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Back to square one in training?

baigfaez

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As some of you may know I have been trying to train my IRN to step up with target training. About 3 days ago I finally got him to step up multiple times and while he was on there I gave him treats to make him more comfortable. The last time he did it he was uncomfortable and jumped back onto his cage and since then he hasn't stepped up, almost like he's forgotten or afraid of my hand again. When I come up with the target stick and my hand he ignores the stick and just chews on my hand. It's extremely frustrating because I feel like all that training we've done together has been lost and we're back to square one. Does anyone know why he doesn't do it anymore and what I might do to get him comfortable doing it again? Also do you have any advice to deal with chewing and how to discourage it on hands?

PS: He does still do target training when my hand isn't involved
 

aqualover9

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Fuzzy

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The last time he did it he was uncomfortable and jumped back onto his cage and since then he hasn't stepped up...
Sounds like the last time he stepped up, somehow the behaviour was punished, probably by pushing for too much too soon. It's ok - mistakes can be rectified. :)

When training it is better to always end on a successful step... ie. stop way before the bird gets tired or bored... or in this case frightened/spooked. Try training in very short bursts now and again throughout the day rather than having one long session. A few seconds here, half a minute there.

You need to go right back to the beginning and break down the behaviour into even smaller steps. You say he targets fine without your hand there. So get him targeting a few times without your hand. Then gradually introduce your hand again in teeny tiny steps. Reinforce each touch of the target as usual (I am guessing you are using treats as reinforcers). Don't move on to the next step before he's completely comfortable with the last.

By the time your hand is eventually placed in front of him, he shouldn't even think of chewing because you have been reinforcing his targeting only (not the chewing) so many times with the very gradual introduction of your hand. Then you can get him to target leaning over your hand (treat!), then one step up (treat), then two steps (treat). When he steps up, immediately let him step down again. When he is fluently stepping up and down, you can then work on duration... the amount of time he is on your hand.... one second, two seconds, etc.
 

baigfaez

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Sounds like the last time he stepped up, somehow the behaviour was punished, probably by pushing for too much too soon. It's ok - mistakes can be rectified. :)

When training it is better to always end on a successful step... ie. stop way before the bird gets tired or bored... or in this case frightened/spooked. Try training in very short bursts now and again throughout the day rather than having one long session. A few seconds here, half a minute there.

You need to go right back to the beginning and break down the behaviour into even smaller steps. You say he targets fine without your hand there. So get him targeting a few times without your hand. Then gradually introduce your hand again in teeny tiny steps. Reinforce each touch of the target as usual (I am guessing you are using treats as reinforcers). Don't move on to the next step before he's completely comfortable with the last.

By the time your hand is eventually placed in front of him, he shouldn't even think of chewing because you have been reinforcing his targeting only (not the chewing) so many times with the very gradual introduction of your hand. Then you can get him to target leaning over your hand (treat!), then one step up (treat), then two steps (treat). When he steps up, immediately let him step down again. When he is fluently stepping up and down, you can then work on duration... the amount of time he is on your hand.... one second, two seconds, etc.
Interestingly the time before he got scared of stepping up again I let him down immediately, but the time before that I tried to move a few feet from the cage to see how he felt about it (after a certain point he said "nope", jumped off, and ran back to his cage so I decided not to push the distance anymore just yet).

Since making this post I've been continuing his training and he's been placing a foot on my hand occasionally, but I'm not "forcing it" so to speak. I just want him to get comfortable with my hand being nearby, so I don't hold the stick too far from his reach. He just puts his feet on my hand without thinking about it sometimes, so I think that's a good sign :)
 

Fuzzy

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Great to hear the training is going well. Yes, go really slow.... slow and sure. You have all the time in the world to teach him. :)
 
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