How do you teach the parrot to turn around?

[Karnkate]

I tried to lure Joseph to turn around by following my walnut hand but he figures out that he could have just turn back (and therefore undoing the process) and seize the walnut immediately without having to follow this stupid order from his mom . Joseph isn’t clicker trained (he panicked when I used it on Mali so I guess it’s not a good idea for him) so I’m not sure if there are other ways to persuade him to not taking a shortcut in getting his walnut...

 

[expressmailtome]

Bump.

 

[Peachfaced]

I usually keep the treat out of reach. I had to hold it under Rupert and wait in certain spots because he'd only half turn. So as soon as he finally turned part way, I moved further in the direction I needed and when he followed, he got the treat.

 

[Lodah]

Target training is a great way to have fun with your fid! Allows numerous training avenues once they realise that touching the stick gains a reward! Give it a try!

 

[Clueless]

Put him on a T stand. You have to hold the walnut lower than him and move your hand slooooowly around with that walnut.

I've taught Secret and MC both this trick. One turns clockwise and I think the other parrot does the opposite direction.....but I may be wrong.

Take small pieces of walnut and limit training time, always end on a good note.

 

[M_Riddly]

I would suggest desensitizing him to the clicker because with a parrot, a bridge is really necessary in training. Just try clicking it a bunch like once every couple seconds and treating every single time. Try wearing a jacket or hoodie with pockets and clicking it inside the pocket or behind you to muffle the sound. Clickers are an amazing training tool. Target training should help with the turning around. It gives them a task to do. Touch the stick as opposed to follow the walnut that keeps moving away from me. Also, he might think the trick is to turn half way around and turn back that direction to get the treat. Hope this helps! All my birds who know how to turn around know through this way.

 

[Karnkate]

I would suggest desensitizing him to the clicker because with a parrot, a bridge is really necessary in training. Just try clicking it a bunch like once every couple seconds and treating every single time. Try wearing a jacket or hoodie with pockets and clicking it inside the pocket or behind you to muffle the sound. Clickers are an amazing training tool. Target training should help with the turning around. It gives them a task to do. Touch the stick as opposed to follow the walnut that keeps moving away from me. Also, he might think the trick is to turn half way around and turn back that direction to get the treat. Hope this helps! All my birds who know how to turn around know through this way.

Turns out Joseph is a derp. He has since stop being afraid of the clicker and is now doing even better than Mali in terms of target training ... If only they can turn around...

 

[d_msparkles]

Turns out Joseph is a derp.

This made me laugh. I always remark that we got a C- parrot because she seems to learn a lot more slowly than others I see online. I also think she just really doesn't like to focus. That's okay, she's super cute so we accept it.

 

[M_Riddly]

Mochi is like this too. While Yoshi and Checkers are running around like maniacs trying to get attention and treats by doing random stuff and trying to figure out what I want, Mochi just kind of sits there or climbs me. She isn't as training excited and energetic as the boys. The boys are picking up random pieces of dirt and buttons and everything to see if that's what I wanted them to do. They do this because Leo has a trick where he puts a bunch of buttons into a cup. They don't know exactly what he is doing so they are trying to figure it out. Yoshi is close but also not. He has been taking the buttons out of the cup. I may make this the trick for him cuz it's cute to see Leo watching in horror as Yoshi undoes his hard work and then frantically tries to put the buttons back in Yoshi attached to button or not. Too bad Yoshi isn't small enough to see Leo try to stuff him in the cup with the button. Now that would be funny.

To get your bird to turn around, get it target trained. Then act like your targeting him to turn around and when he is turned around and about to touch the stick, move it so he is following it around back to his initial position. Then click the second his second foot goes forward. It's best if you do this on a T-stand or chair back. I wish I could show you what I mean. Do you have an Instagram? I could send you a video of me training one of my birds to turn around. I would use one who doesn't know how to, to illustrate the learning process. Or if we could video chat that would be even easier.