jackih
Moving in
I understand the concept of training and the basics of positive reinforcement and negative punishment, but sometimes the details of exactly how to do something specific are more difficult to pin down. For instance, is it possible to train your bird to learn that "No" means not to do something? Or is there some other way to discourage some unwanted behavior other than by just removing the stimulus or antecedent?
My example is that my canary-wing likes to make a beeline for my tablet and chew on the case. I don't mind if he tries to bite (or lick, which he sometimes does too) the actual tablet screen itself, but he really doesn't care about that part, he just wants to chew on the edge of the case, which is actually picking off small pieces of the plastic and making sharp edges. I tried to distract him by having a game for cats on the screen where there are a few colorful fishes and bubbles to pop, but he only looks at it for a few seconds and goes right back to the edge of the case. I have been gently pushing away his beak with my finger while saying "No" when he does this and sometimes he seems to give up a after a few tries and goes off to do something else. But sometimes this makes him seem to want to do it even more! And of course even though he doesn't really care about what's on the screen, the bright colors and scrolling or videos will attract his attention and then he wants to come over and chew. If it gets really bad, like he just won't stop after a few times of telling him no and pushing away, I do remove him from the tablet area or I close it, but I'd like to know if I have any hope of getting him to stop if I say "No".
My example is that my canary-wing likes to make a beeline for my tablet and chew on the case. I don't mind if he tries to bite (or lick, which he sometimes does too) the actual tablet screen itself, but he really doesn't care about that part, he just wants to chew on the edge of the case, which is actually picking off small pieces of the plastic and making sharp edges. I tried to distract him by having a game for cats on the screen where there are a few colorful fishes and bubbles to pop, but he only looks at it for a few seconds and goes right back to the edge of the case. I have been gently pushing away his beak with my finger while saying "No" when he does this and sometimes he seems to give up a after a few tries and goes off to do something else. But sometimes this makes him seem to want to do it even more! And of course even though he doesn't really care about what's on the screen, the bright colors and scrolling or videos will attract his attention and then he wants to come over and chew. If it gets really bad, like he just won't stop after a few times of telling him no and pushing away, I do remove him from the tablet area or I close it, but I'd like to know if I have any hope of getting him to stop if I say "No".