Clicker training.

[ronsig]

My budgies get to bite once from a piece of millet.
Or I attach some hulled millet (for people) to a spoon and they get one bite. I am so mean.

At the end of training they get a jackpot. So they will always remember how great training was.
I have the book by Ann Castro which is perfect for beginners. Unfortunately, It's not available at a reasonable price right now due to supply problems.

Sigrid

 

[Spinderella]

I'm reading "the click that does the trick"

Cookie's not as scared of the sound as she is of the clicker itself, and i think she associates the sound with it. I spent months in the beginning trying to get her used to it. Leaving it near or on her cage for weeks, hanging it in her cage.. playing with it in front of her, muffling the sound..

Huh.. So even when you hide the clicker in a washcloth and click it through the washcloth, he's still scared of it??

 

[ronsig]

Don't let the bird see the clicker. Just muffle the sound, click and treat.
Parrots are so smart, they figure that out fast.

Sigrid

 

[BraveheartDogs]

Emily,

If she is really fearful of the clicker don't use one. You can poison training by using it if it really frightens her. You can just as easily use your verbal marker, just try and make it as distinct as you can.

 

[Emmilyy]

Huh.. So even when you hide the clicker in a washcloth and click it through the washcloth, he's still scared of it??

Then she's scared of the washcloth!

 

[Spinderella]

Then she's scared of the washcloth!

She's naturally scared of washcloths, or just because she would know it's under there?

I like what Sigrid said, about muffling the clicker and hiding it from her. I would wear a hoodie and keep the clicker in the hoodie pocket under a washcloth so that the sound is muffled, and you just have to reach in your pocket to click.

Or what Vicki said, about just using your mouth to make the click noise. Just be sure that you can make the noise sound exactly the same, all the time.

 

[Emmilyy]

I know i need to keep the noise the same. And yes, she's scared of the actual wash cloth.

 

[cmoore]

The Click That Does The Trick is... okay. It's not my favorite bird clicker training book. As I recall, it doesn't explain the basics as well as other books, and it suggests using luring with food more often than I'd prefer.

I would highly, highly recommend reading either Getting Started: Clicker Training for Birds by Melinda Johnson or The Bird School by Ann Castro. They are both absolutely wonderful beginner clicker books.

I agree that targeting is an excellent first behavior to teach, especially to a fearful bird. I've used targeting to get my caiques over fears of new objects - I ask them to target, and then gradually move the target stick closer and closer to the object. I can eventually transfer the targeting behavior to the object so that they are touching the formerly scary object voluntarily in order to get treats!

Other good starter behaviors are:
Stepping up onto a stick
Ringing a bell
Climbing a ladder (easy to teach using the target stick!)

It's good to teach some prop-based behaviors first so that Cookie gets the idea of what clicker training is all about. If you teach a non-prop behavior first, the animal tends to offer that one behavior over and over instead of trying new behaviors to get clicks and treats.

Once you've taught 2 or 3 prop behaviors, you can start teaching non-prop behaviors like wing flaps, waving, etc.

 

[Bokkapooh]

I'm reading "the click that does the trick"

Cookie's not as scared of the sound as she is of the clicker itself, and i think she associates the sound with it. I spent months in the beginning trying to get her used to it. Leaving it near or on her cage for weeks, hanging it in her cage.. playing with it in front of her, muffling the sound..

Oh I see you already have done this.

If she is scared of that click in general, have you tried other clickers that look different.

A PEN that clicks up and down, works just as well!

A WHISTLE works too.

Or if you want to use your clicker you have, just put your hand behind your back when training and CLICK and then reward with your free hand. Hiding it in the palm of your hand works too!

At first my birds wanted to PLAY with the clicker as I taught them to Target. But they soon forgot the clicker as we target trained.