I Taught a Trick - Now What?

[d_msparkles]

I started giving Waffle, my GCC, a walnut for climbing up the playstand. Now s/he climbs up and sits waiting for the walnut. (picture for reference) I trained the behavior I wanted, but I don't want Waffle to keep tricking me into giving walnuts.
I am now using the walnut as a target to get Waffle to do a few more laps up and down, but have I pretty much trained the behavior? And what happens if I don't give a walnut?

 

[BirdManDan]

Uh Oh, You have created a monster.

Actually you don't need to give a treat every time a bird does a behavior you wanted unless you qued him. What you should do is to put that behavior on que so when you give the bird the que and he does the behavior then you treat him if he follows your que for the trick.

 

[BirdManDan]

Here is one specific to your needs. I hope it helps.

Food Motivation & Putting Tricks on Cue

 

[d_msparkles]

This was helpful! I do say “Waffle climb” prior and “good climb!” before giving the treat, but I also reward when Waffle randomly climbs up & down. LOL. Hopefully we can course correct from here! Whoops!