bug screen" over the door for his safety, but he must have slipped through it while the kids opened the door.

He has some flight feather regrowth going on, and the slight breeze carried him up into a 30 foot tree two houses down from us. He's only a year old, and his experiences outside are limited. We were unable to get him inside before dark, despite the gracious people willing to lose a finger to help us. He had to spend the night outside, all by himself.

Today we were able to get him down to lower branches where I was able to climb up to him and he came right to me. He's very tired, thirsty, and hungry but otherwise in great health. He's now the talk of the vet's office!

Now I'm terrified of what could have happened to him had he not come down within reach.

Would recall training help in this situation? How would I start that? Should I expose him to more things outside? (He's harness trained already) I just really need some advise so I'm better prepared for this sort of thing in the future.
 

Rolanda

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San Diego, CA
I have no opinion to offer, but I only wanted to say I'm glad you got him back. I'd be way past freaked out.:omg:
 

Senneth

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Utah
Oh believe me, there were tears galore going through all of this! And absolutely no sleep!! :cantsleep:
 

Tiel Feathers

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Yikes! So scary for you and him, I'm so glad you got him back. I don't know much about recall training, but it seems like that would be a good idea for situations like this. (Hopefully this type of situation won't happen again of course!) I also think exposing him to the outdoors as much as possible would be great. How nice that he is harnessed trained! I would take him all around your neighborhood so he can not only get used to the outdoors, but so that he can also get the lay of the land. It would also be helpful for him to be able to recognize the outside of your house.
 

JLcribber

@cockatoojohn
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Any and all training of this kind would need to be done in the actual conditions/environment you expect it to work the way you want. That would mean no restriction (harness) and outside in the exact same area. This type of thing is usually only attempted by very experienced handlers and even they lose birds.

A captive pet bird is used to living in a house with a roof over its head. When it escapes outside it is suddenly in no man's land with no clue which way to go. Panic sets in. Adrenaline pumps. Instincts tell it to fly up and it does.

Recall training is still great (inside) but don't count on it working if your bird gets out again.

The solution here is training the family. Specifically the littles. No messing with the bird/cage when you're not there. Period.

There are also things you can do like hanging a beaded curtain (or something similar) over doorways. A sign on the door that says "where is the bird. Keep door closed until you do know".

If you want to go all the way you can install an escape proof double entry (inside or outside).
 

Senneth

Strolling the yard
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2/13/16
Messages
86
Location
Utah
Thanks for the responses!

So far, we've been working on stricter rules for the kids. They need a lot of reminding because they're both under 5 years old... I'm having a second door installed on the front door, and a second net for the mudroom. Hopefully that'll be enough that there won't be another accident!
 

Barnaby Rose

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I am by NO means an expert, but I have had my girl Emma for a few years now, I worked with her on recall for maybe a few weeks, and she picked up the concept VERY quickly. Within 15 or 20 minutes the very first day she got the idea, and within a few weeks she was literally flying across the room from her perch or her stand or where ever she was at right to my hand.
I have never 'lost her' outside.. But she did get out once a few months ago, flew straight up into a tree outside my house, I FLEW out the door and immediately signaled her and gave her the target and she immediately flew right back down to my hand.just figured I would give you my take - I am sure it is a bird to bird thing and even more sure it can't be trusted all the time, but had she NOT been recall trained I guarantee she would not have come down from that tree like she did, that's all I'm saying.
Oh and get this, I am about to bring home a baby Timneh grey, he isn't quite weaned and fledged yet so he isn't ready to come home - but I go in almost every day to see him and we have been slowwwwwwly working on some recall training, and he is SO good already. Can almost fly all the way across the shop from his perch to my hand. And he is a BABY baby, with less than maybe 3 or 4 hours of total practice time. I'm just saying, most definitely worth a try, if nothing else - why not!?
Hope it helps!
B
 

Barnaby Rose

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@Barnaby Rose I'm so glad she came back to you! How did you get started on the training, and what type of target and command did you use?
We are too!

As far as the training goes I am hesitant to give you 'advice', as I literally have NO idea if it is the 'correct' or best way to train or practice or etc.. But I have no problem telling you what worked for us!

At first, I just started with a simple/typical 'step up' command with the finger extended out towards her, but with my other hand in sort of a loose fist facing her held up behind the 'step up' hand, if that makes sense? Instead of saying 'step up', I just said 'come here' (effectively the command I wanted to use), and then rewarded her when she hopped onto my finger. I use a clicker, and I LOVE it, because it is so universal and can be used for TONS of training and ideas and etc, once the bird hears the click, they know they have done something correctly, and is a universal sign that in order to recieve that reward, they must hear a 'click', therefore they must do whatever it is I am asking them to do!
Anyway as I'm sure you have guessed the rest is fairly simple - you SLOWLY, and patiently, move the hand with the finger further and further away, using the same command and method of reward each time, first Emma kind of leaned forward with her beak for stability it seemed like, before 'hopping' onto my finger, then she started doing these cute teeeeeeeeeny tiny hops, and then more confident 'jumps', and the rest came very vey quickly! Eventually the idea is that you can raise your fist (or whatever visual cue/target you decide to use), say whatever command you want to use, and as long as he can hear and see you, he will fly straight onto your finger!
Best advice I have is just be SUPER patient, let him learn at her own pace, ALWAYS reward him for doing ANYTHING right, even if it's the tiniest little thing, and have fun with it! If you're having fun, so is he;)
Also make sure you let everybody know how it goes!! Good luck!
 

Senneth

Strolling the yard
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2/13/16
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86
Location
Utah
Thanks for the advise!

I'm planning to get started with him in a couple days, after his follow up with the vet
 

Tim

Rollerblading along the road
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Minneapolis, MN
I am recall training both of my birds--I hope I never have to try it outside, but it does several other things, too. It improves their flight and landing skills (both of my babies are minimally clipped, but can both fly a short distance right now. Diego's going through his first molt, and growing his first new flight!)
It entertains them. I love training time, and so do they. I started with simple target training, a few basic skills (turn around, wings up, move from perch to perch, step on scale) and then moved to flight recall.) It provides great excercise!
 
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